This paper describes an innovative type of group class presentation which I have developed for a course called \"The Sociology of Language and Ethnicity.\" The purpose of this assignment is to present material in a range of modalities (e.g., visual, auditory, oral) so that students with a variety of learning styles and cultural backgrounds can gain from the experience. Groups of 5-8 students collectively create a multimedia presentation on the three most important themes in one of the four books read by the class. The assignment is deliberately open-ended and is designed so that students can work cooperatively and work in a range of learning styles and media. I describe several creative ways that students in my classes completed the assignment.
Many universities are trying to revise their curricula to incorporate a wider range of learning modalities (see Halpern et al. 1994; Sherman 1991). Courses which rely exclusively or primarily on lecture format may be an efficient means of transmitting a large amount of organized information, but may not be effective for student retention of information (Green 1989; NIE 1984; Boyer 1987; Shade, 1989a). In addition, individual students have different learning styles (Woldridge 1995; Sims and Sims 1995; Crozier 1997; Barbe and Milone 1989; Barbe 1989; Sutro and Gross 1989). There are also gender differences (Smithson 1990, pp. 8, 13-15) and ethnic differences (Rainey and Kolb 1995; Dunn et al. 1990; Claxton and Murrell 1987; Anderson 1988; Shade 1989b; Philips 1972; 1983; Guilmet 1978; 1981; Ogbu 1988; Irvine 1990) in styles of thinking and learning. Thus, using a range of instructional methods may more effectively reach the majority of students (Adams 1992, p. 8; Shade 1989a). Specifically, traditional educational methods tend to rule out
nonverbal, empathic, visual, symbolic, or nuanced communication; it neglects the social processes by which interpersonal communication, influence, consensus, and commitment are included in problem-solving; it overlooks the social environment as a source of information, together with observations and questioning as information-gathering methodologies; it ignores the values and emotions that nonacademics attach to reasons and facts. (Adams 1992, p. 6)
Because of this, instructors are searching for ways to incorporate active learning assignments, group projects, and visual, auditory, and oral material into the curriculum (e.g., Adams 1992; Bonnell and Eison 1991; Moremen 1997; Petonito 1991; Swain 1991).
These issues are particularly relevant for a course with a subject matter that pertains to ethnicity and interactions between ethnic groups. Such instructional methods give the instructor a chance to demonstrate many of the concepts covered in the class, in a way that leads to a deeper understanding than simply a memorized definition illustrated by a few examples. For example, Gudykunst (1994, p. 39) identifies several ways that cultures tend to differ; among these are the contrast between collectivism and individualism and high vs. low context communication styles. The collectivist culture is one which emphasizes group goals, relationship to others, cooperation and shared responsibility (Gudykunst 1994, p. 40). Individualistic cultures emphasize individual responsibility, achievement, and self realization (Gudykunst 1994, p. 40). The difference between high and low context communication styles has to do with the extent to which the message is explicitly formulated in the speaker’s utterance. High context messages rely on listeners’ efforts to interpret the message relative to its context, while low context messages are more direct and explicit (Gudykunst 1994, p. 44).
Typical class assignments require students to work individually and to use a low context communication style. These are skills which are necessary and rewarded in “mainstream” American culture; students must learn them. However, countries such as Japan have demonstrated the value to the individual and the group of collectivist approaches to education. Women may more often prefer collaborative or cooperative learning strategies (Adams 1992, p. 8; Gilligan 1982; Smithson 1990). Students can experience high context communication styles by means of class assignments which deliberately emphasize these (and other) characteristics. For example, Preston (1991) reports that Native American students function better in the classroom when spatial and visual learning modalities are emphasized (see also Pepper and Henry 1989; More 1989; Swisher and Deyhle 1989). Some research shows that African-American students have relational rather than analytical learning styles (Hale-Benson 1982; Green 1989; Baruth and Manning 1992; Boykin and Toms 1985; Cushner, McClelland and Safford 1992; Hale-Benson 1986; Shade 1982, 1989b). Adams (1992, p. 7) reports that
Asian-American college students can be faced with cruel and unnecessary bicultural dilemmas as they attempt to balance learned cultural values of conformity, modesty, nonassertiveness, interdependence, and cooperation with behavioral expectations of assertion, independence, and individualism demonstrated daily in college classrooms. (Adams 1992, p. 7)
Rainey and Kolb (1995, p. 133) report that
[s]tudents from various areas of American subculture--African American, Chinese American, Greek American, and Mexican American--have different patterns of preferred learning strategies (Dunn, Gemake, Jalali, and Zenhausern 1990). Statistical differences were found in the learning styles of Asian students at a Singapore college and Caucasian students at a U.S. university (Lam-Phoon 1986). Studies suggest that Native Americans possess strong spatial ability and visual memory (Kleinfeld and Nelson 1991). As stated earlier, females have a slightly higher preference than males for concrete experience over abstract conceptualization and vice versa (Smith and Kolb 1986).
