Transmedia Science!

While preparing for the midterm I came across a section in Convergence Culture chapter 5 about public schools or libraries that have scheduled events or classes in which they had speakers come and play rolls as if they were giving a lecture on some topic of the muggle or wizard world. I cannot believe I missed this connection the first time I read it, however, this time I was quickly reminded of some volunteer work I had done in my high school years. The summer before my senior year I volunteered at a place called Sciport in my hometown Shreveport. Sciport is a science discovery interactive meusem for children. Three storys, huge interactive stages and demostration rooms, large floor areas with hundreds of engaging science - oriented activities that school age children can learn from and also have fun! During the summer they would do day camps, each having a different theme but all closely related to science. I was assigned the Harry Potter camp. We were to wear robes; we got sorted on the first day; we brewed up some very interesting 'potions' which were mainly just very basic science demonstrations that are typically performed in labs with a little extra imaginiative boost; we constructed our own wands; we even played quiddich! I didn't give it much credience at the time because I was not a very big Harry Potter fan (in fact I am still not very fond of the Harry Potter stories in general - sorry), but now looking back through the eyes of Jenkins I can see a perfect example of transmedia, and in this case ever trans-academic storytelling as Harry Potter steps out of the world of literture and into the world of imaginiative science learning!

Can a Man Teach Bronte?

I am currently taking an English class whose main focus is the works and lives of the famed Bronte sisters: Emily, Charlotte, and Ann. Women- all of them. This class is taught by professor Michie, a woman. Roughly 25 students are enrolled, 22 of whom are female. I am one of three males in the class. Here, predominantly women are studying the works and writings of other women. If I decided to continue my study of the three sister (which I can assure you I will not) into Grad school, obtain a post-graduate degree having the Bronte sisters at the center of my studies, would I then be qualified to succeed Michie as professor of this class upon her retirement even though I am a male?

In class we talked about Males teaching courses of feminism or Anglo-Americans teaching courses on African-Americans. Should it work? Does it work? What kind of bias does this create? What kind of bias does it prevent? How about a female teaching a course on feminism where there are male students? Does the bias not flip-flop and take on a different dynamic all together?

This issue pops up most often for me in political conversation. I am outspokenly pro-choice when it comes to the political issue of abortion. Of course this stance elicits passionate opposition from males and females of a different ideological stance. Often times when it is a female that wishes to debate the issue, she will make the point that because I am a man, I shall never know what it is like to become pregnant and therefore should have no right to an opinion on the matter!

Preposterous! Here’s my take: The beauty about being human beings is our ability to transcend our own motions and ideas to express them in a symbolic order. This order (specifically known as language) works to connect humans together and allow a common playing field to express experiences that other humans can liken to their own experiences and therefore come to a generalized agreement about which it is you’re thinking (anger, happiness, sadness, hunger). No, I will never know what it is like to become pregnant (unless biological science makes some seriously huge leaps in the next 80 years), but I can talk to women – pregnant or not- and I can come to an understanding of what it is, and what it come be likened to, and therefore can understand it on common terms. Feminism, African-American studies, and Bronte sisters are no different. Though I may not be a woman and I just happen to be an Anglo-American, this does not work against me but for me. I have an experience that I can share for others to understand and likewise I can find that common understanding of their experiences. People get so hooked on the color of a person’s skin or the reproductive organs a person possesses and most often times forget that we are all persons. It would be unfortunate for such breaks in our understanding to work against the expansion of knowledge to all peoples.

Non-Jewish people must help teach of the Holocaust. Non- African Americans must help teach about slavery. Non-female people must help teach of the historical suppression of women. These things are not injustices forced upon only Jews, Africans, or Women – they are injustices forced up humanity. What do you think?

