Recently, the online Business Office Communications II students had a chance to apply their reading and writing skills to something a little less formal: the Dixie Chicks. If you recall, the Dixie Chicks found themselves front and center of a huge and acrimonious controversy in March 2003. Just as the United States invaded Iraq, the Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines told a concert crowd in London that the group was ashamed that George Bush hailed from Texas. This crowd pleasing banter resulted in a huge backlash from the group’s country music fan base.
BOC II students watched the 2006 documentary Shut Up and Sing which follows the band before, during and after the controversy. Students read an academic journal article about the incident–this term it was “Real Men Kill And A Lady Never Talks Back: Gender Goes To War In Country Music” by Lesley Pruitt. The students also work through material on thinking and reading critically. They are then asked to write a response to the texts they’ve studied.
I created this case study because the Dixie Chicks controversy is an excellent example of the power and complexity of modern communication. It is also representative of a peculiar type of brand problem that is pretty commonplace nowadays (Tiger Woods anyone?).
What’s going on in your classroom?
image from http://www.dixiechicks.com/
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