Gandhi (1982) - All students need to see this

I was looking for movies that may be good to share for our current unit on intercultural communication and issues of race and ethnicity and picked up Gandhi as one of them.

I think I watched this biography back in high school, and remembered it as a powerful story, but I think it is much, much more powerful now watching it twenty years later.

This definitely has to be on a list of "must watch" movies for students all over the world. If you haven't seen it, get it this weekend.

Most importantly, the film challenges all of us to grapple with the principle of standing up and standing firm against injustice using active but peaceful resistance, and to pursue peace and forgiveness over revenge and destruction. The movie includes a dialogue between a LIFE magazine reporter and Gandhi about whether Hitler could be stopped with non-violence. That would be an interesting class discussion to develop.

Some Gandhi quotes from the movie and elsewhere:

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always."

and my favorite, which I wrote in the ICU yearbook last year, and which is always a heavy yet important thought to bear:

You must be the change you want to see in the world.

Mahatma Gandhi
Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948) 

Since 2007, his birthday, October 2nd, is the International Day of Non-Violence. I didn't know that until today. But I wonder if anything is ever done in Japan or the US in relation to that?

Also, I had heard this before, but reading the Wikipedia article on Gandhi reminded me:

"At his middle school in Porbandar and high school in Rajkot, Gandhi remained a mediocre student. He shone neither in the classroom nor on the playing field. One of the terminal reports rated him as "good at English, fair in Arithmetic and weak in Geography; conduct very good, bad handwriting."

So, if you don't shine in school, that does not mean you will not make a big contribution or difference.

Finally, quoting from Roger Ebert's review in 1982:

"What is important about this film is not that it serves as a history lesson (although it does) but that, at a time when the threat of nuclear holocaust hangs ominously in the air, it reminds us that we are, after all, human, and thus capable of the most extraordinary and wonderful achievements, simply through the use of our imagination, our will, and our sense of right."

The "Comfort Women" Monument in NYC

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/19/nyregion/monument-in-palisades-park-nj-irritates-japanese-officials.html?_r=1

I am confounded by Japan's attempts to stop the comfort women monument.

Why does Japan officially try to oppose these monuments (this one and the one in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul)? It is very hard to understand that mentality of trying to ask groups to "not remember history". The Japan of the past is the Japan of the past. Japan today should fully support monuments for remembering the tragedy of the mistakes made in that era.

When there are thousands of victims, many still alive, how can it possibly help Japan's image to oppose monuments to remember the tragedy?

When a mistake has been made in history, and people suffered, it is natural to leave a monument to remember and not repeat similar mistakes.

One of the most important points in this article is when the Korean group who built the monument for the comfort women explain that Japan's opposition is "helping" the monument. That is only natural. Nobody is going to support Japan's attempt to stop a monument for people who suffered.

In fact, Japan is going to completely embarrass itself when people around world (based on articles like this) see it as a country that is unwilling to accept the mistakes of its past as lessons for the future.

As a long time resident of Japan, I love the "new Japan" that strives to build a culture of peace. Just as the future children of the USA need to know the past mistakes of the USA, Japanese children need to be taught the tragedies brought about by the mistakes of the military government. Through history classes and monuments in and out of Japan, the mistakes should be brought to light as clearly as possible so that future generations do not repeat them.

How was ARW Autumn 2011?

Winter term is starting, but I hadn't had a chance to look back at Autumn yet. My Winter term ARW course (Academic Reading and Writing, 3 hours a week for 10 weeks) is going to have similar learning activities, so I want to write down my thoughts on what went well and what needs to be improved.












This Autumn ARW was the first time that I had students write one longer essay and also do a presentation based on it. It was also the first time that I used blogging as the main reading reaction method in Autumn term.

One longer essay: Usually ARW starts the one longer essay in winter term, but I felt that students would benefit from focusing on just one topic, and really going into the process deeply and carefully. I think I was right. Most Program B students are ready to write 1500 word essays on a topic, and impressively, we did it in exactly 30 days, from topic selection to outline to draft to final paper. After the final deadline, we had a few days for me to give final feedback and require students to do English/format/citation editing as well.

The main drawback of this method was that a few students got stuck and had difficulty with developing the topic that they chose into a thesis and supporting paragraphs. For some students, perhaps 5 or 6 out of the 40 I taught, it is true that two shorter essays may have been better because they could have "reset" their topic and tried something that would be easier to research or write for them. However, this happens for any longer paper, so I still think one longer, or at least one medium length paper is better than two essays. For quality writing, an intensive approach seems to be better than an extensive, write-a-long, write-many-essays approach.

