DB 1-2 R-2

100 word response

Chicago style citing

Link to textbook: http://books.google.com/books?id=zutRiJJMBQYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Article is attached

 

The overwhelming similarities between the articles are perception of identity through self-focus or self-identity through culture. Mulvaney tells us “truth is socially constructed through language and other symbol systems” (Mulvaney, 222). And as an example, it was just such self-focus that landed Galileo in jail by asserting that the universe was sun-centered as opposed to earth centered. The people of that time had socially constructed their own truths based on their perceptions of that time, although we now know that both were incorrect. It was from this perception of correctness that power was assumed and asserted by the majority, which in this case led to Galileo’s arrest (Mulvaney 2004).

Jandt touches on an interesting fact regarding existentialism, the idea of the “other” and the idea that both the observer and the observed are changed in the process. He states, “that the observer is not independent of the observed; the observed is in some sense “created” or changed or both by the act of observation” (Jandt, 212). It is from this dynamic that Jandt speaks of that we can see the formation of societal roles, i.e. the roles of those in positions of power and those in a subservient roles.

The interesting culmination of the information from all three articles is that the process is not a stagnant one, but rather one that can, and often times does change. Through introspective analysis, asking ourselves the question “Who am I?” we can embrace our cultural differences and through the acceptance of our individual qualities can take back some of the power that was perhaps lost (Jandt, 210). For example, take the labels “Feminist” and “Gay” along with “queer” and “Chicano,” which were certainly negative when created, have been transformed into positive labels embraced by those within each perspective community (Jandt 2004).

Works Cited
Jandt, Fred E., Dolores V. Tanno. “Decoding Domination, Encoding Self-Determination – Intercultural Comminication Research Process.” In Intercultural Communication: A Global Reader, by Fred E. Jandt, 205 – 221. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2004.

Mulvaney, Becky Michelle. “Gender Differences in Communication – An Intercultural Experience.” In Intercultural Communication – A Global Reader, by Fred E. Jandt, 221 – 229. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2004.