51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

This is the second of a two-module series that discusses the importance of approaching a different culture from its own perspective. The series, which includes "Cultural Studies: Learning Cultural Perspectives Through Ikebana," will help students experience the process of cross-cultural understanding. One of the interesting and controversial aspects of Knox's trial in Italy is related to translation and, in particular, to cultural misunderstanding--there were things the Italian court and Italians in general were not able to understand about Amanda, and things that Amanda was not able to understand about Italy, even though she had been living there for some time. What happens when people from different cultures must be able to communicate efficaciously, especially in a context where clarity is highly desirable, and assumptions and suppositions see the clashing of different cultural backgrounds? We will try and see what specifically happened in the case of the cultural clash between Amanda Knox and Italy, by reading and analyzing what has been said about this case in the press coverage, in books, interviews, and other materials, both in Italy and the US. No knowledge of Italian is necessary. This course will be held Monday, September 29 - Thursday, October 16.