Group activities which incorporate a variety of learning modalities are therefore likely to be especially useful for classes with a multicultural emphasis, and/or a multicultural student population. In this paper I will describe a group class presentation assignment I developed for a course I call “The Sociology of Language and Ethnicity.”
I describe the “Sociology of Language and Ethnicity” in detail in (Citation Deleted), so I will only briefly summarize my description of the course in the current paper; readers are referred to the article for complete details including a syllabus, assignments, and tests. The “Sociology of Language and Ethnicity” is an upper level undergraduate course which examines the relationship between ethnicity and language. Language is broadly defined to include interaction, nonverbal communication, paralanguage, media and cultural texts, in addition to linguistic phenomena. Topics covered include the relationship between language and ethnic identity, inter-group communication and miscommunication, representations of ethnicity in cultural texts, and how ethnicity is involved in socialization, values, religion, and social institutions. The class concludes with a discussion of the implications of ethnicity and language for educational and social policy.
The four readings for the course were selected to give students exposure to a wide range of ethnic groups, to focus on several key sociological issues, and to highlight different aspects of the “language and ethnicity” topic. I chose Bershtel and Graubard’s (1993) Saving Remnants: Feeling Jewish in America to focus on Jewish Americans. The book discusses the role of religion in defining ethnicity, and also challenges students to consider intersections (or lack thereof) between “race” and ethnicity. The book also demonstrates that ethnic identity is not a constant throughout the life course. Anderson’s (1990) StreetWise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community serves to address both Euro-American and African American ethnic groups, in a study which focused on interactions between them in public spaces in an urban setting. This book showed students how nonverbal communication works through the lens of ethnicity and color, and how social class and race affect the use of public spaces and urban territories. Shorris’ (1992) Latinos: A Biography of the People makes the point that umbrella labels such as “Latino” obscure important differences between Latinos of different countries of origin, thus confronting standard concepts of ethnic groups. Feiler’s (1991) Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan, served to cover Japanese culture. I wanted at least one reading to reflect an international perspective; to bring our discussion of language and ethnicity outside of the American context. The book also shows how one must understand the underlying logic of a culture, not just its language and local customs, if miscommunication and conflict are not to result.
Instead of a traditional oral presentation of a library research paper, I assigned group multi-media presentations. Students worked in groups of 5 to 8 people per group. Each group focused on one of the four books assigned to the class. To the extent possible, I let students choose which book they would work on. Students were instructed to decide what were the three most important issues/problems/findings of the book as they read it. The presentation was to include music, visual materials, and an oral “demonstrative” component. Figure 1 shows the assignment sheet handed out to the students.
FIGURE 1: GROUP CLASS PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENT
STUDENT GROUP PRESENTATION:
Your task is to create a multimedia presentation/performance which addresses the main issues of the book with regards to issues of ethnicity, language, communication.
Your first job is to decide what your group believes are the 3 most important issues/points of the book, and then to decide how to convey them.
a. Music: Select between 20 and 25 minutes of music (Public Library or CCM Library are good sources: CDs or audio cassettes). Prepare a brief (about 5 minutes) oral explanation of why you have selected each piece, and what points you are trying to illustrate with each piece. Hand in a list of the titles and sources of each piece.
b. Visual: Select/create/borrow pictures, drawings, collages, or objects which represent the issues dealt with in the book. Prepare a brief (about 5 minute) oral explanation of why you have selected each piece, and what you are trying to show with it.
c. Demonstrative: Create an oral presentation on the three most important issues raised in the book. This can be done through a traditional oral presentation, or by interviewing people, role play, creating your own video, debating, etc.
