Cultural Events; Films

Title No. 41

A PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHY Resource Publication National Council for Geographic Education

TEACHING ETHNIC GEOGRAPHY IN THE 21ST CENTURY Lawrence E. Estaville Edris J. Montalvo Fenda A. Akiwumi Editors

The PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHY SERIES has been created by the National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) to support the teaching and learning themes, concepts, and skills in geography at all levels of instruction.

PATHWAYS IN GEOGRAPHY SERIES TITLE No. 41 Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21ST Century Lawrence E. Estaville, Edris J. Montalvo, and Fenda A. Akiwumi, Editors Copyright 2014 by the National Council for Geographic Education No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission of the publisher. For information about this title, the PATHWAYS series or geography education please contact: NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR GEOGRAPHIC EDUCATION 1101 14TH STREET NW SUITE 350 WASHINGTON, DC 20005 ISBN- 978-0-9627379-1-6 Produced in the United States of America

Dedicated to our mothers: Carmel Richey Estaville, Lillian Rodriguez Montalvo, and Amelia Kendrick Blyden

Contents Contributors……..……………………………………..………………………………………………………V Illustrations……………………………..…………………………………………………………………..…VI Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………..…1 Lawrence E. Estaville, Texas State University; Edris J. Montalvo, Cameron University; and Fenda A. Akiwumi, University of South Florida

Part I. Ethnic Heritage Chapter 1. “My Ethnic Identity” Writing Assignment Susan E. Hume, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville……………..…………………….…….………….…6 Chapter 2. Branching Out: Genealogy as Pedagogy in American Ethnic Geography Joy K. Adams, American Honors ……………………………………………………………….………………..11

Part II. Visualizing Ethnicity Chapter 3. Visualization of Racial-Ethnic Geography in the Classroom John W. Frazier, University of Binghamton (SUNY)……………………………………………………………..18 Chapter 4. Ethnic Geography in Popular Films and Documentaries Lawrence E. Estaville and Kanika Verma, Texas State University………..………….…………………….……31

Part III. Experiential Learning and Concepts for Conversations Chapter 5. Ethnic Geography through Experiential Learning Edris J. Montalvo, Cameron University……………………………………………………………………..…..43 Chapter 6. On-campus and Local Community Cultural Events to Explore Ethnic Geography Themes Kanika Verma, Texas State University……………………………………….…………………………..………50 Chapter 7. Positionality in an Increasingly Diverse Society: Stimulating Conversation Across the Divide Jay L. Newberry, Binghamton University (SUNY)……………………………………………………………….57 Chapter 8. Toward a Pedagogy of Jim Crow: A Geographic Reading of The Green Book Derek H. Alderman and Joshua Inwood, University of Tennessee ………………………………………………67

Part IV. Ethnic Markers and Field Studies Chapter 9. Getting the Ball Rolling: Teaching Ethnic Geography through Sports Examples Heike C. Alberts, University of Wisconsin—Oshkosh .…………………………………………………………79 Chapter 10. Ethnicity Carved in Stone: Cemeteries as Learning Environments Joy K. Adams, American Honors …..……………………………………………………………………………86 Chapter 11. Understanding Ethnicity and Inequality through Fieldtrip Projects Emily Skop, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs……………….……………………………………..…93

Part V. International Ethnic Connections Chapter 12. Ethnic Diversity in Courses on Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development Fenda A. Akiwumi, University of South Florida…………………………………………………………….…101 Chapter 13. Immigrant Interviews in Teaching Latin American Geography Sarah A. Blue, Texas State University…………………………………………………………………..……..107 Chapter 14. International Teaching Opportunities and Challenges: Migration and Settlement Carlos Teixeira, University of British Columbia Okanagan.……………………………………….………….113

Acknowledgements We sincerely thank Richard B. Schultz, NCGE Vice President for Publications and Products, and Zachary R. Dulli, NCGE Co-Chief Executive Officer, for their encouragement and support in bringing this anthology to publication. We are also grateful for the peer review process and the copyediting that strengthened our work.

Contributors Joy K. Adams, Instructional Design Manager, American Honors, Washington, DC Fenda A. Akiwumi, Associate Professor, University of South Florida; National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development’s (NISOD) Excellence in Teaching Award Heike C. Alberts, Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Edward Penson Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Derek H. Alderman, Professor and Head, University of Tennessee; Distinguished University Teaching Achievement Award, National Council for Geographic Education; University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching; Distinguished Professor of Teaching Award, East Carolina University Sarah A. Blue, Assistant Professor, Texas State University Lawrence E. Estaville, Professor, Texas State University; Distinguished University Teaching Achievement Award, National Council for Geographic Education; Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Recognition for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Mentoring, California State University, Fresno John W. Frazier, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Binghamton Campus; Binghamton University Faculty Award for Support of Economic Opportunity Programs and Principles Susan E. Hume, Associate Professor, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; 2015 President, National Council for Geographic Education Joshua Inwood, Associate Professor, University of Tennessee; Distinguished Diversity Award, Auburn University Edris J. Montalvo, Assistant Professor, Cameron University; Hackler Teaching Excellence Award, Cameron University Jay L. Newberry, Assistant Professor, Binghamton University (SUNY) Emily Skop, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Colorado Springs Carlos Teixeira, Professor, University of British Columbia Okanagan; Provost’s Award for Public Education through Media Award, University of British Columbia Okanagan Kanika Verma, Instructor, Texas State University

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Illustrations Figures 3.1. Equating the Irish and black and as drunken, disorderly sitting on a powder keg. 3.2. Racialization of the Irish and consequences. 3.3. Hispanics linked to African Americans, restricted access and discrimination, and anti-Mexican press during the 1930s. 3.4. Mexicans as Zoot Suiters and tied to Nazism in 1942. 3.5. Threats of violence against blacks in northern cities in the 1940s. 3.6. Imagery to racialize and stereotype African Americans as stupid. 3.7. Illustrations of the Chinese as unwelcome in the late 19th century and Japanese residential discrimination during the 1920s. 5.1. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (1984). 7.1. Maps of the top 20 states and table of the top 10 state values where black and Hispanic K–12 students have the least amount of exposure to white students. 7.2. State school segregation based on the index of dissimilarity. 7.3. Nearest-neighbor interpolation of diversity growth at public higher education institutions across three decades. 7.4. Most recent academic major data for the Urban Geography Race and Place course. 7.5. Survey results charting student behavioral change toward people outside their own racial or ethnic group. 8.1. Cities with establishments listed in the Green Book, 1949. 8.2. Green Book (1956) business listings for Atlanta, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee. 8.3. Green Book (1956) photo of the grand opening of Esso gas station, Memphis, Tennessee. 10.1. Greenwood Cemetery in Arcata, California. 10.2. Beyond the specific information provided in inscriptions, the size, placement, quality of materials, and general condition of grave markers yield hints as to the social, economic, and political status of members of the community. 10.3. A wide range of migration information and personal data can be gleaned from cemetery inscriptions. 10.4. Some grave markers, such as Charlott Anderson’s above, explicitly identify the ethnic origins of the deceased, while others provide more subtle clues, including inscriptions in native languages or ethnic symbols. 10.5. In Texas Graveyards (1982), Terry Jordan remarked on the inherent conservatism of cemeteries. 11.1. The “Between the Sheets: Uncovering Housing Inequality” fieldtrip took the class to an extended-stay motel with short-term rentals to demonstrate the problem of unfair and unequal housing in the United States. 11.2. During the “No Child Left Behind: Firsthand Accounts of Discrepancies in our Public Education System” fieldtrip, students heard actual accounts of inequality from teachers and administrators at a Title I school. 14.1. Location maps of Portugal and the Azores Islands.

Tables 1.1. Guidelines and Prompts for Writing Assignment. 6.1. Examples of Cultural Events with Ethnic Themes and Concepts. 11.1. Grading Rubric for the “Spaces of Inequality” Fieldtrip Project. 14.1. Highlights of Field Experiences in Ponta Delgada, Porto, and Lisbon.

