The Study of Culture through Language (215-0-1)
Instructors
Stephen Francis Sullivan
Meeting Info
Online: Mon, Wed 1:00PM - 3:30PM
Overview of class
Next to breathing and eating, communication is fundamental to social life. This course explores how and why people talk, write, and interact in the ways that they do, in order to establish, convey, and negotiate meaning with others. Drawing from ethnographic studies of culture through language use in different social settings, the assigned readings and films survey the contributions of linguistic anthropology. From language socialization and storytelling, to multilingualism and language ideologies, communication performs as social action to influence dynamics of power, agency, representation, and identity. Semiotic theory is also examined - the study of signs and sign systems - as a conceptual approach to understanding the linguistic practices that structure the sociomaterial world.
Registration Requirements
No prerequisites are required for this course
Learning Objectives
How does language produce social reality? How do particular communicative practices both between individuals and between individuals and mass media form what we understand as a shared culture? Why do people who ostensibly belong to a same cultural group experience things similarly or differently?
How does language inform how we view ourselves as individuals and position us vis-a-vis other individuals?
How do circulating cultural notions about social groups, politics, education, etc. spread within a society? How and why do they change as they spread?
How do everyday interactions draw from these cultural notions? How do interactions make their circulation possible and, perhaps, how do they transform them?
What role does language play in processes of identification, socialization, and globalization?
Evaluation Method
Discussion; Quiz; Final Project
Class Materials (Required)
All book chapters, articles, and other assigned content will be available as PDFs on Canvas.
Class Attributes
Social and Behavioral Science Foundational Discipl
Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area
Course Meets Online
Synchronous:Class meets remotely at scheduled time
SDG Peace & Justice