Barriers to Intercultural Communication
COS-545 /645 FINAL (MAKE-UP) EXAM Prof. Ariana Hernandez-Reguant
Monday December 14,
Exams are due on Wednesday, December 16th, by 5pm (Eastern) via EMAIL (at reguant@miami.edu). Please note that late exams will not be accepted.
The exam consists of two essays. You need to complete both essays.
The goal of the exam is for you to show that you did the readings and that you are able to engage with their arguments. Your own argument must be based on the materials (readings, discussions, screenings, notes, presentations) that have been part of this course.
References to materials need to be included. When you engage with an argument, you need to name the author and the book or article in parenthesis or footnote. All quotations need to footnote the exact location, page, URL, etc.
Length should be about 1,500-2,000 words EACH essay. Please make sure you spell check, edit, copy edit and format prior to submitting. Font 12point, 1 inch margins, double-space. Include page numbers.
This is an individual exam. Even though you have access to books and notes, you need to do this on your own. No part of this essay shall be plagiarized, copied, conceptualized and/or written by anyone other than you.
Do the very best you can.
ESSAY 1 (50%)
If there is anything that you should take away from this class, it is two lessons: (1) cultures are neither homogeneous nor free from conflict and competing ideologies, no matter how influenced by globalization, and (2) communication across cultures always takes place in the context of both intracultural and intercultural relations of power.
Discuss the theories that inform these lessons and that we have discussed in class, specifically Foucault on power, Fanon on colonialism, and Bauman on globalization. Then show how these theories helped our critical understanding of one of the following: the politics of the veil in France, female circumcision in West Africa, the failure of faith-based programs to fight AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, Chinese development in Southern Africa.
ESSAY 2 (50%)
Write a critical commentary on the very recent controversy surrounding a Coca-Cola advertising campaign in Mexico.
The Case
A few days ago, Coca-Cola released an ad for Coke targeting indigenous people, filmed in a Mixe community (Totontepec), with local people speaking their language and, obviously, promoting Coke. There was an immediate uproar and human rights and indigenous groups immediately released an “anti-ad”. You can read about it and watch both ads in this press article: http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-12-07/mexico-s-anti-discrimination-agency-investigates-coca- cola-racist-christmas-ad
For those who do not read Spanish, I wrote this quick translation of the Spanish subtitles for the first ad:
- 86% Mexican indigenous people have felt rejected for speaking another language
- These Christmas a group of youth wished to give them a very special message
- Mixe community in Oaxaca: Totontepec
- Let’s stay united
- You too break prejudices and share #openyourheart
- Every time you do, you’ll switch on a light in the Coca Cola tree
And here my translation for the inserts in the anti-ad:
As part of its 2015 Christmas campaign, Coca-Cola released a commercial recorded in the Mixe indigenous community, in Totontepec, Oaxaca. This commercial, which invites to fight prejudice, has been severely criticized as discriminatory, for reinforcing stereotypes and promote habits
that offend the dignity, culture and health of indigenous peoples.
0:33 Mariano Hernandez, culinary arts student: In 2012, 2.8 million indigenous people lacked access to health care.
0:48. Josefa Díaz, university student. About 1/3 Oaxaca population lack access to running water.
1:08. Consumption of a daily soda increases the risk of diabetes by 26%
1:24. 50 years ago Type 2 Diabetes was rare in indigenous communities, but now it is reaching epidemic proportions.
1:52. To stay united we must protect our dignity, our health and our culture
2:02. In Oaxaca, it is typical to drink tejate, which is a sort of tea with clean water [MY NOTE: the implication being that now they don’t have clean water, but if they did, they would not need sodas]
#Openyour heart. Share and get rid of sodas in your community.
The next day, Coca-Cola withdrew the ad and apologized.
Yet, the controversy did not end there. It all happened very quickly, and after the ad was removed, some of the indigenous people protested the political correctness of those who forced its removal, and claimed to have liked the ad, as was reported by Al Jazeera.
Two anthropologists who study the Mixe people of Oaxaca have written critical commentaries on the whole affair. Dan Suslak in his blog offers a nuanced view of the original ad, and relays the mixed reactions of the local Mixe people, while Emiliana Cruz calls for action toward social justice.
Your Essay
On the basis of your knowledge of both intercultural advertising as acquired in this class (see readings, on blackboard, for session on advertising by Brian Moeran and William Mazzarella, and Jacey’s presentation, partly based on this material about Coca-Cola in India), as well as on the basis of your knowledge of race and racialization as discussed in this class (see Fanon, and class notes) write (1) a commentary on the “Coca-Cola in Totontepec” controversy that includes engagement with the aforementioned materials, and (2) a conclusion with your own recipe for intercultural communication for social justice as discussed in chapter 10 of your Intercultural Communication. Globalization and Social Justice book, and pertaining to the Coca-Cola ad in question. Should Coca-Cola not advertise to indigenous peoples at all? (from that, would it not follow that Coca-Cola should not advertise to anyone?). How should responsible advertisement look like in this case, according to you?