Humanities 671-01
Robert N. St. Clair
Fall 2008
Strickler 305, West Wing
Wednesday, 5:30-8:15 pm,
Cross-listed with Humanities, Linguistics and Communication (3 hours credit)
Humanities 671, Course Number: 14785
Communication 690-1
Linguistics 690-75
Course Description
Some of the most interesting work in the study of language and culture can be found in
the fields of cognitive anthropology and in the sociology of culture. Cognitive
anthropology and cognitive linguistics are new disciplines that have to do with how
human beings conceptualize and express themselves through language and other
symbolic systems. This course investigates three approaches to culture: culture as a
symbolic system, culture as social activity (practical knowledge) and culture as personal
constructs. The first two approaches are integrated into a new model known as the
language and social construction of culture. The topics included in this seminar are:
spatial models expressed through language and visual metaphor, counting systems and
how they are articulated, the role of analogical reasoning, the uses of metaphor and
metonymy and other major tropes as cultural tools, the difference between ritual and
drama, the concept of world views and how they are constructed, grammaticality as an
instrument of language, social and cultural scripts and the role that they play in practical
knowledge, discourse structures as organized social interactions, and the political
sociology of world societies, world cultures.
The Instructor reserves the right to make changes to the syllabus when necessary to meet
learning objectives, compensate for missed classes, or for similar reasons.
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CULTURE THEORY, STRUCTURAL EPISTIMOLOGY AND
STRUCTURAL HERMENEUTICS: CULTURE AS A SYSTEM OF
STRUCTURAL DIALECTICS
Robert N. St. Clair, 2008
Course pack available through Gray's Book Store
CULTURE THEORY: ESSAYS ON MIND, SELF,
AND EMOTIONS.
Richard A. Shweder and Robert A. LeVine. 1984.
Cambridge University Press.
ISBN: 0-521-31831-9 Paperback.
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COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE
Tony Schirato and Susan Yell
Session One:
Introduction to the course, course requirements, course procedures. and final papers
LECTURE SERIES
Lecture One: Introduction to the theoretical foundations of culture theory.
Session Two: Culture as a Science
Session Three: Culture and Cognition
Session Four: Culture and the Social Construction of Reality
Session Five: Activity Theory
Session Six: Symbolic Models
Session Seven: The Epistemological Realm
Session Eight: The Ontological Realism
Lecture Nine: Cultural Materialism
Lecture Ten: Bourdieu and Habitus
Lecture Eleven: Change and Societal Types
Lecture Twelve: The Framework of Cultural Space
Lecture Thirteen: The Philosophy of Time
Lecture Fourteen: Habermas and Communicative Action Theory
Lecture Fifteen: Culture as a Social System
Lecture Sixteen: Concluding Remarks.
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Seminar Series - Part I
TEXT: Globalization and Culture
Session Nine: Globalization and Human Integration
Session Ten: Globalization and Culture - Three Paradigms
Session Eleven: Globalization and Hybridization
SessIion Twelve Continuation on Hybridity and Reactions to the Concept
Session Thirteen: Global Mélange
Seminar Series - Part II
TEXT: Culture Theory
Session Fourteen: Part I - Culture Theory an Introduction
Session Fifteeen: Part II - Culture, Self and Emotion
Session Sixteen: Part III - Culture, language and thought
Session Seventeen: Part IV - Commentary and Preface to the book
FINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Due on last week of class. Deposit on black board course online.
EVALUATION
1 classroom presentations, value of 300 points
Final Paper - 500 points
Classroom Interaction and discussion 200 points
Post your Final Paper on Blackboard.
Total Points: 1,000 points
SPECIFIC COURSE OBJECTIVES
To explore the nature of a theory of culture and the salient features that should play a role in systems To
understand how communication is structured and how it functions among disparate cultures
To identify the components and functions involved in the externalization of structural epistemology and
internalization of structural hermeneutics and why they are significant components in a dialectic model
of culture as a stratified system.
To understand the concept of cultural change due to the encroachment or the imposition of economic
forces such as globalization, modernization, and the processes of internationalization
To understand the structural nature of change from the revision, modification, and reinterpretation of the
past embedded in cultural space.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon the completion of this course, the student will be able to do the following:
They will be able to able to articulate the concept of culture theory.
They will be able to discuss the nature of communicative structures and how they function within a
system of intercultural communication.
They will be able to identify structural components needed with for a theory of culture.
They will be able to identify how the present is embedded in the past and how the future is embedded in
the co-present.
They will be able to argue either for or against the concept of a theory of culture.
COURSE POLICIES
Late papers will be reduced by one letter grade. If one is found plagiarizing on a paper, the value
assigned to that project will be null and void. Cite your sources. Use APA, the new MLA, or the Chicago
Manual of Style
Turn off cell phones and beepers during class.
Students who require special accommodations should meet with the instructor early in the term in order
to discuss and resolve the problem. If the problem is related to a disability, please meet with someone at
the Disability Resource Center first to assistance and guidance.
As noted above, the instructor reserves the right to make changes on the syllabus when necessary to meet
the learning objectives, to compensate for missed classes, or for similar reasons.
GRADING SCALE FOE THE FINAL PAPER
Check Student Tools on Blackboard for final Grade
Exceptionally well-prepared completion of assignment indicating effort,
A
90-100
individualized style and impact expected of effective communication.
Exceptionally well-prepared completion of assignment indicating effort,
individualized style and impact expected of effective communication.
Unusually well-prepared completion of course materials and individual
B
80-89
imagination distinctly superior to average effort. Unusually well-prepared
completion of course materials and individual imagination distinctly superior to
average effort
Satisfactory completion of assignments. This includes a thesis statement,
C
70-79
evidence, introduction and conclusion, etc. Satisfactory completion of
assignments. This includes a thesis statement, evidence, introduction and
conclusion, etc
Unsatisfactory completion of assignments, misperceived objectives or methods,
D
60-69
unorganized effort or failure to follow directions
Unsatisfactory
completion of assignments, misperceived objectives or methods, unorganized
effort or failure to follow directions
Failure to complete assignments during the schedule time through lack of
F
Below 50
evident effort
Check Student Tools on Blackboard for final Grade Failure to complete
assignments during the schedule time through lack of evident effort
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