General Instructions:During the first half of the class, visual material will be posted on walls, and the music will be played. Begin with the explanations of the music and visual materials, so that students will know what to look for as they examine the materials. Students will examine these materials plus excerpts from exam answers which I will post on walls.
During the second half of the class, allow about 20 to 25 minutes for the demonstrative presentation. Explain to the students how what you have presented illustrates the 3 issues. Ask the class for questions and comments.
I devote 30 minutes of one class period to a private meeting with each group. This meeting occurs 2 or 3 class periods before their presentation. The students were asked to come to this meeting with several suggestions for the three most important issues, themes or findings from the book. I begin these meetings as a round-robin brainstorming session, allowing each student in turn to suggest an issue until all of the ideas are on the board. We then examine the issues suggested and decide which overlap, which fit together well, and which would be easiest to communicate using the three modalities in the assignment. Sometimes a second 15 minute meeting was required to complete this process and decide how to divide up the labor for the groups.
Students at the University of Cincinnati typically take five courses per quarter in addition to holding down a job. Because of this it was generally not possible for all of the students to meet as a group outside of class. However, some groups did accomplish this, and were able to meet over the weekend to plan their presentation and collect materials and exhibits. Other groups divided the tasks among individual group members or “subcommittees” of 2 or 3 people. For example, two students who were free at the same time could meet at the music library to select the music necessary to illustrate one or more of the themes selected by the group. Other students might meet to develop a role play to illustrate a theme, or go to the library to research articles, pictures, or find video clips for the visual display.
Most of the student groups carried out these instructions with creativity and enthusiasm. For example, one “Shorris”1 group served homemade snacks representing three different “Latino” cultures. They thus demonstrated that the “Latino” culture differs from “Anglo” culture, while at the same time showing how much the ethnic groups under the “Latino” umbrella differ from each other. The snacks also served to show how the Spanish cultural influence is a unifying factor for all “Latino” cultures. The group’s music selections comprised a three-way comparison between Spanish classical guitar music, Mexican dance music, and “Border Music” (a combination of these genres with American country music to create a dynamic new style).
The oral component for this group was a role play showing a school principal arguing with parents from various “Latino” groups over the impact of bilingual programs. The parents showed how the program would affect each group differently, because each had a slightly different language or dialect, had different values, and faced different problems and challenges. This Shorris group also showed an excerpt from the film “La Bamba,” to illustrate the importance of family as a central value for “Latinos.” This film clip also served to illustrate the importance of generational differences in understanding bilingualism and biculturalism.
Another Shorris group used food in a different way. They contrasted a popular brand of corn chips with a traditional home made dessert (flan). This illustrated how the “assimilation” process between mainstream American culture and “Latino” culture to some extent works both ways, with a traditional Mexican food, corn tortillas, being adapted for and adopted by American culture. The flan was unfamiliar to almost all the students in the class. While they readily ate the corn chips, few students were inspired to taste the homemade flan. This let students experience a dilemma faced by Latinos: if they Americanize their culture they can be accepted by the mainstream culture, but their culture looses its authenticity. If they stick to their traditional ways, they are not accepted.
This Shorris group included among their “visual” displays a selection of poetry by Latino artists. Several of the poems involved the combination of English and Spanish within the same poem, often within the same sentence. Poets thus combined the two cultures creatively to use both languages to express themselves most effectively. One of the themes illustrated by the poetry was how different things could be expressed in each language, and how the use of English made one feel separate from one’s own culture. Other poems showed the importance of religion for Latinos, or described the process of immigration from a relatively undeveloped, rural setting to a developed urban society such as New York City.
This Shorris group’s demonstrative section included a simulation of a job search by Latinos who may not be fluent in English. They asked the class to imagine that they were all applying for a job. Part of the application process was to be a test of their English language skills. They asked the students to translate a poem from Spanish to English, and told them that the person with the best translation would receive a small prize which would symbolize the job. While some of the students had taken Spanish classes and hence were able to translate at least part of the poem, most students had not. To make the experience more realistic, some students were given definitions for some of the words in the poem, while others were not. Students experienced the frustration of trying to complete a task which they were not prepared for, the experience of trying to communicate in a language they were not sufficiently trained in, and a perception of the unfairness involved in being kept back from a goal for something that wasn’t really their fault. The group debriefed the class afterwards, and many of these feelings and reactions were expressed by the students in the discussion. This demonstration provided a good illustration of how speaking a non-majority language can hinder the academic progress or career development of an ethnic group.
