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PaigeC

Page history last edited by Paige 14 years, 3 months ago

Week 15

 

 

(500+ words) 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).

 

 In week ten we discussed in our wiki assignment the idea of culture and co culture and finding a television program that embodies our specific culture. I chose the show “Gilmore Girls.” When I went back to reread this post I remembered how much I enjoyed Wises interpretation on the “home,” and what qualifies as home. On pg 18 of Wise he states that there is a difference in creating a home and the home in which you actually live. I just got married in June and ever since that point I have been going through a transition of nesting. I have carefully picked throw pillows and paintings, photographs and candles to fill mine and my Husbands new home. It is important to me that the house that we live in reflects us as a couple and as individuals and that it feels like home. Because we are renting our home I didn’t have the freedom to change everything, however I did reterritorialize my home so that I could change the existing territory and make it my own territory by making alterations  (Wise P16).  It took awhile for me to realize that my house over time would slowly begin to feel more like home the longer I had been separated from my parent’s home. One contributing factor that allowed me to be more at home in my new house is my Husband. “One can simply be at home in the presence of a significant other” (Wise pg19).

In week 12 of our semester we wrote a similar wiki as week ten, only this time instead of selecting a TV show we needed to select a song or artist that embodies our culture. I had picked Carrie Underwood and her song “All American Girl.” Carrie Underwood sings about love, hope Family, God and so many other small things that make our great Country what it is. I think that Carries songs and other artists like her such as Tim McGraw restore my hope in our country and the country that I am proud to call my home. I am at “home” in my culture of country music. Wise discusses the importance of music and how it shapes our culture/co-cultures in chapter four.  “Global Music” is a discussion on the authenticity of music, the cultures that exist around music, and the debate over what is considered to be Western Music anymore? (Wise p87).  I believe that Western music is what speaks out about Western ideals. Country music will always be Western music and I don’t mean “Country Western,” but Western as in American. Country singers speak out about the pride of America and what we stand for. I am proud to be a citizen of this great country. Because being a citizen gives me a sense of belonging to the United States and political rights to speak out about the things that matter to me, and my culture (Wise P135).   I think that my week 12 and week 10 posts coordinate nicely because they both reflect my culture of desiring the American dream and they define my culture and home. 

 

 

 

Week 13

 

 

Option #1: How do you define your own cultural/co-cultural territories? Be specific and use examples. 

 

I know that one of the ways I define my own cultural territory is by my audiotopia. “Sound system events were collective cultural spaces carefully reading the crowd and adjusting music selections” (Wise p124). I really like oldies music like The Jackson 5, Earth Wind and Fire, Elvis and so on. At my wedding we made a dancing through the decades theme and we had our friend DJ for us. It was amazing how the 90’s and the 60’s brought the most people out on the dance floor. We made our own territory by our music selections but our guests help popularize which decade defined the co-culture of the wedding.

 

Another way I define my cultural self is by my style or fashion choices. I really like to shop at stores like Banana Republic and Anthropology. I like preppy and professional attire with a touch of urban funkiness. Because of the way I dress I am setting a territory around me that says that other people who partake in my Urban English fashion are part of my territory. I never realized how much my style does reflect the United Kingdom until I spent a summer in London. I was able to fit right into their cultural territory and many people believed I was a local based off of my looks and fashion.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

One artist whom I really identify with is Carrie Underwood. She has one song called “All American Girl.” This song reminds me of what I value and how I define myself. The things I define myself by are: my country, my family, God and true love. The culture I live in says you should go to school and then get married and start a family and buy a home. This is the American dream. Country music based on the genre of music itself is very pro American and supports all of these cultural expectations. I suppose I am another person who wants the American dream. The book talked about that just because you may like a certain genre such as rap this does not mean you have to identify with all parts of the Hip Hop image (Wise p98-99). For example the reading said you may like hip hop music and even dress the part but this does not mean you like everything from the African American culture (p99). I like country music but I don’t identify to the redneck side of the culture. I like a lot about the country music image but I choose not to implement everything it stands for in shaping my self-image 

 

Week 11

 

 

Wiki Q8: Wise and Kjeldgaard (pp. 71-72) discuss the idea of the “consumptionscape” – how we construct our culture through the act of consuming local, regional, national, or global goods. Within the context of this chapter - describe your own consumptionscape and how it impacts your cultural self.

                According to the text consumptionscape impacts us at a higher rate in areas of: more goods and products, and if we have access to a television. Television tells us all about the products in the world and what we need to consume to be happy individuals.  Our consumptionscape is definitely affected by the location in which we live and how much product is available to us. In the text there was an example about two different groups of youth in Greenland.  The urban students were able to focus more on style and identity because there is more available to them to consume. Whereas the rural students focus more on their location and the fact that less is available to them (71). Living in the Bay area and at the heart of the Silicon Valley I definitely have a high consumptionscape. Anything I could possibly want is at my fingertips. I know that I love to keep up with fashion trends and I buy new clothes multiple times every season. Not only can I drive to any number of malls to go shopping I have the access to shop online and I can order things from Paris or Hong Kong and have it sent to me. Living in the United States allows me to consume regional, national and global goods whenever I would like. I feel that consumption is what helps define Americans in terms of Cultural self. We define ourselves by our stuff and we rank people by what they have.

