Week 5/7-5/13: Methods of Discovery: Part 3

One concept I find many people do not get to experience in their lifetime is true culture shock. The term culture shock is tossed around in our verbal language when one describes a minor exposure to a culture other than their usual; however, this is not the correct way to express this serious concept. Culture shock is described by author Sarah Trenholm as an anxiety one experiences due to a loss of our familiar signs, symbols of our normal social intercourse (2011, pg. 340). We many feel at times we are adventurous and do not have a mundane lifestyle, but if you were to be placed in any other country this perspective would soon be exacerbated with fear. Two summers ago, I visited Vietnam and Cambodia with my current boyfriend. I was excited and nervous since I had only been out of the country once- Canada. We arrived and we were definitely not at home any longer. I was fine for the first 2 ½ weeks but as I became more exhausted of traveling, I became wary of further traveling. Although I was enjoying the new pace of life, the anxiety became more vivid. The food was malnourished, the beds were hard, and the heat was unbearable at times. A few times, I grew impatient and would cry in frustration. Once I reflected on all of these moments, I grasped that I was experiencing culture shock.

Week 5/7-5/13: Methods of Discovery: Part 2

Intercultural communication stood our greatly to me. When I pick up my course textbook, I refer back to chapter 12, Intercultural Communication. The example/story of the Moroccan family dinner stuck to my memory, and I told a few friends and family members about it. I liked to think I knew much about the world and the cultural differences within a group. However, reading this small excerpt, I recognized how large the world is, and how much we do not know of one another. A simple gesture, a thoughtful comment, and a normal dinner setting question can make a massive impression on your new friend, or now enemy, without realizing each cultural characteristic of your actions. Each cultural universal is vastly different in the enactments of these activities. It has made me realize how I would enjoy taking further cultural classes in the future. I would appreciate and possibly visit more countries, and would only be beneficial to me to understand my surroundings.

Week 5/7-5/13: Methods of Discovery: Part 1

To be completely honest, all of the popular research methods in Chapter 13, Methods of Discovery, of our textbook seem most appealing and interesting to perform myself. However, for the sake of this blog, rhetorical criticism remained in my thoughts after I read the chapter. In order to understand how we are influenced and persuaded, we must fully comprehend it ourselves. Choosing a topic, audience, and lastly, its context to analyze it suddenly materializes why this research method is popular. We see forms of rhetoric each day. We see the media persuading us to believe and fear certain places and people. We view television and internet advertisements which spark an urge to shop or crave a cheesy burger. On the other hand, when public speeches are performed and we research meaning behind every word expressed over the intercom, more rhetoric becomes apparent thus the reason for this methodologies to appear fascinating and attractive.