This Shorris group included in their music selections a song that was performed in both English and Spanish versions. This illustrated Shorris’ point that many “Latino” people feel split in two by their simultaneous participation in and experience of two different cultures.
The “Anderson” group wanted to illustrate the social and economic consequences of ethnic succession and gentrification in an urban neighborhood. While reading the book they had been struck by the many similarities between the neighborhood Anderson describes in StreetWise and parts of downtown Cincinnati. Their presentation focused on documenting for the class how the processes Anderson described in his book have occurred in the past in Cincinnati and are occurring currently. They used a wide range of materials to make this point. Their visual component included the display of photocopies of relevant parts of carefully selected articles showing the history of ethnic succession and ethnic conflict throughout Cincinnati’s history. Photos of historical events, plus photos taken of Cincinnati today by the students were displayed on the walls. These photos showed the different ethnic neighborhoods, the social class transitions that were occurring in these neighborhoods, the process of gentrification, the problems of urban poverty, and so on.
The Anderson group used the classroom to represent the city, arranging the chairs to represent different streets and neighborhoods. The articles and pictures were posted around the room next to the chairs representing the neighborhood they referred to. The furniture was also used to show social class differences. Middle class “neighborhoods” were represented by neatly arranged evenly spaced chairs, with a comfortable amount of space between them (representing nice “lawns”). In the poorer neighborhoods chairs were crammed close together, and in the decaying urban districts chairs were piled on top of each other and turned on their sides to represent overcrowded conditions, decay and social chaos. Students were each given a card with a name, occupation, income level, and instruction as to how they were to locate themselves within this village. Thus middle class professionals found their way to the nice neighborhood, while the poor and unemployed found their way to the less desirable side of the room. The process of sorting themselves in the classroom mirrored the process of sorting and separating of people in the real city and in Anderson’s book. People quickly discover where they “belong” and where they don’t belong, and see how use of public space in an urban setting becomes tied to one’s ethnic group membership, gender and social class status.
The Anderson group made a home video of various local urban communities, showing the intersections of class and ethnicity, and how “race” demarcated social boundaries of urban territories. The video did a good job of showing the impact of social changes on the physical environment. As the social class composition of a community changes, its physical environment (housing stock) is likely to improve or deteriorate, depending on whether the change is the influx of middle class people (gentrification) or the departure of middle class people to the suburbs, with a resulting decrease in land values, which lowers the rents that can be charged and opens up these neighborhoods for poorer residents.
Among the visual display prepared by the “Bershtel” group were several objects chosen to illustrate the importance of religious practices for Jewish identity. By displaying two religious books, one written in Hebrew and the other in English, the group showed the pressures towards assimilation and the option of combining traditional with “American” practices. They displayed a menorah which nicely showed the blend of traditional religious practices with a modern style. The fact that the menorah was made in Israel represented the connection many of Bershtel’s subjects felt to Israel, and the role nationalist and religious feelings can play in Jewish identity. The group displayed cards sent to a girl on her Bat Mitzvah to show how traditional practices are being modernized by some Jewish groups (by having a ceremony for girls as well as boys).
This group contrasted bagels (an “ethnic” food that has become a generic American food, via the “melting pot” process) with Matzoh, which has largely remained an ethnic food. It is used for religious purposes, or as a snack, but has not become Americanized, or adopted by the general culture. This food selection symbolized the range of choices for defining a Jewish identity.
One “Bershtel” group wanted to show the importance of a history of persecution for the formation of Jewish identity. They communicated this by a display of photos from a memorial display at a former concentration camp which had been previously visited by a member of the group.
This group’s demonstrative component included a role play which showed two people with opposing definitions of what it means to be Jewish meeting each other for the first time on a “blind date.” They successfully showed these people interacting with each other in an intelligent, open-minded and sensitive way as they explored their differences in how and why they defined themselves as Jewish. The music used by this group made nice contrasts between secular or folk music and religious music, and between European and Israeli traditions.