Perhaps the ideal flow of autumn is to start off with a very simple, short 500 word fixed topic essay that uses three or four required sources. That essay could be drafted and polished in two weeks. Then we could spend the rest of the term focusing on one essay.

Presenting Essay Ideas: Each student did a 20x20 Pecha-Kucha format presentation on their essay content, and these were very well done in almost all cases. A 20x20 is 400seconds long, with 20 slides shown 20 seconds each.  I rushed the process, and only a few students did the optional full rehearsal with me, but even students who did not do the rehearsal presented their ideas visually in a concise way with good rhythm. The challenge of doing this is to fit it into the busy terms we have at ICU. The 20x20s took 3 periods, or 10% of the class time we have. However, I think it was worth it.

I strongly believe that, for their future development as international professionals, being able to orally explain ideas is just as important as being able to explain them in writing. The research essay 20x20 is a good platform for developing presentation skills, and students get to learn from the research that their classmates have done. We may want to build in a requirement for this in all ARW classes from next year. It may not need to be a 20x20 presented in front of the whole class; perhaps it could be...a P&D that uses visuals?

Using a Blog for Reading Reactions: This continues to be experimental, and I still want to ask my student what they felt about doing it. The good thing about the learning blog is that students can see their own thoughts in an organized way, and they own their own learning. Classmates can leave comments as well.

The drawback of the blog method is that it does not force students to read before class...the worksheet method is better for that. Most students write their blog after the discussion, which is more natural, so maybe it is fine.

Two ways to improve the blog homework are 1) make evaluation criteria clearer from the start by defining what a good reading reaction is, and 2) make commenting groups so that all students will receive peer comments on their blog entries.

I hope the students will enjoy these activities and find them more meaningful when I do them in future classes!

Reaction to Diamond's "Race Without Color"

Race without color? Is that possible?

Summary:
In his 1994 article in Discover Magazine, Jared Diamond argues that the traditional notion of "human races" (subspecies) based on visual features of skin, hair, eyes is not scientific. Furthermore, it is unnecessary and harmful to human society.

Race by Blood Type A?

Race by Fingerprint Type

 



























It may be true that different regions of the world have some notable characteristics such as dark skin in Africa, or narrower eyes in Asia. However, Diamond argues this does not mean that humans can be categorized into clear biological groups. Depending on what biological characteristic is used (skin, blood type, fingerprints, lactase digestion etc.) the groups come out differently. Based on sickle cell malaria gene catorizations, Swedish whites will be grouped with Xhosas in Africa. That is the problem of concordance. If the groupings vary according to the trait used, there is no concordance of variable traits, and therefore defining a subspecies of humans is not valid.

Today, DNA analysis is possible, and that will clarify how various populations migrated from Africa to other parts of the world. Obviously some groups are closer cousins, like Japanese are closer to Koreans and Tibetans. However, even within Japan, similar splitting is possible. Some people in Japan have more Mongolian genes, some have more Oceania genes. It is mixed and complex. That is the problem of hierarchy. Depending on how much difference in DNA you define as "different" (0.1%? 0.2%), the number of categories will change. The criteria is arbitrary and ultimately meaningless. Clear categories of human physical characteristics based on multiple traits cannot be defined. Categories with one or two traits are easy, of course, but which traits are used is arbitrary.

In race, traditionally, beauty traits were used because that is how humans like to subjectively and culturally separate themselves. As Diamond concludes, in primitive times, such 'us and them' distinctions may have been useful for protection. In the age of global interaction, such distinctions are unneeded and harmful.

Critical Reaction:
Does this argument make sense? It seems to. However, one thing that bothers me is that the definition of "concordance" (or any definition of subspecies) is hard to find on the Internet. Do other taxonomists agree with Diamond's view? I'm curious how solid the consensus of "no human races" is.

Also, assuming his argument is reasonable, what's the application? For one, scientists in any field should not use the word "races" in a biological sense. That seems clear. However, in society, people live from day to day based on their subjective, traditional notions. Whites think they are white, and Asians think they are Asian. The concept of race is subjective and cultural, but it IS something that people feel as a social category. Therefore, ignoring it or abandoning it is not a solution.

A proper understanding of both 1) the biological fallacy of race, and 2) the social reality of race is necessary.

