The (Un)Welcome Stranger: Intercultural Sensitivity in Six American Novels

by Jeff Morgan

Overview

This book explores the possibilities of intercultural training through literature, especially as related to collegiate study abroad programs. It presents a behavioral analysis of American literary characters through the lens of Milton Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, which identifies sensitivity to cultural differences within a six-stage developmental continuum.

The literary characters studied in this work all undergo an early separation which forces them to experience and relate to different worldviews. Moby Dick's Ishmael leaves land for an epic whaling adventure. Hester is forced to live on the outskirts of town in The Scarlet Letter. The nameless protagonist of The Country of the Pointed Firs leaves the city for the country. The title character of The American emigrates to Europe. Ellison's narrator in Invisible Man experiences a series of separations, starting at his college acceptance. For Whom the Bell Tolls' Robert Jordan leaves his Montana teaching job to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The book tracks each character's progress along Bennett's continuum, demonstrating how people--both real and fictional--can manifest intercultural sensitivity through exposure to different people, places, and experiences. The book concludes with a firsthand account of how the author's own students advanced along Bennett's continuum themselves following an intensive study of Ernest Hemingway's novels and a study abroad experience in Havana, Cuba.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476648859
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	01/05/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	155
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jeff Morgan is a professor of English at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, and the author of four books, numerous essays and poems. He lives in Boynton Beach, Florida.
Jeff Morgan is a professor of English at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, and the author of four books, numerous essays and poems. He lives in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
One. The Nineteenth Century Romantic Novel: ­Moby-Dick and The Scarlet Letter
1. Melville’s Liminal One: Ishmael and the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity
2. The Scarlet Letter: Four Characters Under the DMIS
Two. The ­Nineteenth-Century Realistic Novel: The Country of the Pointed Firs and The American
3. Relating to the World in Down East, Maine: Sensitivity in Jewett’s Country
4. Satire and Insensitivity to Difference: The Problem in The American through the DMIS
Three. The ­Twentieth-Century Novel: Invisible Man and For Whom the Bell Tolls
5. Invisible Man: An Existential Liminality
6. Robert Jordan and the DMIS: A Literary Model for Intercultural Sensitivity
Coda: A Practical Application to Prepare Students for Study Abroad
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Morgan’s consideration of the behavior of the protagonists in six American classics with the goal of assisting readers in ‘overcoming ethnocentrism’ and ‘to enable successful interaction in a multicultural environment,’ is a potent reminder that even if stories themselves cannot ‘expunge incivility,’ they hold an almost uncanny power to allow readers to transcend one’s personal worldview and understand how another sees it. Scholars and teachers will be heartened by Morgan’s highly topical observations.”—Les Standiford, author of Battle for the Big Top, winner of the Florida Books Awards Gold Medal in Non-Fiction

From the Publisher