Constructing and Deconstructing Stereotypes

After reflecting on how human beings experience environments, WeTell Summer School explored awareness of and responsibility towards people. The day focused on the notion of stereotyping: in the morning students explored how it is constructed in discourse (Valeria Reggi) whereas in the afternoon they experienced how it can be de-constructed through drama techniques (Brigitte Jirku; see Appendix). The morning seminar provided students with a basic overview of the tenets of communication as a social phenomenon and of the dynamics of stereotyping in relation to nationalism. After a brief introduction to Jeremy Munday’s method for evaluation in translation (2012), students were presented with the outcomes of a pilot study on how the method can be applied to foreground (self)stereotyping in second-language institutional discourse and were invited to practise the technique on a variety news reports.