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INTRODUCTION LAWRENCE E. ESTAVILLE, EDRIS J. MONTALVO, AND FENDA A. AKIWUMI

DIVERSITY AND ETHNICITY By the 2050 census the United States will have a majority–minority population, that is, not one ethnic or racial group will be in the majority (U.S. Census, 2012). This amazing ethnic diversity will have profound social, cultural, economic, and political consequences. Our educational systems will have to change markedly to understand the new and varied groups of young people and their diverse backgrounds and learning requirements. And university and high school educators who teach about ethnic groups must incorporate valid and reliable learning methods into their classrooms. This anthology, Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century, is a good starting point for teaching ethnic geography to help reach the goal of students grasping the strengths and benefits in the beauty of diversity in the United States and around the world. Many definitions of ethnicity exist. Objective denotations characterize involuntary socialized groups of people possessing common ancestral origins and cultural traits; subjective definitions mark groups of people with psychological self-identities or identities that others ascribe to them (Isajiw, 1974, 1993). The papers in this anthology are based primarily on Isajiw’s (1974) specific definition of North American ethnicity that is still applicable today: …an involuntary group of people who share the same culture or to descendants of such people who identify themselves and/or are identified by others as belonging to the same involuntary group (p. 122). People, therefore, are born into their ethnic group. However, because ethnicity is malleable in time and place, their ethnicities can evolve during their lives. In fact, an estimated 10 million people changed their ethnicity from 2000 to 2010 in the United States (Pew Research Center, 2014). Reasons for such a substantial shift include variable census categories from the 2000 enumeration to the 2010 count, confusing census questions about ethnicity and race, transforming self-identities, and socioeconomic benefits associated with belonging to certain ethnic groups. Each of the papers in this anthology delves into particular meanings of Isajiw’s definition of ethnicity and how undergraduate students think about the concept for themselves and others.

TEACHING ETHNIC GEOGRAPHY This anthology explores ethnicity, associated concepts, and ethnic groups in the United States and other places from a variety of perspectives in five coherent themes, entitled: (1) Ethnic Heritage, (2) Visualizing Ethnicity, (3) Experiential Learning and Concepts for Conversations, (4) Ethnic Markers and Field Studies, and (5) International Ethnic Connections. These five parts contain 14 chapters written by experienced ethnic geographers from across North America. 1

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century Susan Hume’s paper about an ethnic identity writing assignment is the first of two in Part I, Ethnic Heritage. Through a series of prompting questions, she directs her students to research and ruminate about their ethnic heritage and attempt to self-ascribe their current ethnicity. Her students use such ethnic surrogates as ancestral heritage, family traditions, and place in self-reflecting and writing about their ethnicities. The second paper involves Joy Adams’ use of genealogy as a vehicle for students to learn about their ethnicities. She requires her students to research their family histories, trace their migrations and settlement patterns, construct genealogical charts and maps, and distill the information into a migration paper. The learning outcomes of the exercise include student engagement, creative and critical thinking, reinforcement of geographic concepts, and development of transferable skills. John Frazier leads off Part II, Visualizing Ethnicity, with a content-laden piece on taking advantage of geography’s visual foundations. After briefly exploring the evolution and importance of visualization in geographic research and teaching, he explains the functions of images and videos in his Multicultural Geographies of the United States course. He tracks student progress throughout the semester as the course documents four diasporas—Irish, Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians (Chinese and Japanese)—from the early 19th century through the 20th century. Lawrence Estaville and Kanika Verma first contemplate popular film as a legitimate teaching tool before detailing four methods of having students view movies and documentaries to comprehend more deeply key ethnic geography concepts. The authors share short lists of popular motion pictures and documentaries they have used along with questions for each film to stimulate student critical thinking. The four papers of Part III, Experiential Learning and Concepts for Conversations, negotiate diverse yet connected pedagogical matrices. Edris Montalvo outlines, via Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, a method for bringing a scholarly experience to his students at a small teaching university without a geography department. He guides the students from searching for a topic, through the traditional hypothesis-driven research, to student poster presentations at a national professional conference. The time spent in individually mentoring the students, who had little or no background in geography, through the process was considerable, but the learning rewards were remarkable. Based on Bennett’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity, Kanika Verma encourages her students to learn about ethnic groups through participating in free on-campus and community cultural events. She provides students with seven pedagogical prompts to ensure they understand essential ethnic concepts when writing reports about their experiences at the cultural events that lead to energetic class discussions. Jay Newberry defines “positionality” as the place a person holds within an array of social relationships. Employing empirical evidence, he argues determinedly that educators in general and ethnic geographers in particular should explicitly contextualize themselves to their students at the beginning of each course, thereby enabling students to place instructors into the biases of their backgrounds. Moreover, he displays graphically the striking contrast of the increasing ethnic and racial segregation of students in K–12 schools and the burgeoning diversity in institutions of higher education in the United States. Yet, this growing integration of college student bodies does not necessarily produce more meaningful interaction among ethnic groups on campuses, expressly regarding students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Derek Alderman and Joshua Inwood, in the final paper in Part III, elucidate the significance of The Negro Travelers’ Green Book within the context of the Jim Crow laws that blatantly discriminated against African Americans and controlled their 2

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century spaces and mobility. From 1936 to 1965 the Green Book annually compiled destinations and services (e.g., lodging, restaurants, barber shops, and beauty salons) friendly toward African-American motorists during a period in which their travel across much of the United States could be frightening. Alderman and Inwood propose three interpretive frameworks for students to study the Green Book—racial politics of mobility, black counter-public spaces, and commodity activism—and suggest a set of active learning exercises for students to undertake. The first of three chapters in Part IV, Ethnic Markers and Field Studies, is Heike Alberts’ essay concerning using sports examples to excite students about learning ethnic geography. Her paper examines the relationships of sports, specifically soccer and Olympic competitions, with such concepts as citizenship, identity and belonging, migration, religion, diversity and multiculturalism, and conflict. After probing concrete sports case studies, she concludes that using sports examples to teach ethnic geography is beneficial and gratifying in reaching course learning outcomes. Necrogeography is the underlying learning concept Joy Adams employs in her chapter as her students read ethnic landscapes in local cemeteries through deciphering the inscriptions on grave markers and interpreting symbols and geospatial relationships in the graveyards as well as in their communities. She engages students in field observation with a fun scavenger hunt to find information about a particular cemetery and its grave markers and then has students write a reflective report that answers 14 questions she poses about their field adventures. Emily Skop expands geospatially the field experience by requiring students to form small groups that design and lead excursions into a city to see firsthand racial and ethnic inequality. These daytime fieldtrips have taken students to such places as an extended-stay discount motel, a fivestar hotel, a free healthcare clinic, and an upscale mall. She provides the student groups with prompts that help them organize a fieldtrip, requires the learning forays to be grounded in central concepts from the ethnic geography literature, and assesses the group work submitted electronically via a well-defined evaluation rubric. Part V, International Ethnic Connections, has three essays that portray the worldviews of diverse assemblages of students and student observations of places and their peoples. Fenda Akiwumi links ethnic diversity around the world with environmental sustainability by having her students, many of whom are from a variety of countries, discover their own ethnicities through answering a set of questions and then interviewing students from other ethnicities regarding their cultures and environmental viewpoints, especially about the value and exploitation of resources. Through the process, students’ ethnicities evolved as they revealed insights about themselves, their peers, and global communities while investigating case studies about the environment, resource use, and sustainability. Sarah Blue likewise employs the intimate interview process to help her students gain a firsthand appreciation of Latin American cultures. Each of her students interviews an immigrant from a Latin American country—a classmate, a student on campus, or a member of the larger community—via a semi-structured approach and creates an MP3 audio file for later review of the conversation and in assisting with writing a reflection paper. Interviewing immigrants by probing cultural comparisons gave students a greater understanding of the concepts learned in class. In the final paper in this anthology, Carlos Teixeira explains the pedagogical challenges and learning rewards of taking 15 Canadian students on a three-week international field adventure to Portugal and the Azores Islands, his birthplace. Before departing on the trip, he gave students substantial information about these places and peoples and 3

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century had students read from an extensive list of books and journal articles. A detailed event calendar led the group to localities and events of cultural consequence, notably concerning migration patterns. Groups of three or four students prepared written reports and class presentations reflecting on their experiential learning outcomes from the international field study.

