Cross-Cultural Blog

Right now, students are connecting across a 9 hour time zone to discuss the rhetorical strategies that global leaders use in speaking to different audiences. There are six small groups on each side, analyzing speeches by figures such as Obama & Prime Minister Reinfeldt, the Dalai Lama & Christopher Hitchens, Mona Sahlin & Nyamko Sabuni, Obama & McCain on gay marriage, Al Gore & David Keith & Jill Sobule. See the lesson plan here: http://ccr.stanford.edu/workshops/042209.html

Together, the students wrestled with analyzing the rhetorical strategies utilized in these speeches, with special attention to Doxa -- or the cultural values underlying the oratory -- and a particular focus on how speakers handled elements of gender, race, and religion.

For everyone who participated, we now invite you to leave a reflection on this cross-cultural encounter as a comment to this entry. In particular, you might answer some of the following questions:

• What did you think of today's activity?
• What did you learn about global leadership or ways in which leaders use rhetoric across diverse audiences (be specific if you can; share something that your group discussed!)
• How will your experience in the video conference today enrich your own research project or approach to oral rhetoric and presentation?

Continue reading "Uppsala, Sweden connects with Stanford on Global Leadership Speeches" »

Posted by Alyssa O'Brien at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Today, at 9 am in Stanford, and 18.00 in Sweden, students connected over video conference technology to share their perspectives on speeches made by Global Leaders, including

* Nelson Mandela
* Benazir Bhutto
* Bono
* Barack Obama
* Al Gore
* Samantha Power

Students discussed their responses to the rhetorical choices made by the speakers and the way the speech reflects the Doxa or Cultural Values of the intended audience. Then, students shared their own current and future research ideas before working on a collaborative activity - to present a statement on what they learned about intercultural communication or how speakers need to change their rhetoric to communicate effectively across a global audience.

What did you think of the video conference today? Post a comment in response!

· What have you learned about cross-cultural rhetoric from this activity?
· What have you learned are the obstacles in cross-cultural communication?
· How did technology facilitate your cross-cultural communication?

Thank you!

Continue reading "Uppsala, Sweden and Stanford Video Conference on Speeches by Global Leaders" »

Posted by Alyssa O'Brien at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)

In a second video conference connection between Uppsala University, Sweden, and Stanford University, students had an opportunity to discuss Globalization. We started by considering alternative definitions of Globalization (see PPT on the Workshop Page) and then brought it home when students checked out the shirt labels of their colleagues to see where even their clothing was from (thanks to Helle Rytkonen for this idea!).

Professor Patrik Mehrens offered a great discussion of Max Hamburger as a response to McDonald's invading Sweden, and we also examined the website for IKEA as a globalization force - bringing Swedish values (design, food, even social practices like coffee breaks) to the rest of the world, especially the USA.

Students had a chance to pick their own McDonald's website to analyze, exploring how Doxa is represented in the visual rhetoric of websites, and then, using super creativity, they designed their own websites!

Check out all the Group web designs and visual rhetoric on the Workshop Page

We invite everyone who participated to comment here on the experience:

What did you learn about rhetoric across cultures? (From sharing a cultural artifact, from the discussion, from making a visual rhetoric argument together as a team?)
What new insights do you have? (about cultural communication, doxa, or ads?)
What ideas do you wish you could continue to discuss?
What improvements to the video conference process can you suggest for next time?

Thank you! See you for the Dec 1 connection

Posted by Alyssa O'Brien at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (27) | TrackBacks (0)

Today, students at Uppsala University in Sweden and Stanford University will be connecting for the first of three video conferences. Today's focus is on the Rhetorical Situation of Political Cartoons; it seems an appropriate topic (topoi) given that we are on the eve of the US presidential election.

See, for instance, this tiny piece of Daryl Cagle's cartoon on the election (I'm not posting the whole thing for copyright reasons):

We'll be examining a lot of cartoons from Cagle's Professional Cartoon website and also reading scholarly articles about political cartoons as powerful cultural texts that both reflect and shape structures of power.

In the video conference, students will have a chance to select and analyze both Swedish and American cartoons that are particularly strong examples of Doxa, or cultural values. And then students will get a chance to "talk back" or modify/create their own political cartoon about cultural values and diverse audiences! (See Workshop Page)

Here, we invite everyone how participated today to post a comment and give some feedback:
* What did you learn about rhetoric across cultures?
* What was most memorable?
* What new insights do you have?
* What ideas do you wish you could continue to discuss?
* What improvements to the video conference process can you suggest for next time?

