Welcome to the Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Workshop
Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law, Russia

Stanford University, USA
Professor Olga Kovbasyuko and Professor Carolyn Ross
and their students
January 15/16, 2009
Focus on Cultural Identities
One of 400 captioned drawings from indigenous Andean Felipe Guaman
Poma de Ayala’s 800-page letter to King Philip III of Spain, The First New
Chronicle and Good Government, Cuzco (Peru), 1613. Although Guaman
Poma delivered his letter, King Phillip never read it. (From Mary Pratt, “Arts
of the Contact Zone,” Profession 91. New York: MLA, 1991. 33-40.)
The “contact zone”…
I use this term to refer to social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple
with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power,
such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out
in many parts of the world today.
- Mary Pratt, from “Arts of the Contact Zone,” Profession 91. New York: MLA, 1991. 33-40.)
What makes a “contact zone” encounter positive and productive?
Goals of Today’s Workshop:
•To get to know students from across the
world
•To understand diverse cultural communities
and identities
•To learn how texts (visual/expressive) are
situated rhetorically & culturally
Model Analysis: Image 1
Cybelle in Japan with male maids
Model Analysis: Image 2
Demonstration for Tibet in Dharamsala, India
Model Analysis: Image 3
Julia in Rajasthan, India
Model Analysis: Image 3
Carolyn’s coffee cup made of ceramic and rubber
Your Team’s Task Today
1.
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3.
4.
Introduce yourself and your team’s blog
Explain your reasons for your post choices
Share your cultural artifact
Exchange and Answer questions!
After the Video Conference – continue the conversation
on the CCR Blog!