CONCLUSION Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century, with its 14 papers, draws from an eclectic array of perspectives, but all connect with each other and expand on the fundamental concepts of ethnic geography and share innovative teaching and learning methods. We believe the ideas in this anthology combined with the astute guidance and encouragement of caring, passionate teachers will effectively launch our students into an increasingly diverse world.

REFERENCES Isajiw, W. (1974). Definitions of ethnicity. Ethnicity, 1, 111–24. Isajiw, W. (1993). Definition and dimensions of ethnicity: A theoretical framework. In Statistics Canada and U.S. Bureau of the Census (Eds.), Challenges of measuring an ethnic world: Science, politics and reality: Proceedings of the joint Canada-United States conference on the measurement of ethnicity April 1–3, 1992 (pp. 407–427). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Pew Research Center (2014, May 5). Millions of Americans changed their racial or ethnic identity from one census to the next. Retrieved from: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/05/millionsof-americans-changed-their-racial-or-ethnic-identity-from-one-census-to-the-next/ U.S. Census Bureau (2012). U.S. Census Bureau projections show a slower growing, older, more diverse nation a half century from now. Retrieved from: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/ archives/population/cb12-243.html

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Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century

PART II VISUALIZING ETHNICITY

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Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century

CHAPTER 4 ETHNIC GEOGRAPHY IN POPULAR FILMS AND DOCUMENTARIES* LAWRENCE E. ESTAVILLE AND KANIKA VERMA INTRODUCTION “I’d rather watch the movie than read the book” is the title of Aitken’s 1994 paper to “…suggest that narrative cinema can make an important contribution to the geography curriculum in higher education” (291). In today’s Internet world, his argument is even more profound, particularly for undergraduate students. Cases in point: Would undergraduate students prefer to view critically the award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire for two hours or read the splendidly written 600-page, prize-winning book A Fine Balance, both underscoring ethnic themes, poverty, and injustice in India? Perhaps students could read the New York Times bestseller novel The Kite Runner (324 pages) instead of watching the awardwinning film of the same title (128 minutes), both portraying tumultuous Afghanistan in the last quarter of the 20th century. Or should students empathetically learn from the hour-and-a-half-long historical drama The Butler about African-American struggles for equality in the 20th century or become captivated by the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Carry Me Home with its 604 pages of extraordinary narrative about the civil rights revolution in Birmingham, Alabama? In a perfect world we would recommend students watch and read all of the above. But in the 21st century reality of tweeting 140character text messages, such course requirements would be met with low enrollments and unfinished assignments, thus failing to reach students with important information about ethnic geography or producing unattainable learning outcomes. Social science, humanities, business, health, and other disciplines have employed popular films to explain cultural phenomena, their interconnections, and significance. Mallinger and Rossy (2003, p. 209) astutely observed: Film is a uniquely rich medium for the purpose of studying culture because it communicates on several levels…Students today have become accustomed to learning through multimedia and are easily bored or distracted by more traditional pedagogies. As a generation raised on television, film, and computers, they are more receptive to these new forms of information. Cardon (2010, p. 151) concurred: “Films can be a valuable intellectual exercise in deciphering other cultures.” Loewen (1991, p. 82) was more specific about ethnic group relationships: In this video age, our students construct much of their understanding of race relations from visual material. In still-segregated America, many white students have had little indepth contact with African Americans, Native Americans, or Hispanics before they reach our classes. The images and information in feature films provide white students with 31

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century much of their ‘knowledge’ about people of color. According to black film critic James Murray, people of color also are influenced greatly by movies as they form views of society and themselves. We agree with these scholars that films are powerful learning channels. The purpose of this essay is to (1) explore briefly popular film and documentaries as legitimate teaching tools; (2) share some simple strategies in using film to teach ethnic geography, methods for students to view films, critical thinking avenues, and intended learning outcomes; and (3) offer short lists of popular motion pictures and documentaries we have used in our classes along with questions for each film that instructors may employ to evoke thoughts from their students.

FILM BIAS AND CLASSROOM ANALYSIS Does popular cinema reflect reality? The question is central to an ongoing debate over many decades. In 2010 noted screenwriter Robert Eisele maintained: “Do Hollywood films truly reflect life in America? They reflect the spirit of life in America, if not its everyday realities. They portray the nation’s restlessness, imagination and longing.” How should we interpret his perspective? Can film depict “the spirit of life” in other countries and places as well? Scholars caution geography instructors about the inherent biases in popular movies and documentaries: biases in the selection of the topic or material, in the minds of the directors and producers, in the filmmaking itself, and in the marketing strategies. Yet, are these predilections merely a part of communicating ideas in general, such as a child telling about her school day, a student giving a class presentation, a professor lecturing, a news anchor reporting on national television, or the incessant “talking heads” commentating on cable channels, all of whom include their partialities in the storytelling, from the lost or distorted information about the actual event until its narration to the body language and facial expressions of the reporters. To these subjectivities add our own as instructors and those of our students to try to appreciate the complexity of the endeavor. Using film to teach ethnic geography is similar to employing the U.S. census data to analyze ethnic group characteristics. Films are criticized for not portraying the “truth,” and the census is attacked for incorporating inconsistent variables and inarticulate categories. But, like the extensive census datasets covering the entire country, where are the more accurate visualizations of life than in film? As the United States expends millions of dollars every 10 years to conduct the census, motion picture production companies disburse enormous sums for their creations, for example and not adjusting for currency inflation over time: Driving Miss Daisy (1989) $7.5 million, The Joy Luck Club (1993) $10.5 million, The Kite Runner (2007) $20 million, Slumdog Millionaire (2008) $14 million, The Help (2011) $25 million, and The Butler (2013) $30 million, all of which are not considered expensive in comparison with big-production films (The Numbers, 2014). Can these films be replicated and made more accurate? Who will do so? In other words, in using motion pictures and documentaries, educators have to deal with what is available and accessible—and we can do so effectively and rewardingly for our students through reasonable and thoughtful pedagogical strategies. Like errors in the U.S. census and bias in motion pictures and documentaries, college geography textbooks contain mistakes and have the predispositions of the authors, editors, and publishers as they select what samples of educational material will reside in their books. More significant, however, university geography teachers should concede our own geographic knowledge limitations and 32

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century intellectual leanings. Geography educators must learn as much as we can regarding the places we teach about to communicate intelligibly in factual and objective ways the information to our students, most of whom have not travelled outside the United States, some never beyond their home states. Finally, if geography educators do not attempt to become professional film critics or cinematographers (e.g., deconstructing actor performances, black and white versus color, camera angles, and visual alterations), philosophers parsing the postmodern, realist, or critical meanings of a film, to name some epistemological avenues, or over-analyze scenes until undergraduate students become numb (if not catatonic), then popular movies as well as contemporary documentaries can be compelling vehicles to teach ethnic geography.