In Response to bell hooks

I believe that in this article bell hooks has forgotten to considered many different aspects of what cultural studies is, how it is exercised, and for what purpose it serves. Understandably, there are many attempts at Cultural Studies that often undermine the objectives of the inquiry, leading often times to material that does in fact work to suppress, marginalize, and/or exploit its subjects. This is what anthropological fieldwork (otherwise known as ethnography) attempts to combat. A better understanding of the driving forces behind ethnography would, in my opinion, allow bell hooks to be slightly less oppositional to its practice.
For starters, contemporary anthropological theory has completely rejected the entire idea of ‘race’. Such a thing does not exist and only exists within our cultural classification systems and has no connection to biological differentiation. There is a descent pattern from the first of our species that can be traced along historical and geographical paths, allowing for human adaptations to different climates and environmental pressures (i.e. Africans living in sub-Saharan Africa have darker, tougher skin for sun protection while those humans who migrated north to the shady landscapes of Europe have lighter skin as they had more external protection from the sun). These types of adaptation have no biological determinacy- meaning there is no point in the human DNA record where ‘blacks’ can be officially fissured from ‘whites’ creating a new “race”. This however, does not help much with the matter at hand other than to say from a very basic beginning point, an ethnographer should not even examine his own ‘race’ as opposed to that of her or his subjects and this should be reflected in his or her data. (I say ‘should’ because obviously there are those who do not perform ethnography in what is considered the most ethically upright ways).
Secondly, ethnography has one main focus: the revision, maintenance, and continual compilation of the ethnographic record which is the entire body of work of all ethnographers since the onset of anthropological inquiry. As cultures are studied, their ethnographic data is included in this ethnographic record creating a database of cross-cultural information. From here, ethnologists take this record and perform their services of ethnology: the study of and articulation of cultural patterns, cultural variables, and cross-cultural significance. Here is the heart of ethnographic research. Anthropologists are searching for cultural data that makes us human, makes us like other humans, and will further our understanding and cooperation of every manifestation of human symbolic culture! Bell hooks is correct when she implies that it should be the people of her culture (not her black people but the actual people that make up her cultural background in which she is immersed) that should represent themselves through their own means as a culture. It is not the place of ethnography to attempt to outdo or nullify or replace her culture’s self representation, but rather it is the attempt of ethnography to study, attempt to understand, and classify this cultural representation within the context of an ethnographic record.
Finally, there are black ethnographers. There are white ethnographers. There are ethnographers of an array of diversity. Although it must be conceded that American Anthropology is dominated by white scholars, it is important to understand that the ethical and objective theory behind ethnography works to subvert and extinguish the threats of bias study aiming for the most objective view of humans and their culture around the world. In this manner, I believe that bell hooks would have much less trouble with the practice of ethnography. Let me know if you think I’ve over shot the benefits of ethnographic work.

What gender are you today?

At the end of last class we were discussing gender in terms of Judith Butler’s idea concerning gender ideology and gender roles as performance. I made the analogy of females wearing ‘masculine’ clothes as opposed to males wearing ‘feminine’ clothes. I use quotes around those words because, as I used them in class, I was refereeing only to a more Western/American idea of masculinity and femininity. Our gender ideologies put flowing, floral, vibrant, and more tightly fitted clothing along with jewelry, cosmetics, and lengthy hair as feminine attributes. What is important to understand is that this ideology is nothing more than that – ideology that is neither intrinsic nor universal among humans. In fact, many cultures make very little distinction between the physical appearance of male and female in terms of material adorning. Furthermore, there are some cultures, found mainly in Africa and sparsely in Asia, that maintain the exact opposite of our gender ideology. In certain African societies it is the young warrior males who adorn dresses, jewelry, and make-up and it is the simplistically clad women who heckle and swoon and compete over the beauty of the men. Even in the history of European and American cultures we see examples of this (i.e.- wigs worn by men of high religious or political status). Outside of the biologically predisposition of human males to have a heavier build than females, which pitted them since the birth of our species to be more likely called upon to take on more physically strenuous tasks, there is actually very little about who we are as men – versus – women that takes root anywhere else than in our own enculturation. Our culture tells us that a woman’s hair should be long and a man’s hair should be short and, as I believe Judith Butler would agree, it is us – the humans – who perform this ideology in our daily lives by cutting or not cutting our hair. These roles are often times reversed – such in the case of ‘masculine’ females or ‘masculine’ males (typically associated with homosexuality), cross-dressing, transgendered persons, drag performance, and many other instances. This is merely a more complex performance where the culture’s gender ideology is flipped, but it still serves a social purpose and is therefore selected by the human for performance. So tomorrow when you wake up and go to dress yourself, as Dr. Lillian said she does some mornings, think about what it is you wish to perform that day, dress accordingly, and see if you notice any reactions or interactions that are of cultural interest to the issue of gender.

