Portraying Culture Speech Reflection

Like the exploring culture essay, the portraying culture speech had the same basic
initiative, to convey a culture, its beliefs, and its way of life to an audience that may not have an
in depth understanding of that culture. Of course, I used Islam, the same culture that was
implemented in the research essay that I wrote prior to this speech. The area of difference
however, is that for this speech I was to utilize an artifact from pop culture that depicts Islam in
some way or another.
Initially I had creative freedom when it came to choosing a pop culture artifact to
represent Islam. However, after researching various music and art selections, I eventually
decided on the documentary film The Muslims are Coming for my portraying cultural artifact.
The premise of the film consists of four Islamic Arab-American comedians who travel around
the Southern and Midwestern regions of the United States, in an effort to bring their culture to
areas of the country that have little experience with the culture. Like most bold endeavors such
as this, their project encounters rocky beginnings, but eventually are able to experience great
success with spreading their culture.
When implementing the knowledge gained from the documentary, I strived to take an
approach that would define the culture in a modern sense, then seek to illustrate the characters in
a manner that portrays the culture in both a positive and progressive sense. The traditional values
of Islam within the film are more or less altered by the modernization of the individuals who
conduct the project, this I also attempted to depict within the speech.

Once I determined the material that I was going to discuss within my speech, I now had
to develop the method in which I was going to convey my information to the audience. Before I
began conveying the main body information, I first sought to gain the attention of the audience
by explaining the importance of such a topic, and how the knowledge can directly benefit them.
Once I had done just that, I had set the stage for the rest of the speech to be carried out
effectively. The first body point of the speech involved the explanation of the premise of the
film, to give the audience a basis to build off of as the speech progressed. The second concept
that was discussed was the setbacks that the individuals within the film experienced throughout
their travels to these various rural or semi-rural communities. Finally, the third concept consisted
of a description of the surprising success that the individuals within the film obtained by
conveying their cultures to people who generally very interested and genuinely understanding of
a culture that was very foreign and different than their own.
Overall, I feel that my portraying culture speech was a success, not only in depicting the
concepts that were discussed within the film, but also in distributing valuable insight about the
culture and its people. While also revealing a side of the culture that is both progressive and
modern in regards to the culture itself, and how it is perceived by individuals outside of the faith.