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Critical Literacy, Communication and Interaction 2 (GE3B)

University of ArubaFAS: SW&D / OG&MUNIT 1November 5, 2009

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Today’s program:Present the highlights of the

course◦Contents, readings, modus operandi

for this course, expectations etc…Reschedule one extra courseJumpstart with a class

assignmentIntroduce the concept of

community before diving into the theories!

Explain homework for next week

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RequirementsEverything you have learnt in

GE3AGE3A and GE3B are

interconnected

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Framework (1)Explore human communication

within the social context of community and society

The self in relation to the whole, the communities, social groups you belong too.

It is in this context that you communicate, thus communication has a function in the social context.

Starting point will be the ‘community’. We belong to communities:

“a group of individuals with an internal structure of reciprocity relations” (Vos, 2004),

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Framework (2)Belonging, ‘social capital’, reciprocity,

boundaries, uniqueness, diversity, tolerance, trust are important concepts for the understanding of our social self

Communication is seen here as a bridge:Bridging you to the others, to the community,

but also the bridging of different cultures, different social groups, different ideas.

You are embedded in a complex network of social relations and this influences how you perceive the world, communicate (negotiate meaning with others)

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Communication as a bridge

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Framework (3)We will explore important concepts

that constitute a community:The conditions for maintaining

healthy communities. We will explore above mentioned in

terms of ‘communal, engagement and civic literacy’

We then move to contemporary life: We learnt in GE3A, that new times

call for new literacies

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Technological developments have social effects!

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New 21st century literacies:

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Framework (4) We will explore how major technological developments

(e.g. internet, virtual life, social media) influence community and communication

We’ll explore what it means to be part of a ‘participatory culture’

and the new skills we need to have to be ‘literate’ in contemporary life

Moving from there, we will enter the cultural zone again.

The contextual model for intercultural communication we’ve learned during GE3A will be the basis for our further explorations of intercultural communication.

We will try to understand cultural identity and diversity by exploring theories about: microcultures, acculturation, culture shock, conflict, what means to be intercultural competent (skills!, understanding, tolerance)

This time we just won’t identify the context in which intercultural communication takes place….

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Framework (5)We will try to become

intercultural literate!, meaning:Try to understand diversity and

hope to appreciate it, acquiring the competences needed for successful intercultural communication.

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Framework (6)Then we’ll focus on ourselves,

our guiding and burning question will be:

Who am I in the worlds I live in?

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I am part of the world….

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Therefore I voice myself…I am, I’m part of the world,

groups, cultures, movements, ideas,

I have an identityTo have an identity is to

communicate it and reaffirm it, to continuously shape it and re-shape it,

I participate in a complex network of relationships with my identity

I Voice my identity!

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Framework (7)We’ll then focus on oral

communication as a creative form to express who we are, what we want to be and where do we belong to:

We celebrate our uniqueness and we share it with others, with the world

By being aware of ourown uniqueness, we come closerto the understanding of diversity

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Framework (8)We will then focus on one specific

form of oral communication that is both almost perfect and creative to voice our identities:

Storytelling

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Framework (9)Then, we will explore a specific rhetoric

strategy that is very useful to voice our experiences and thus how we see and feel the world:

Metaphors

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Framework (10)We finalize the course with the

one form of communication that bridges differences, it acknowledges diversity and unifies…

A form of communication that transforms negotiation of meaning into co-creation of meaning:

Maybe the most powerful form of oral communication between individuals:

Dialogue

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Co-creation of meaning

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Experiment with dialogueWe will experiment with dialogue:Approach intercultural

communication from the perspectives of dialogue of cultures

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Readings:Articles (digital)Extracts from books copy this

I will post all articles online, the reading instructions etc.

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Modus Operandi5 hours divided in two:Your active participation is very

importantStimulate this by assigning

homework that is the basis for participation in class.

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New wiki…

Coming soonWith all information on it.

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Okay let’s jumpstartIntroduce the class assignmentThen you can have a 10 minutes

breakStart working on the assignment

for 30 minutesWe’ll discuss itAnd then explore some basics in

approaching community

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What does a community mean to you?

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Class assignment on meaning of communityForm groups of 4 or 5 studentsBrainstorm together on the meaning of

the concept community for you all◦How would you describe a community in

your own words? ◦What are the properties of a community?◦What does the unique individual mean to

the communities it belongs too ◦To which communities you consider yourself

belonging to? (each student in the group can belong to a different community) Identify these communities

◦Write this all down so we can share this with the whole class

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Approaching CommunityAs a value:

◦Solidarity, commitment, mutuality, trust, fellowship, communal, communication

As a descriptive category or set of variables :1. In terms of Place:  territorial, people

have something in common, this shared element is geographically/ ‘locality’

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Approaching Community2. In terms of Interest:  ‘elective’ communities,

people share a common characteristic other than place.

They are ‘linked’ together by factors (share some common binding ground) such as religion, occupation, culture, socio-economic status, hobbies, ideologies, ethnic origin, cybergroups, sexual-orientation etc.

◦ We talk about Aruban community, gay community, Methodist community etc.

◦ To study of identity/selfhood plays an important role for the understanding of the approach of non-place community

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Approaching Community3. Communion: sense of attachment to a

place, group or idea----- Communities have meaning to its

members: how? It plays a important role in generating

people’s sense of belonging A Community suggests that members of a

group have something in common with each other and the thing held in common distinguishes them in a significant way from the members of other groups

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There is some kind of boundary

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Similarity and differenceA question of boundaryWhat marks the beginning and the

end of a community?Some might suggest, boundaries may

be marked ◦On a map?◦In law?◦By physical features like a road, river,

sea?◦Religion?◦Linguistic?

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However, not all boundaries are so obvious…They may be thought; existing in the minds of

the member (beholders of the thought) : meaning is given to a community in order of it to become a community

As such they may be seen in in very different ways, not only by the people on either side, but also by people on the same side

This symbolic aspect of community boundary is important if we want to understand how humans experience communities

The defining of a boundary places some people within and some beyond the line (inclusion/exclusion)

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Community as network and local social systemThe fact that people live close to

each other does not necessarily mean that they have much to do with each other (e.g. they may be little interaction between neighbors)

It is the nature of the relationships between people and the social networks of which they belong to are seen as one of the most important aspects of community

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Community, norms and habits:Whether individuals are disposed to engage

with one another is dependent upon the norms of a particular society or community and to the extent to which individuals make these norms and habits as theirs

Identify these norms/habits for the communities you named in your class assignment

to judge to quality of life within a particular community, we need to explore what shared expectations there are about the way people should behave and whether different individuals take these on!

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3 types of qualities that are common when approaching communal life:1. Tolerance: an openness to others, curiosity,

perhaps even respect, a willingness to listen and learn

2. Reciprocity: a definition for now: “I’ll do this for you now, without expecting anything immediately in return and perhaps without even knowing you, confident that down the road you or someone else will return the favor” (Putman 2000).

3. Trust: the confident expectation that people, institutions and things will act in a consistent, honest and appropriate way (trustworthiness/reliability).social trust

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Social Trust Trust in other people. Social trust allows people to

cooperate and to develop