FILM, CLASS SIZE, AND ACTIVE LEARNING Scale is essential to most everything, certainly geography. Scale is also fundamental to teaching— small to large classes and teacher–student ratios. The pedagogical strategies educators use for small classes, of course, may not work well or not at all for large classes. One scholar reported that if his class size is less than 15 students, then he would invite them all to his house during the course to view the films, with popcorn provided (Aitken, 1994). We think, however, that most American university instructors are not interested in having undergraduates eating popcorn in their homes. Two other geography education researchers recently shared their experiences and perceived post-facto best practices about teaching a month-long honors course with 29 students at a small, highly selective liberal arts college in the Midwest. These scholars showed 18 American and foreign movies and documentaries during the four weeks, with about two hours of the daily three-hour class periods devoted to students viewing the films (Sigler & Albandoz, 2014). After showing the 18 films in an undergraduate course during class time, Sigler and Albandoz (2014, p. 64) candidly revealed: The extant structure allowed for very little discussion of the basic tenets of urban geography, unfortunately, and although students were introduced to many fundamental themes such as infrastructure, housing, social polarization, sprawl, and urban culture, there was no formal treatment of this material and the result was a lack of terminological clarity in some cases. Student-centered pedagogy is crucial but it does not mean that students know what they need to learn, clearly underlined in this month-long cinematic educational experiment. To fulfill course learning outcomes, students thus require the geographic knowledge and explanatory skills of an instructor along with appropriate readings and other active learning pathways that must be permeated with inquiry-based or guided inquiry-based learning for large classes as well as, where feasible, incorporate collaborative/cooperative, problem-based, field-based, or web-based learning (Bonwell & Eison, 1991; Estaville et al., 2010; Prince, 2004; Spronken-Smith et al., 2008). Although the two foregoing examples are certainly provocative teaching strategies for small classes with highly motivated students, most university undergraduate geography instructors in the United States teach classes that range from 35–50 students in upper-division courses to 250 students or more in lower-division courses with students who scored typically above average on their high school SAT or ACT assessments. Small size classes are indeed optimal for creating an active learning environment as more opportunities are available for students to engage in higher-order thinking and deliberation. 33

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century Medium-size classes can certainly incorporate active learning, but the number of appropriate active learning activities diminishes as class size increases. Although large lower-division classes constrain standard active learning strategies, instructors can engage students in innovative active learning endeavors in large classes (Estaville et al., 2010; Revell & Wainwright, 2009; Solem & Foote, 2009).

VIEWING METHODS Students can view popular films and documentaries for class discussion in four ways: 1. VIEWING FILMS IN CLASS Viewing an entire film in class enables timely instructor–student interaction and instant feedback as the movie can be paused to comment on key concepts regarding ethnic geography. If an instructor obtains a motion picture or documentary at the university library, rents it, or streams it, all of these means of obtaining the film are within its copyrighted educational use. Students share a common experience and place all events of the storyline in full context of the film. Class follow-on discussion ensures continuity in that all students participated in viewing the film at the same time and in the same environment. As in the honors class mentioned earlier and other than short 15–20-minute documentaries, the principal drawback is that showing entire feature films in class consumes enormous blocks of class time. To reach reasonable learning outcomes, instructors, therefore, will be exceedingly limited in the number of popular films they can show in class as teaching vehicles because most of the course time should be for requisite class active learning activities. Students also are unable to review certain parts of the film because of time constraints. Popular films are therefore not the core of an undergraduate course but merely pedagogical tools. 2. VIEWING FILMS OUTSIDE CLASS Viewing an entire film outside class allows for about 4–5 films to be considered in a regular semester of 14 to 15 weeks and enables students the flexibility of seeing motion pictures at their convenience, perhaps with several of their classmates, friends, or family members in shared experiences. Students can check out films from the university library, rent DVDs, or download or stream them from web sites like Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, or Vudu to their computers or tablets, thereby allowing students to review parts of a film whenever they wish and enabling a better understanding of a film’s subtleties and subtexts. Watching a film outside class, however, does not allow for thoughts and questions from the instructor to make salient teaching points at particular places in a movie. The method likewise does not permit students to express their thoughts as the film unfolds nor to enjoy a total common experience that sometimes becomes a significant bonding phenomenon. Finally, from such web sites as Wikipedia and Rotten Tomatoes, students can obtain extensive information about a film rather than watch it, thus defeating the entire visualization assignment. By reading carefully the required essays and engaging students with probing questions, teachers can quickly learn who has not viewed a selection. In fact, before discussing a film we simply ask our classes who has not seen the film, and, drawing on their moral upbringings, some students will cough up they did not have time to view the assignment. 3. VIEWING FILM CLIPS IN CLASS Viewing film clips in class does not allow students to experience the richness of the entire motion picture or documentary and requires instructors to integrate carefully each film segment shown into the

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Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century context of the entire composition. When showing film clips, teachers can carefully select the concepts they wish to present, the time and sequence of presentation, and the time allotted to each concept. 4. VIEWING FILMS OUTSIDE CLASS AND REVIEWING VIA FILM CLIPS IN CLASS Perhaps the optimum method is the combination of having students view films outside class and then reviewing the notable points of ethnic geography via film clips shown in class. This strategy incorporates the strengths of the two previous methods while diminishing their weaknesses. After the class watches a motion picture or documentary outside class, then instructors can use film clips in class to emphasize, for example: the sight of Joe Mondragon kicking open a water sluice in the mountains in northeast New Mexico, thereby causing a fierce Hispano-Anglo water controversy in The Milagro Beanfield War and underscoring centuries of ethnic conflict in the American West; the scene of a bus filled with African Americans being torched during the Freedom Summer in 1964 in The Butler, which magnifies the hatred of white racists of blacks, particularly as African Americans fought to win equal rights in the mid-20th century; the incident in Driving Miss Daisy where two white Alabama state troopers make odious remarks about Daisy, a wealthy Jewish lady, and Hoke, her black chauffeur; a clip showing Lin Xiao’s abusive behavior to Ying Ying in The Joy Luck Club as an expression of the continued dominance of Chinese wives by their husbands in their new American home; scenes of the Ford Mustang in The Kite Runner showing connections of affluent, educated Afghans with the Western ways and the horrors of the Taliban, who stoned people to death through their cruel theocracy; or the portrayal in Rabbit-Proof Fence of Mr. Neville’s pontificating “scientifically” about how half-white children must be rescued from aboriginal society.

CRITICAL THINKING PATHWAYS After viewing a film, students compose a two-page analysis that includes the plot, major characters, and place interpretation and focuses on key concepts of ethnic geography, most introduced in class discussion and readings and some leaping out from the films themselves. Students throughout the semester should identify as well ideas and themes that connect or contrast the films. Over the course of a regular semester, movies and documentaries may include such concepts as: place, geospatial analysis, internal and external ascription, national origins, disidentification, racism, discrimination, segregation, ethnocentrism, ethnocide, migration, refugees, acculturation, assimilation, white flight, sequent occupance, settlement patterns, ethnic landscape, ethnic enclave, gentrification, cultural relativity, religious fanaticism, and ethnic language, dress, foods, music, literature, and religion, to list a few. For instance, in the film Do the Right Thing, students should grasp such ideas as the perception of one ethnic group about another, the white flight of an ethnic group and its remaining relict commercial feature, the entrance of a new ethnic group into the neighborhood, and the violence caused by the loathing of one group toward another that ultimately changes the ethnic landscape of the place. Students turn in their essays a class period before they reflect about a film in class so they have had time to digest what they have written, thereby allowing an opportunity to prepare for defending their thoughts. The instructor guides the students through possible minefields of stereotypes and controversies embedded in films and ensures students clearly contemplate fundamental points about the geospatial aspects of the ethnic groups, perhaps evoking students’ personal experiences and leading to vigorous academic discourse. More specifically regarding stereotypes, critical thinking can unpack, for instance, 35

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century projected cognitive similarity—the tendency to assume members of other cultures have the same values as we do—and the outgroup homogeneity effect—the tendency to think members of other groups are all the same (Cardon, 2010). Viewing a popular film or documentary can certainly initiate critical thinking about concepts of ethnic geography in settings of human conflict and dilemmas most uniquely demonstrated in the film Crash.

LEARNING OUTCOMES Through the process of viewing and interpreting, both in writing and verbally, popular films and documentaries about ethnic groups and their geographies, students are led to: (1) ask geospatial questions about the films, (2) acquire geographic information from each film, (3) organize the information within the framework of important concepts regarding ethnic geography, (4) formulate hypotheses about possible explanations, and (5) produce thoughtful answers to questions about ethnic groups and their geographical experiences via their analyses and the instructor’s facilitation.

CONCLUSIONS Most people enjoy watching good popular films, particularly those that have won awards. Indeed, during the many years of using popular films in the classroom, all of our students have been enthusiastic about the pedagogical approach. Some well-constructed, relatable documentaries can likewise be penetrating teaching tools. Sometimes, motion picture and documentary portrayals are accurate, but some are replete with stereotypes and erroneous information about ethnic groups and their cultures. In either case, by engendering critical examination, geography instructors can draw vital learning points from popular films and documentaries about ethnic groups and their geographies.

