Aurora - Stanford || Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Video Conference || October 2009
Workshop page link: http://ccr.stanford.edu/workshops/A101409.html
Activity: Rhetorical Analysis of the American Flag and other cultural images
I. 10 Minutes
Getting to Know Teams in a Cross-Cultural Context
Location: Rooms A, B, C, D, & E at http://switchboard.stanford.edu.
Activity: Introduce yourselves by name, age, course of study, place of origin. Type names and
emails on the whiteboard; discuss with each other what kinds of comics or cartoons you like best
II. 30 minutes
Group Rhetorical Analysis of Flags and other Cultural Images
First, together discuss what you make of the two flag images (Corporate US and A-Mer-i-Ka).
Answer the questions below as a team.
Then, when you are done, post up any additional images selected by anyone in the group and
discuss the rhetorical aspects of that image. The goal here is to share perspectives across
institutions, majors, backgrounds. Learn how many perspectives can broaden your own.
Address the following questions when analyzing the flags and other images:

What is the central argument of the image presented? Is there an additional cultural
argument being made? What specific visual, linguistic or rhetorical elements contribute to
making that argument? Does that cultural argument work through logic (logos), character
(ethos), or emotions (pathos)? Why might those appeals work right now (kairos)? How
does the text reflect or shape cultural values (doxa)?

Discuss the audience/audiences. Who do you think is addressed by the text? How might
other audiences respond to the message? Are there audiences who might not understand
it? What aspects of the text might be seen as offensive, funny, endearing, outrageous to
certain audiences and why? What do you learn about the importance of word choice,
image combination, context, audience, and purpose?
Tech Tip: Download your image onto the desktop, then select “Open > Image” command
under the file menu in Marratech to open the image on the whiteboard so that everyone sees it.
III. 10 minutes
Collaborative Group Work
Activity: As a team on each side, post a comment in response to the blog post about this videoconference connection. You can use the collaborative white board to draft this statement or draft
your reply right in the blog comment box. BE SURE to include everyone’s names and institution.
http://www.stanford.edu/group/ccr/blog/--> URL to be created



What did you learn about rhetoric and cross-cultural communication today?
What was most memorable moment or element of the video-conference exchange? What
surprised you the most?
What new insights do you have that you can use for your rhetorical analysis work, your
research project, or future intercultural communications?