 

 

Week 10

 

Wiki Q7: Often the media we consume reflects our culture(s). Select a television program or movie that embodies or bridges your culture(s) or co-culture(s). Describe that particular cultural aspect(s), explain why you think that TV program or movie is a good representation of your co/culture, and how this links into the text.

 

     

      Gilmore Girls is a fun and witty program that embodies so many cultural aspects of American Life. For example the leading lady of the show Lorelei Gilmore is a single mom and has a lot of pressure to provide for her and her daughter, and to create a life without any outside help. Rory Gilmore is Lorelei’s daughter and she deals with the cultural norm of needing to be an all star student and make perfect grades in order to get into a really good college.  In the American culture today it is ok to be a single mother and create a healthy single parent home.  On pg 18 Wise describes the difference of creating a home and the home in which you actually live. Lorelei for example has absolutely no sense of belonging or comfort connected to her parent’s home. “The process of homemaking is a cultural one in that it is a process of meaning making, of traditions and experience” (Wise p19).  Lorelei grew up in a strict and privileged environment. She however, did not want to be a cookie cutter mold of her parents and the elitist class of Connecticut. When Lorelei found she pregnant at 16 that is when she finally was able to break free from her parents idea of a home and start a new home with her daughter full of love and fun.  I really liked the way Wise so eloquently put it “One can simply be at home in the presence of a significant other” (p19). For Lorelei Rory is her home all they need is each other.

Week 9

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? See text for examples.

 

          We all need order and structure in the world around us. We as humans like to organize things into groups and subgroups based on the similarities and differences between them. Creating groups can be a tricky thing especially when it comes to grouping people. In reading chapter one of Wise we learned a lot about culture and the different ways culture can be broken down.  On page 14 it talks about grouping people for the sake of empowerment which is called “strategic essentialism.” The book defines strategic essentialism as expressing an essential identity in order to better relate or connect with a group of people (Wise p 14). Wise goes on to suggest that by identifying yourself with certain groups can speak volumes to other people about who you are as a person, and what you value.

          When I was in high school I was very involved in the Christian community on campus and in my church youth group. I take my faith very seriously and people know this about me. I remember there was this certain boy named Daniel who kept on coming to Christian club meetings but I could tell he had a hidden agenda. You see Daniel really liked this girl in the Christian club but he knew that she only dated Christians. Daniel was using “strategic essentialism” as a way of impressing a girl and making her think that he was a Christian just so he could get her to date him and hopefully sleep with him. The girl’s name was Jennifer and luckily she saw right through his bull crap and didn’t give into his deceptive strategic essentialism plot.  Daniel was not effective in his attempt to catch the good girl.  Being a witness to this situation really aggravated me and taught me that I don’t want to pretend to be something I’m not just to get people to notice or like me.

 

 

Week 8

Wiki Q5: The telegraph changed reality by, for the first time, separating transportation from communication. This had many impacts ranging from the development of monopoly capitalism to the idea of the multilevel transformative nature of technology. Ideology of the Internet - how has it changed reality (culture/communication) in general and for you specifically?

 

I really enjoyed Carey's quote about the significance of the telegraph on pg 168. "The significance of the telegraph does not lie soley in the decline of arbitrage; rather, the telegraph shifts speculation into another dimension. It shifts speculation from space to time, from arbitrage to futures." The future that we are currently exist in is an internet based future. We map our lives and manage life by the power of our computers. The telegraph boosted us into the current future we are living in. The telegrpah made communication faster and like the quote I selected says it made us less dependent on arbitrage and the telegraph shifted us into new dimension. The invention of the telegraph allowed communication to be sent and recieved quickly. Now in my life the technology we have such as cell phones and the intenet allows me to be in contact with people instantly. I can sign online and immediatley be talking with my sister in Australia if I want. The telegraph laid down the pavement for communication to travel on in a rapid and successful way.

 

 

Week 6

Carey (p. 152) states that “we are awash now in nostalgia for the future.” It what ways does your “nostalgia for the future” impact your present? That is, unlike nature, we construct our worlds teleologically (designed or directed toward a final result). How are your actions now designed to create your specific future? Please avoid generalities dealing with education to get a better or good job, make you smarter, etc.

