Thursday, October 21, 2010

using films to illustrate anthro experiences/observations

via e-list for CAE, council for anthropology and education
 
 
(1) The French film "The Class" about a first year teacher is a great one about cross cultural communication.  It has a few great scenes with a boy who is from Burkina Faso and he has to translate his own expulsion interview from a Parisian public school to his mother.  Language has a lot to do with all of the events that lead up to his expulsion as well.  

(2) I have used the Star Trek (The Next Generation) episode "Darmok" in which the captain of the Enterprise must communicate with an alien who communicates using only metaphors. I use it to engage intro classes with linguistic concepts. The conversation (unless you have dedicated anti-Trekies in the class) usually highlights relativism and the need to understand context in any communication.

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