Xianfeng Mou, 09 Fall, 10600
Personal Essay Assignment*
The Personal and the Cultural
In this essay (3.5-4 pages) you will need to (1) introduce the topic you will be writing about, (2) explain why this topic is interesting and important, (3) describe your personal experience related to this topic, and (4) develop and state research questions addressing what you would like to find out abut this topic.
This assignment functions as the link that you have perceived between your personal experience and your larger cultural context. This project will enable you to write yourself into the culture, as I have designed it to be.
Very often the writing assignments you have done till this moment tend to rely heavily on personal experience, even if when you are asked to research about a literary book you have read and write intelligently about its theme, its reception, and its cultural influence. It is hoped that this project will enable you to see yourself in a complex web of cultural relationships, because your personal values carry your cultural values.
Let me give you two examples. I once had a Kuwaiti student who experienced the horrors of both the First Iraq War in 1990 and the Second Iraq War in 2003. Now the United States is still fighting in Iraq. He recounted the sudden horror of waking up one night finding Kuwait’s friendly neighbor Iraq suddenly changed into Kuwait’s mortal enemy and invaded and subjected the Kuwaiti people to atrocious war crimes. He told his experience of trying to shield his little sister during a bomb raid. From there, he learned many Kuwaitis developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, researched about its immediate and remote symptoms in victims, and narrowed his focus down to its manifestations in Kuwaiti children. He interviewed a psychiatrist trying a variety of measures helping children with PTSD. Finally he argued against war due to all the war damages, including social, economical, and especially the psychological damages war inflicted on civilians.
The Kuwaiti student did an excellent job for that semester. He educated the whole class about war damages by putting a human face to them observed through his own eyes. Abstract statistics or images we see everyday on TV have ceased to move us. He also advocated against war whenever possible from the civilians’ perspective.
If you say I am not a Kuwaiti, I do not have such a dramatic and traumatic experience. Let me give you a small event from my own life and show you the many directions that I can go if I am asked to interrogate its cultural implications. In 1998, I was asked to be the Interpreter for the CEO of a big pharmacy company in China for his interview with CNN while he attended the Fortune 500 business summit in Shanghai. We stayed at Shanghai Guidu, a four-star hotel.
One morning, I went down to have breakfast. Almost all the tables were occupied. But I was lucky to find one empty. There was no personal item either on the table or on the seat indicating the table had been taken. So I sat down with my buffet selections and started to have my breakfast. A few minutes later, a Caucasian-looking businessman walked over and sat down. He looked very displeased. He asked whether I could speak English. I nodded. Then he signaled the waitress over and told me through the waitress that the table was his. I again nodded to indicate that I understood. But I did not reply. It was bad table manners to speak when you had food in your mouth. Then he signaled the waitress a second time and told me through the waitress that the table was his, but I was welcome to stay if I wanted. At this point I became angry. I stayed at the table, finished my breakfast, did not say anything to him, and left.
Now, I can pursue the subject in a variety of directions. If I were asked, I could explore the cultural assumptions that the businessman had. He might think he is a Caucasian, I am a Chinese so he should have the table; or he is a rich investor to China, so he should have the table; or he is an important guest, so as a Chinese I should automatically accord him the privilege and hospitality he deserves; or he is a man, I am a woman, so he should have the table. Whether the table belonged to him in the first place did not matter. What mattered was the fact that he indicated three times that he wished me away because he wanted the table, and he wanted the table to himself. He never said he reserved the table. He was a Caucasian in China. I could also look at the linguistic power he was exercising for he thought I could not speak English. Of course, I could also look at the position of China in world communities as the larger background to this snapshot. You see, in his cultural assumptions, race, nationality, economic status, age, gender, language, and culture all played a part.
I would probably conduct research on cultural assumptions that foreign businessmen have about China or while they are in China. There are quite a few business journals devoted to that. I could interview a Chinese CEO who deals with foreign businessmen frequently, or I could interview some business leaders here who have conducted business successfully in China. For the Argumentative Essay, I could argue that mutual respect and mutual understandings shall replace cultural misconceptions and propose ways to improve intercultural understanding.
You see, this small event may be easily forgotten. But such insignificant personal experience can also carry a wealth of cultural implications. And that is the link you are asked to find and research about.
The last requirement—develop and state research questions indicating where your research is going—is very important. Since one event can inspire research in so many directions, your task is to pick a fruitful and meaningful one. These research questions will also help you lay down your research plan.
*The approach is inspired by Professor Tony Silva. From: Leki, I. (1998). Academic writing: Exploring processes and strategies, Second edition. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
The material is significantly expanded and especially adapted for this cultural approach for Fall, 2009.
Creative Commons Rights. Xianfeng Mou 2009.