One of the advantages of this method of organizing class presentations is because it is open-ended and allows the students to communicate in a range of media, it is inherently interesting to the students. In previous classes where I had assigned standard oral presentations on research papers students complained that the assignment required too much work and that some group members were not contributing fairly to the group effort. Although students in this class are not writing a research paper or making a formal presentation of library research findings, with this new form of group presentation they do get to the library to do research as they search for articles, pictures, video clips, and information. I also assign four take home essay tests in this class, so the students get lots of practice writing.
The process of putting the presentation together is just as educational for the students as the presentation itself. Working together involves putting collectivist principles into practice, and also develops oral communication skills. Because the students know they have to select the three issues to base their presentation on, they have to read the book more attentively. They have to read it with an active mind, asking themselves “What’s important here, and why?” “What is the author saying?” The group meeting in which they choose the three issues lets them see how others may have interpreted the book differently. Once the group has chosen its three issues, the work involved in deciding how to present them to the class leads to more close thinking about the reading. At this point they’re also integrating class lectures and activities with their understanding of the reading. Once they’ve decided how to present their issues, they make trips to the library to search for sources or music or photos, or to examine videos to find clips suitable to illustrate points. This exposes them to additional material which they would not otherwise have come in contact with. Students also often start dialogues with friends and family members about ethnicity as part of this process.
The group project clearly provides an active learning experience for the students, as they think of ways to demonstrate (make concrete and visible or audible) the issues they found to be important in the book. Because it is a multi-modal exercise (visual, auditory, oral components at a minimum; the use of objects and food involve even more modes of sensing and experiencing) it will help students with a variety of learning styles to absorb and understand the material. It also provides the students with an opportunity to become teachers, which helps them learn better and teaches all the students to listen to each other more, rather than relying on the teacher as an expert. The experience of preparing and observing the presentation provides both a reinforcement and an expansion of what they learned from the readings. They work on library research skills and learn how to find relevant information on a specific topic. They also learn how to document a point or position with evidence, and to make the connections between the point and the evidence explicit.
From the student audience member’s point of view, each presentation is interesting because it is different; the day to day routine of the class is broken in a refreshing way. Since all students have read each book, the audience is prepared to interpret the exhibits and demonstrations in light of the reading. This provides an active learning experience for the student audience, because as they examine the materials, they are asking themselves how does this object represent the themes in the book? What is the group trying to show us with these materials? What would I have done differently?
This method works well in a class size of 25 to about 30 students. I have not tried it in larger groups, but the logistics of getting groups larger than 6-8 students to work together outside of class probably would make it impractical. While this method is particularly effective with the material in the “Sociology of Language and Ethnicity,” it could be used effectively with other sociological topics. For example, a course in “Social Problems” or “Marriage and Family” might lend itself well to such a method.
I provide feedback to each group in the form of a written evaluation which is one or two single-spaced typed pages long, along with a letter grade. A sample presentation evaluation is included in Appendix A. The entire group receives the same grade. The project is worth 10% of their final grade, and is the only assignment that they are graded on collectively. Students rarely complain about the collective grade for this assignment, although in other courses when I have used traditional group assignments I had to deal with complaints about fairness, in addition to excessive anxiety about grades from some students. Using the method described in this paper I find that I am generally able to give the group a grade of at least a B-, and often an A minus or A. Because they are interested in what they are doing, and will be presenting in front of the class they are motivated to do a good job preparing for the presentation.
In conclusion, this assignment can do much to help a course achieve the goals expressed in the introduction for a multi-modal teaching process which will accommodate a variety of learning styles. As the research reviewed in the introduction has shown, learning styles tend to vary with culture, ethnicity and gender, so if a variety of teaching methods are used in a course, the greater the likelihood that all types of students will be able to learn in that course. This assignment includes at the minimum, visual, music and oral components, and often inspires students to explore the physical environment, tastes and smells, poetry and art. In conjunction with the essay test assignments in the class (which require students to write twelve pages of essays on the books read), this assignment provides a well-balanced range of student activities and tasks.
Another potential benefit of this type of a course is to increase students’ “visual literacy.” As many have noted, (e.g. Gombrich 1996, p. 41), Emmison and Smith 2000) today’s society is becoming even more visual than in decades past.
