Communicating in American Culture(s)

Readings and Other Assigned Materials

KEY

Gonick = Larry Gonick (2005). The Cartoon History of the United States. Collins Reference. ISBN: 9780062730985.

Graff et al. = Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst (2016). They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN: 9780393617443.

Stewart and Bennett = Edward C. Stewart and Milton J. Bennett (1991). American Cultural Patterns: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Intercultural Press. ISBN: 9781877864018.

SESSION #	HOMEWORK PREPARATION
2	Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall (1990). Understanding Cultural Differences. Intercultural Press, pp. 3–31. ISBN: 9780933662841. Lera Boroditsky (2014). “How the Languages We Speak Shape the Ways We Think” (YouTube).
3	“Cultural Patterns of Perception and Thinking” in Stewart and Bennett, pp. 17–44. Alexandra Topping, Kate Lyons, and Matthew Weaver (2019). “Gillette #MeToo Razors Ad on ‘Toxic Masculinity’ Gets Praise—and Abuse.” The Guardian, 1/15/2019. Gillette (2019). “The Best Men Can Be” (YouTube).
4	Pico Iyer (2013). “Where Is Home?” (TED Talk video). David Brooks (2017). “How to Leave a Mark on People.” The New York Times, 4/18/2017.   Annie Dillard (1987). An American Childhood. Harper & Row, pp. 147–149. ISBN: 9780060158057. “Friendship” in Stewart and Bennett, pp. 100–102.
5	John McWhorter (2012). “How Americans Have Reshaped Language.” The New York Times, 1/20/2012.   “Form of Social Relations” in Stewart and Bennett, pp. 89–99. “I Take Your Point” in Graff et al., pp. 163–165. Course Workbook Part 1 (PDF - 1.2 MB)
6	Charles Dorn (interviewed by Scott Jaschik, 2017). “For the Common Good.” Inside Higher Ed, 6/13/2017.  Edward Schiappa and John P. Nordin (2013). Keeping Faith with Reason: A Theory of Practical Reasoning. Pearson, pp. 6–23. ISBN: 9781256807223.  Deborah Tannen. “Agonism in the Academy: Surviving the Argumentation Culture” in Graff et al., pp. 214–220.
7	MIT ODL Video Services (2018). “No One Writes Alone: Peer Review in the Classroom, A Guide For Students” (video). Course Workbook Part 2 (PDF - 1.1 MB)
8	MIT Career Advising and Professional Development. “Resumes, CVs, Cover Letters and LinkedIn.” Lynda.com. “Tips for Job Interviews.” Ready4Work.MY (2013). “Get that Job—Making Small Talk” (YouTube).
9	Colin Woodard (2011). American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. Viking Penguin, pp. 1–19. ISBN: 9780143122029. Colin Woodard (2011). “The American Nations Today” (PDF of map). Gonick, pp. 1–77.
10	Aaron David Miller (2013). “How Geography Explains the United States.” Foreign Policy, 4/16/2013. Richard Wike (2016). “5 Ways Americans and Europeans are Different.” Pew Research Center, 4/19/2016. Gonick, pp. 93–179.
11	Course Workbook Part 3 (PDF - 1.2 MB)
12	Gonick, pp. 183–274.
13	Peter Yates (director, 1979). Breaking Away (film). 20th Century Fox.
14	Mugambi Jouet (2017). Exceptional America: What Divides Americans from the World and from Each Other. University of California Press, pp. 43–62. ISBN: 9780520293298. Gonick, pp. 273–377.
16	Robert Wuthnow (2008). “Religion” in Peter H. Schuck and James Q Wilson (eds.), Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation. Public Affairs, pp. 275–305. ISBN: 9781586486952. Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf (2017). “Thomas Jefferson’s Bible Teaching.” The New York Times, 7/4/2017. Kevin M. Kruse (2015). “A Christian Nation? Since When?” The New York Times, 3/14/2015.
17	Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018). “Friday Black” in Friday Black. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, pp. 104–114. ISBN: 9781787476011. Raillan Brooks (2017). “‘He,’ ‘She,’ ‘They’ and Us.” The New York Times, 4/5/2017. Alex Marshall (2014). “Why ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ Is the Perfect Insight into America’s Soul.” The Guardian, 8/11/2014.
18	Martha Bayles (2008). “Popular Culture” in Schuck and Wilson, pp. 19–28
19	William Deresiewicz (2011). “Metaphors We Play By.” The American Scholar, 6/6/2011. Kenneth J. Macri (2012). “Not Just a Game: Sport and Society in the United States.” Inquiries Journal/Student Pulse 4(08).  Sporting Metaphors website.
20	Jessica Franzetti (2017). “Martha Bayles—‘The Urban Singles Sitcom Offers the World a New Version of the American Dream.’” Salzburg Global Seminar, 2/7/2017.  Josh Katz (2016). “‘Duck Dynasty’ vs. ‘Modern Family’: 50 Maps of the US Cultural Divide.” The New York Times, 12/27/2016.
22	Course Workbook Part 4 (PDF - 2 MB)