My Reaction to Shreeve's "Terms of Estrangement"

James Shreeve, author of Terms of Estrangement, Discover magazine 1994 

Main Points:

Shreeve's main issue is whether the term "race" should be used in science and other professions such as police work or medical research. He interviews many experts to see what their opinions on it are. Most of his experts are anthropologists, and most of them (especially Armelagos, Marks, Smouse, Sauer, Lewontin and Brace) feel that the word "race" is NOT a scientific category that can be defined for humans. This follows the 1996 declaration by the American Association of Physical Anthropology (see via Moodle link). In other words, the categories are impossible to make because various geographical populations such as African, Asian, or European have not been isolated; they are all connected to each other and there are innumerable mixes. 

Thus, Shreeve's interview data seems to point to a consensus that race is a traditional socio-cultural perception of human categories based on sets of visual characteristics such as skin color, eyes, and shape of facial features. It is connected to geography and migration and genetic change, but there are no clear "bushel basket" categories. It is not scientifically definable. However, at the same time, it is undeniable that police find the word useful for finding identities of suspect with quick visual sets of traits, and medical researchers find that medicines can be developed for certain types of people within a country such as American Blacks, who have different genetic tendencies than American Whites. Those are just genetic tendencies or "sub-populations" or "sub-cultures", not "races". 

My Reactions:

My main question is "So what? What should we do with Shreeve's information?" Most of us are not anthropologists, so how is this connected to us? I understand that the term "race" comes from a European tradition from Linnaeus and Blumenbach and is not based on real science. People are different, but there are no clear categories that can be made. The genetic differences are mixed and complex based on human migration from Africa to other parts of the world. 

OK, if somebody asks me, "What is your race?", what will I say? Will I say "There are no races of humans, but my ancestors are mostly from Europe." 

Next, what will my children Michael and Mei say? The question "What is your race?" does not make sense to them at all. I guess they could say "We are biracial, with genes from a European father and Japanese/Asian mother, but that muddles the issue. Their best answer is probably "The word race should not be used, but our father's ancestors come from Europe and our mother's come from Japan."

Something like that? In any case, I think it is very valuable for us to EXAMINE where "terms of estrangement" come from. The word race is responsible for a LOT of suffering around the world. If it has no scientific basis, we should abandon it, and look for other words that more accurately describe our differences. Perhaps ethnicity is a better word?

My Reaction to Gould's "The Geometer of Race"

Main Ideas:
In his 1994 article in Discover magazine "The Geometer of Race" (link to article), Stephen Jay Gould (link to profile) mainly seems to argue three main points using the historical example of Blumenbach's (link to Wikipedia) theory of human racial classification published in 1795.

 
 

1. Main Idea 1: Gould writes that scientists' theories can never be completely objective, and that it is important for scientists to realize that their personal and cultural biases are imposed to some extent on their theories. Blumenbach's hierarchical theory of race based on perceived beauty of physical characteristics of white Europeans (especially Georgians) shows how subjective ideas can influence theories.
2. Main Idea 2: Secondly, scientists must also realize that their scientific theories can have a powerful ideological impact on society. Gould believes that Blumenbach's theory of racial classification had a "practical impact...almost entirely negative, upon our collective lives" similar to the level of the impact of nuclear bombs (p.4 in our Reader).
   
   Gould believes this negative impact in terms of supporting racism, slavery etc. in the 18th to 20th centuries was due to Blumenbach's theory. He writes "Where would Hiter have been without without racism, Jefferson without liberty. Blumenbach lived as a cloistered professor all his life, but his ideas have reverberated in ways that he never could have anticipated, through our wars, our social upheavals, our sufferings...." (p.9). This is highly ironic, according to Gould, because Blumenbach was a promoter of equality among races, and was NOT a racist compared to other people of his time.
3. Main Idea 3: Relating to the key word Geometer in the title, Gould seems to want to argue that scientific theories form a "mental geometry" that remains in people's minds. Blumenbach's theory is an example of "redrawing the mental diagram of human groups" and the impact of the theoretical shift was "broad and portentous in scope" because people now had a visual representation of the hierarchy of race in definable geometric terms. I think he means a sort of triangle, with Causasians at the top, and Africans and Asians at the bottom, which is one way to interpret the theory.

My Critique
----------------
So, are those three points reasonable and persuasive?

I feel that the first point is strongly supported by the Blumenbach example. It is clear that Blumenbach, in spite of his best efforts to be scientific and to support the moral and mental equality of all humans, was influenced by a bias toward superiority of Europeans.