POPULAR FILM LIST We offer short lists of motion pictures and documentaries for the United States and the other countries and places we have used in our classes regarding ethnic geography and its concepts, including introductory courses in cultural geography and world regional geography and an upper-division ethnic geography course. In the many years of employing popular film in these courses with hundreds of students, less than a handful of students have expressed displeasure with the R-rated films. We now place language into our syllabi that cautions students about the R-rated films so they can decide whether to continue in the particular course. Also included in the lists are three questions for each film or documentary that instructors may use to evoke thoughts from their students in analyzing some of the major ideas conveyed. UNITED STATES FILMS 1. Black Robe (Native Americans, French; 1991, 100 minutes, R rated) Although the setting for this film takes place mostly in southern Canada, the motion picture is probably the most authentic in depicting Native Americans at the time of European contact. Against spectacular landscapes, the plot centers on a Jesuit priest and his encounters with the Huron tribe and its archenemy, the Iroquois. a. What were the relationships between Native-American tribes at the time of European contact? b. What were the early interactions between the French missionaries and the Native Americans? c. What are some of the Native-American customs that the French priest could not understand? 36

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century 2. Dances with Wolves (Native Americans, whites; 1990, 181 minutes, PG-13 rated) The spiritual transformation of a former Union Civil War soldier into a Sioux tribesman on the Great Plains is the principal theme. a. What were the initial relationships between the white soldier and the Sioux? b. What is the importance of the buffalo in the life of the Sioux? c. What is the most significant symbol of the soldier’s assimilation into the Sioux culture? 3. Gangs of New York (Irish, Italians, African Americans; 2002, 160 minutes, R rated) The Natives, a white nativist gang, clashes with the Dead Rabbits, an Irish immigrant gang, for control of the Five Points neighborhood of New York in 1862. a. Describe the Five Points neighborhood during the Civil War. b. What are some of the ways ethnic hatred was portrayed in the movie? c. What were the causes of the rioting at the close of the film? 4. Driving Miss Daisy (African Americans, Jews, Anglos; 1989, 99 minutes, PG rated) The plot explores the 25-year relationship (1948–1973) between a wealthy Jewish lady and her AfricanAmerican chauffeur in Atlanta, Georgia. a. How were Jews viewed by urban southerners in the mid-to-late 20th century, and how do Jews respond to the much larger non-Jewish community? b. How were African Americans treated at this time in the South, and are there any indications in the film that they had made socioeconomic gains through the years? c. In which ways can the relationship between Daisy and Hoke offer possible solutions to ethnic misunderstandings and tensions? 5. 42 (African Americans, whites; 2013, 128 minutes, PG-13 rated) The story of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in major league baseball, depicts the many racist encounters from difficulty of travelling across the United States in the 1940s to white players and fans voicing their bigotry stridently. a. Explain the gasoline station scene early in the film. b. Why did the Dodgers hold spring training in Panama? c. What was the role of the black reporter in the movie? 6. Fried Green Tomatoes (whites, African Americans; 1991, 130 minutes, PG-13 rated) Flashing back from present-day suburban Alabama to the main characters that live in a small 1930s railroad town, this thoughtful story is about women trying to cope with southern life then and in the early 1990s. a. How does bigotry play a role in the movie? b. In which ways are the relationships between white women and blacks different from those of white men and blacks? c. How do ethnic foods in the film underscore the flavor of the southern culture? 7. Do the Right Thing (African Americans, Italians, Koreans, Puerto Ricans; 1989, 120 minutes, R rated)

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Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century This controversial film looks at a day in the life of an African-American neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York in the late 1980s. Ethnic tensions center on the Italian pizzeria and its Wall of Fame that are burned in the plot’s climax in a fury of hatred and violence. a. What are the ethnic features in the urban landscape of the motion picture? b. Why were an Italian pizzeria and a Korean grocery store located in an African-American neighborhood? c. What are the most flagrant racist events in the film? 8. The Butler (African Americans, whites; 2013, 132 minutes, PG-13 rated) A story of a black sharecropper’s son from Georgia, who serves as a White House butler to seven U.S. presidents, from Eisenhower to Reagan, set within the context of the equal rights struggle of African Americans in the last half of the 20th century. a. How did Cecil Gaines become a butler at the White House? b. What was the Freedom Summer of 1964 and how did it affect the civil rights movement? c. What were the federal laws signed in 1964 and 1965 shown in the movie, and how have they profoundly changed American society? 9. El Norte (Latinos, Anglos; 1984, 139 minutes, R rated) Two teenagers fleeing poverty and violence in Guatemala make a harrowing journey through Mexico into the United States only to find that they are not accepted in their new country. a. Why specifically were the teenagers forced to run away to El Norte? b. Explain the ethnic stereotyping in the movie. c. What is the significance of the concept of home to Rosa as she lies dying? 10. My Family/Mi Familia (Latinos, Anglos; 1995, 126 minutes, R rated) A historical saga narrated about three generations of Mexicans living in East Los Angeles in the context of a changing America through the 20th century. a. What did old El Californio want his headstone to read and its significance? b. What is the symbolism of the bridge over the Los Angeles River? c. What is the prime example of the concept of disidentification in the movie? 11. Milagro Beanfield War (Hispanos, Anglos; 1988, 115 minutes, R rated) The late 1980s storyline encapsulates the long struggle between Hispanos and Anglos for control of the land and water in northern New Mexico. a. What are the contrasting visions of the Anglo developer and the Hispano farmer? b. What is the powerful symbolism produced when Joe Mondragon diverts water onto his beanfield? c. What features of the Hispanic ethnic landscape remain in the small mountain village? 12. The Joy Luck Club (Chinese; 1993, 138 minutes, R rated) The film is a group of poignant stories about four immigrant Chinese women who are links between Chinese and American cultures for their daughters during the first half of the 20th century. a. What Chinese culture traits do the four women of the Joy Luck Club maintain? b. How much did the Chinese women’s daughters embrace the new American culture? c. How do the relationships between Chinese men and women differ from China to the United States? 38

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century 13. Crash (multiple ethnic groups in Los Angeles; 2004, 112 minutes, R rated) A highly unusual snowfall in Los Angeles sets the stage for several ethnic groups to collide in a twisting plot permeated with racism and corruption. a. Explain particular instances of ethnic and racial stereotyping. b. What was the subtext behind the “invisible impenetrable cloak?” c. What is the sad irony that unfolds for the racist police officer? WORLD FILMS 1. Slumdog Millionaire (Indians; 2009, 120 minutes, R rated) A tale of three street children primarily occurs in modern-day Mumbai (Bombay) but takes the viewer across India to see the beauties and horrors of the country and its people. a. Explain the scene in which rioters kill a woman at the beginning of the movie. b. How does Latika symbolize gender relations in Indian society? c. How are gentrification and transportation depicted? 2. The Kite Runner (Afghanis, Anglos; 2007, 128 minutes, PG-13 rated) A temporally complex film located mainly in Afghanistan in the tumultuous last quarter of the 20th century that encompassed the invasion by the Soviet Union and the rise of the Taliban. a. How does the complicated relationship between Amir and Hassan evolve? b. What are some of the connections shown between Afghanistan and the United States? c. Explain the link between the Taliban and theocracy. 3. Rabbit-Proof Fence (Australian Aborigines, whites; 2002, 93 minutes, PG rated) An amazing historical drama takes place in Western Australia as three half-caste girls escape from a white re-education camp to undertake a 1,200-mile ordeal along rabbit-proof fences to their aboriginal home village. a. Why does Western Australia have rabbit-proof fences? b. Explain the concept of ethnocide as it relates to the film. c. How did racial eugenics form a subtext for the half-caste girls? 4. Blood Diamond (various African groups, whites; 2006, 143 minutes, R rated) A frenzied search for a huge pink diamond incorporates the Sierra Leone civil war into the world system of conflict diamonds mined by enslaved people, particularly children. a. Where does Sierra Leone fit into the world system theory? b. How does the film tie together the importance of conflict diamonds and male children? c. Why was there such a long and violent civil war in Sierra Leone? DOCUMENTARY FILMS 1. The Whole Enchilada (Latino immigration & ethnic identity in the United States; 2010, 24 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K46PxTqkKWo&feature=relmfu By 2050 Latinos could become the majority in the United States, yet the Latino expansion is experiencing many challenges. a. What are some of the images of Latino ethnic identity in the United States? b. In what ways do ethnic and national identities collide? 39