The world we inhabit is filled with visual images. They are central to how we represent, make meaning, and communicate in the world around us. In many ways, our culture is an increasingly visual one. Over the course of the last two centuries, Western culture has come to be dominated by visual rather than oral or textual media. Even the bastion of the printed word, the newspaper, has turned to images--and color images by the end of the twentieth century--to draw in its readers and add to the meaning of its stories. Images have never been merely illustrations, they carry important content. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2001, p. 1)
Even music has become visual, as it is rare for a song to be released these days without a music video to accompany it: Students “see” their music.
Visual sociologists (e.g. Prosser 1998; Emmison and Smith 2000; Sturken and Cartwright 2001) have demonstrated how using photographs can add a dimension to understanding or learning about sociology which the written word does not provide. For example, Margolis’ (1999) study of social class and education over the last century focuses on photos of children of different social classes and racial groups in their schools at different points in history. It is one thing to read about social class difference and to know that the public education received by different races and classes is different, it is quite another to see pictures of the students in the well-funded schools wearing their frilly white dresses and poor black children in less well-funded schools wearing old dresses and no shoes. But what is even more important is that the pictures show you the facial expressions and body language of the students, so you can see not only how wealthy they are and how well equipped their schools are (or aren’t), but you can see the effect of these conditions on the individual--you can see tension or unhappiness in their faces, you can see a student with a relaxed face, comfortable posture, and a happy smile, or children wringing their hands or holding their thumbs in their fists.
Another example is Deborah Barndt’s (1980) study of education and social change in Peru, in which the text and photographs are so tightly interwoven that it’s hard to tell whether the photos are illustrating the text or the text is illustrating the photos. A photo on page 138 of this book shows women doing a traditional dance. While a book might tell a lot about the movements of the dance, the history and symbolism of it, its place in daily life and religious or social celebrations, the photo tells us much more, because it shows the women doing the dance surrounded by women and girls in traditional clothes sitting on the grass or on rocks in an empty field. The experience of a life lived largely outdoors, without material possessions or the conveniences of a developed country (like lawns, curbs, sidewalks, lawn chairs or benches), gives us a profound message about how life for these women in Peru is different from life for most of us in the United States. Goffman’s pictorial study of “gender advertisements” (1976), and Stiebling’s (1999) study of how children “practice gender in sports” also illustrate how photos can be used to “do sociology”--illustrating social processes in a way much more specific than words alone can convey.
So visual sociology not only uses photographs to conduct sociological research and convey sociological findings, but it adds another dimension of understanding to what we can know about people’s lives and their social conditions. The exercise described in this course can enable the student to achieve similar goals. Certainly when they walk through their own neighborhoods with a camera looking for evidence of the same social arrangements and processes described in their course reading, they are seeing their world in a different way than they have before. And when they share these photos with the class and explain what they have photographed and why, they practice the skill of providing evidence to support a point, interpreting visual material, and drawing conclusions from their investigations.
A final point relates to the particular subject matter of the course itself. Since the goal of this course was to understand communication patterns and problems between different ethnic groups, and to learn how to “read” or understand a culture other than one’s own, the use of the multimodal assignment is particularly relevant for this type of topic, because it directly mirrors the way in which we are likely to encounter different cultures in our daily lives--through visual and oral contact, through observing their interactions with others, through listening to their music and viewing their art.
SOC 431 LANGUAGE AND ETHNICITY
ANDERSON GROUP PRESENTATION EVALUATION: WINTER 1998
Thanks for beginning with your three issues. This helped the students interpret your presentation as they examined the visual materials and listened to the music.
1. Gentrification: Your statement of what gentrification is and why it is a problem for people living in the community was clear.
Clip from the film “Boyz in the Hood”: Asking the students to relate the characters in the film to the people/roles Anderson described in the book was a good technique for getting the students to listen to the film analytically, rather than just as entertainment. Your point that peers are taking the place of the “old heads” as socializing forces and role models for young people was well demonstrated by the film, as was the pattern Anderson identifies about the relationship between gentrification, property values, and ethnic succession in neighborhoods.
Article re: Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in New York City: This article showed the same gentrification processes Anderson described for Northton/the Village, and described how changes in property values caused by the influx of middle class people can displace poorer residents. Your point that gentrification is not necessarily a racial issue, but a desire to get inexpensive housing in convenient neighborhoods, was well taken, and also seems to correspond with Anderson; certainly a large portion of the population of “The Village” was motivated by a desire for harmony between ethnic groups. My only advice, even though the article was brief, would have been to highlight or underline the particularly relevant passages for the students, so they could focus their attention on the parallels to Anderson’s findings.