The second and third points, however, are not fully persuasive. Gould fails to show what kind of effect Blumenbach's theory had on European society. He suggests that Hitler was influenced, but no connection between Blumenbach and Hitler is explained. It is left to our imagination, and I am skeptical out this. He also fails to show that people really interpreted Blumenbach's theory in a geometric way. Many questions remain. Who read Blumenbach's theory, and what kind of ideas did they get from them? How widespread was this knowledge of the theory? Also, didn't racism already exist anyway, even without his book saying that Caucasians came first? What effect did he exactly have outside of the ivory tower? Gould needs to explain these points further if he wants to convince a critical reader.

Extra:
Here's a PDF of an exchange between a critic and Gould regarding this article. In this exchange, I think Gould is persuasive, although he apologizes for the alteration of Blumenbach's original illustrations from flat to a triangle, which was done by the publishing company to show what Gould was trying to say. Gould didn't do it, but he takes responsibility for the visual representation done by the book editor. Blumenbach never made a clear image of a hierarchy in his treatise, which was almost all text in Latin, but I agree with Gould (I think, assuming that his translations of the Latin are accurate), that a hierarchy of beauty is being argued in the treatise.

One Girl's Courage - Another powerful report from Kristof of NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/opinion/one-girls-courage.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

 

I think it is very valuable that reports like this come out in the New York Times. I've been impressed by the current series that Kristof has been doing researching how NGOs and NPOs have been working in Africa. A lot of powerful stories are coming out of this and showing us that we have a lot to learn about our world and how we can make a difference in it.

For one, these reports give us in the US and other countries (like Japan where I live) some perspective on how fortunate most of us are to be able to live in peace with our families and pursue our studies and dreams.

Another value is that we see how outside assistance can be helpful for bringing change to areas where violence against women or other weaker groups is structurally embedded. NPOs that work with issues like that clearly have a role to play in the lives of girls like Fulamatu, who otherwise would be a victim of a system that allows male rapists to walk free while she, as the victim, is shamed and exiled to the countryside away from her school and family.

Hopefully she will be allowed to go to a boarding school. The Internet hopefully will be a medium that allows us in developed economies to see opportunities to help assistance organizations in developing countries and help make a difference more directly.

Upon re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This was one of my favorite novels in my high school English classes, and I decided to read it again a few weeks ago because many of my students had read it for their summer reading.

Atticus Finch, the lawyer who defends a Negro slave wrongly accused of rape, is still one of my greatest heros, and I love these quotes:

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

The whole novel's lesson is about learning to "stand in someone's shoes". In a sense, there is nothing more important than that concept of empathy as we try to live together with others in society.

He also says, in connection with telling his son why a certain crabby old lady was a very brave (she was kicking a morphine habit to die with a clear head):

"Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."

That's a beauty as is the final one about why Atticus stands up to do what is right, rather than what everyone wants:

 "The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."

A tragedy of religious intolerance: Agora (2009)...inaccurate in places, but worth watching

Agora is a movie based in 5th century AD Alexandria and the life and death of a female philosopher and mathematician in the city named Hypatia.

Here is a Smithsonian feature of the life of Hypatia and how she was killed by a Christian mob in 415AD.

As a fan of history based movies, I watched this this weekend and felt it was worth watching because it brought up many interesting historical questions about the process of the expansion of the early Christian church--how it interacted with the politics of the Roman Empire, with local pagan beliefs, with Jews in the communities, with female leaders in the those communities, and with scientific pursuits such as the heliocentric theory.

In Agora, the Christians take over Alexandria as their numbers grow among the lower classes and slave. This process includes a number of bouts of religious violence and the gradual increase of political power connected with the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Pagans massacre Christians first, followed by a violent riot led by the Christians that leads to a marginalization of the pagans. Christians harrass Jews, followed by a Jewish attack on a group of Christians, followed by a massacre of Jews and their banishment from the city. Finally, the Christian bishop of Alexandria denounces Hypatia as being a bad influence because she is a woman who speaks her mind and believes in nothing (only philosophy and science) and a group of zealots catch and kill her.

I watched the movie first, and then read the historical accounts available on the Internet. Apparently the movie spins a lot of fictional threads for dramatic effect and there are inaccuracies in terms of how the library of Alexandria of sacked by a Christian mob or how she was killed. In the film, she dies quietly in the arms of a man who used to be her slave (and in love with her) but now is part of a group of violent Christian zealots. He kills her mercifully by choking just before the mob gets to her and the events after that are not shown. It seems that the real way she was killed and paraded through the streets was a lot worse.