 

    There is one major thing in my life that I have great nostalgia for, and that is living my life in pursuit of heaven. This statement I made sounds kind of weird but let me explain. I am a Christian and my purpose on this earth is to love people the way Christ loves us and to be set apart by my actions and thoughts. I have to live my life with a higher calling and even when I have a really bad day here on earth I know that if I am trying my best to please God, then the little pain I feel on earth will seem like nothing once I have the reward of being in heaven. One Thing I am currently doing to be a Christ like example is I volunteer at my church every Wednesday night and Sunday morning with our junior high students. I also try and keep my actions and words pure, so I don't swear and I dress in a modest way so that I am not sending the wrong messages with my body. I really like Carey's quote on pg 152 "The future is now the receding horizon to be chased, an endlessly revised, corrected, and never appearing zone outside history where the impurities of social life are bathed away in perfect landscape." This quote is beautiful and I loved it because when I think of heaven I think if a gorgeous sunset on the ocean. I run toward this landscape I have created in my mind because it is my nostalgia, it reminds me that life is short but eternity is forever and I need to focus on setting my attention on God and heaven, and letting others know that they have the same opportunity to be heaven if they would only choose God.

 

 

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.

 

         Before the turn of the millennium technology used to be a modern marvel something to speculate at but it became so much more. Brzezinski stated that America would set out to do in the technetronic revolution that other revolutions have only scratched the surface (Carey 89.) He goes on to say that past revolutions may have changed the distribution of power and wealth but the technetronic revolution will affect the “essence of the individual and social existence” (Carey 89.)

         Technology will definitely develop and change my “cultural self”, because our society is defined by technology. In Carey pg 92 he mentions some significant historical figures and how their technologies changed the world at that time. Jefferson said that newspapers were more important then the government itself, because he associated the technology of print directly tied to the protection of free press and liberty. Historians later marked the birth of national consciousness with the first publication of the first newspaper in 1704 (Carey 92.)

         In today’s society the Internet and all that it has to offer us such as online shopping, taking a college coarse, facebook, email, google and so influence us, much more. Our computers define a big part of our social and cultural self. We set up online accounts like myspace and facebook to tell the world who we are. We fill people in on twitter to our where about and every random thought we have. Some people’s only social life is through a monitor and a keyboard.

         It is scary to think where our technology might be in 15 years. For all we know we might have computers the size of a pin head surgically lodged in our brains and there will be no need for a monitor and keyboard because we can do everything online just by thinking it. Whatever technology is discovered in the future will have a direct effect on us culturally and socially because we define ourselves by the technology we have.

 

 

Week 3 

 

 

What is the “value” of a college degree? Why did you choose to attend college and what are your expectations (specific or general) for earning a degree?

 

                I have been told all of my life that a college degree is indispensible.[sp] In our society if an individual receives a bachelor’s degree that tells them that the person is dedicated. A degree also says that you accomplished something, it says you set goals for yourself and you complete them, and that you care enough about your future to pursue a higher level of education.

 

                I come from a middle class family and my parents didn’t have any money for college. I had a choice to make I could have gotten a job right out of high school and forget about college, or I could work two jobs and put myself through school. I decided to go the school route and pursue my education.  I value my degree a great deal because I paid for it myself.  I worked for my degree by studying and also by working multiple jobs to be able to afford my education. There were so many times along the way in my college career when I wanted to give up, it would have been easier. I didn’t give up I wanted to be the first kid in my family to receive a college degree. I wanted to prove to myself that money could not stop me from getting the education I knew I deserved and the future I knew I wanted.  I expect that when I graduate I will have more opportunities because I have pushed myself to earn a degree and I should also get paid more than someone who does not have a degree. I want my future kids to understand the importance of higher education and I feel that I wouldn’t be able to expect them to earn a degree if I didn’t do it myself.  In December it will be my turn to enter the real world but I won’t be entering empty handed. I will have my very own life boat in the form of a degree to keep me afloat in these hard economic times.

 

 

 

 

Comments (1)

Paige said

at 12:25 am on Sep 3, 2009

Week 2
What communication rituals do you practice? Interrogate a media based communication ritual - trace its origins - where did it come from? How did you create/adopt this ritual?

I found it fascinating taking a look inside my own life to discover what communication rituals I partake in. For example being a female there are several rituals that women have especially when we are socializing with other women. For example I am constantly asking “What do you think?” When I ask this question I have usually already made up my mind what I want to do however it is a ritual of mine to get another opinion, or better yet to get someone to agree with the opinion I already have. “Women use some ritual communications such as "What do you think?" in order to earn support and to show consideration to the other parties involved” (Five Styles of Ritual Communication, Thomas F. Fischer).
I like to watch a lot of movies especially chick flicks and teen dramas, you could say it is my guilty pleasure. The thing about the movies I watch is that they reinforce the communication habits and rituals I perform, which isn’t always a positive thing. For example in the film “Mean Girls” the plastics have to ask the other members of the click before they can really make any decisions for themselves. One of the rituals is the one I spoke about earlier and that is the “What do you think?” ritual. This film demonstrates a lot of female rituals another one being the false complimenting ritual. I often find myself paying someone a compliment on what they are wearing or their haircut. From the outside I like sincere and genuine but a lot of the time the person I am complimenting, I really don’t like and I mean the opposite of what I am saying.

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