Final Wiki Assignment: 

Using Wise as your source, post about what you have taken away from the readings and discussions in this class. What have learned about yourself or others cultures/co-cultures? What insights, if any, have you experienced? Feel free to discuss several different topics but remember to cite the text (any chapter is fine).

Being in my twenties, I feel that I’m in a place of transition, a space between childhood and adulthood.  This is an important time for cultivating identity and Wise’s text provides great insight into what composes identity.

Concepts like one’s culture play a prominent role in shaping identity.  At an earlier age when most people are still struggling with discovering their own identity, “an appeal to an essentialist identity is useful” (14).  Instead of exploring the world to find a personal identity, teens cope by sticking to groups to fulfill needs of belonging and acceptance.  This superficial acceptance can lead a young person into becoming satisfied with the status quo and not reach out for new experiences.

Being aware of essential identity as a crutch can be helpful to youth that are searching for an individual identity by consciously participating beyond one’s own comfort zone.  This type of experimentation exposes a person to new aspects of life that wouldn’t be experienced within a group that hold values that may conflict with individual beliefs.

For example, in many Islamic nations, women must dress conservatively or even wear a hijab that covers their face.  Compare this practice to Western culture where the majority of youth express themselves through fashion and one can see how a culture can limit a person’s way of expressing themselves.

Like all things in life, finding a balance between group ideals and one’s personal beliefs is important when establishing identity and in turn, character.  Wise describes identity as, “part of one’s own self formation, but also the consequence of what groups and others impose on one” (13). 

Growing up has much to do with finding how one fits into a complex society.  Discovering one’s role in society can be difficult, especially when one’s own individual identity is unclear.   “Spaces and territories precede us, suspend us, make us who we are” (Wise, 108).  Learning these territories allows one to establish a frame of reference, and judge where he fits.

Aside from cultural identities, subcultures or co-cultures can also impact a person’s identity.  Shared interests have a great influence on that individual’s identity.  In music, and hip-hop especially, there is a certain mode of dress.  Being a part of this co-culture can have major pull on your fashion sense.  It’s a way of saying “I belong to this group”, an identity. 

If fashion is a prerequisite in belonging to a culture like in the hip-hop example, there is a close link to Wise’s concept of consumptionscape.  To take a regional example, the San Jose Sharks have an extremely fanatical fan base.  You will see countless people downtown dressed in teal and black, the Sharks colors, the day of a game.  At the game you will see people decked out in Sharks merchandise – jerseys, hats and foam fingers.  It all revolves around consuming goods in order to take part in the culture.

Being in a crossroads in my life has made me look at the material presented in this class with a closer eye.  There were definitely concepts of belonging to culture that really hit on a personal level with me.  Consumptionscape really struck a chord and made me question if consuming goods is really necessary to belong to a certain groups.  The text also made me realize culturally, how different groups perceive consumption and how it is markedly different from our notions of it here in the West.

Week 12

Option #1: Select one song or artist/band or genre of music that you would use to exemplify your personal or a co-culture you belong to and the role it plays in signaling who you “are.” Be specific and use examples.

1960’s & 1970’s rock&roll and folk music of the same decades are a genre I really identify with.  Its free-spirited qualities are very in tune with my outlooks on life. 

I feel like rock&roll at that time was the youth’s reaction to their parent’s generation and government imposing their values onto them.  There was an awakening with the youth of this time, they weren’t going to put up with the older generations ways. The music was a reflection of this – definitely a bit rebellious.

Milestone social issues were being decided during this point in America’s history –women’s rights and the sexual revolution(Big Brother and the Holding Company’s Ball and Chain), segregation (Neil Young’s Southern Man), and the Vietnam War (Canned Heat’s Battlefield Vietnam) and bands of the time were outspoken on these issues.

Compare that to today’s music industry.  Many of the same issues are still present in today’s world – gender and ethnic equality in the work place, Afghanistan (and Iraq, still) and the objectification of women in media.

Yet no artist or band is speaking out on these issues.  Women’s rights continue to be trampled on from within the music industry.  In one recent case, the artist Chris Brown was accused of domestic violence for beating his girlfriend Rihanna, also a popular artist in the industry.

My generation is so distracted by the mainstream media that they don’t think about real life issues.  Who is to blame them when the media’s focus, especially social networking, is on them, the consumers.

When speaking about one’s own music it’s easy to come across as an asshole but by no means am I trying to sound “holier than thou” for not buying into current tastes.  Woodstock’s music happens to fit my sentiments on life better than Lil Wayne’s, for the reasons mentions above.

Rock&roll of the ‘60s was known for its rebellion of an older generation, in this context it can be a rebellion against the values of the generation that follows it as well.

Week 9

Strategic essentialism is a way to express an “essential identity” (which in practicality do not exist) but it is important to express that identity (gender, race, ethnicity, etc) at a particular time and place (p. 14). Recall a time and place where you either practiced strategic essentialism or witnessed it practiced by a friend, relative, or co-worker (not in the media or via hearsay). Be specific. How did it make you feel? Was it effective?

When I took my aunt to the airport so she could visit family in the Philippines I witnessed strategic essentialism.  Because most immigrants work in this country to earn money to support children’s tuition and to supplement the household income – one of the things that are checked onto the plane besides luggage is cargo boxes when flying back home.

Cargo boxes carry things like canned goods, clothes and electronics.  It’s another way to help the family and saves the hassle and money dealing with FedEx, since you’re already on your way there.

So while I’m loading the cargo boxes onto the airline’s conveyor belt, I see my aunt talking to another Filipino passenger in line (the airline stops in other Asian countries and has a mixed group of passengers).   This is where the strategic essentialism comes into play.

Because they shared nationality, it created a bond between them for the length of the flight.  A “you watch my back, and I’ll watch yours” sort of deal.   Because the cargo box would be too heavy for my aunt to lift off the carousel, the bond was definitely beneficial.  She in turn would keep his place in line and help translate announcements over the PA system.

In this situation strategic essentialism was a positive thing because they both helped each other get through the 16 hour flight.  I don’t see in any way where it would discriminate anyone else on the flight by identifying with your own people in this case.

Although there are cases where I can imagine strategic essentialism could have negative sides.  One situation could be in the job hiring process.  If one candidate is selected over another because the hiring manager and one candidate bond over ethnicity or gender this would be unethical – bonding over the Giants is another story.

Week 4

How will new technology affect the development of your future “cultural-self?” Using technological developments of past “communication revolutions,” project into the future. Think about how culture in the past might have been influenced by the technology of the time and how new technologies (say in 15 years – 2024) might impact our personal cultural selves. Try to use specific, rather than general, historical references or concepts from the text.

Present day communication technology – smart phones, computers, anything with access to the Internet is mainly focused on social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace) and email – ways to send messages back and forth.

Peer to peer exchange is the most persuasive way to receive a message, which is why corporations and other corporate entities use social networking sites to send their messages to us.  Commercial use is the most lucrative use of communication technology will almost certainly continue with future technology.

The invention of the printing press took the job of written word, once hand written by scribes and allowed for mass production – accelerating the efficiency of message exchange.  Carey mentions the publication of the first newspaper as the birth of national consciousness (92), the first time a message reached a nationwide audience.

Fifteen years or even 100 years into the future this basic premise of sending and receiving messages will be at the heart of communication technology.  What will change is how the information gets exchanged and its efficiency.