Using 30 Days as your inspiration, you will have the opportunity to participate in 24 hours of intercultural participation and write about your experiences, through a daylong ethnographic experiment. When I use the word “inspiration” I mean just that. You’re not obligated to recreate the “Binge-Drinking Mom” (S1, Ep. 6) episode, for example. But you may find yourself intrigued by the “Animal Rights” episode (S3, Ep. 3) and eat as a Vegan for a day. Coming from the Greek ethnos meaning “nations” and graphia meaning “writing”, ethnography is a course of study where one learns about other cultures, by observation and, often, participation. The goal of your ethnographic experience is to engage in embodied learning. As you’ve seen in 30 Days, the participants learn the most through their embodied, lived experiences with others from another culture.
Choose a 30 Days episode we’ve not previously used or will use in our class discussions, and use that episode as the basis for your ethnographic research. Participate in a culture that you do not identify with, for a 24-hour period. In an 8-10 page paper, describe your experience, relate it to the episode, and link it to our study of intercultural communication through a well-versed discussion of class concepts. You are required to use five (5) outside sources in this paper. To engage ethnographically and write your paper, you will need to ensure that you allow yourself plenty of time to reflect and engage with the culture you’re exploring. The goal of this assignment is to have you ‘dive in’ to the material we’re studying, not ‘swim around’ it.
Please note: The goal of the assignment is for you to be a participant-observer in your research. To that end, your role is not to create disturbances or to stay in an environment where you feel unsafe.