Cross-Cultural Blog

This part about the consequence of fast food consumption in terms of body weight and general healthy is originally a large part of my research paper. To strengthen the main argument of the paper and improve the flow of the essay, this less related part is taken out and made into a blog post instead. It is a summary of interesting discoveries that I have made during the research,.

Few people will be surprised when told that fast food is not healthy. Fast food restaurants serve deep fried contents such as French Fries and chicken nuggets, also high-fat and high-energy contents such as hamburger and ice cream sundae, in addition to carbonated soft drinks that is high in added sugar content.

Scientists and parents alike have found fast food to be high-energy, high-fat, and highly palatable contents that are potentially harmful to children consumers. However, to the surprise of many people, while fast food has been strongly associated with obesity among American children, it is yet to be deemed the cause of obesity. In order to build stronger arguments against fast food consumption, scientists have sought to prove that fast food is not only bad in itself, it can also lead to an unhealthy dietary pattern.

Two studies, one by Bowman et al and another by Paeratakul et all, have used the same data set (Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals taken in between 1994-1998, and Supplemental Children's Survey in 1998) and have derived the same conclusion: consumption of high-energy, high-fat and palatable food, fast food in particular, is strongly associated with less intake of healthy food options such as fiber-rich vegetables, nutritious fruits as well as calcium-rich dairy products.

In other words, consumption of fast food is not just bad in itself, it can also have negative effect on the overall dietary pattern of both adults and children. While a few parents restrict their children from eating fast food, the majority tries to strike a balance between healthy and unhealthy diet. I am not writing to advocate that children should be forbidden to consume fast food, which is a part of growing up in the United States. I am saying that parents need to be aware that the balance can be easily broken and consumption of healthier options can disappear completely from a child's diet. One also has to keep in mind what is the effect on the child's future lifestyle, when he/she becomes an adult, is this consumption pattern going to persist and even worsen?

Posted by Stanford: Cultural Interfaces at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects go here: http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/blog/2008/04/cultural_interfaces_research_p.htm.

Over Spring Break I did not travel back home but instead stayed on the Stanford campus to do research. It was pretty quiet at night with of the students gone. I found myself needing a rest from studying, so I went online and surfed the Internet. I came upon MTV’s website. Laguna Beach, I saw, had videos online. Without any DVDs or a TV nearby I thought about watching an episode or two. This was, after all, a popular show I had heard about. Many of my high school friends watched it. In fact, they had entire parties where they would come to together to watch the show. What was all the hype? I decided to watch an episode.

With its pristine beaches and multimillion-dollar homes, Laguna Beach is one of the wealthiest, most beautiful beachside communities in the world. From prom to graduation, the Laguna Beach cast took viewers along the ride of their lives. Their tumultuous affairs became the stuff of prime time drama. Except all this was “real.” Indeed, Soon I found my self addicted and living almost vicariously though my high school days.

My own addiction to the show that warm spring night reflects the grand interest that the public also had in the show. After its debut, Laguna Beach became one of the most watched shows on MTV in the United States, surpassing The Real World as MTV’s top-rated series. The antics of Laguna Beach's characters— LC, Kristin, Stephen and Talan—proved to be not only entertaining, but also wildly addicting as the show continually captured the attention of 3 million viewers every week in its first season. MTV.com’s site-wide traffic for Laguna Beach content generated more than 90 million page views to date.

In spite of its success, when most op-ed writers and media analysts discussed the social value of Laguna Beach, the underlying assumption was that low-quality television programming is a long-standing problem. Countless articles lamented the show as part of a trend of reality television that is hurting both America's moral fiber and the quality of good TV.

But lost in these accounts was how complex and stimulating a show like Laguna Beach could be. As Steven Johnson, bestselling author of Everything Bad is Good For You, states: the shows that make “the most demands on their audience…turn out to be among the most lucrative in television history.” Indeed, Laguna Beach does demand a lot of its teen audience by asking them to engage their mental, social, and emotional intelligence. I argue that, contrary to what the vast majority of critics assume, reality television shows like Laguna Beach are more sophisticated than they are given credit for and may actually be making teens’ smarter. Moreover, they should not be figured as the source for some of problems that face teens today.

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It started the afternoon I drove by San Jose City Hall with my grandfather in the passenger seat shaking his head in disapproval as we passed Ly Tong holding a hunger strike for the naming of a one-mile stretch of land on Story Road. The protestors marched in circles outside Councilwoman Madison Nguyen’s office chanting, “We want Little Saigon!” At the time, it never occurred to me that this uprising over the name of a street was just a small manifestation of a larger struggle for democracy that the Vietnamese-American community has been fighting since the loss of Saigon to communism. The largest turning point in my research occurred when I ventured down to City Hall myself to sit down and converse with Madison Nguyen about the seemingly small issue that has threatened her job and taken over her life in the last year. Like many other Americans, I wanted to know, “What was the real issue? Who is fighting whom?” Because I could not include the entirety of the interview in my research paper, below I have outlined some of the most poignant quotes from our conversation.

Filial Piety and Obligation
“One of the unfortunate things that happened with this controversy, which is very sad to me is that, we, meaning me, have a lot of supporters but they’re afraid to speak up. They become the silent majority. Speak your mind, it’s a new era. This is why we came to America because we have freedom of speech here. Nobody is going to condemn you for the things you say. Even young folks, I thought they’re past that, but they have certain bonds, certain ties to they’re family. So its understandable, if you live in a family where both your parents are like no, Little Saigon is the name, you know, and you’re thinking no, I think Madison has a point. Are you willing to risk your relationship just to protect me? Probably not.”

