Bridging Cultures Through Literature

Ron Carter
Rappahannock Community College

What it does have to do with, of course, is the very essence of literature: the experience of living, for a while, someone else's life, seeing through someone else's eyes, sharing someone's agonies and ecstasies, inhabiting another person's skin. This need to participate in other lives is the force that draws us, as hearers, to the storyteller's knee and thence to the written word, for it is "story" that first beckons from the pages of books and the love of stories that compels writers to create those other lives for us (and them) to inhabit.

The reason I happen to be thinking about all this just now is that, recently, as a participant in Virginia's Project International Emphasis, I was asked to consider ways to inter- nationalize the community college curriculum (i.e., the first two years of the undergraduate experience). I didn't have to consider long. Literature, it seems to me, story, is the surest bridge to understanding. Let students read novels, plays, short stories, and yes, poems from other nations and cultures. Let them immerse themselves vicariously in these other lives, and short of actually living there for an extended period, they'll have about as intensive an understanding as it's possible to get. I remember reading something in a textbook recently, a piece of advice offered by photographer Burt Glinn to would-be travelers to the Soviet Union. "Instead of looking at the book I did on Russia," Glinn says, "you would do better to read Tolstoy or Chekhov to understand what the Russians are like" (50).

The problem, of course, is how to bring some order to this rather obvious notion, how to structure the experience so the student gains more than just a vague "appreciation" of another culture (although that, in itself, is not an ignoble aim). And then, having done that, just how do we tuck this project into a fixed (and rather full) curriculum? Exactly which course do we target for yet another objective? Which instructors will find themselves gearing up to teach something they may, in fact, never have learned--or, at least, never have been taught?

Well, first off, any course is fair game, and in an age when the technology taught in an 8:00 a.m. class is likely to be obsolete by the end of the day, and a remark made in Amman can give American investors whiplash, you'd have to be pretty isolated indeed to think you might be able to get through even a single year of teaching without having to learn new tricks and new subject matter. But let's, for the sake of example, take a specific course and look at how we might incorporate an international perspective. Let's take the survey of British literature.

When it comes to English courses, you can't get much more traditional than that. England, after all, is where the much-reviled "canon" sinks its taproot, where those who fight for the "canonical" approach mass, backs to the wall, for a valiant last stand. This, they affirm, is holy ground.

Well, maybe.

After all, like it or not, the Western heritage is our heritage (or, at any rate, a good chunk of our heritage), and we can use a sound knowledge of that heritage, our majority culture, as a springboard for understanding other cultures (many of which, of course, have nurtured, refreshed, and challenged our heritage like so many feeder springs). and we can argue, I think, that the study of English literature is international in scope. England, the United Kingdom, is another culture, albeit one that looks a lot like our own, warts and all. So in studying English literature we are, to some extent, studying another culture, examining the values and traditions that have constituted the glue holding that culture together and looking at how those values and traditions directly affect the lives of individuals trying to survive--and prosper-- in that culture. (This is, of course, assuming that we are, in our course, concerned with something more than memorizing the rhyme scheme of a Spenserian stanza or the exact date of the publication of Lyrical Ballads--both of which, if you asked, I would have to look up.)

If that has truly been a major focus of our course, then students who have successfully completed, say, a semester should be somewhat familiar with culture as a concept and with the way in which a culture can impact upon the individuals who are a part of it. They may also have taken a glance at contemporary American culture in light of the British heritage. What elements [good and bad] of British--and western European--culture have we inherited, and what have we reshaped (often as a result of interaction between British/Western European culture and our other "feeder" cultures)? These analytical skills, such as they are, can then be put to work on a culture somewhat further removed from the western tradition.

What I propose to do at that point is add a unit to the course--preferably an independent study unit--the overall goal of which is to familiarize students with at least one non-western culture formerly subject to Great Britain. (As a colleague remarked when I unveiled my plan, "That doesn't leave much out, does it?" Well, actually, no. Once an imperial power, Britain exercised hegemony over much of Africa and Asia, including the Near and Middle East.) The way I see this working is that students will select a nation formerly subject to Great Britain and read a contemporary or, at least, recent literary work set in that region and written by a native of that region. The unit will include a research component on the history and culture of the nation selected for study, a fairly straightforward piece of work designed to familiarize the student--at least, thematically- -with the values, norms, and historical identity of the nation. These, after all, are the factors that might be expected to weigh heavily on individual citizens as they go about their daily lives.

With this background, the student will read the selected work and experience vicariously the ways in which these cultural and historical factors do, in fact, impact upon human behavior, sometimes shaping and sometimes clashing with individual aspirations and values. The student will then present his findings to the class orally, as well as in writing, so that all might gain not only an in-depth understanding of one non-western culture, the culture selected for individual study, but at least a superficial familiarity with others as well.

Since the curriculum, as we are frequently reminded these days, is heavily--indeed, almost exclusively--weighted in favor of western civilization and since the English literature course is ipso facto a course in the western heritage, I would require students to select non-western nations for study. However, an exception might be made for a non-western student, who could perhaps (although not necessarily) profit more by a study of a Canadian or Australian work; teacher discretion would be central here.

