Discourse 200
Fall 2014
Ferrel
Created by: Thomas Ferrel
Culture and Discourse Paper:
Narrating and Analyzing Cultural Experiences (Writing Project 1)
“Culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all
matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and written in the
world […]”—Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, 1869 (1920), p. viii
“[…] there is the ‘social definition of culture, in which culture is a description of a
particular way of life, which expresses certain meanings and values not only in art and
learning but also in institutions and ordinary behavior.”—Raymond Williams, The Long
Revolution, 1961 (2001), p. 57
“The concept of culture I espouse […] is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Max
Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of meaning he himself has spun, I
take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an
experimental science in search of law but an interpretative one in search of
meaning.”—Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Culture, 1973, p. 5
“[…]culture [is] a hierarchical organization of values that is accessible to everyone but
which at the same time gives rise to a mechanism of selection and exclusion[…]” Michele
Foucault, “3 February 1982: First Hour” in The Hermenutics of the Subject: Lectures at the
College de France 1981-1982. (2005), p. 179.
“Culture forms our beliefs. We perceive the version of reality that it communicates.
Dominant paradigms, predefined concepts that exist as unquestionable , unchallengeable,
are transmitted to us through culture. Culture is made by those in power—men.”—Gloria
Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. (1987/2012), p. 38.
“Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partly shared with
people who live or lived within the same unwritten rules of the social game. It is the
collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from others.” (sic)— Geert Hofstede and Gert Jan Hofstede,
Cultures and Organizations Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its
Importance for Survival, 2005, p. 4
Similar to Gloria Anzaldúa writing about speaking multiple languages and moving in and
out of numerous language communities in her essay, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” many of us
live in multiple discourse communities and cultures. For this first project, you are to write a 5-6
page essay about significant experiences you’ve had during your life traversing different
cultures, focusing on the role discourse played in these experiences. Specifically, your essay
should narrate and discuss how discourse created, reinforced, or revised culture; functioned to
enfold or exclude people in and from culture; and empowered or oppressed people. Your essay
Discourse 200
Fall 2014
Ferrel
should include research from 4-6 scholarly and popular sources, with the ratio of the two being
equal or greater in terms of the number of scholarly sources.
This essay not be a comprehensive autobiographic narrative, but the first drafts should
explore childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. As you revise your essay throughout the
semester, you probably will decide to narrow your focus in terms of a culture(s) or theme, but in
the beginning write broadly to facilitate exploration and discovery (i.e., writing to learn).
A good way to start brainstorming about what you want to write about for this essay
might be to make a chronological list of the cultures, subcultures, and/or countercultures that
you have been a part of, exposed to, or maybe even alienated by during your lifetime. Once you
have constructed an extensive list, apply the theoretical lenses about culture and discourse
provided above, in our readings, and in our class discussions to the cultures you have listed as
being significant to your individual history/life. Conversely, you might brainstorm about the
groups in your life that connect to the above ideas about culture and list them according to
categories. As a third approach to invention for this essay, make a list of the most important
values/beliefs that you either held at one time or still hold today and then link these
beliefs/values to a culture(s) and write about how discourse constructed and reinforced the
values within a group.
Regardless of how you go about invention for this essay, it is important that you think
about your cultural narrative in critical, analytical terms—not just factual terms—because
reflection should be just as much a part of this essay as storytelling. Your writing should discuss
the values, beliefs, and ideals important to the group you’re writing about and link them to
discourse, such as language, behaviors, traditions, and other communicative, material aspects of
the group. As a writer, it is up to you to decide how reflection/analysis will be carried out in your
essay. For instance, you might choose to interweave commentary throughout your essay, or you
might relegate critique to the end of sections or the conclusion. You, as the writer of your essay,
will have to determine the most effective strategy, so experiment with different approaches. In
the end, going in depth, being thoughtful, and articulating ideas plainly are what will have more
of an impact on the success of your analysis than where you place your analysis.
As for crafting a successful essay, think about the characteristics of your favorite stories
and the essays we have read this semester that moved you and provoked thought. No doubt,
vivid descriptions, suspense, humor, engaging dialogue, and clear transitions represent the key
Discourse 200
Fall 2014
Ferrel
aspects of good storytelling. In summary, entertain us as well as teach us, and, above all, write to
have fun and to learn.