“This is a cultural ideology that we’re changing here, a social phenomenon that’s happening in the Vietnamese community in the last thirty years. For the first time, it’s getting so much attention because a public elected official actually stood up and said this is not right. This is not anything new to me. It’s happening in the last thirty years.”

Political Growing Pains of Ethnic Communities
“It happens in all ethnic communities…because we’ve only been here for the past thirty years plus, we have not encountered the true democracy here in America. I don’t think people understand what it means to have certain rights as a citizen, like freedom of speech. I don’t think they understand that because the old rhetoric and things they experienced in Vietnam still linger there. For the older generation, its everything and it builds on who they are.”

“It’s always fighting within the community. It’s always our people taking each other down.
Obviously in this situation right? It’s not about outsiders coming in and saying hey we’re going to imperialize your colony or whatever, its not about that anymore, its about us fighting within. And that’s so dangerous because from the outside they have absolutely no idea what’s going on so there’s no room for mediation. It’s always within, and because we’re such proud people, that our way has to be the only way, the right way.”

Splintering
“Election---people started realizing that the Vietnamese community was a powerful one to be reconciled with. It’s so ironic how the outside looks at our community and sees we’re a growing force, and yet within the community it’s so scattered. It’s dysfunctional to a certain extent. Because of this issue, now the outsiders are starting to look at our community and say yes, this is a dysfunctional community. In the last two and a half years, we propelled ourselves to a certain extent, politically speaking, in terms of political capital, downhill to you know, these people just want to fight themselves.”

Through my personal interview with Councilwoman Madison Nguyen, I began to understand the deeply rooted historical context for the current debate over the naming of the road. The name “Little Saigon” represents grasping on to the refugee identity and the capital of a country that was lost during the war. Those who have not yet moved on from their past, and are instead trying to rebuild their memories in America, hold fast to the ghost of Saigon. On the other hand, those who have decided to start anew in America are ready to leave their bitter losses behind in order to start fresh. Unfortunately, it is those who have not yet acclimated to American culture who are currently attempting to recall Madison for violating democracy during the naming controversy. The question now, remains when will Madison supporters, who she claims are the “silent majority,” finally exercise their right to free speech in support of the councilwoman?

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Last thrusday we talkesd about the documentry (bridges to baghadad) and we have discussed a lot of different aspects and poinjt of views.we all have agreed that the is somehow biased and that it is edited from an American point of view.Also the film shows some of the children living in Iraq but actully most of them were not affected by the war.futhermore, we brought into the conversation examples of stereotypes like that boy in the film that is listening to rock and has his own band and they actully do not care at all were there is a war or not and they are not influnced at all. one of the points that we discussed a lot was how life changed for those children after the war. Two of us agreed that the war gave the people freedom of expression and that was not available before, but most of agreed that yes they got frredom of expression but the lost a lot of thing in return and those thing are more important to them then the freedom of expression. the people lost houses, schools and colleges,electercity and even water: there life was just misery and all they got in return was freedom of expression. Moreover, we nearly all agreed that bush went into this war to take the oil in Iraq. at the end we as a group agrred that a debate would do a great influnce on that course and it will be interisting

Posted by American University in Cairo at 06:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Last thrusday we talkesd about the documentry (bridges to baghadad) and we have discussed a lot of different aspects and poinjt of views.we all have agreed that the is somehow biased and that it is edited from an American point of view.Also the film shows some of the children living in Iraq but actully most of them were not affected by the war.futhermore, we brought into the conversation examples of stereotypes like that boy in the film that is listening to rock and has his own band and they actully do not care at all were there is a war or not and they are not influnced at all. one of the points that we discussed a lot was how life changed for those children after the war. Two of us agreed that the war gave the people freedom of expression and that was not available before, but most of agreed that yes they got frredom of expression but the lost a lot of thing in return and those thing are more important to them then the freedom of expression. the people lost houses, schools and colleges,electercity and even water: there life was just misery and all they got in return was freedom of expression. Moreover, we nearly all agreed that bush went into this war to take the oil in Iraq. at the end we as a group agrred that a debate would do a great influnce on that course and it will be interesting

Posted by American University in Cairo at 06:01 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Now that you've experienced speaking to fellow students across the world, please take a moment to reflect on the experience in a reply to this blog entry of about 50 words. In your comment, consider:

- what you learned about gender and appearance in another culture

- how the technology worked in terms of facilitating or inhibiting cross-cultural rhetorc and understanding

- what you found memorable about the experience and what was not working too well

Posted by Helle Rytkonen at 06:51 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A conversation that is filled with sensitive issues may be too upfront, and may shutdown conversations. In the mean time, nothing other than confrontation can trigger honest and productive conversation. Firstly, all members of this discussion group made sure to establish a free discussion zone by ensuring each other that we will each be open-minded, willing to listen and willing to share. Then Dilys, Dimitri, Keith, Ryan and Yassin were able to create and experiment with a lesson plan by embodying the lesson plan during the discussion.

We first ask Yassin what does he and the Arab world think of the American government and the American people. Unfortunately, people there are a bit frustrated with us right now, and none of the American group members was surprised. We agreed that many Americans may not know about the dire situation in Iraq: the frustrations, suffering and chaos. While Stanford students generally have some knowledge of the issue and are relatively open-minded, our knowledge is limited and somewhat twisted by the way Western media presents the situation in Iraq. Yassin was also concerned with the fact that Islam is now often associated with terrorism, fundamentalism and other terms with negative implications., partly due to the way our media portrays the situation. We were all able to agree on that it is important for both sides to continue having conversations. For example, we have used this conference as an opportunity to exchange opinions. Even though we cannot represent the United States and Egypt as countries, but we can at least provide a few perspective and that is always better than nothing. Furthermore, it is important for us to purposefully seek to understand the situation in Iraq and around the world, especially when information is limited and/or filtered. It is our responsibility to do so, especially in times when we cannot figure out the best solution for such a complicated situation like the post-war Iraq.

