Culture and Language for Cross-cultural Engagement (DM1005W)

Content

This unit emphasizes the strong link between culture and language, and the importance of gaining capacity in a community's language for cross-cultural engagement. The unit will introduce students to the concepts of language and cultural participation outlined in the Growing Participator's Approach (GPA). The unit will also introduce students to the Six Phase Program, a tool for growing a cross-cultural worker's ability to understand and speak with people from a different culture and language community. The third tool to be introduced, the Engaging Culture, Worldview Inquiry Program (ECWIP), enables a cross-cultural worker to observe and participate in social situations and move towards understanding them from the host community's perspective.

Learning outcomes

Pedagogy

Workshop & lectures

Indicative Bibliography

• Angrosino Michael V. Projects in Ethnographic Research, Long Grove: Waveland Press 2004.
• Angrosino Michael V. Doing Ethnographic and Observational Research (Qualitative Research Kit) Los Angeles: Sage, 2007.
• Agar, M. Language Shock: Understanding The Culture of Conversation. New York: Perennial, 1994.
• Atkinson, R. The Life Story Interview. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 1998.
• Elmer, D. Cross-cultural Servanthood: Serving In The World In Christlike Humility. Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2006. (recommended for purchase)
• Emerson, R. and R. Fretz and L. Shaw, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2nd edn 2011.
• Fetterman, D. Ethnography: Step by Step. Los Angeles: SAGE, 3rd edn 2010. (recommended for purchase)
• Geertz, C. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
• Kramasch, C. Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
• Kraft, Charles, Communication Theory for Christian Witness, Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991.
• Rynkiewich, Michael. Soul, Self, and Society: A Postmodern Anthropology for Mission in a Postcolonial World. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2012
• Spradley, J. P. Participant Observation. Orlando: Harcourt, 1980.
• Spradley, J. P. The Ethnographic Interview. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1979.
• Thomson, G. and A. Thomson. The First Hundred Hours: Interacting about the Here and Now: Introduction to Growing Participator Approach, Phase 1A, Version: Mar06, edits Sep09. (recommended for purchase)
• Thomson, Greg and A. Thomson. The First Hundred Hours: Interacting about the Here and Now: Add Constrained Two-Way Communication, Phase 1B, Version: Mar06, edits Sep09.

Assessment