World News 2.25.16

• UNITED KINGDOM: The Brexit—Britons to vote in June on leaving the European Union (The Week)
• UNITED STATES: Government assembling hi-tech dream team to help combat ISIS on social media (CNN)
• THAILAND: Uber launches UberMOTO service in Bangcock (NBC News) 
• CHILE: The Apex telescope in Chile's Chajnantor Plateau produces stunning 167-million pixel map map of the Milky Way (Daily Mail)
  
• CANADA: Court rules patients may grow their own Marijuana (Reuters)
• MEXICO: NBC Universo debuts Top Chef Mexico, highlighting regional Mexican cuisines (New York Daily News)

 

Toulmin Analysis: American Insularity

Insularity is defined as an “ignorance of, or lack, of interest in cultures, ideas, or peoples outside one's own experience.” As it pertains to Americans, we are often criticized for our resistance to learning of the world outside our borders. This can include everything from our resistance to learning new languages to our insistence on American Exceptionalism to our general lack of knowledge of international issues and events. For this assignment, you will utilize the Toulmin Model to construct a rhetorically-sound argument against the American tendency toward insularity. 

Use THIS template to present your claim in outline form,

Note: You are responsible for finding two outside sources to serve as your warrants.

Due: Thu 3.3

Reflection 3: Please Don't—Notes on Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation is the act of one culture "incorporating" aspects of another culture into its own. This differs from cultural exchanges in which American hip-hop and Bollywood-style dancing might incorporate each others' moves, or Korean and Mexican cuisines integrate each others' ingredients. In cultural appropriation, a dominant group assimilates aspects of a foreign culture without regard to their original use or intent. In other words, parts of one culture might be absorbed into another in insensitive, even offensive, ways, often for their perceived exoticism or cool factor. Thus, in America, we've seen hipsters embrace Dia de los Muertos, the popularization of sacred Tibetan symbols as tattoos, celebrities sporting Kabbalah string bracelets, and the labeling of a clean, Asian-influenced design as "Zen" style. Each of these is misunderstood and, in turn, misapplied; and yet each has seeped into pop culture. How have you seen the iconography of other cultures absorbed into the American mainstream? What is the line between borrowing, often sacred, cultural artifacts and misusing them? For example, can we truly understand the traditions of Ojibwa dreamcatchers when they're worn as necklaces, or respect Hindu principles when we do yoga with our dogs?

Include at least two of the following in your discussion:

• "What’s Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These Nine Answers Reveal its Harm" (Everyday Feminism)
• "A Much Needed Primer on Cultural Appropriation" (Jezebel)
• "On Hipsters/Hippies and Native Culture" (Bitch)
• "Día de los Muertos: Cultural Appropriation Meets Craft" (ONTD Feminism)
• "Should You Wear a Native American Headdress to Coachella This Year?: A Handy Flowchart" (Vice)
• "Why You Shouldn't Get Chinese Script Tattoos (If You Can't Read Them)" (Kotaku)
  

Requirements:

• MLA Style
• 1.5 pages in length
• Works cited page

Due: Thu 3.3

Week 5: Brazil

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janiero

Week 5: Brazil
Tu 2.23/Th 2.25
Read: eR—“Why is America so Culturally Isolated and Insular Compared to the Average Country?(Reddit), “Are You an Insular American?” (DailyKos), “Young Americans Geographically Illiterate, Survey Suggests” (National Geographic); FOREVERS—Part 2: The Business of Burning
Class: Reading Discussion; Multimedia presentations

Upcoming:

Week 6: Indonesia
Tu 3.1/Th 3.3
Read: FOREVERS—Part 3: A Little Wildness
Class: Reading Discussion; Multimedia presentations; Watch—“An Idiot Abroad (India)” (Sky1);
Lecture—“Understanding Aristotle’s Modes of Persuasion”
Due: TOULMIN ANALYSIS; REFLECTION 3