East Meets West: Transnational Rhetoric

Art and politics are inseparable. Chinese artists now in their forties learned this during their adolescence, when Mao's theories on art shaped the visual landscape. Younger Chinese artists have become obsessed with a blend of art and politics-cultural politics-focusing on the positioning of Chinese art within the global art scene.
-- Exhibition Notes, On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West January 26-May 1, 2005, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University

This PWR 2 course will explore how international or cross-cultural art and visual forms provide rhetorical arguments concerning cultural values in specific countries. Our goal will be to analyze how political issues and cultural tensions are either inflamed or eased in contemporary forms of mediated writing such as political art, advertising campaigns, global relief publications, and Internet sites such as http://www.eastmeetswest.org/. During our first two weeks, for instance, we'll analyze the online newsletter produced by Peter Singer to bring humanitarian aid to Vietnam; we'll examine the artwork in the current exhibition at Stanford's Cantor Museum entitled On the Edge: Contemporary Chinese Artists Encounter the West; we'll listen to the argument of Michael Lee's address to the International Advertising Association Meeting in Beijing; and we'll study articles related to the LeBron James Nike scandal in China. You'll complete the "Text in Translation" assignment analyzing in both written and spoken form the argument of one of these pieces. Then, for the major project of the quarter, you'll select a research area to pursue; this might relate to your prospective major in international relations, global politics, cultural anthropology, or Asian studies. The goal will be to conduct a research project on how contemporary international writers work across media to explore and often resolve political tensions between "Eastern" and "Western" cultures. Once you decide upon your topic, you'll write and present your research project proposal orally, then you'll conduct the necessary research on your subject, and, ultimately, you'll deliver your research argument, using the appropriate multimedia, in a class exhibit. Finally, you'll have the opportunity to compose a reflective essay in which you articulate how your research can contribute to your future academic or professional endeavors. The course will be taught in a computer-enhanced classroom and will give you real-world, hands-on experience in analyzing, researching, writing, and delivering work that is relevant to your major or extracurricular interests.


	How does East meet West in this Billboard posted in the International Terminal in Taipei, Taiwan? Who is the audience for this "ad"? What are its rhetorical properties? What is the persuasive message?

Billboard Advertisement by GIO, Photo taken July 30, 2004, Taipei Airport, Taiwan.