Women of Purdah

Tuesday’s class conversation spurred multiple branches of thought, as do most conversations with Feminism as their leading topics. I wanted to looked more at what Dr. Lillian was talking about concerning the Muslim feminist. I recently read a book entitled Lost in the Land of Oz by Madonna Kolbenschlag in which she undertakes the goal of identity, specifically feminist identity, in American culture. She talks about Muslim feminist and their adherence to the practice of purdah: the veiling and seclusion of women from the society of men. A Western view of this practice stimulates one to think of this it as the suppression and oppression of women. Likened to this, is the ceremonial, often religious, practice of female circumcision in many African cultures – a practice that Western critics interestingly renamed female ‘mutilation’. Again, this is an instance where Western inclination manifests claims of female suppression. I think it is of utmost importance for us to research and understand these practices from an emic point of view; that is, from the cultural point of view of those who function within the culture that uses these practices. The Muslim Feminist that Dr. Lillian talked about and about whom Kolbenschlag writes fight for the right to maintain the practice of purdah because they do not view it as suppression, but rather as a cultural practice important to their society. They ‘submit’ themselves to the practice because they feel that it is religiously and ideologically upright. This mindset can only be understood from these women’s worldview.

However, it is also important for us to understand that these women’s worldview – just like your worldview and my worldview – are shaped and constructed by the cultural atmosphere in which they are born, raised, grow, and function. Here we can step out and take an anthropological etic (scientifically object) view of the cultural influences that may predispose Muslim women to accept their position within the purdah system. For an Anthropology class centered on gender and gender manifestations within culture, I am reading a text by Daphne Spain titled Gendered Spaces in which she analyzes cross-cultural manifestations of gender in terms of spatial segregation in the home, workplace, schools, and other meaningful spaces. Spain concludes at one point that cultures where women are veiled, secluded, and kept separate or distant from the ‘realm of men’ (she speaks specifically on cultures that practice purdah and many gender-segregated African cultures) are most typically also characterized by a limited access to knowledge for women. She dissects the typical home of a Muslim family and shows how women are secluded within different spaces of the home and are almost always kept away from gaining any type of knowledge outside of the domestic skills needed for her role as wife and mother. Knowledge outside of this is reserved only for men. If we track American feminism, we see that as women were progressively allowed access to knowledge (first grades schools, then college, then post graduate studies) through the end of the 19th century on into the middle of the 20th century, we see a direct rise in the movement for women’s rights of equality and integration into what was typically known as the ‘realm of men’. So in this manner it appears that a women’s self-adherence to purdah practices or female circumcision practices may in fact be a direct cause of their limited access to the knowledge of men.

So the question stands: if given more access to knowledge and education, would the women of these cultures more readily shed the practices that work to seclude and possibly degrade or oppress them, or will they be even more submissive to these practices? Are these practices caused by controlling men and their dominance over knowledge or is it unfair to make such a judgment on the basis that only the women within these cultures can understand their loyalty to such practices? Whatever the answer, the point that most warrants making is that we should always be willing to examine cultural situations from all angles, including the point of view from inside the source.