By being open-minded as well as inquisitive on both sides, we were able to touch on several important issues concerning war in Iraq in a very short amount of time. Other issues that we have discussed include post-war solution, media representation of current events, cross culture communication etc.

Our lesson plan has certainly worked well promoting a productive conversation. It may still need improvements, but a step like this, seemingly basic, is instrumental to productive cross-cultural conversations.

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Our group thoroughly enjoyed meeting and sharing ideas with Hollie and Nesma from AUC Egypt during our Cross-Cultural Rhetoric video conference earlier today. Our assignment was to jointly create a lesson plan for a future Cross-Cultural Rhetoric session with the objective of effectively promoting dialogue and cross-cultural communication. Below you will find the lesson plan we created:

Lesson Plan Group C

Topic: Media

Objective: How the media is representative of the country
as a whole -
Countries: US, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, UK

Texts: Various sources from the media

Technology: Internet -

Format: Open discussion

Questions:
1) How is women's position in society portrayed?
2) What are some of the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media? Are
people seen as individuals with their own identities, or are they all grouped?
How are different groups seen by others in their own society, and how are
societies as a whole seen by other countries?
3) What are some stereotypes that people have about others in their own
country?

During our discussion with Hollie and Nesma, we talked a lot about the media as a device for understanding other cultures, since media portrayals often represent people's primary exposure to other cultures. We talked about the differences between freedom of expression in the media, and a media censored by the government. An example of the former is the media coverage of the upcoming United States presidential election. To some Americans, this bombardment of media reporting and candidates' statements is simply an annoyance, but we need to stop and remember how lucky we are to have all of this information accessible to us.

We also talked about how media coverage can perpetuate stereotypes (often negative ones) about various cultures. Even within a single culture or country, the media often tends to disregard individuals and their unique identities, and instead groups them into subcultures in order to make generalizations and judgments about them. We were interested in this dynamic, and about getting the perspectives of people in other countries about how accurately their cultures are portrayed by the media. This is why our lesson plan involves analyzing a variety of media texts, such as news shows, music videos, and Internet sites. We wanted our lesson plan to take the format of an open discussion among people from various countries rather than a debate, because we feel that valuable exchanges of ideas can still take place with respectful differences of opinion, and without highly charged emotions.

Thank you again, Hollie and Nesma, for sharing with us and teaching us!

-Johnny, Judy, and Jill

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This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.

From Richard Twiss, a Native-American Christian:

“So one afternoon I asked one of the pastoral leaders how I was supposed to relate to my Native culture as a Christian. I distinctly remembering him opening the Bible he was carrying and reading from Galations 3:28… After reading the passage, this pastoral leader commented on how cultures should all blend together for us as Christians. The then concluded, “So, Richard, don’t worry about being Indian; just be like us” (Twiss, 34).

Many of you heard this quote during my research-in-progress presentation, and at that time, I explained that cultural tensions inside of a church setting often are amplified because arguments over culture “quickly become arguments about God” (Christerson 174). Since giving my research-in-progress presentation, I have been even more intrigued by ideas that relate to this notion of congregational settings intensifying cultural disagreements.

One aspect of this tension that many of my sources seem to avoid talking about is how Christian morals inherently play an effect on how members of the church interact with cultures. For example, Christian teachings almost always teach that if you are insulted, you should turn the other cheek and refrain from retaliation. When cultural tensions occur in an atmosphere that extremely encourages this type of behavior, dialogue that may be necessary for reconciliation can be suppressed. Minorities may often feel a push toward keeping quiet if they are offended by what others think about their unique cultural/religious practices. I strongly feel that this is part of the reason why there are so few multiracial churches; the religious atmosphere is not an inviting place to those who have been historically wronged and may necessarily need to have some sort of reconciliatory dialogue. As mentioned before, very few of my sources address this concern, and if it something that I will devote time to in my paper, I will need to do some primary research; my arguments will not be able to derive authority from the arguments of already established authors.

I do not know how much time I will devote to this topic in my paper, but it is definitely something that I found interesting and a little unsettling. Also, I think that it would be very wise to keep this notion in mind as I continue to do research, since it may be one of the main reasons that segregation in the church exists in the first place.

-Steven Puente

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This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.

Online dating is an incredible presence in our society. In 2006, it was reported that 74 percent of single Americans looking for partners had used the Internet in an attempt to find romance (Whitty 1). Internet users are flocking to online dating websites, such as eHarmony, Match.com, and True, which all advertise the ease with which they can match users with compatible and fate-prescribed partners. We all want to feel loved and accepted by somebody, as well as confident that the ways we are achieving this goal will work. This need is wisely taken advantage of in marketing strategies for online dating websites – these websites are, after all, businesses first and foremost.

I wanted to share an article that I found in a 2004 issue of the North American Journal of Psychology, called “Do Online Matchmaking Tests Work? An Assessment of Preliminary Evidence for a Publicized ‘Predictive Model of Marital Success.’” Right away this source caught my attention, since its first author is James Houran, who lists his affiliation as “TRUE, LLC” (Houran 507). Since the author of this source is associated with one of the most widely-used online dating websites, bias is a strong possibility in this source. Houran’s primary argument is that since compatibility is the big buzz word in online dating culture, online matchmakers need to be more thorough about making publicly available their evidence for claiming that their compatibility tests are scientifically valid (Houran 508). He then goes on to point out that eHarmony, Match.com, and PerfectMatch.com all describe the scientific validity of their matchmaking methods, but none provide specific empirical evidence in support of this.

