INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION HUN/SSN180 FINAL PROJECT

New York City, the self‑styled Capital of the World, is home to people from approximately 185 different cultures. Each of these cultures contributes in some way, large or small, to the vitality of the city. For your final project, you are asked to do a cultural survey of one of these communities.

Requirements

You must choose a cultural community that has made and continues to make a sizeable contribution to various aspects (language, music, food, politics etc.) of life in the city. Please try to choose a community with which you are basically unfamiliar. As part of a group, you will choose your own area of concentration from the considerations below. Please present your findings in the form of a paper, 7‑10 pages, typewritten, double spaced, using a style guide, and your own work. You will be asked to deliver an oral presentation of your research to the class. You are encouraged to use video and any other media that will enhance your presentation.

Considerations

Following are the most important considerations that need to be addressed in the contents of your project:

1.        Historical time line ‑ the history of the first and any subsequent waves of immigration to New York; migration within the region.

2.        Reasons ‑ past and present, for coming to this area.

3.        Demographics ‑ past and present statistics on the number of people and their descendants plus current and projected trends.

4.        Major contributions to the city and to the state and nation.

5.        Socioeconomic status ‑ past, present, and outlook for the future.

6.         Institutions ‑ churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, social clubs, and social welfare agencies.

7.         Political involvement ‑ attitudes, activities, power and influence, past and present, in the city and in the state and nation.

8.         Traditions ‑ past and preserved, customs, music, food, clothing, moral attitudes, degree of assimilation, influence on life in the city, state, nation.

9.        Education ‑ importance placed on education, types of schooling preferred, literacy rates, languages spoken.

10.     Employment ‑jobs preferred, past and present, skills and trades, niches occupied

11.     Communication ‑ cultural patterns, observations on communication, verbal and nonverbal, as it occurs within the culture.

This project requires extensive field work. The Internet is not your best source but you are allowed to use one Internet reference in your "Works Cited" list. Additional sources include school and public libraries, the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, ethnic clubs on campus, your classmates, books, articles, stories, pictures, friends, community resources, religious institutions, interviews and oral histories, visiting the community and its people, restaurants and shops, museums, movies, and government agencies. Essential items include notepads, tape recorder, video camera, college ID, and comfortable shoes.

GOOD LUCK