Photoshop for Democrats in 2008

Jenkins makes some very strong connections between campaigns, voters, television, and the internet. He makes a distinction between push media – such as television where advertisement is provided without active search – and pull media – such as the internet where surfers must find the information on their own. He makes the statement “The Internet reaches the hard core, television the undecided”. This statement, though true for the 2004 elections, seems a bit outdated in the election cycle that is at hand. When I get on Facebook.com to check up on the mess that is my social entanglements, I am now blasted with application invitations, cause messages, and poster pop-ups advertising everything from Hilary Clinton’s universal healthcare plan to Barack Obama’s “We Can” slogan. Don’t see much from the Republican side of the tracks on account that there isn’t much of a contest; but the Democrats are battling it out on Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo, and everywhere else, and there is no “pull media” about it. Turn the computer on and there it is. Though the television still gives us that push push push, in the past four years Internet campaigning has becoming just as in your face as Television.

Not so long ago, in a galaxy not that far away....

A dedicated Star Wars fan myself, I have been active in the Star Wars Universe offered by the intricate connectivity of the World Wide Web. However, it is interesting to look at this Star Wars community before the onset of such global interaction. During my third semester at LSU I wrote a term paper on Star Wars fans as a discourse community; and discourse community they are! They have their own vocabulary composed of words defined from the movies, novels, video games, comics, and dictionaries. Yes that’s correct -dictionaries. There are at least, to my knowledge, three volumes of Star Wars encyclopedia/dictionaries that in roughly 300-400 pages define for you every alien species, language, dialect, planet, weaponry, space craft, character, war, battle, and major character present in some Star Wars medium. To be unversed in such vocabulary is to be excluded from the community, thus defining for themselves the actual boundaries between community members and mere observers. I, myself can only claim a high level of observer status on account of my very basic knowledge of the universe as a whole. Before the internet, this community established their own common meeting place famously known (and to many infamously known) as Star Wars conventions. Though these events never quite reached the extreme popularity and high attendance as its rival the Star Trek conventions, Star Wars community members across the globe have been attending Star Wars conventions in impressive numbers at multiple locations in many different countries and cultures annually, biannually, and even quarterly since the first movie release in 1977. Having been to only one such convention myself I cannot give much testament to the experience entirely, but I can say that just as people criticize those who attend such events, members of this community are rather critical of those on the outside of the community. For example, at the convention I attended in Dallas, Texas, I was responded to as an obvious outsider being that I left my Princess Leah hair-buns and Darth Vader mask at home and being that I did not have the type of knowledge to interact in the ongoing role-playing. The internet has of course expanded both the number of community members and the amount of knowledge to be shared and acquired. However, the internet has not taken the place of the actual physical interaction that conventions offer. In fact, the internet has only increased awareness of convention schedules, locations, and agendas so that community members can be ready and informed to take their active role in the Star Wars Universe. Below is a link if you are interested in these conventions. And as always - May the force be with you!

http://www.starwars.com/community/event/con/archive.html

Lovemarks - A Coca Cola Century

Lovemarks, as Jenkins defines them, are efforts geared toward eliciting emtional attachments to specific products from consumers through strategic advertisement campagins. And the winner is.....Coca Cola! And is the news to anyone.....of course not! Coca Cola has has monopolized the world of "Lovemark making", if you will, long before the internet or American Idol became viable venues of advertisement. It won the hearts of collectors decades ago as one of the most coveted brands of collection. Bottles, caps, posters, trinkets, and aything else bearing the red and white Coca-Cola symbol has been haorded and displayed as if it were some secret long lost treasure. Decorators took Coca-Cola to their dinners, bathrooms, kitchens, and bedrooms to create Coca-Cola themed atmosperes equipped with everything from Coca-Cola curtains to Coca-Cola rugs. How about Christmas time? Everyone has a special attachment to Christmas. How about those Coca-Cola Polar bears? So cute and cuddly sipping on their ice cold Coca-Cola bottles that the Coca-Cola Santa Claus just threw out of his Coca-Cola sleigh Coca-Cola Coca-Cola Coca-Cola. Sorry, I must be too emtionally attached. So of course when something like American Idol, a mecca for consumer emotional attachment, comes along Coca-Cola is ready to pluck the heart strings and encourage you to vote for your favorite Idol, on your way to the fridge to open up an ice cold Coca-Cola. ........Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola.

