Time Schedule:
Holly M. Barker
ANTH 359
Seattle Campus
Language use in cultural contexts. How language reflects world view. Language use in culturally significant settings. Analyzes sets of culturally specific terms in semantic domains. Includes projects demonstrating application of theory and method to data addressing specific problems. Workshop format.
Class description
Anth 359, Linguistic Ethnography: The Discourse of Climate Change. Language is a social practice. Through our social and linguistic relationships, we construct and negotiate meaning. Our class will focus on discourse, or the social context in which language is used. Through a series of class projects, the course will apply theories of discourse analysis to examine how a variety of social actors talk about climate change (governments/politicians, media, corporations, non-government organizations). Our class will link with a course being taugtht simultaneously in the Marshall Islands. Students will connect via the internet to create friendships, put a human face on these issues, and to share research and analysis about climate change including interviews, mapping, and photos.
Student learning goals
Understand how a variety of social actors construct messages about climate change.
Apply the theories and methods of discourse analysis to media, text, and speech.
General method of instruction
Workshop format. Group discussion.
Recommended preparation
There are no prerequisites to the course.
Class assignments and grading
Individual and group discourse analysis, and a short paper.
