Sydney - Stanford || Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Video Conference || May 2010
Workshop page link: http://ccr.stanford.edu/workshops/2010.05.html
Activity: Presentation and Rhetorical Analysis of Cartoons/Texts across Cultures
I. 15 Minutes
Getting to Know Teams in a Cross-Cultural Context
Location: Rooms A, B, C, D, & E at http://switchboard.stanford.edu.
Activity 1: Introduce yourselves by name, age, course of study, place of origin. Briefly describe the class
you’re taking and what your university’s like to the members of the group from the other country.
Activity 2: Look at the U.S. and Australian political cartoons uploaded to your virtual room.
For the Australian cartoon: Stanford students speculate as to the argument that the cartoon is
making; Sydney students clarify the cultural context for them and then engage in a brief rhetorical
and cultural analysis of the cartoon.
For the U.S. cartoon: Sydney students speculate as to the argument that the cartoon is making;
Sydney students clarify the cultural context for them and then engage in a brief rhetorical and cultural
analysis of the cartoon.
In discussion of the cartoons, you might address the following:

What is the central argument of the cartoon/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 culture (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?
II. 30 minutes
Presentation and Group Rhetorical Analysis of Political Cartoons and Texts
Group members take turns giving a 1 minute presentation, then receiving feedback on their content and
presentation style from the entire group. Be sure to limit yourselves to 5 minutes of discussion per presentation
to insure that each group member has a chance to present and to receive feedback. The presenter should
receive feedback from all members of his/her group, not just the members of the group from the other
university.
In addition to the questions for analysis above (see Part I), consider the following while responding to the
presentations:


As a member of the audience for the presentation, what more did you want to know about the analysis
of the image or about the research topic? What are some ideas for helping the speaker to tailor his/her
presentation to be effective to cross-cultural audiences?
What aspects of the delivery were particularly effective? Word choice? Style? Structure? Voice
intonation or emphasis? Pacing?
Tech Tip: If you have a saved copy of your image on your computer, you can use the “Open > Image”
command under the file menu in Marratech to open the image on the whiteboard so that everyone in your
group can see it.
III. After the Video Conference
Please post a blog comment in which you reflect on today’s video conference at
http://crossculturalrhetoric.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/connecting-stanford-sydney/
What did you learn about intercultural communication and rhetoric across cultures from this video exchange?


What was most memorable moment or element of the exchange? What surprised you the most?
What new insights do you have that you can use for your presentation, your research project, or future
intercultural communications?