An Exploration of Culture through Storytelling" by Tiyana

An Exploration of Culture through Storytelling" by Tiyana - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

As a college professor, the title of my class would be “An Exploration of Culture through Storytelling.” This course would focus on my favorite method of in cultural transmission, which is storytelling. To me, storytelling is the greatest activity ever because it is the intersection of entertainment and culture. Students should be able to enjoy what they're studying, but learn that each story holds a bountiful of culture that makes it what it is. The class would explore a vast range of different media from feature films to comedy clips to scholarly articles.
This class would fall under anthropology, and I would like for it to be an introductory course so that many non majors could take it and enjoy what anthropology has to offer beyond the bones and artifacts that most people associate with it. I personally consume a lot of media, and I feel that that is what is becoming more common in our society. I would like to use this course to push students to think critically about the things that they consume and how it contributes to their view of the world. I want to encourage students to be open minded and try to see life through different lens, and to be fully aware of the lens that they have developed in their life so far. All viewpoints are equally valid, and I would like to stress that to students as well.
College is a space that I believe students should be expanding their minds, and I am a firm believer that there is always a fun way to do so. I am a big fan of the arts, and I feel that they are undervalued in our society. This is why I would like to focus on storytelling not only because it truly has an influence on each of us, but also because I would like to introduce my students to different artists. I would like them to leave my class not only having learned about themselves, but with a new favorite comedian, or a new favorite filmmaker. I like to support art, so using my classroom to promote budding artists would be a wonderful opportunity as well.