This sounds like a legitimate argument. However, upon paying a visit to Houran’s site True, I discovered that it was even less satisfactory than the sites he wrote about in providing substantiation for its claims. “Scientific compatibility testing” is a listed selling point, but no elaboration existed; I could not even find links to another page that described True’s process or analyses. I was surprised by this, since Houran wrote his paper with such an air of authority and conviction – however, this shows that I was fooled by his attempts to make his website sound better by putting down his competitors.

In his conclusion, Houran states, “The prospect that millions of singles are making life-changing decisions based on compatibility tests that are not scientifically sound is a sobering one” (521). My question is, how is finding love without scientific intervention such a “sobering” idea? People have been doing it for centuries; “scientific” is not always better when it comes to love, because often love is beyond reason. This quote seemed to imply that online dating websites are the one way to accomplish this, but no matter how much technology we have at our disposal, daters are still perfectly capable of finding love the more old-fashioned, human way.

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This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.

My research is on evangelical feminism as part of the Cross Cultural Rhetoric project for my PWR2 class. In particular my research focuses on how the unique characteristics of Christian evangelicalism and the American social landscape of the last half century have interacted favorably to allow evangelical feminism to thrive despite the antagonism between feminism and evangelicalism.

I can’t be a feminist!
“I am a firm believer in the inerrancy of the bible and the need for personal salvation but I disagree wholeheartedly with the socio-political leanings that the term evangelical has come to represent. Nonetheless, I would feel more comfortable calling myself evangelical than feminist!”

This is a quote from TK, a male Stanford sophomore explaining his stance on evangelical feminism. The term feminist has, for a long time, been a charged one that many Americans feel uncomfortable associating themselves with. When asked why only five people, only one of them male, out of the ninety residents of a Stanford dorm self-identified as “feminist” one female junior responded “Maybe they agreed with the philosophy but didn't want to be associated with the kill-all-men-and-have-babies-through-artificial-insemination kind.”

Her terminology may have been unconventional, but her analysis was exactly right. This situation is only heightened for mainstream evangelicals who grow up in a culture that often actively vilifies feminism beyond its already stigmatized placement as this quote from a renowned evangelical shows:

"(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
–Pat Robertson, Founder, American Center for Law and Justice

Her terminology may have been unconventional, but her analysis was exactly right. This situation is only heightened for mainstream evangelicals who grow up in a culture that often actively vilifies feminism beyond its already stigmatized placement as this quote from a renowned evangelical shows:

"(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
–Pat Robertson, Founder, American Center for Law and Justice

I must be evangelical!

My research revealed another interesting trend among younger evangelicals who were egalitarians in their interpretation of gender roles. Although they were openly critical of the political overtones that have come to be associated with evangelicalism in recent years, political views that often are completely antithetical to their own beliefs, they felt a responsibility not to abandon the term.

“I don’t like any of the political stances that accompany the term [evangelicalism] but I am not perfect either. Even though I openly disagree with their decisions, I cannot disown them from their sin any more than I they can disown me for mine. The thing that brings us together is not our politics but Jesus and that we still share deeply in common,” was how Margot put it. Margot, by the way, is the same evangelical senior who complained about the shortage of feminists!

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How even film trailers have cultural values

For this week, our group had to bring film trailers to class and analyze them.
We had to look at the arguments that were given and the functions the videos had to the audience. Here you could think of the music, cultural values, imagery etc.
Monday we looked at 4 videos;
- International trailer ‘old boy’
- US trailer ‘old boy’
- German trailer ‘old boy’
- Trailer from the movie ‘stepbrothers

We analyzed all videos and came to the conclusion that the one that was most interesting, was the one from ‘old boy’. We say big differences between the 3 trailers, the US version begin with the text that this movie won a price, the international one is using a voiceover to make it more interesting for the audience. The German one shows a scene were the character is insane and all 3 show a different way to get the attention. Every trailer is based on the cultural in that country. The US version shows manly the main character whereas the international one shows more fighting scenes and more people, this also counts for the German version. But in this version they also show the love story that is in the movie. The individualistic culture that is in the US, can be seen in this trailer.
To conclude we can say that even trailers have a cultural values and that the movie companies keep that in mind. When you look at this trailers in the cinema, you do not think of this behind a trailer but after analyzing them, you will see that there is more than just some short pieces out of a film.

Groupmembers: Julia, Claudia, Kenan, Daniella (Not present) ,Chun

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members: Andrea, Janessa, Charity, Shefali, Alicia, Lydia

Group LAJACS started today’s video conference with a check-in question regarding movies and our preferred genres. After a short discussion and exchange, we proceeded with watching trailers and clips that our members selected.

Read more...

We started with a video about picking the right wedding dress. It shifted back and forth from interviews with ‘experts in the field’ and examples of the wedding dresses they talked about. Members expressed ideas that the video was targeted at women who were about to get married. The video also seemed to argue that the wedding dress was the most significant part of the ‘perfect wedding’ and the video acts as a guide to finding that perfect dress.

After that video, we watched some clips from an IKEA store in Shanghai, China. Members were intrigued by the similarities the layout of the store had with the IKEA stores in America. After these clips, we watched a video that showed us two people assembling IKEA furniture. This video seemed to stress how easy it is to assemble IKEA furniture. Another point that the members noticed was the music and how it was very fitting to the hectic speed of the video.

The third video was an ad related to the Montana Meth Project. It showed a girl who starts using meth and all events that follow are related to it. The girl steals for meth and has sex for meth, all resulting from trying meth ‘just once’. The video ends with the girl’s little sister, who also decided to try meth. The powerful message of this ad, the selected imagery and situations as well as the words, “JUST ONCE” and “METH: NOT EVEN ONCE”, all give the argument about how meth can ruin your life.