I would hope, too, that in completing this unit students might be alert to the ways in which the cultures they are examining have incorporated, reshaped, and rejected elements of the British/ western European heritage. Such awareness might make them more sensitive to the need for change in order to accommodate cultural diversity, especially in a society that, except for Native Americans, has no indigenous culture.

Objectives for a unit such as the one I am describing can be tailor-made, of course, to meet the needs of subject matter and methodology. I have identified five, as follows:

1. Summarize the major events in the history of the region you have selected for study.
2. Describe the culture of the region you have selected for study.
3. Identify the cultural factors that impact upon the behavior and values of the major characters in the literary work you chose for this unit of study.
4. Explain the behavior of major characters by relating their behavior to the culture.
5. Describe the relationship of the culture as it exists today to British/Western European culture.

Several problems are apparent in the foregoing, not the least of which is that the term "culture" is a bit nebulous. It's one of those soft-edged concepts, like humor, that you know when you see but aren`t quite ready to define--at least, not in such a manner as to enhance your reputation for succinctness. Obviously, if an understanding of other cultures is going to become one of your primary course goals, you're going to have to spend some time grappling with the term "culture." A guest lecture might do the trick, someone from the social sciences, perhaps. Or you might tackle the problem with your students and arrive at a shared understanding of just what elements constitute a culture. A fruitful approach is to examine contemporary American culture, working up some sort of framework that might serve to structure an approach to any culture.

A "shared learning" approach is almost a necessity for a unit of this sort unless you happen to possess an in-depth knowledge of all cultures formerly subject to the British Empire. In fact, a corollary benefit of this unit is that it can help the traditionalists among us try on a new role, that of mentor-learner, a situation that is enhanced if we are fortunate enough to have a multi-cultural student body. (A colleague who tested the unit described here wound up spending one class period learning an Ibo dance when a Nigerian student attempted to explain the significance of ceremony in creating the strong sense of community among the Ibos.)

and what about evaluation? How are we to evaluate the student's work accurately when we have no familiarity with the culture or the work under examination? Well, first of all, evaluation of things that really matter is always difficult, perhaps even impossible. and second, we will soon have at least some familiarity with the several cultures and works available for study as we read, listen to, and respond to student work semester after semester. In the meantime, however, we can certainly evaluate the research component of the unit just as we evaluate research of any sort, and we can make some judgement as to how much thought and effort the student has given the work under consideration. Does learning, however tentative, seem to have taken place? Is stereotyping shunned? Are good questions being asked? Is there the sense of puzzlement that always accompanies new understandings? Has the student truly lived the life of the characters in the work, vicariously? This, the task of evaluation, is where we must draw on our own human resources and good judgement and hope they suffice.

As teachers of literature, we are uniquely positioned to give our students the chance to experience other cultures, other ways of structuring society and other perceptions of "truth." In fact, I would argue that, in the sort of world we inhabit today, we are obligated to provide that opportunity. Cross-cultural understanding is no longer a fringe benefit for those who can afford a "summer abroad" or the post-graduate "grand tour." It is a necessity both for individual survival and for the survival of the planet. Until we emulate other nations and elect playwrights and novelists to head our government, we must work in other places to create the kinder, gentler nation former President Bush once envisioned.

A unit such as I have described in this article can go a long way toward restructuring the literature classroom, and it can do so without jettisoning the idea that, as Americans, we need to understand our own culture first. In fact, used properly, the study of another culture can deepen our understanding of our culture by opening our eyes to the many springs from which that culture draws its life.

STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
ENGLISH LITERATURE INTERNATIONAL UNIT

1. Identify the major characters in the novel. What are their values? (What do they prize or cherish? What are they working or striving for? What are they willing to make sacrifices for?)
2. Of these values, which seem to be universal human values, and which seem to be products of the culture to which these characters belong?
3. Are there times in the work when the characters' values seem to clash with the values their culture tells them they should have? How are such clashes resolved, if at all? What are the emotional and social "costs" of such clashes?
4. Identify any instances of behavior that seems odd or perhaps unbelievable to you. Does the culture cause the characters to behave as they do? Or has the author failed to make their actions credible?
5. Look closely at how the characters relate to each other and how they communicate. Are communication styles and relationships different from what you experience in your daily life? If you were to meet one of the characters from your novel, what misunderstandings might arise from these differences?
6. From your study of British literature you should have a pretty good understanding of the elements of British culture. Since your author is from a region once subject to the British, you may notice some aspects of British culture that have been incorporated into the culture of the region. Or you may notice some aspects that have been completely rejected or disregarded. Discuss.
7. If you were sent to the country your novel represents for the purpose of setting up a new business, what would you want to bear in mind as you met with people of the region?
8. Can you see any ways you might offend the people of the region without meaning to?
9. Looking at the novel as a work of literature, does it seem to be like the other works we have read in this course? Are there any ways in which the author seems to be doing things differently?
10. Can you determine the author's attitude toward her culture? Is she proud of it, as it currently exists? Is he or she optimistic, skeptical, or defensive about it? Does he or she feel that changes are needed or that change should be resisted?

Work Cited

Glinn, Burt. Quoted by Robert S. Winkler, "The Traveling Photographer," Travel and Leisure, December 1983. Reprinted in James W. McCrimmon and Joseph F. Trimmer, Writing with a Purpose. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1988.