Chris Schulenburg

UW-Platteville

Empathy Study- Observations and Tentative Conclusions

Project: Investigating the cultivation of empathy in undergraduate readers of Sab (1841), an antislavery novel from 19th century Cuba.

Assessment: Reaction papers written in-class dealing with the role of the once-enslaved protagonist of the novel (empathy rubric above).

Sample size: 16 students out of 23 chose to participate in Literature course (Spanish 3840)

Observations:

• Students excelled in analyzing role of protagonist in novel and society.

• Reactions able to reach conclusions regarding projected future role of Afro-Cubans in nation building in Caribbean.

• Majority of reactions found lacking in ability to volunteer personal examples related to role of Caribbean slaves in novel.

• Language was found to be sufficient in describing Romantic emotional background of protagonist but needed work in terms of social circumstances.

• Textual examples were plentiful while personal connections were not well-developed.

Tentative Conclusions:

• Despite previous lexical hints, language of novel (Spanish) represents an obstacle to creating empathetic connection for many students.

• Pre-teaching in unit (such as movie Biutiful, lexical instruction, student oral catalysis, overview lecture) aided in cultivation of empathy among students.

• In The Age of Empathy, De Waal sees similar empathetic connections among other mammals, is learned and modeled behavior- Students need to be instructed as well.

• Future Directions- Explore linguistic impediments to cross-cultural empathetic links.