Culture of English Speaking Countries - Week 4 - Cultural Products

Introduction: Hello and welcome to Week 4 of the course Culture of English Speaking Countries for the bachelor's in English teaching at ULACIT. This week we will discuss the products of culture, both tangible and intangible, and how they can serve as portals to the exploration of the other four cultural dimensions.

Today's Goals:

• Explore the practices, perspectives, communities, and persons associated with everyday Costa Rican cultural products.
• Create a culture map to examine the interaction between products, practices, and persons in physical space.
• Discuss the lasting effects of the settling of the American frontier on US cultural perspectives and practices.

Guiding Questions: 

• How is my culture represented in the products I see around me?
• How do products, practices, and persons intersect in a cultural place that I visit often?
• Why is the gun culture in the US a uniquely American problem?

Warm Up: Future Archeology

Archeologists study the material culture (products) of past civilizations. With some cultures, there is a written record that helps researchers understand their associated practices and perspectives. However, in preliterate societies or ones whose writing system has not been decyphered, these associations must be infered. David Macaulay (1979) wrote a humorous book called Motel of the Mysteries to explore this topic. 

• Typical 21st Century North American: CLICK HERE 

Now, play the role of a future archeologist exploring the ancient ruins of the lost civilization of Ti-qui-cia. Choose several everyday cultural products that are common in Costa Rica. What would a future researcher infer about the practices and perspectives associated with it? CLICK HERE to view an example from a previous group.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE

Task 1: Group Recall

Let's take a moment together to recall the topics we explored last week.

• How is culture like an iceberg? What works with this metaphor? Is anything missing?
• What is ethnocentrism?
• What is cultural exceptionalism and how is it related to ethnocentrism?
• What are the features of American exceptionalism? How does it appear in US culture?
• What are the five dimensions of the cultural pentad?
• What is the difference between tacit and explicit cultural aspects?
• What do you recall from the topic of religeous pluralism of the US?
• What is the Protestant Work Ethic?

Task 2: Exploring Cultural Products

For homework this week you read Chapter 5 Cultural Products in the Moran book and completed a study guide. Open your study guide and respond to the following prompts with your partners. 

• What is a cultural product?

• What are the four types of cultural products?

• At the beginning of your study guide you were asked to write a vivid description of a busy place in your country or your first impressions of a different country. Read your descriptions to your partners and see how many cultural products you can identify. 

• Now think about those same places you described earlier. Can you think of any of the following that are associated with this place?
• Artifacts
• Places
• Institutions
• Art Forms

• In two tasks you were asked to describe the artifacts and layout of your living room. In what ways does the layout and organization of your living room represent typical organizational patterns of other living rooms in your culture? Why do you think Costa Rican living rooms are organized in this way? 

• What could someone from a very different culture learn about Costa Ricans by stuyding their living rooms?

Theory Break: Cultural Products

• "Products, the visible dimension of culture, are the gateway to the new culture, the new way of life. They are the first things that greet our senses when we enter the culture, and the differences stand out (Moran, p. 48)."

• "Visible cultural products often appear discrete or isolated. However, if we look more closely at them, we see that they are almost always related to other cultural products, and that these collections of objects are ultimately linked to sets of cultural practices, set within specific communities, involving particular persons, and are carriers of meaning - cultural perspectives (Moran, p. 49)."

• Cultural products can be broken into four categories:

• Artifacts: "The things of the culture"
• Places: Places or physical settings
• Institutions: Social institutions to deal with "the business of living"
• Art Forms: "Reflect the esthetic outlook, sensibilities, and philosophy of the culture" (perspectives) CLICK HERE

Task 3: Artifacts as Portals to Other Cultural Dimensions

Since products are the most visible dimension of culture, they are often what we first notice when entering a new culture but we don't need to stop here. Since all products are associated with practices, persons, communities, and perspectives, they can serve as an entry point that helps us explore the rich details and connections under the surface. Return to the links in Task 1. Look at some of the cultural artifacts and explore the 5 Dimensions of Culture framework by responding to the prompts below.

• Product: What is it? Where do you find it?

• Practices: How do you use it? When?

• Persons: Which people use this?

• Communities: Which groups of people use this object?

• Perspectives: Why do people use this? What significance does it have in the culture?

• Additional Associations: If you have time, use the prompts below to guide your exploration of this cultural practices assocaited with this artifact even futher. Not all will be applicable.

• Making/creating
• Designing
• Decorating
• Buying
• Selling
• Trading
• Losing
• Using/operating
• Maintaining
• Storing
• Damaging
• Repairing
• Discarding
• Recovering 

Theory Break: Places

• "Man-made settings are populated with numerous artifacts, arranged in particular ways within the physical space. The organization, layout, or interpretation of this physical space is a critical feature of places, just as much as the artifacts and their arrangements in these places (Moran, p. 52)."

• Places are interesting cultural features to explore because of the reasons mentioned in the quote and also because it is within places that different cultural practices are carried out by communities and specific persons.

Task 4: Culture Mapping

Let's explore the topic of places in greater detail by drawing a culture map. Choose a public place that you are familiar with and draw a map of it from a top-down perspective. Be as detailed as you can and include the cultural artifacts in their locations. If your drawing skills are not great, just use simple shapes and symbols. 

Suggested Places: You can choose any public place but be sure it is a specific real place that you visit.

• Bus station you use
• Pulperia in your neighborhood
• Soda/restaurant you are familiar with

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE
• Teacher's Example: CLICK HERE

Exploring the Culture Maps: Now share your maps with your partners and explain the following aspects.

• Where is this place located within your city or neighborhood?
• Describe the physical layout of the place and the artifacts found there.
• What is the significance of the location of the artifacts?
• What are the "hot spots", the points in the map where actions occur?
• What can you say about the products, practices, perspectives, communities, and persons associated with this place?

Task 5: The Rugged Individualist

In order to begin to explore the topic of your Culture Learning Journal this week, we will begin by listening to and analyzing a popular country music song from the 1950's called Don't Take Your Guns to Town. Click on your group link below and complete the tasks with your partners.

• Group 1: CLICK HERE
• Group 2: CLICK HERE
• Group 3: CLICK HERE
• Group 4: CLICK HERE

Task 6: The Frontier Heritage

Discuss the following questions with your partners.

• What was the American frontier historically and how did it influence the American character?

• What is the archetype of the "Rugged Individualist"? What are his/her characteristics?

• Man's struggle against the wilderness
• Man's struggle against man

• Can you think of famous TV, film, or literary characters that fit this archetype?

• The popularity of wilderness survival TV shows is a very clear example of the persistance of the frontier heritage of self-reliance and the rugged individualist. How many of these shows can you name? 

• Gun ownership is a politically and culturally divisive topic but it is an essential cultural feature of the US. CLICK HERE to read some statistics.

• How do people in your culture view the role of guns in US culture?

• How does your culture view the topic of gun ownership?

References:

Faul, S. (2008). Xenophobe's Guide to the Americans. Oval Books.

Kearny, M., Crandall, J., & Kearny, E. (2005). American Ways: An Introduction to American Culture (3rd ed.) Pearson Education, Inc.

Macaulay, D. (1979). Motel of the Mysteries. Scholastic Inc. 

Moran, P. (2001). Teaching Culture: Perspectices in Practice. Heinle, Cengage Learning.