Despite the historical inaccuracies and dramatic license taken by the director, the film makes you want to know more about how Christianity grew in influence around the Mediterranean and in Europe in the early centuries of its existence. Hopefully the reality of the expansion was not as brutal and un-Christian as shown in the movie, but at the same time it is probably true that violence accompanied the conversion process when intolerant zealots forgot that they were trying to spread faith in peace, forgiveness, and love, a tragedy that should never occur.

A culture of political apathy among Japanese youth...Japan Times article by Roger Pulvers

I think this would make an interesting issue for an essay for some of our students research.

Pulvers poses the question:

Why are today's young people (in Japan) so deliriously apathetic and passive? And for how long will they remain that way?

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20111002rp.html

Pulvers cites this book by Yoshimoto Takaaki, which I have never read, but may try to get from the library. Looks interesting.


Personally, I have tended to be moderate in politics, and perhaps the "new" way to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the government and start a political movement is to raise voices on Twitter or Facebook. But a spirit of concern and a desire to do something to ensure change is necessary in all ages.

My Reaction to Fisher's "Perception of Self"

What do you see? A vase or...?

Over the past six years, the Fisher article in our Reader has become of my favorites. It is good for our students to think about this stuff. I wish I had been equipped with awareness of the nature and elements of human perception when I was 18 years old.

Fisher basically explains his theory that perception is experiential, selective, inferential, inaccurate, and evaluative. In other words, our interpretations of what we sense in the world are influenced by our past experiences, our selective filtering of a limited amount of sensory information, our inferences from that selective information, and our evaluations of that information as important or not important, or positive or negative. As a result, we have to accept that, to some extent, our perceptions of the world are incomplete and inaccurate.

Fisher also explains that our perceptions are influenced by not only 1) senses and our interpretations of them, but our 2) expectations, 3) the figure/ground effect (what we see or are led to see as important), 4) comparisons of our interpretations with others, and 5) the context that we are in. All of these points seem reasonable to me.

The limited nature of perception and the various elements that influence it are why different people end up with different perceptions regarding the same things, whether it is fashion or politics. It is good to be aware of this the next time you wonder why your boyfriend or girlfriend seems so insensitive.

Critically speaking, is Fisher's explanation enough? Has he left anything out (intentionally or unintentionally)? I think one point that Fisher has NOT explained is the effect of genetic differences on perception. One question I would ask him would be "In addition to experiences, how much effect does one's DNA have on the personal differences have on how we perceive something?" For example, some people may not like this question, but do men and women perceive the world differently due to physical differences? Or do certain elements of brain chemistry or genetic elements of personality (if such things exist) influence how we see things. Just wondering.

One related topic to perception that we haven't talked about is "perceptions of beauty". What do you see as beautiful? Where do your perceptions of beauty come from? Are certain definitions of "beautiful" harmful or undesirable?

The following YouTube video makes us think about this. This might be an essay topic to consider.

My Reaction to Barna's "Six Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication"

This is my 6th time to be teaching this text at ICU. It has some limitations, but basically it is a very good introduction to what factors problems in intercultural communication and how to avoid them.

The idea that the six stumbling blocks of "Assumption of Similarities" "Language Differences" "Non-Verbal Misinterpretations" "Preconceptions and Stereotypes" "A Tendency to Evaluate (the other culture)" and "High Anxiety (Stress such as Culture Shock)" are some of the main problems in communication is quite reasonable.

LaRay Barna, author of "Stumbling Blocks..." passed away in October 2010.

In my opinion, the most important key word in the Barna text appears in the conclusion, where Barna talks about the need for people to not only be aware of the stumbling blocks, but also to make efforts to gradually improve their "intercultural communication competence".

So, what is the competence? How can we improve it? The most important part of intercultural competence is the ability to listen and try to understand with an open mind. When we encounter a person or custom who we cannot understand, when tend to jump to evaluate them as being wrong or crazy and to distance ourselves from them. We prefer to stay close to people who we "get".

To improve our ability to listen and try to understand people, the best thing to do is to try to get to know as many "different" people as possible. Actively make chances to talk with people who you feel are different from yourself. Invite them to some event you are holding. Go to some event that you feel is "unacceptable" or "alien" (politically or culturally) and see what happens. Try to get to know people without judging them from their fashion, labels, appearance etc.