Finally, we watched some selected clips from the documentary focusing on Asian American concepts of beauty and their the increase in eyelid surgery and other procedures just to make the women feel better about themselves. The selected images and scenes made us want to watch this documentary. Our discussion about this clip also revolved around a statement made by the girl in the documentary about her identity as an Asian American woman.

After analyzing all these film clips, we decided to move onto our storyboard activity. We chose to present our thoughts about our video conference experiences through different perspectives, as presented in our drawings above. We really like how these interactions and exchanges we have help us learn about each other, our interests and our cultures. As we analyze everything around us through a rhetorical lens, we establish connections that enable a very fruitful cross-cultural exchange. It is also a great bonus that we always leave the conference with new ideas and opinions about our research topics.

Posted by Stanford: Visual Rhetoric Across the Globe at 03:58 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

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In today's class, we decomposed a short film of our choosing (we chose the Diesel ad on global warming) into a series of story board box outline. We decided that the short 90 second clip could be divided into the following chronological order:

Slide 1: Introduce ways in which the Earth naturally combats and prevents over heating, stating that "this is a good thing"
Slide 2: Introduces ways in which human's actions is wrecking havoc, causing global warming: "this is a bad thing"
Slide 3: Depicts several images of natural disasters, to corroborate slide 2 (states that these disasters have arisen from global warming)
Slide 4: "Hold on! Global warming can't stop our lives"
Slide 5: Series of trendy posters showing how people can still lead hip and exciting lives with global warming. If anything, global warming allows us to bare more skin and have more fun (sex appeal)

Using this basic pattern, we created our own collaborative storyboard. We started with the conflict: instead of global warming, however, we used the power outage in Orebro University. From there, we went on to show that although we couldn't see our Swedish counterparts, we were still able to exchange ideas, perspectives, and feedback. We also decided that our mode of communication was more conducive for loosely structured cultural exchange, rather than for structured discussion about writing strategies. For that, we turn to a more standardized resource: Envision.

By: Cindy, Catherine, Taesung, Marie, and Erica

Posted by Stanford: Visual Rhetoric Across the Globe at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In the first picture, each pair brings its own views and perspectives to the table, or rather to the webchat symbolized by the computer image. Everyone has his/her own perspective, represented by the different colored thought bubbles in the second picture. Sometimes, perspectives even clash as seen in picture three. Yet, through these webchats students from Orebro and Stanford eventually reach a new understanding and form new perspectives. As in an orchestra, each person is instrumental in founding a the new, final cultural outlook. Perspectives merge into a harmony as in a beautiful piece of music.

Posted by Stanford: Visual Rhetoric Across the Globe at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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I joined Group C yesterday because Erica and Marie Michelle didn't show up. We started with a short presentation since I was new in the group. I noticed that we in Group C have something in common that's all of us are from Asian, perhaps that's why we had a sucessive meeting. .-) Well, we did discuss holidays from different cultures , such as Valborg celebration (April 30 celebrating spring coming, singing spring songs and so on) and Lucia ( Dec. 13 singing Santa Lucia) in Sweden , mothers day coming soon in the USA as well as in Sweden. Even in China, mother's day on 11th of May. Efter this we shared websites related to our research projects and in the end of group discussion we chose the Diesel's website as the most unreliable website of the group while Taesung's website www.chinaview.cn/08lhasa/ as the most visually complex website, we also viewed a website of Doctors without Borders www.doctorswithoutborders.org/, it's a reliable website,the target audience easy to get point from images and headers and sub-headers, both pathos and logos has been used.

Unreliable: Diesel website www.diesel.com
Diesel's message doesn't focus on global warming but on advertisement for their clothes. They try to establish ethos for global warming but linking to other advocacy sites but is actually not promoting the real issue. Their focus is not on global warming but on their clothes. They also make global warming seem very unimportant, saying we "shouldn't let it stop our lives". The ad trivializes the issue.

Visually complex: Taesung's website www.chinaview.cn/08lhasa/
The website documents current and past events in Tibet. It is run by the Chinese newspaper. We thought this was the most visually complex because it has multiple images that represent a single perspective, focusing on how China helps Tibet. The website uses objective information to appeal to logos, but the statistics are one-sided. Anyway, this website is very useful for Taesung's research project.

Group Sound of Silence: Catherine Nguyen,Taesung Park, Cindy Guan and Lydia Liu

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Yesterday our group had to take a look at different websites. Everybody brought a website relating to their research proposal. In the Marratech meeting we were going to discus the websites and analyze two specific websites on their reliability and most visually complex website. But firstly we had a nice conversations about what we have done in the 2 weeks that we haven't talked to each other. It was nice to hear everybody's story and to see them again.

For the most unreliable website was a website about learning the Korean language. (http://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com/Korean-Culture.html) This korean language website appears to be made by an amateur web designer. The site disguises itself as a information portal, but is really a big advertisement for making money and praising the "Korean language". The site is very unprofessional as shown by the varying pixel qualities, use of language in describing culture, and the
topics on the navigation bar. The site also has links to wikipedia and other unreliable sites which professional sites tend to stay away from. There are also misplaced google ads that further the unprofessional image of the website. In general this website looks very unreliable to use and therefor Kenan will not use this website for his research proposal. Luckily he did found a much more reliable website to use.

The website, we thought, that was very visually complex and reliable was the website of the Campaign Love Your Body from NOW foundation (National Organization for Women). (http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/) This website immediately seems much more credible than the last website. The used language is more complex and does
not distract from the topic. The target audience is immediately clear from the color of the site (pink), the text font used, and the top bar of pictures. The images at the top of the site portray women of all ages and races, distinguishing the site as one focused on women in a healthy way. The site discusses the use of women as objects in advertising and offers solutions to the negative effects of these ads. The main goal of the site is to teach women to love their body and be comfortable with themselves. This website will be very useful for Daniella's research proposal.