Spoiling Elections

In his survivor chapter, Jenkins hints at the idea of the Internet and these newly emerging knowlegde cultures as having profound effects on the political envirnoment. He says that Pierre Levy puts forth the belief that this type of cyber interaction will bring us back to a true democracy. My mother is a Political Consultant by profession and a political junkie by trade. She has her hands in local, regional, state, and federal wide elections running her own political phone bank and consultant firm. She is well aware that her type of work is quickly going into the museums. Thus she is looking to the internet for the new wave of politcal data collection. The main focus in her work is polling. Twenty years ago she had some 15 operators using hand dialed telephones with paper and pencil marking down answers and so forth. Roughly ten years ago she upgraded to computer systems that can support hundreds of operators and that hold all the voter information, connect and disconnect the calls automatically, and record the survey data by use of a keyboard or mouse click. Now, no one answers the phone - especially if the caller ID does not show someone with whom they are familiar. My mother is now looking into ways to affectivly bring political polling to the internet. Collecting information on a voter's record, stance on issues, and support for specific candidates is much more accessible on the internet due to users' willingness to engage. When you call someone asking them to complete a politcal survey, they feel imposed upon; but, give them the option of taking a poll online and they feel that they are making their own desicion to engage in the process. My mother is one of those many political analysts who believe that the elections of 2008 - and most specifcally the Presidential elections - will predominatly be decided by internet campagining, polling, and voter turn out.

Wii - This is fun.

In the introduction chapter of his Convergence Culture, Henry Jenkins discusses the New Orleans Media Experience, a media based convention held in New Orleans to generate dialogue concerning the new frontiers of media interaction with consumers. One particular anecdote from the convention pits Sony and Microsoft against one another in search of the ultimate video game console whose functionality would reach far beyond its originally intended, youthful, obsessive gamers - into the world of media functionality for the whole family unit (Moms, Dads, Grandfathers etc.). Jenkins says that the questions confronted in this session of the convention were "What was mom going to do with the console when her kids were at school? What would get a family to give a game console to grandpa for Christmas?". This morning when I woke up, I took a shower, fixed myself some bacon and toast and a nice, large glass of orange juice, and then sat down on the couch for my morning dose of news and weather on the TV. However this morning I thought to do something slightly different than what my regular routine asks of me. Instead of turning on the cable to catch CNN or MS NBC, I instead looked to my brand new Nintendo Wii console (thank you Santa Claus) equipped with a wireless enabled Internet connection for News and Weather reports. I read about Bush's commemoration of MLK day, a fatal airplane crash in southern California, the sunny skies that were predicted over Baton Rouge today, and I followed all this up with a relaxing though invigorating session of Super Mario Galaxy where I suffered three consecutively fatal "Game Over's". Could this be the very convergence on which Jenkins is so focused? Of course it is. The Wii console, unlike most of its predecessors, is multifunctional: game console, Internet interface, anchorperson, and meteorologist. This multifunctional capacity elicits interest from a larger array of consumers than older consoles did. Through its revolutionary sensor remote controls, the console also doubles as a baseball field, tennis court, and bowling alley. Mom, dad, grandpa, and little Johnny or Suzie can all satiate some electronic hunger with the Wii at their finger tips.
Yes, Jenkins would call the Wii a "delivery system" or "tools we use to access media content". However, the interaction of an entire family unit, from the youngest (and probably the most technologically inclined) to the oldest (and possibly less technology savvy) of our society, with the media and cross-relative activities that the Wii console provides is what Jenkins would call "protocols" or "social and cultural practices that have grown up around [a given] technology". Though the console is somewhat limited in its Internet accessibility and offers a limited source of news that is pre-programmed to list only a small amount newsworthy stories a day, the door is open for more projects of similar capacity to darken. So, convergence culture is truly here, as Jenkins assesses. There is no denying it - in fact, there is only identifying it and labeling it in every facet of our cultural lives because it is everywhere. While we all - as members of this specific course (LSU: English 4304) or members of any and all societies- attempt to identify and define the many manifestations of convergence culture, Ill be sure to keep you up to date on my Super Mario Galaxy skills as they hopefully progress with time.