Sometimes the stress may become too much, but my experience tells me that, more often than not, we discover that we actually much in common and you find out that, while they ARE different indeed, that difference is nothing to fear.

By the way, when we talk about "intercultural," many people tend to imagine very different groups from different continents or those who speak different languages, but in fact...almost any conversation we have with someone is an "intercultural" communication event. Even when I talk with my brother...he comes from several different cultures that I don't share such as his current company's culture, or Arizona culture, so we need to assume that we will have differences and use good intercultural communication competence. In that sense, there probably is NOT any major difference between interpersonal communication and intercultural communication.

PS: Of course, don't go to groups or places that are not safe. I will not be responsible for students who travel off to visit a cannibalistic tribe and get eaten etc.

Some "Digital Stories" on Intercultural Communication

I think Digital Storytelling has a lot of potential for use in language learning, and actually for any kind of learning. It is a way to help learners connect the subject to their own lives and make it part of themselves.

One example is how students might make digital stories in a cross-cultural communication class like the following.





PowerPoint from the International Digital Storytelling Conference, which I'm hoping to attend next year possibly...

And shouldn't we be making interesting stories like this to summarize and highlight the research we do for essays in ARW or for research papers published in academic journals? Few people want to listen to "research" but everyone loves a "story".

While "research papers" might be efficient for communicating information to people who are interested in that topic already and want to read about it in detail, "digital stories" with high impact images, audio, video, and highlights of the importance or impact of that research can be effective for engaging the interest of people who do not know so much about that field of research and making them potentially interested in learning more about it in the future.

So...I would argue that our students should be trained to learn BOTH essay writing AND digital storytelling!

Digital Storytelling at University of Houston: Survey Results of Education Use, Social Studies Examples (Very powerful holocaust/Hiroshima images with music and data, no narration)

Digital Stories in e-Portfolios (link)

My Summer Reading Reaction: The Giver by Lois Lowry

This summer, one of the books I read was The Giver by Lois Lowry. I decided to read it because one of my friends, who is a Japanese person working as an educational consultant, told me that this book was the first English novel he ever enjoyed reading, and that he started to like to read in English after he read this. To me, the novel looked like a children's novel in terms of length so I was skeptical about how good it could be.

After I read it, it became one of my favorites. The story takes place in a fascinating “perfect” human community in the future which has chosen to implement a social system of “Sameness.” The sameness policy is designed to eliminate all risk of danger or instability in human society in order to minimize pain and maximize equality and happiness. For example, there is no sex, because sexual urges lead to competition for mates and possibly violence. All reproduction is done artificially and children are born through women called “Bearers” who give birth as their job. Sexual urges are suppressed by taking pills and control of emotions and language and thought is taught to children. There are no colors either. Also, obviously, since there is no sex, there are no real families. People live in “family units” with no biological relationship that have been formed by the guidance of the Council of Elders, a group of wise persons who make all important decisions. Weak, disabled or old persons are “released” from the community so that they do not become a burden. The economy is also very stable, with jobs being also decided by the council; when children turn twelve years old, they are assigned to a work unit that is perfect for their personality and level of ability. The story focuses on the new job of a twelve year old named Jonas, who is selected to be the “Receiver of Memories.”

There is one special person in the community called the Giver of Memories, and he is the only person who has access to the memories of human history prior to the Sameness policy. In other words, he is the only one who knows of a world that includes both pleasure and pain. He is getting old, so he needs to pass on the memories to young Jonas, the Receiver of Memories.

The most meaningful theme in this novel is the dilemma that Jonas faces when he is exposed to the “real” human world that you and I live in today. He sees memories of family love, and pleasure. Then he sees memories of war. Is it better to live in a society that suppresses individual happiness for the stability of society? Or is it better to live in freedom with some risk of emotional pain by love and competition, and possibly war due to desire that grows into greed. Where is the balance and where is the position of Japanese society in this dilemma? As I read The Giver, I pondered the balance between suppression of freedom (choice) and suppression of inequality and risk. Is it better to have freedom to make mistakes? Or is it better for the “council” to make “wise decisions” for us. For example, in Japan, should elementary school teachers and principals be allowed to create their own curriculums freely, or should the central monkasho hand down their wise decisions from above??

I hope all of you will consider reading this novel and ponder some of the themes above. 
Leave me a comment!

Looking Back on ARW Autumn 2010

This was another very good term with two wonderful ARW sections, BB and BH.
Thanks students!

Below are my reflections and some pondering of issues for future courses...