Groupmembers: Julia, Claudia, Kenan, Daniella,

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How effectively does a website convey its argument? In our most recent video conference, we looked at different websites related to our respective individual topics and examined to what extent they establish their credibility (ethos) and how they could be useful in a research argument.

The most unreliable website from our group is "Equal Marriage for Same-Sex Couples: queer gay marriage equality" (URL: www.samesexmarriage.ca or www.equalmarriage.ca) because of the abundance of advertisements, some of which have nothing to do with the topic of same sex marriage, but which stick out more than the actual information of the site. Also, the language of the site has unreliable diction and an unobjective stance, as evidenced by the article title "John Tory's faith-based funding is a loser." However, since it has lots of news articles, the website could still be a useful source.

In contrast, the website for the Embassy of Vietnam in the United States (URL: www.vietnamembassy-usa.org) is the group's most effective and visually complex website. The first picture you see, which is of Bush and a Vietnamese leader, portrays friendly relations between the two countries. The photo gallery shows a peacefulness and happiness among the smiling citizens, recasting the image of Vietnam and its usual associations with the war. The top picture, a Vietnamese woman in a rice hat with a rice bowl, illustrates the preservation of tradition and identity. In addition, the content of the website has links to Visa information, encouraging people to travel and shows how easy and welcome Vietnam is to visitors. Like the same-sex marriage page, the Embassy's website has many news articles that are useful for research, but as an official government organization's website, it is more credible.

A comparison of two websites

By Kristine, Trisha, Victor, Gaëlle, Madina, and Budi (not present)

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This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.

Undergraduates who plan to pursue careers in public service or the nonprofit sector should gain deep understanding of the people they are going to serve. I am conducting a research project for the Cultural Interfaces class on how undergraduates can take advantage of service opportunities to learn about people’s specific culture and context.

You can get an idea of the range of service opportunities available by looking at what is offered at Stanford. The Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford offers summer fellowships in which students initiate service projects or help existing community organizations (http://haas.stanford.edu/index.php/item/448). One such fellowship is the African Service Fellowship. Another is the East Palo Alto Social Venture Fellowship. While the former service opportunity takes place on a different continent, the latter takes place a short drive from Stanford. What both of these programs have in common, however, is that they both encourage deep cultural and contextual understanding.

One way to ensure cultural understanding is to work with a community partner. For the African Service Fellowship, the Haas Center insists that students work with community partners. Examples of community partners suggested by the Haas Center are the Catholic Action for Street Children in Accra, Ghana and The Center for Human Rights in the University of Pretoria, South Africa. When I spoke with Nick Cheng, the Leadership Programs Assistant at the Haas Center, he emphasized for me that the value of a community partner was to ensure that you understood people’s needs rather than waltzing in with your own preconceptions of what would help the community. For instance, he told me that many student groups from Stanford conduct service projects in East Palo Alto high schools. If you attempt to start your own program, you should learn what programs already exist. Otherwise, you might duplicate existing programs. Furthermore, this could saturate the high schools with too many programs that end up interfering with each other.

In addition to the Haas Center programs, there are study abroad opportunities. Two of my friends are studying in South Africa this quarter. One of them is keeping a blog and sharing his experiences with students back at Stanford (http://listeningtosa.blogspot.com/). He discusses how he gained cultural understanding through his time in South Africa.

Another way to participate in service is through design programs. In these programs, students design products or technologies that are useful for people in developing countries. For instance, the Stanford Design School has a masters-level class called Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability in which students design affordable products to help people who are living in poverty. Students used methods they learned in the class to produce the d.light, an LED light that helped replace unhealthy kerosine lighting. Here is a quote from someone who took the class: “We traveled to SE Asia and spent weeks meeting with families, taking pictures, and listening to stories. And more stories. And more stories.” This illustrates how the people in this design project made the effort to acquire a deep contextual understanding as they developed the d.light product. (http://www.socialedge.org/blogs/let-there-d-light/archive/2007/08/21/d-light-design-is-born).

The service opportunities at Stanford reflect the range of opportunities available for undergraduates. As students prepare themselves for careers in service, they must take advantage of these opportunities to gain a deep understanding of the people they are going to serve.

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This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.

A fairly new word, “hapa” has come to refer to people who are part Asian, rather than just half Hawaiian-half foreigner. Documenting the surging popularity of this word, Professor Elam, from the Comparative Studies on Race and Ethnicity Department, showed me a comprehensive source that documents the pride that people take in calling themselves “hapa.” This unique book, Part Asian, 100% Hapa by Kip Fulbeck, which is really more of a creative expression of the hapa culture, has helped solidify my argument that the word “hapa” should be used by anyone who wishes to use it. This 7x7 book features a collection of over 100 people, stripped of any jewelry, excess makeup, or particular expression, whose portraits occupy the right hand page. These portraits are accompanied by a self reflection page on the left, in which the individual was free to express himself or herself through text, drawings, scribbles, or any other self-representation. Two quotes that are particularly representative are “I’m what’s on your spoon when you pull it out of the melting pot!” and “What am I? Shouldn’t you be asking my name first?” And inconspicuously tucked away in the left-hand corner, the person’s ethnicities were listed, with percentages notably absent.

