MLO 3: Secondary Culture
Outcomes
3.1. Students describe concepts of culture and use that understanding in their comparison of the target culture with second culture.
3.2. Students will analyze and make connections between the perspectives, ways of thinking, behavioral practices, and cultural products of a second culture. Courses Taken
Selected Course Work
|
Reflective Narrative
3.1 In Global Literatures (GS 362), we immersed ourselves in four different cultures throughout the semester in regards to postcolonialism: East African, Middle Eastern, Russian, and Chinese cultures. Aside from the cultural insight we gained from reading a book written by an individual from each culture, we also learned supplementary information in class through additional readings, professor presentations, and videos. For example, when we were reading Absurdistan, our teacher introduced us to the language as well as a number of significant historical events, which deepened my understanding of the story and helped with my analyzation for the essay.
3.2 I was also able to compare and contrast the intricacies of each culture with either my native culture (American) and target culture (Japanese). For example, when we learned about Middle Eastern culture through the book Woman at Point Zero, we also covered many topics related to Feminism. In my essay relating these two topics, I analyzed my own actions as someone who interacts with others learning English as well as my standard conduct in American culture. Another example is when we learned about Chinese culture while reading Red Sorghum, through which I was able to compare the representations of Chinese and Japanese identities. Study abroad also offered an unexpected opportunity to learn about culture beyond the United States and Japan via the other exchange students. Aside from myself, there were only three other American exchange students and I didn’t share any language classes with them, so most of my time was spent with students from other cultures. My first semester, my classes were comprised of students from the UK, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. For me, this was my first time meeting and actually communicating with people of my own age and interests from these countries. Even between us students from English-speaking countries, there was still so many differences between our cultures and sharing the experience of being in Japan at the same time, we often compared our cultures to our new, developing first-hand experience with Japanese culture. For example, drinking culture; because I was not yet 21 when I went to Japan, I was unfamiliar with American drinking culture beyond movies and overheard comments on campus, but I was able to discuss drinking culture of UK and Australia with other exchange students and compare it with my own observations about drinking in Japan. |