Page 179 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

146 Part 2 Between Audience and Speaker

taining and passing on the traditions that defi ne their ethnicity. Thus, if you
are ignorant of the ethnic diversity present on your campus, you may inadver-
tently violate or be insensitive to one or more of these traditions. For example,
although born in the United States, one of our students was very proud of her
Filipino heritage. Knowing that was important to predicting how she would re-
spond to certain topics, for example, the crisis that was occurring at the time in
the Philippines, where hostages had been taken by a rebel group.
It is also important to recognize that many Americans have multiple ethnic
backgrounds. Tiger Woods, who is Asian, African American, Native American,
and Caucasian, is one of the most prominent examples of this trend. According
to the most recent U.S. Census, Woods is not alone. “About 2.4% of Americans,
some 6.8 million people, reported themselves as belonging to more than one
racial group.” 18

Geographic Origin

The varied makeup of today’s audience is also reflected in the geographic ori-

gins of the audience members. One of our international students, when asked
where she was born, said she was born in the USSR but lived in Kyrgyzstan
without ever moving. Of course, when the Soviet Union fell, she became a
citizen of a new country. Given that none of her classmates had ever heard of
Kyrgyzstan, this student devoted her informative speech to telling us about her
homeland.
Look around your campus. The chances are good that the population refl ects
national and regional demographic diversity. International student attendance
at U.S. colleges and universities is at an all-time high. Faculties are becoming
more international as well. To deny or ignore how this national diversity in-
fl uences people’s perceptions of each other, including how you are perceived
as a public speaker, is foolish. The same can be said for the regional diversity
refl ected in your student body. Some campuses are near-mirror images of the
region in which they exist. Others look more like international cities than like
their regional environment.
A speaker can unknowingly offend audience members by using a reference
that may be taken as a slight to their geographic home. When the rock group
Lynyrd Skynyrd said “I hope Neil Young will remember a southern man don’t
need him around,” they were getting back at Young for lyrics they thought dis-
paraged people in the South. Simply put, some people can be genuinely put off
by speakers they perceive to be unfairly stereotyping or making light of their
geographic roots. And it’s not just southerners, it’s also New Yorkers, not-so-laid-
back Californians, and a few North Dakotans who were not too happy with the
Coen brothers’ portrayal of their region in the fi lm Fargo. Although you may re-
gard a place as “the armpit of the universe,” it’s home to someone else who may
well be an audience member.

socioeconomic Socioeconomic Status
status
The social grouping and economic class to which people belong is termed their
Social grouping and
socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status is not always directly observ-
economic class to which
people belong. able. Most universities want diversity in the social and economic backgrounds
of their students. Thus your speech class may include students who come from