Reading Skills: I required submission of reading notes (summmary, critical reactions, and discussion questions) for every text we read, and almost all students kept up with submission. Ideally, this should be done on a class blog so that all students can see each other's ideas, but I did not require that because I wanted students to bring their ideas to every class and have the ease of just writing their ideas anywhere without having to go to a computer. Last Winter term, I did blogs, and students kept up with them, but complained about inconvenience for having to go to a computer...

So, what is the best balance? A paperless system (at least in terms of not having to collect notebooks) would be ideal...perhaps with annotation in the textbook to prepare ideas for discussion followed by a blog update on what was learned in the discussion? Also, should I designate some students as being in charge of preparing summary/reactions/discussion questions in advance of class? That would ensure that at least some students are well-prepared for discussion while for other students it will be up to them to prepare.

Another issue in reading is that "understanding the text" is taking too long in our discussion time, both as a small group and as a whole group. I want to spend more time on critical reactions and open discussion of opinions and related issues, but...it seems that students' grasp of the main ideas (or at least their ability to summarize them orally) is not at a high enough level to do a coherent critical discussion. The solution? Cut the number of required reading pages (as a whole ELP decision) or use texts that can be more easily grasped by our students.

As an example for readers who are not familiar with ICU's ELP, "RACE WITHOUT COLOR" is a text our high intermediate (TOEFL 450 to 500ish) Japanese 1st year college EFL students at ICU would be required to read for homework over 4 to 5 days and discuss in one or two class periods of 70 minutes. In their notebooks, they would need to summarize and react and prepare for discussion as follows:

1) What is Diamond's thesis and supporting evidence?
2) What are the weaknesses of his argument? How could it be stronger?
3) What ideas of the text do you want to discuss? Prepare two stimulating discussion questions for your classmates.

Not an easy task. The idea is to make sure our students are ready to take college level classes in English, and this level of work will surely be required by non-Japanese professors who they take courses from at ICU or overseas schools...but are they really thriving on this type/level of assignment and class content? More examination seems needed. Perhaps a Focus Group interview would be enlightening.

Essay Writing Skills: Students wrote two research documented essays of 800-1000 words on any issue broadly related to "communication, culture, ethnicity, or race," with many students going over into 1200 or 1400 words. Most students made very tangible progress from Essay No.1 to No.2, so I was very happy to see that. I think almost all got a pretty good idea of the process of selecting a key word of interest, developing a meaningful research question such as "Why has Christianity failed to become popular in Japan compared to Korea?" and research and organize ideas into an introduction, thesis and supporting paragraphs.

Some students had difficulty, but my feeling was that those were the students who underestimated(perhaps?) the time they would need to spend in the library to find sources and develop a supportable thesis on the topic. Students who started early were able to visit me, get advice in tutorials (one-on-one conferences), and develop their paper further. Students who started late often had very little to show me or discuss with me when we met for conferences.

So...what is the solution for helping the students who had difficulty? More examples of how an essay develops? More warning that research takes time and creativity and endurance?

In any case, I hope all of my students can say they developed their confidence as a reader/writer of academic materials and their ability to research, react to, and discuss critical issues. Is my hope real? Students did student evals, but I wonder if those will really show how they feel.

Need to do a focus group interviews!

Discussion Notes: Barna 7-14

Main Points:

This section has three more stumbling blocks:

Stereotypes and preconceptions such as "all Japanese are inscrutable" or "all Americans are individualistic and outgoing" are a stumbling block because they make it difficult for us to see a person or situation in that culture objectively.

The tendency to evaluate other cultures as "strange" or "abnormal" is also a main stumbling block because it leads to unnecessary conflicts. It is necessary for us to stay open-minded and "look and listen empathically" without judging.

High anxiety or tension, which is often experienced in intercultural communication, is also a stumbling block because stress leads to defense mechanisms such as "skewing of perceptions, withdrawal, or hostility." In other words, when we feel stressed, it is more difficult to stay calm and enjoy cultural differences. As solutions, Barna recommends getting used to differences and to increasing awareness and control of one's physical responses to stress.

Finally, Barna's conclusion recommends an achievement of intercultural communication competence, which is the ability to manage the challenges of intercultural communication such as differences and stress.

My Critical Reactions

1. Overall, I think Barna's "6 stumbling blocks" are useful to be aware of, but why does she stop at six? Aren't there others? For example, why doesn't she include important things such as "apathy toward other cultures" as a stumbling block?
   