Posted by Alyssa O'Brien at 07:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBacks (0)

Our advertisement is a web based article advertising the "Bratz Movie" premier. The article/ad juxtaposes an image of the Bratz brand dolls with an image of their "real" embodiments as portrayed by the young actresses. The dolls themselves however, represent an exaggerated conception of beauty (i.e. HUGE heads, LONG hair, BIG eyes, TINY waists, ENORMOUSLY pouted lips, MINIATURE noses) that we, as "rational" human beings can obviously see are unattainable. Nevertheless, the ad's target audience--girls approximately 1-10 years old--are not aware of this. Instead, the ad works to perpetuate among this young audience idealisms of beauty that are wholly ridiculous.

As an example of ethos: the ad reifies the grown up culture that all young girls wish to partake of and thus, for the girls stand as ready role models.

As an example of pathos: the attitudes and behaviors of the Bratz characters, so warm and inviting, heroic and fleckless, appeal to a sympathetic audience or at least an audience that believes in the optimism of every day life, that the suppressed & vile and can become unoppressed and likeable characters.

-As penned by Lilian Thaoxaochay, Stanford University, Group B

For the MS Document with selected text: Download file

Bratz Movie Ad

Actual Bratz Dolls

& a Random Internet Creation by an Anonymous Person--Obviously in opposition to the Bratz implicit sexuality in lieu of their young audiences.

Posted by Stanford Globalization Class at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBacks (0)

We spent so much time discussing the first three advertisements that we never got around to discussing the last two. We have, therefore, included the remaining two for your perusal.

A Nike advertisement charged with cultural and gender-related issues

A provocative image with a new sense of beauty.

"This is Our Country": An All-American advertisement for an All-American truck"

Appeals to pathos through patriotic fervor

Posted by Stanford Globalization Class at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Are you kidding me?
I'm drinking back all of the calories I just worked off?

This Propel advertisement appeals to the calorie-counting, diet-conscious individuals of the United States. Based on the gender of the subject that the company has chosen, it is clear that they believe their target audience is your average young American female. It is a direct appeal to pathos. The idea is that if you are tired of working out and fear gaining weight, then you should drink Propel.

It is interesting to note that while we are inclined to think of the subject as fairly healthy given her appearance and her concern with exercise and calories, it is interesting to note that the emphasis on caloric intake is largely cultural. Karin pointed out in our group discussion that a Swedish advertisement would utilize different means to give promote the ethos of a being a company that promotes health and well-being. The Swedish conception of health focuses on quality, not quantity. Organic and fresh foods are preferred over low-calorie synthetic foods. Thus, much of the appeal of this advertisement relies on doxa.

Aside from making the product appear healthy, Propel appeals to ethos by comparing their product to a direct competitor, Vitamin Water. Propel appears to be much healthier, particularly when combined with the citation of exact numbers in an appeal to logos. Propel knows that it takes 2640 steps to work off all the calories accumulated from drinking Vitamin water, so you should trust them when they tell you they have the better product.

Comment if you have more thoughts on this advertisement!

-East and West
(Liese, Vonn, Rahul, Karin, Karen)

Posted by Stanford Globalization Class at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

This Mastercard commercial attempts to appeal to most of the American public by assuming that most Americans understand the stereotypical American values regarding baseball and father-son bonding. Mastercard, a corporation that fully participates in capitalism, demonstrates its ethos in this commercial by acknowledging that in life there are priceless moments that cannot be bought. Since Mastercard understands "priceless moments," using Mastercard for "everything else" now seems justifiable.

Though cultural elements in this commercial are based on general American values and cultural assumptions, it really only maintains an appeal to Americans within specific socioeconomic classes -- that is, typically anglo-American adults who are financially able to use credit cards for leisurely activities such as watching baseball games with their children and buying considerably overpriced American food.

This commercial relies strongly on pathos to sell its product/services to its targeted audience. The lofty music, dream-like blurriness, and father-son bonding all work to evoke feelings of nostalgia and/or memory-building that many American families tend to value. The commercial also reassures its audience that Mastercard and this "father-son bonding at a baseball game" situation unify Americans by stating that Mastercard is "accepted at ballparks coast to coast."

...Thanks for reading! -- Deonne, Sae, Jamie, and Joanna

Posted by Stanford Globalization Class at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)