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century c. What are some of the negative images of Hispanic ethnicity portrayed in the film? 2. France’s Burqa Ban: An Act of Oppression or Emancipation? (Muslim ethnic and religious values; 2010, 23 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRFWJ0fcWWY Wearing a burqa symbolizes belief in and commitment to Islam. The divisive burqa ban by the French government linking it to the oppression of women is the central topic. a. Why is wearing a burqa important in Islam? b. Is the French burqa ban justified for women who wear the burqa by choice and not by coercion? c. What are the political connections of wearing the burqa and other Islamic identities? 3. India’s Love Affair with Gold (India’s ethnic traditions and cultural values; 2012, 13 minutes). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUr2E4dfs0Y India is the largest consumer of gold in the world. For Indians, gold is culturally considered financial security, wearable wealth, and fashion statement. Exchange of gold is essential in Indian weddings. a. Why is gold so important in Indian culture? b. What are the ethnic connections of Indians to the possession of gold? c. What is the significance of gold in Indian weddings? 4. The Story of the Turban (Sikh ethnic identities; 2012, 39 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyuvxQ80NJ8 The history of the turban in the Sikh religion is sketched through centuries from India to Europe. a. How are physical appearances, such as dress codes, closely connected with ethnic and religious identities? b. What are the historical and religious reasons behind the Sikhs wearing turbans? c. In what ways did the Sikh ethnic group face discrimination in the United Kingdom because of their turbans? 5. Are the Japanese Risking Extinction? (Japanese population crisis; 2013, 16 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwUIKDTErNo Work and urban lifestyle pressures in Japan have resulted in declining birthrates. The birthrate is decreasing at such a pace in Japan that experts project a national population crisis. a. What are the impacts of a declining population on education in Japan? b. Why are Japanese youth delaying marriage and childbearing? c. What are the measures taken by the Japanese government, companies, and the general public to address the problem of population shortages? 6. The Last Train Home (Chinese rural to urban migration; 2009, 85 minutes) Every New Year in China about 130 million migrant workers return to their rural villages in the world’s largest migration. The plot is simply the everyday struggles of these migrants. a. Why do rural Chinese leave their villages and emotionally fracture their families? b. What are some modes of transportation in China? ) ) c.)) What)is)the)significance)of)the)New)Year)celebration)in)China?)

7. Diamonds of War: Africa’s Blood Diamonds (African diamond trade; 2009, 55 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaqQjIzIbiY; National Geographic Society

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Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century Artisanal diamond mining and smuggling thrives in Sierra Leone and links to the legitimate diamond trade in Belgium. a. Explain the types of artisanal diamond mining and their physical landscapes portrayed in the film. b. Explain how the diamond trade is regulated? c. Contrast the places and people shown in the film.

REFERENCES Aitken, S. C. (1994). I’d rather watch the movie than read the book. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 18(3), 291–308. Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHEERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, DC: George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development. Cardon, P. W. (2010). Using films to learn about the nature of cross-cultural stereotypes in intercultural business communication courses. Business Communication Quarterly, 73(2), 150–165. Eisele, R. (2010). You asked: Do Hollywood films truly reflect life in America? IIP Digital. Retrieved from:http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/pamphlet/2012/05/201205155697.html#axzz3BG Rhy1B4. Estaville, L. E. (1997). Teaching American ethnic geography through popular film. In L. E. Estaville & C. J. Rosen (Eds.), Teaching American ethnic geography (pp. 127–131). Indiana, PA: National Council for Geographic Education. Estaville, L. E., Montalvo, E. J., Akiwumi, F. A., Waverly, C. R., & Huyhn, N. T. (2010). Teaching geography undergraduate courses: Active learning. In L. E. Estaville (Ed.), Geography undergraduate programs: Pathways to success (pp. 133–162). Washington, DC: National Council for Geographic Education, Pathways in Geography Series, online. Loewen, J. W. (1991). Teaching race relations from feature films. Teaching Sociology 19, 82–86. Mallinger, M., & Rossy, G. (2003). Film as a lens for teaching culture: Balancing concepts, ambiguity, and paradox. Journal of Management Education 27(5), 608–623. McWhorter, D. (2001). Carry me home: Birmingham, Alabama: The climactic battle of the civil rights revolution. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster The Numbers (2014). Movie budgets. Retrieved from: http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/budgets/all Prince, M. (2004, July). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education. Retrieved from: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/Prince_AL.pdf Revell, A., & Wainwright, E. (2009). What makes lectures ‘unmissable’? Insights into teaching excellence and active learning. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33(2), 209–223. Sigler, T., & Albandoz, R. I. (2014). Beyond representation: Film as a pedagogical tool in urban geography. Journal of Geography, 113(2), 58–27. Solem, M., & Foote, K. E. (Eds.) (2009). Teaching college geography: A practical guide for graduate students and early career faculty. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Spronken-Smith, R., Bullard, J., Ray, W., Roberts, C., & Keiffer, A. (2008). Where might sand dunes be on Mars? Engaging students through inquiry-based learning in geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 32(1), 71–86. 41

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century

PART III EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING AND CONCEPTS FOR CONVERSATIONS

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Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century

CHAPTER 6 ON-CAMPUS AND LOCAL COMMUNITY CULTURAL EVENTS TO EXPLORE ETHNIC GEOGRAPHY THEMES KANIKA VERMA INTRODUCTION An essential element of ethnic geography is intercultural understanding. Based on the three important points of Bennett’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (1993), cultural events serve a fundamental purpose in teaching students about consequential ethnic and cultural knowledge: 1. Intercultural understanding is learned, not innate: Cultural events help students learn intercultural understanding. 2. People and cultures are dynamic and highly differentiated: Cultural events celebrate the diversity of people and cultures and aid students with understanding and appreciating cultural differences. 3. Intercultural competence is phenomenological knowledge: Attending cultural events helps students firsthand to develop skills for interpreting and understanding direct intercultural interactions through experience and not only through objective knowledge, that is, reading about a culture’s ethnic traditions in a class. Most students enjoy participating in cultural events on-campus and in the community. These events are usually free, flexible, and indelible learning opportunities about ethnic geography. Community and on-campus cultural events portray ethnic groups in the United States and around the world and can be compelling vehicles in teaching ethnic geography. Teaching ethnic geography is valuable in opening new pathways for American students to become global citizens. Ethnic geography concepts and themes prepare students for intercultural understanding and respect for diversity of heritages and ideas. To make sense of the wider world in which they live, students must take ethnicity into account when dealing with tensions surrounding international migrations or the concept of nationhood (Hough, 1997). American society is highly diverse, and so are the American university campuses. Many universities in the United States are striving to become even more diverse by attracting students and faculty from minority ethnic groups and international communities. Internationalizing and diversifying university campuses provides myriad of opportunities for geography instructors to draw from cultural events to teach ethnic geography to their students in creative ways. Existing literature suggests that instructors have utilized several innovative pedagogical approaches to teach ethnic geography, such as films, fieldtrips, geoethnic family histories, maps, landscapes and communities, personal accounts, immigrant interviews, campus diversity courses and workshops, and interracial friendships (Estaville & Rosen, 1997; Skop, 2008; Spanierman et al., 2008). The role of cultural events in teaching ethnic geography, however, has not been extensively explored in the literature or utilized by instructors of geography. 50

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century Klak and Martin (2003) conducted research on assessing intercultural sensitivity in students via attendance at on-campus cultural events. The students in their study were enrolled in world regional geography and geography of Latin America courses and were required to attend on-campus cultural events during a Latin American celebration to help students appreciate cultural differences. The study assessed a positive correlation between student participation in the cultural events and student intercultural sensitivity. The researchers found that attending on-campus cultural events helped to deepen students’ intercultural appreciation. The students displayed more openness to other cultures and greater engagement with and acceptance of cultural difference.