This collection captures the essence of the hapa culture, in that the percentages of ethnicities of a person aren’t the focus of the page. Rather, the individual expression is the first thing the reader sees, after the person’s face. After spending an hour reading every single entry of how people defined themselves, I was convinced that the word “hapa” allowed people the creativity and self-expression they yearn for once people abandon attempts to figure out a person’s ethnic make-up. People do not fit neatly into categories and people should realize the world is not longer a world of absolutes and rigid lines.

Adopting the word seems like a feasible solution to end the insistent categorization of people by race, but there are still critics who cling to the original meaning of the word, half-Hawaiian, half-White. While their claim, that the incorrect misuse of the word is essentially rape (Robbins sec. 2), does have merit, there is no way to prevent every single multiracial person from ever using a word that he or she has found solace in. The afterword of the book addresses the issue of the misappropriated word, “That is the nature of language. It morphs and moves. It is not anyone’s property” (Spickard 262). The incorrect, yet innovative, use of this word has produced more positive effects and even has the potential to break down racial prejudices in America.

--posted by Stacie Chan

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This entry is part of a research project for Cultural Interfaces and Cross-Cultural Rhetoric at Stanford University. For more about this assignment and the class projects, click here.

Imagine yourself going to school full-time, participating in extracurricular activities, and working at the retail store right off campus. One morning, you wake up with a hacking cough, sharp pains in your chest when you take a breath, and a slight headache. You have two midterms to study for, a term paper to write and you have rehearsals for a musical that opens the following weekend. The last thing you have time for is to go to the doctor’s office. So you turn on your computer and log on to the World of Virtual Medicine.

The world of virtual medicine consists of hundreds of websites that allow visitors to learn more about illness and diseases, from experts and people who have first-hand experiences. There are three main types of forums: 1) forums that non-experts can post and comment; 2) forums where site visitors describe symptoms and a certified doctor respond with more information; and 3) a more interactive correspondence where the doctor and the patient uses a webcam and microphone to talk to each other. Though the third type of medical forum is rare, the first two are widely used.

Medical anthropologists discourage the use of online medical forums because they think that virtual medicine creates a divide between the doctor and the patient and deemphasizes the patient-doctor relationship to an impersonal level. They believe that symptoms and diagnosis enables the doctor to categorize the patients, but in doing so, it distances the doctor from the patient and eliminates any social or cultural background that may be important to treatment (Baron 607).

When I first began to research this topic, I approached it with an anthropologist’s point of view. However, upon further exploration, I saw that these websites create a community for support and help and they allow people to find others who are going through the same problems. They can offer insight, information, and sympathy to each other.

I am currently researching the effects of such support groups, as well as interviewing those who choose to participate in the medical forums for first-hand accounts. My goal is to understand the culture and appeal of the world on virtual medicine and how it affects the community.

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Members: Alicia, Andrea, Shefali, Janessa and Charity

Today's video conference started with a discussion about holidays, such as those in American culture, Filipino culture, Indian culture and French culture. The members exchanged ideas about events like the Philippines' Independence Day, Labor day and holidays in Indian and French culture. This short discussion gave us all a glimpse of a different culture and it was a very educational and enriching experience.

Jumping right into the task at hand which was to analyze websites, we went through the websites for the Montana Meth Project, a website about Moroccan marriages, an information portal for Kosovar issues, and the MSF(or Doctors Without Borders website). All the websites that the group looked through seemed very informative, each with their strengths and weaknesses. The most visually complex site was the Montana Meth Project site, which had very powerful visual tools like a banner and a section for different ads used for the project. Although very informative, the website for Moroccan marriages seemed to lack credibility.

At the end of the group discussion, group AJACS decided that the Montana Meth Project site, which would be used as Shefali's primary source of information, was the most visually complex. The pictures on the banner as well as in the different sections of the site show teenagers, thus leading us to determine the target group correctly. (ages 12-17) It also seemed like the meth project was targeted at women since most of the pictures had women in them. We compared this website with a Utah's meth project which was targeted at women who were of child-bearing age.

Other factors to consider would be the strong use of pathos in the site with its use of a serious blue hue to emphasize the gravity of the problem in Montana as well as their wide array of powerful visuals, form videos to billboards. The ethos is also emphasized with the many links to other articles and websites provided thus making it a portal for information. Another key point would be the statistics and very detailed descriptions offered to the viewer which establish the site's credibility.

Alicia's chosen site on Moroccan weddings seemed very informative to someone who wanted to learn more about Moroccan culture. However, the fact that the site had so many online ads on it took away some of its credibility. We also determined that the sites was targeted at adults who wanted to learn more about general Moroccan culture.

The fact that the author of the site is from Morocco gives it credibility since we are assured that this information is firsthand. Another key points of the site include pathos, which is expressed by the vibrant pictures of Moroccan couples in their grand wedding attire, giving us a glimpse of their culture. We also had to consider the possibility that the development of internet in that area is not as advanced as the quick advances in some countries. This factor could contribute to the several ads on this certain website.

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Hurghada is one of the well known tourist place in the world. Its located in Egypt along the Red Sea. Its known for its magic of nature with its clear water and amazing weather.
Actually, Hurghada was not created as a tourist place from the beginning, but it was just a local mining and fishing community. However, in the early 1970s Hurghada has been dramatically changed to a global tourist place with the most beautiful resorts in the world and it has become the first destination for the investors from Egypt and from outside it.
This sudden change in few years has affected the local people and the city of Hurghada itself from many aspects; whether from the economic,environmental, and even the social one. My project focuses on these changes and examine whether they are positive or negative ones. I am mainly concerned with this topic because I am one of the local people in Hurghada who have felt these changes.

Doha Rabei Ahmed
RHET 103
AUC ( American University in Cairo)

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By Ryan and Dilys

This entry reflects on small group work done by students in Stanford and Sydney in an April 29/30 video conference. For more the video conference, see this entry.