   
2. In the Culture Shock section, I think Barna fails to write adequate solutions. She writes that culture shock is "least troublesome to those who learn to accept cultural diversity with interest (p.12)", but what should people who get culture shock DO to overcome it??
   
   
3. In the Stereotype section, Barna states that "stereotypes are psychologically necessary" because they help us avoid ambiguity or a sense of helplessness and give us security. However, I don't agree that we need "overgeneralized, secondhand beliefs" such as "All Japanese are~~" or "All Americans are~~". Some reasonable generalizations such as "Many Japanese tend to be more reserved than Americans" may be useful, but OVERgeneralizations should be avoided completely. They are not useful; they are harmful.

Discussion Questions:

1. Which of the 6 stumbling blocks do you think is the most serious? In other words, which one is the most useful for all intercultural communicators to know? Why?
   
2. If you were to choose a "7th" stumbling block, what would it be?
3. Do you have any stereotypes of people from other cultures? Where did your stereotype come from?
4. Have you ever experienced culture shock overseas or within Japan? What physical or mental reactions do you remember?
   

ARW Autumn 9/13-14: Intro to Culture, Perception, Communication Unit

After reviewing names, we talked about how we can simply define the terms Culture, Perception, Communication (as a "personal" working definition), why they are important to us, and what issues or problems in relation to them we might consider for essays and discussions.

Here's our definitions.

For issues/problems, for example, we brainstormed (mainly in BB) that some key issues are Intercultural Misunderstandings, War and Conflict between peoples, Discrimination, Extreme Beliefs (based on misperceptions), and Lack of Communication.

As for good key words, for essays, I encouraged students to find articles in the news (like this one about Aso's "One Race" speech) that show some of the main culture/perception/communication related issues.

Two examples of past students essays I showed were about "Causes of Discrimination Against Ainu" and "Is the Veil in Islam Discrimination Against Women?". Both of these were very nicely written based on the students' interest in cultural understanding issues they found on the Internet or other media.


I hope all students have good luck with finding a topic they are interested in! Here are the Essay Guidelines.

Finally, we reviewed how to read a text and prepare notes for discussion.

I introduced the idea of "Top-Down" reading (see graphic) briefly, and then introduced 5 steps I hope all students will do for our reading text (Barna's Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication pp.1-7). See you on Wed!


Source/More Info:

ARW Autumn 9/10 - First Class!

I could not attend the official "first class" on Wed due to my presentation and duties at JACET 2010 in Sendai, so this was the first day to meet my new sections of students, BB and BH.

They helped me learn their names by lining up in ABC order, and then I introduced our course and asked them to do P&Ds (presentation and discussions) on their summer reading books.

I'm very happy that both sections have a friendly, diligent atmosphere and am looking forward to our 10 weeks of learning together. The discussions on their summer reading looked quite lively, and I'm looking forward to reading their reaction journals and Book Reactions on our Moodle site.

Using the "recommended ELP summer list" as the basis of their choice, several read The Giver by Lowry, and Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby were popular as well. Some others read Girl with the Pearl Earring, Things Fall Apart, 1984, Brave New World, Siddartha, and The Pearl. Some unique choices were The Picture of Dorian Grey, Slaughterhouse Five, Cartels of the Mind, and Razor's Edge.

Below are some quick "First day of school" cartoons off the Internet.

Fatherhood in Japan

I feel this is a very important issue for Japanese society and culture, and I was happy to see that it was the focus of a Japan Times editorial and to find that the Welfare Ministry of Japan has a project to promote the importance of fatherhood.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20100905a1.html

ICU students, this may be a good essay topic if you examine whether the government's plan will work or not for improving a sense of responsibility among fathers who are having difficulty making time for their families!

http://www.ikumen-project.jp/index.html

I declare myself an iku-man!

Our Century's Greatest Injustic/Half the Sky by Wudunn

Gender discrimination is one of the topics that my students often explore in our Autumn units on "communication, perception, culture" and "race/ethnicity".

This video might be a good starting point for research on the process of improving the position of females in various regions of the world, both in developing and developed countries.

WuDunn's presentation makes seem valuable points about the need for improving security, nutrition, and education for females, especially in developing countries. Although she doesn't validate her evidence with sources, she makes a good case arguing that discrimination against females is the greatest injustice and greatest priority for change in the 21st century. Whether there are other priorities is open to debate, but in any case, I strongly agree with the point she makes with the final anecdote about how privileged we are in developed countries and how important it is to realize our responsibility to help others.