UNIVERSITY STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS AND CULTURAL EVENTS Many universities and colleges have implemented new programs that require student exposure to some aspects of ethnic diversity in the United States (Rosen, 1997). “Our campuses must offer the opportunity for each of us to be touched by the lives of those different from us,” stressed Bennett and Salonen (2007, p. 46). Universities have arrays of different student organizations: academic, sport, health, cultural, religious, linguistic, ethnic, international, and professional, to list some major categories. Multicultural and ethnic student organizations on campus are a form of institutional initiatives aimed at improving ethnic relations and student intellectual and social development, increasing openness to diversity and commitment to ethnic understanding, and expanding cultural awareness. Almost all universities in the United States have minority ethnic groups and international students. Many student organizations on campus are essentially ethnic organizations, such as Caribbean Student Association, Japanese Cultural Club, Indian Student Association, African Student Organization, Muslim Student Organization, Chinese Cultural Association, Latinos Unidos, and International Student Organization. Ethnic and minority student organizations provide social support, contribute to a positive self-identity, help to integrate minority students into the college social and academic systems, amplify the chances of success in college, and positively impact the academic achievement of minority students (Baker, 2008). These student organizations host events that celebrate the diversity of global cultures (Klak & Martin, 2003).

CULTURAL EVENTS IN TEACHING ETHNIC GEOGRAPHY Bennett and Salonen (2007, p. 46) declared: “Educators face new challenges both in teaching about culture and in teaching across cultures.” Ethnic geography is an important avenue to teach students about numerous contemporary issues, for example: multiculturalism, cross-culturalism, intercultural competence, intercultural sensitivity, cultural difference, cultural adaptation, cultural identity, ethnic identity, global citizenship, internationalization, diversity, migration, ethnic conflict, ethnocentrism, ethnorelativism, and coexistence. College students may not have had many earlier opportunities to comprehend ethnic topics and issues. Learning about ethnic issues is appealing for the students if it is experiential and personalized by contact with people (Brown, 1997). An example of experiential learning may be field-based learning communities (Skop, 2008). Community-based learning places students in contact with diverse others (Bennett & Salonen, 2007). Students meet people from various cultural backgrounds at university and community events and experience new tangible concepts. Ethnic organizations based on minority student groups incorporate a variety of cultural elements such as ethnic 51

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century foods, customs, dress, histories, and festivals, and celebrate these traditions in the form of cultural events. Students can learn ethnic themes and embrace ethnic diversity by participating in such events. Joining in illuminating cultural events also assists students in cutting through cultural barriers and overcoming ethnocentric thinking. In the same way as Brown (1997, p. 35) advocated for personal accounts, cultural events also “…allow students with limited experience to gain an insider’s advantage for understanding the day-to-day meaning of belonging to an ethnic group.” On-campus cultural events provide students with opportunities to interpret both cultural difference and intercultural understanding (Klak & Martin, 2003). Bennett and Salonen (2007, p. 46) wrote insightfully: Cultural knowledge does not equal intercultural competence. And being global citizens— seeing ourselves as members of a world community, as well as participants in our local contexts, knowing that we share the future with others—requires powerful forms of intercultural competence. Participation in cultural events provides such intercultural understanding and competence and makes students capable of understanding those events in transformative ways. Effective experiential learning such as participating in cultural events prepares learners to appreciate more deeply their own culture, facilitate their cultural learning abroad, and integrate that learning upon their return (Bennett & Salonen, 2007). Attending on-campus cultural events can be a valuable educational starting point in positively transitioning students from ethnocentrism (not empathizing with perspectives emanating from other cultures) to ethnorelativism (recognizing, appreciating, understanding, and relating to other cultures) (Bennett, 1993) by constructively engaging virulent forms of intercultural hatred, bigotry, and racism in students (Klak & Martin, 2003). Klak and Martin (2003) opined that the flexibility provided by the wide range of on-campus cultural events allows students to select ones appropriate to their current intercultural perspective and noted: “Students are able to engage other cultures in settings and through events with which they feel comfortable” (p. 463). Rosen (1997) outlined five goals that teaching of ethnic geography must fulfill. Attending cultural events on-campus or in the community enables students to reach these goals: 1. Increase awareness of ethnicity and its influence on place: Ethnic landscapes can be studied at different scales and time periods. Cultural events, in the form of small-scale ethnic landscapes, help students understand the interaction among several ethnic groups that create a community within a given region. For example, visiting Wurstfest in New Braunfels, Texas, enriches students’ experience about German culture and its impact on the local community. 2. Expand the curriculum to include multiple historical and cultural perspectives: Analyzing an ethnic group’s views about the cultural traditions provides a basis for cooperation and problem solving. Attending, for instance, the Indian festival of lights, Diwali, organized by Asian Indian ethnic groups on university campuses or in different cities moves students beyond readily identifiable cultural elements (food preferences, major festivals and celebrations, clothing styles, and housing types) to appreciate the diversity of viewpoints held by members of Asian ethnic minorities. 3. Develop understanding of the dynamics of cultural convergence and divergence: Ethnicity must not be viewed as isolated and decisive but as connected within a globally interdependent world. Celebrating Indian festivals such as Diwali and Holi teaches students that virtues such as truth and enlightenment are not contained within cultural boundaries and are indeed universal. 52

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century 4. Develop the ability to integrate objective and subjective information: Students must be able to develop means of discovering objective and subjective ethnic perspectives and formulate connections between them. Student-organized health-awareness events that increase student knowledge about obesity or skin cancer, for instance, can have inherent ethnic components regarding foods and dress as well. 5. Recognize stereotyping of ethnic groups as well as places: Stereotypes about people and places are based on incomplete, superficial, or erroneous information. Attending religious cultural events such as Eid celebrations organized by Muslim student organizations can help students identify and eliminate cultural stereotypes and respect differences within and among ethnic groups.

METHOD Geography courses such as ethnic geography, human/cultural geography, world regional geography, population geography, and urban geography require an understanding of key ethnic themes and issues. In my world regional geography course, I employ a “cultural event participation” assignment as either an integral part of the course evaluation or for extra credit. Students are required to attend one cultural event during the semester, prepare a cultural event report, and utilize the experiences in following class discussions emphasizing ethnic themes. Students are required to participate in a cultural event outside their own ethnicity and do so at their own pace (Klak & Martin, 2003). At the beginning of the semester, I provide students with lists of cultural events on the university campus (organized by various cultural, ethnic, lingual, or religious student organizations) for the semester. Students also can choose cultural events off-campus in the local community with the instructor’s approval. Students are required to attend the event, take pictures, meet people, conduct short interviews (if time and situation permits or preferably with a prior appointment with a leader of the student organization), and prepare a short report. The report should include important cultural and ethnic components that students observed and learned: cultural purpose and importance of the event and the organizing group, ethnic group, ethnic food (if served at the event), language, clothing, religious component, cultural traditions, cultural art forms (such as dance, music, paintings, or jewelry), and the impact of cultural event celebration on the university or local community. Students are also asked to point out whether: 1. Participating in the cultural event was an enjoyable way to learn about and increase their interaction with people from other cultures and ethnicities; 2. Participating in the cultural event was a good way to learn about various cultures, including minority ethnic groups; 3. The cultural event improved their understanding and appreciation of other cultures and ethnicities; 4. Participating in the cultural event was an effective way of learning about cultural and ethnic geography concepts and themes; 5. Various student organizations on campus are essentially ethnic/minority group organizations promoting diversity; 6. Many opportunities exist on campus to attend cultural events organized by student organizations and thus learn about and embrace diversity; and/or 53

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century 7. They would like to participate in more multicultural on-campus events in the future that promote ethnic understanding and diversity and would help them learn about other cultures and ethnicities. Instructors can also use these seven points to form pre- and post-cultural event surveys to gauge if attendance at the cultural event improved the students’ understanding of ethnic concepts and themes, made students more empathetic and respectful of other ethnicities, and assisted in eliminating stereotypes. The reports submitted by students in my courses are filled with positive reviews and feedback from the students. Students exceedingly enjoy visiting cultural events (especially if the ethnic food is free), interacting with people from different ethnicities and countries, and learning something new about other ethnic groups. This cultural event participation inculcated in students respect, understanding, and empathy for other ethnic groups. Attending cultural events on campus also underscores ethnic themes and concepts to students and provides engaging points of departure for class discussions about ethnicity. Table 6.1 showcases the examples of cultural events attended by my students in the world regional geography course. Table 6.1. Examples of Cultural Events with Ethnic Themes and Concepts. Cultural Event

Organization

Diwali: Festival of Lights

Indian Student Association; Hindu Students Association (oncampus)

Holi: Festival of Colors

Indian Student Association; Hindu Students Association (oncampus)

Importance of the Cultural Event

Selected Student Comment(s)

Diwali, festival of lights, is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in the fall. It signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. Festivities include dressing in new clothes, lighting diyas (lamps and candles) inside and outside homes, participating in family worships to the goddess of wealth and prosperity, family feasts, major shopping period, and exchanging gifts between family members and close friends.

