In her  captivating book, World on Fire, Amy Chua tells a riveting
story about the death of her Aunt Leona, a Chinese Filipino, who was
killed by her chauffeur, Nilo Abique.  The motive given for the murder
was "revenge."  Chua writes that "My aunt"s killing was just a
pinprick in a world more violent than most of us ever imagined."
The value of Chua's story lies not necessarily in the violence that
occurred as a result of the killing of her   Aunt Leona. Rather, the
story signifies what can happen when   ethnic communication is
disturbed.   Cross cultural communication is a course designed to
familiarize students with the cultural-ethnic factors that influence
the process of human communication. A major goal of the course is to
demonstrate how culture is a response to and a reflection of certain
dynamics of communication (e.g.,   ethnicity, roots, values, language,
attitudes, globalization, nonverbal elements, gender and social
perception).

Specific Course Objectives:

1.  To provide the student with background theory and research out of
which intercultural
understandings grow.

2.  To encourage in the student appreciation of similarities and
differences among
cultures.

3.  To help the student develop communication skills, assisting him/
her in becoming
interculturally competent.

Texts:
The following books provide the basic reading for the course.

Calloway-Thomas, C., Cooper, P.J. & Blake, C.  Intercultural
Communication:  Roots and Routes.  Needham Heights, MA:  Allyn & Bacon
(1999).

Fadiman, A.  The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down:  A Hmong Child,
Her American Doctors and the Collision of Two Cultures.  New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1997).

Samavor, L. A. & Porter, R. E.  Intercultural Communication:  A
Reader. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth Publishing Company (2003).