Communicating across cultures

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

It has become commonplace knowledge that globalization is one of the major forces shaping our world. If we look at the spread of information, ideas, capital, media, cultural artifacts - or for that matter, people - we can see the boundaries and borders that have historically separated one country or one group from another are becoming more and more permeable. For proof of this close to home, you need only to look at the composition of the MIT student body: Approximately 25% are from 107 different countries.

"Communicating Across Cultures" is designed to help you meet the challenges of living in a world in which, increasingly, you will be asked to interact with people who may not be like you in fundamental ways. Its overarching goals are to help you become more sensitive to intercultural communication differences, and to provide you with the knowledge and skills that will help you interact successfully with people from cultures other than your own. We hope the course will accomplish those goals by exposing you to some of the best writers and scholars on the subject of intercultural communication, and by giving you a variety of opportunities to practice intercultural communication yourself. As you read this syllabus, we hope you get a sense of our commitment to making this course a rewarding experience for you.

There are seven objectives we hope to accomplish during the semester. They are:

The course is divided into two sections. The first component (Lectures 1-9) focuses on understanding the roots and manifestations of intercultural communication. The latter part of the course (Lectures 10-21) examines six specific cultures in order to understand differences in the communication styles of their members, and how those differences are linked to cultural variables.

The course will be conducted as a seminar/workshop: that is, it will be highly interactive with most course time devoted to discussion, exercises, and student-presented reports. The course is designed to take advantage of the rich cultural diversity of the MIT community. Please make every effort to come to class since much of the success of the course - as well as the benefit you will derive from it - will depend on your own participation.

The four assignments in "Communicating Across Cultures" are designed to achieve three goals:

The assignments, and their point value are:

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