During our international discussion, we analyzed the Homeless Guy blog and questioned the legitimacy of his claims. Although he is a homeless individual, we wondered whether he represented the views of the homeless community as a whole or if he was just capitalizing on his blogging capabilities to gain sympathy. We also talked about the differences between a romanticized homeless person (as depicted in the media) versus the human aspect of homeless. Should we sympathize with homeless people who have chosen their lifestyles, not necessarily due to financial problems? We then compared the homeless culture between the United States, Australia and Latin America, concluding that although there are a multitude of similarities, each culture has its own unique set of stereotypes that it deploys when characterizing the homeless. Finally, for our collaborative group project, we created a mural of various pictures of homeless individuals and discussed whether they represented the romanticized ideals of the homeless or are truly struggling individuals. We had an awesome time getting to know our Australian friends and hope to talk to them again soon!

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This entry reflects on small group work done by students in Stanford and Sydney in an April 29/30 video conference. For more the video conference, see this entry.

Our videoconference with our Australian friends focused on the homeless guy blog and his intentions in composing the blog. We came to the conclusion that the author of the blog wanted the reader to understand that the homeless are more dynamic than the stereotype suggests. In response to this resolution, we decided to construct a collage that depicted how the homeless are unique individuals that are active in the community and are more than just transients.

by Keith Schwarz and Dimitri Alves

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This entry reflects on small group work done by students in Stanford and Sydney in an April 29/30 video conference. For more the video conference, see this entry.

In group A's research project Stanford sophomore students Michael, Jennifer and Lara Sofia collaborated with students from the University of Sydney, Austrial to analyze "The Homeless Guy" by Kevin Babieux. Surprised by our findings on the website, we decided to create a "Mind Map" on stereotypes of homelessness.

As a basis for our engagement with the blog we addressed our own cultural stereotypes and defined terms such as "the American Dream" and "Battler." Trying to demystify some of these stereotypes we expanded upon Barbieux's education, family life, and lifestyle. We were surprised by his interest in technology (he reported the use of SecondLife and raised $1,000 for a laptop), reading (his favorite books include American classics by Hemingway and Steinbeck) and his fascination with the humanities. Another area of his life that we found intriguing was his family background. Barbieux has a son and a daughter. Ultimately, our Mind map used key words to visualize, structure and classify ideas about the often over-looked complexities of homelessness.

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This entry reflects on small group work done by students in Stanford and Sydney in an April 29/30 video conference. For more the video conference, see this entry.

Our group’s conversation focused a lot on the differences between Americans’ and Australians’ perceptions of homeless people. We were very interested to learn about the concept of the “battler” in Australian culture. The battler is a working-class person who perseveres and works hard to make ends meet, regardless of how difficult his or her circumstances are. There is a certain amount of glorification and admiration that accompanies one’s status as a “battler,” and we found it interesting that there is really no equivalent in American culture. Homeless people are therefore accorded a certain amount of respect in Australia as battlers who have simply fallen on hard times. We tried to capture this in our limerick about Bob.

Both in our limerick about Bob and in our limerick about Jean the teen, we tried to create characters that represented different demographics in order to debunk stereotypes of who can be homeless. We also attempted to debunk stereotypes of how people become homeless; not all of them are drug or alcohol addicts or mentally ill. They simply find themselves in unfortunate circumstances.

Finally, we talked about the target audiences of different sources of information about homelessness. We hypothesized that the Homeless Guy blog was aimed toward middle class individuals, since Internet access is required to read it. In contrast, our Australian partners told us that there is a magazine handed out on their campus that informs its readers about homeless issues. This magazine is free, and so is probably more accessible to people of lower economic classes than the blog is.

-Johnny, Judy, and Jill

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This entry reflects on small group work done by students in Stanford and Sydney in an April 29/30 video conference. For more the video conference, see this entry.

In our videoconference, we discussed issues surrounding the homeless culture in our respective countries. In Australia, the homeless culture have similar stereotypical images down to the clothing they wear, including beanies, dreadlocks, etc.

We used the homeless blog as a common touchstone to see whether our homeless cultures were similar or different.

The greater context was discussed about what the implications were of a homeless person blogging. Were there stereotypes that were broken because this intelligent person was able to maintain an articulate, coherent blog? We discussed how the stereotype of the “lazy, unintelligent” homeless person because of factors within their own control was broken because of this one person’s blog.

It was fascinating how videoconferencing allowed us to bridge physical distances and have an added dimension of cross-cultural experiences.

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Yesterday marked an auspicious occasion -- it was the first ever video conference between students in Stanford's Program in Writing and Rhetoric and students from University of Sydney, in Australia.

From the Stanford side, I was definitely struck by the cross-cultural elements even in planning the session; because of time zones, our students had to come back late at night to connect (we weren't done with our debrief until nearly 11pm!), though no one complained. And the funniest thing had to be the fact that while we were connecting here on a Tuesday, it was already Wednesday in Australia -- a 17 hour time difference does keep things interesting!

My Cultural Interfaces class was connecting with Rebbeca Joinke's Rhetoric of the Streets, and the subject of discussion was one that intersects with both our curricular interests: The Homeless Guy Blog. Despite some technical challenges, the students seemed to engage in some very rich conversations which touched on issues not only of rhetoric and digital culture, but also on larger social questions of homelessness, marginalization, and cultural difference.

Shortly the students will be posting summaries of the small group work. I was impressed by their presentations and the variety of different types of "compositions" they produced for the class -- from a mind map, to a drawing, to photo collages (which we could reproduce here because of copyright restrictions) and even two limericks! It was a great start to our collaboration, and I'm hoping we can hook up our classes again soon :)

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