1. “Diwali is Hindu Christmas.”

Holi, the festival of colors, is a major Hindu festival that celebrates both the arrival of spring and the victory of good over evil on the day of the full moon. People celebrate by throwing rang (colored powder) and water on each other, and by taking part in dance to the sound of the dhol (traditional drum).

1. “This event brought me closer to the Hindu faith and opened my eyes to the love and purity of the religion.”

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2. “Vibrant dances, delicious food, and decorative lights brought me closer to Indian culture and people.” 3. “I was not expecting to learn so much about a new culture. I expected some good food. I love that I got to learn about the culture of India as well as the tradition of Diwali.” 4. “Experiencing a completely new culture but with similar values and virtues of life as my own ethnicity was an incredible opportunity to learn about human populations across the globe.”

2. “I would recommend to all for the sheer fun of the colors and life that the Holi festival provides.”

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century 1. “Although the foods were from many different countries such as the United States, Canada, Nigeria, Mexico, Korea, Japan, China, Turkey, and India, there was an element of unity and global friendship at the event. Foods represented different ethnicities and cultures, but at the same time portrayed that basic human needs are similar across the world.”

Multicultural Food Fair

International Student Association (oncampus)

Free ethnic food from different countries

Slipping Back into Slavery

Caribbean Student Association (oncampus)

Panel discussion on slavery tracing its ethnic and geographical roots

1. “Very interesting discussions on the ethnic aspects of slavery that I can bring to class when we discuss the Africa region.”

Mariachi Competition

Hispanic Cultural Club (on-campus)

Mariachi is a form of folk music from Mexico. Middle and high school students in various school districts compete against each other.

1. “Made me understand Hispanic culture more in-depth and connected well with the cultural and ethnic aspects of the Latin American unit discussed in class.”

The examples in Table 6.1 are specifically from a Texas university. Such examples of on-campus cultural events can be found at universities across the nation. Some examples of cultural events at other universities are: 1. African-American Heritage Festival at Ohio State University: http://heritagefestival.osu.edu 2. Korean Culture Night at University of California, Los Angeles: https://www.facebook.com/uclakcn 3. International Tea Time at The State University of New York, The University at Buffalo: http://www.buffalo.edu/calendar/calendar?action=describe&which=2977F0EE-D48E11E3A 7109FC19B24C5D4&lastaction=&category=&time=&thismonth=&from=&until= 4. Bridging Cultures I (Introduction to Intercultural Communication) and Bridging Cultures II (CrossCultural Encounters) at Florida State University: http://calendar.fsu.edu/Lists/Center %20for%20Global%20Engagement/DispForm.aspx?ID=441 and http://calendar.fsu.edu/ Lists/ Center%20for%20Global%20Engagement/DispForm.aspx?ID=442 5. Multicultural Alumni Partnership (MAP) Bridging the Gap Breakfast at the University of Washington: http://www.washington.edu/calendar/#/?i=11

CONCLUSION To integrate ethnic topics and issues into the curriculum, teachers must utilize personal, experiential, interactive, and collaborative kinds of instruction (Gaff, 1992). Participating in cultural events enables students to generate empathy, compassion, and understanding for various ethnic groups that otherwise would be difficult to obtain in a classroom setting. Attending cultural events is easy, free in many cases, flexible, and evokes enthusiasm from most students who participate. Students develop new friendships with people from different ethnicities by visiting cultural events, broaden their horizons, and eliminate stereotypical thinking. Students thus learn new avenues of thinking about ethnicity, and students’ 55

Teaching Ethnic Geography in the 21st Century experiences with cultural events stimulate thought-provoking class discussions on ethnic themes. Such opportunities are exceptionally valuable for teaching ethnic geography and other human geography courses as they provide experiential backdrops for in-depth comprehension and class discussions.

REFERENCES Baker, C. N. (2008). Under-represented college students and extracurricular involvement: The effects of various student organizations on academic performance. Social Psychology of Education, 11(3), 273–298. Bennett, M. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In R. Paige (Ed.), Education for the Intercultural Experience (pp. 21–71). Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Bennett, J. M., & Salonen, R. (2007). Intercultural communication and the new American campus. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 39(2), 46–50. Brown, B. J. (1997). Using personal accounts to incorporate ethnic issues into introductory college human geography. In L. E. Estaville & C. J. Rosen (Eds.), Teaching American Ethnic Geography (pp. 31–36). Indiana, PA: National Council for Geographic Education. Estaville, L. E., & Rosen, C. J. (Eds.) (1997). Teaching American ethnic geography. Indiana, PA: National Council for Geographic Education. Gaff, J. G. (1992). The educational issues inherent in multicultural education. Change 24(2), 30–35. Hough, R. F. (1997). Ethnic geography: Reflections on initial fears and assignments that worked. In L. E. Estaville & C. J. Rosen (Eds.), Teaching American Ethnic Geography (pp. 37–42). Indiana, PA: National Council for Geographic Education. Klak, T., & Martin, P. (2003). Do university-sponsored international cultural events help students to appreciate “difference”? International Journal of Intercultural Relations 27(4), 445–465 Rosen, C. J. (1997). A conceptual model for teaching American ethnic geography. In L. E. Estaville & C. J. Rosen (Eds.), Teaching American Ethnic Geography (pp. 11–14). Indiana, PA: National Council for Geographic Education. Skop, E. (2008). Creating field trip-based learning communities. Journal of Geography 107(6), 230– 235. Spanierman, L. B., Neville, H. A., Liao, H., Hammer, J. H., & Wang, Y. (2008). Participation in formal and informal campus diversity experiences: Effects on students’ racial democratic beliefs. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education 1(2), 108–125.

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National Council for Geographic Education About The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE) is a non-profit organization, chartered in 1915 to enhance the status and quality of geography teaching and learning. NCGE supports geography teaching at all levels—from Kindergarten through University. Our members include U.S. and International teachers, professors, students, businesses, and others who support geographic education. Now in our 99th year, NCGE continues to both promote and celebrate geographic teaching and learning. Our activities include: conducting and gathering research; producing journals and other geography publications; developing curricular resources; providing professional development opportunities; honoring teachers, mentors and researchers; advocating for geography in schools; and organizing an annual conference.

Leadership Michael N. DeMers, Board President New Mexico State University, NM 

Zachary R. Dulli, Co-Chief Executive Officer National Council for Geographic Education Washington, DC

Eric J. Fournier, Board Chairman Samford University, AL

Jacqueline L. Waite, Co-Chief Executive Officer

Paul T. Gray Jr., Past-President Russellville Schools, AR

Susan E. Hume, Vice-President Southern Illinois University, IL

Howard G. Johnson, Vice President Piedmont, AL

Osa Brand, Director of Project Development National Council for Geographic Education, Great Falls, VA

Jane Purcell, Recording Secretary Norman Public Schools, OK

Richard B. Schultz, Vice-President Elmhurst College, IL

Ellen J. Foster, Vice-President University of Mississippi, MS

Gary M. Gress, Vice-President Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education, OK

Contact Us National Council for Geographic Education 1101 14TH Street, N.W., Suite 350, Washington D.C., 20005-5647 Phone: (202) 216-0942 Fax: (202) 618-6249 E-mail: [email protected] www.ncge.org

National Council for Geographic Education, Washington, DC