Photos and Maps of downtown Cincinnati: Good job of showing how the social and economic changes occurring on Central Avenue and the Lynn/Findlay area of downtown Cincinnati mirror the social processes Anderson found in the Village/Northton. You showed how low income housing projects on Central Avenue are being replaced by middle class town houses, and how renovations of old buildings in the Lynn/Findlay area are slowly spreading gentrification through that neighborhood.
You showed that the gentrification/renovation occurs in small steps, moving from one end of a block to the other. Why do you think this is so? If you combine Anderson’s analysis of the social interactions between ethnic groups and social classes in public places with his description of the gentrification process, you might come to the conclusion that the step-by-step process of housing renovation is related to interpersonal interactions in public places. People are very aware of territories and safety issues when moving from one territory to another. Thus middle class gentrification has to inch along from a “safe” territory, with each new renovation linking the new area to the old, in order for the new middle class residents to have public areas and streets which they feel comfortable walking upon. If an attempt was made to renovate a house in the middle of a very poor area it would probably not be successful, because the lone middle class person would not have access to a public territory in which s/he felt comfortable. This is why gentrification generally happens in waves from one edge or border of a community, and then proceeds inward.
2. Urban Culture: The Urban culture section successfully demonstrated how the use of public space/behavior in public places is culturally different depending on ethnic group. You did a good job of bringing this part of Anderson’s book to life for the students and showing them what he was describing.
Nonverbal communication: Your research and demonstrations of African-American Urban nonverbal communication styles was very effective, and demonstrated Anderson’s point of how social distance or closeness between ethnic groups can be created in an urban setting by how people conduct themselves in public and interact with one another. You might have asked the class how these communication styles and practices might have made the “Villagers” feel (left out, confused, intimidated?).
Music. Nice choice of the music of the 1970s to 1980s, because this is the period that matches when Anderson collected his data (he collected his data from 1975 to 1989). You did a good job of bringing to life the urban culture during the time Anderson was living in the Village/Northton area and studying the people who lived there. You showed how the lyrics of the songs mirrored the social problems Anderson found in his book, for example the stereotype of the Black male as dangerous, which results in excessive police surveillance and interference. You might have asked the class to describe what similarities they noticed between the lyrics of the songs and the street scenes Anderson describes.
Graffiti: The visual material on graffiti and the video clip of the graffiti artist/”writer” were also useful in demonstrating the urban culture. You might have emphasized the role of graffiti in marking urban territories/boundaries between neighborhoods, and contributing to an atmosphere of danger to outsiders. (The interaction between the graffiti artist and his mother also might show diminishing influence of family and “old heads” on young people.)
Drug Culture: Again, a good job of showing how the drug culture affects the people who live in the neighborhood and affects the social structure (e.g., “old heads” as role models vs. drug dealers, how role of the family is diminished).
3. Gender Issues: The books you chose to display were interesting because they seemed to be written by authors who were aware of the problems between the genders that Anderson describes, and were making attempts to provide alternatives. The books highlighted the particular problems faced by Black males.
The skits were very well designed. I think your technique of getting the students to show their knowledge of Anderson’s book by resolving the problems given in the scenarios was very effective. I wish we had had more time to let the students experience these.
Overall, this group’s presentation was very well done and very well organized. The material you collected and prepared was excellent, and was relevant to the Anderson book and effective for demonstrating his findings.
Group Grade: A-
Adams, Maurianne. 1992. “Cultural Inclusion in the American
College Classroom.” Pp. 5-17 in Laura L. Border, Nancy Van Note Chism (eds.) Teaching for Diversity. (Series:) New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Number 49, Spring 1992. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Anderson, Elijah. 1990. StreetWise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community. University of Chicago Press.
Anderson, James A. 1988. “Cognitive Styles and Multicultural Populations.” Journal of Teacher Education Jan./Feb.:2-9.
Barbe, Walter B. 1989. “What Modality is Your Classroom?” Pp. 241-243 in Shade, B. J. R. (ed.) Culture, Style, and the Educative Process. Springfield, Ill: Thomas.
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1. I refer to each of the groups by the last name of the author of the book on which they base their presentation.
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