I just started teaching English 101 at a secular university. We are finishing our Textual Analysis Paper and I'll be assigning a Cultural Analysis Paper next week --these are required by the department.

I'm looking for suggestions for the Cultural Analysis Paper. I have a lot of freedom as to what I can assign. I was thinking about having the students synthesize a text about "culture" with their own sub-culture, but now I'm thinking I'll just have them analyze and write about a video (e.g. a movie, a documentary, etc.), or a text, or a piece of art, or a piece of music; all in relation to "culture" --whatever that means.

Any thoughts or suggestions on this?
I have to come up with the prompt for the class by Tuesday (10/6).

What kind of things would be useful for the students to think about as they analyze some part of the culture? Worldview questions? Presuppositional questions?

This is my first year teaching and I'd appreciate any suggestions that you are willing to give.

Thanks,
Matthew

__________________
Matthew Scheffer
Christ The Redeemer (non-denominational)
http://www.christredeemer.com
Spokane, WA

Mathew, that is such a great opportunity, I believe that with parents, and hopefully pastors, teachers are the persons that make a greater impact in
our development.

Teaching your students how to analyze and be critical to their cultural
surroundings is giving them a priceless tool.

I'm sure there will be lots of good inputs on this thread and I'm sure with
a little help from Schaeffer you are already having a lot of good ideas

In this age of relativism, tolerance and sincretism, any Moral approach to Culture is seen as Moralistic, Fundamentalist, Conservative, Retrograde, etc

But I encourage you to exactly have that Moral approach,

As you well know, Culture is NOT Neutral or Amoral, it profoundly affects our Moral Views, and students need to know that asap.

I thank God that your students have a Christian Reformed as a Teacher, someone who cares for them, someone who cares for their choices and influences, someone who deeply wishes they will test and analyze any thing their heart and mind absorbs, as more seriously then they would do with their food (saddly nowadays both culture and food look too much alike as junk)

They are privileged to have a Teacher knows Jesus claims as His every square inch of this world, in any area of this world (to use Kuyper’s historical expression).

All Blessings on your precious task Brother.

__________________
César Proença

there is no will nor running by which we can prepare the way for our salvation, it is wholly of the Divine Mercy Jean Calvin Institutes II . V. 17

Reformed Churches in The Netherlands (liberated) http://www.gkv.nl/main.asp?intTreeviewID=954

Igreja Reformada em Massamá Portugal http://www.igrejareformada.pt

Matthew, you make a lot of interesting threads. I look forward to seeing where this will go.

Subbed.

__________________
Andrew C.
IFB
LBCF 1689

some ideas for movies/documentaries pertaining to culture you might want to consider for analysis:

Babel
Pleasantville
Crash
Juno
Horton Hears a Who -- a Dr. Seuss children's animation, but with some great lessons.
Expelled: No Room for Intelligence


all the best with the class. Be strong and courageous!

__________________
Dennis Oh
Toronto, Canada
"The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time" -- Carl F. H. Henry

Thanks for the input so far.
I'm thinking of having them analyze a piece of culture and expound on what "it" (i.e. a movie, a book, a song) has to say about truth, beauty, morals, and meaning. I'm not quite sure what to write yet for their prompt, but I'd love to hear some more feedback.
Thanks again,
Matthew

That's really cool that you're involved in a secular university setting. I'm also an English major, but sadly not a graduate yet. There is a lot of information out there. (I'm actually writing a paper on poetry this coming week. It should be interesting.) Schaeffer is good. I like how he synthesizes philosophy, art and culture into an ameliorable whole. He does a good job at relating truth with culture. I hope all is well with your prompt.

__________________
Julio Martinez Jr.
Member of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA)
My Blog
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children." Hosea 4:6, ESV

Make them take a piece of contemporary media, i.e. movie, book, etc., and analyze what worldview or moral outlook the piece of media is asking the reader or watcher to consider.

All filmmakers and authors write, usually very consciously, attempting to illustrate a certain moral stance. Take for instance the hotly debated "Watchman" movie and comic book. The movie itself has strong nihilistic and utilitarian overtones. The entire climax of the movie is the culmination of a plan based on utilitarian principles executed in order to avert nuclear holocaust, but only at the cost of some major cities and millions of lives. Rorshach disagrees with the idea that killing many to save more is right, because he sees things as "right" and "wrong", and that there is no mixing of the two. Accordingly, Dr. Manhattan kills him to save the "plan". This was, in my mind, the death of objective morality in the movie, and the implementation of relativism and utilitarianism.

You might write your primer asking them to consider what, if any, relativistic messages are purveyed these days. (There are many.)

__________________
Andrew DeShazo
Husband of Kathryn
Father of Phillip-Giles B. DeShazo
Deacon
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"From out of the depth of unbroken Infinfity arose the Question, "Who am I?" And to that Question there is the answer, "I am God!" -Meher Baba, died 1969.

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Christ, died 33 AD, ressurected three days later.

I would think that having them analyze an M. Night Shyamalan film (Signs, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, the Village, Lady in the Water) for the worldview assumptions and message would be interesting and revealing.

__________________
Joel S.
Village Seven Presbyterian Church (CO Springs)
MAR Student, Reformed Theological Seminary
Bible/English Teacher, Evangelical Christian Academy

Any ideas for in-class exercises?
Have you ever taken a class that analyzed an element of culture?
If so, what sorts of projects were most helpful/useful for you?

Thanks,
Matthew

Matthew, it would be interesting to see what neuro-associations are enforced by specific cultures. Does the culture link pleasure to celibacy? Does it portray the intellectual life as boring? What does the culture(or particular piece of art under inspection) portray as the 'good life'?

It seems to me that you can really tell a lot about a culture by discovering what activities they portray as pleasurable and what activities they portray as harmful.