Tuesday, 12 July 2011

Task 6






Black British – black British is a term in which is used in which to describe British people of a black origin. 



Through this task I will be watching the clip and stating what I have learnt from this and what I personally believe that black British culture is. Firstly I have learnt that people of a black origin have many different ways of which origin they call them selves they are not just English or African they are black British or Nigerian or even British Caribbean, this personally has taught me that as a society we label everything to be either one thing or another we do not generalize a society, and that a black society themselves have many different views there not all the same in which many prejudice societies may label them. I have learnt of what black British culture consists of and the things in which they have bought to this country, which is; music (hip hop, R&B, Ghetto, Reggae etc.), food (chicken, rice, curries, etc.), fashion, heritage (patwa) and a new way of talking.

Also I have learnt that primarily in the 20th century the original black communities came to fulfill our own labor shortages which therefore leads me personally to believe that the reaction had by the people of the 20th century had become even more progressively unnecessary because through the help in which the black community had been giving as a country we have and would have continued to receive major financial advantages and medical as they had many nurses come over to aid hospital staffing issues.

Furthermore I have learnt of how harsh life had been for the now black British people, the only place in which they were able to socialize with each other would be through house parties through the obvious fact that they have not been able to go to most public places like the white people and socialize, houses throughout the times would also be very over crowded with more then one black family possibly living there at any one time.

Also I have learnt from my own personal experience of how much the language that me myself and others in which I personally know talk today where as we see it as a natural way to talk back in the 70s and 80s we would have been known to talking black, this has taught me of how much times have changed and how we as a country have developed and embraced other cultures as our own and moved with the times and left behind the old prejudice views in which used to exist.

Overall from this clip I have learnt a great deal. I have learnt of how much times have changed from how prejudice and against black people they were back in times when my parents were young compared to the now where we embrace it all and have adapted to the times and now all have black aspects to our life be it in our music or even the way in which we talk.





Task 5




Through watching this clip i asked myself the questions: Who is being represented?
What is being represented?
How is the representation constructed? (communicated?)

And i personally have come to the conclusion that being represented through this clip is the first generation of black visitors of which have settled in this country and how the majority of white people have reacted and view the immigrants. I believe that this clip shows the extreme narrow minded nature in which the people of that generation had towards a new change and how they were not prepared to modernize and move with the times. This is represented by the language used by the commentator and the general negative tones undertaken by him about the new generation of visitors, also by the clip in the background showing mostly tones of skin which represent the white man, this shows the racism undertaken and how they believed in white supremacy.  

Monday, 4 July 2011

Task 3- Definitions

Identity - the state of having unique identifying characteristics held by noother person or thing. The identity of people are able to be used through murders and are able to help identify criminals by the use of fingerprint identification. 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/identity 

Collective identity - The term collective identity may refer to a variety of concepts. In general however, these concepts generally pertain to phenomena where an individuals' perceived membership in asocial group impacts upon their own identity in some way. The idea of a collective identity has received attention in a wide variety of academic fields. In psychology, and in particular social psychology, this has led to a vast research literature and concerted scientific study. Most archetypal perhaps being Henri Tajfel’s and John Turner's work in developing social identity theory


Mediation - Mediation in Marxist theory refers to the reconciliation of two opposing forces within a given society (i.e. the cultural and material realms, or the superstructure and base) by a mediating object. Similar to this, within media studies the central mediating factor of a given culture is the medium of communication itself. The popular conception of mediation refers to the reconciliation of two opposing parties by a third, and this is similar to its meaning in bothMarxist theory and media studies. For Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, this mediating factor is capital or alternately labor, depending on how one views capitalist society (capital is the dominant mediating factor, but labor is another mediating factor that could overthrow capital as the most important one).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation_(Marxist_theory_and_media_studies)


Representation - Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures. The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity (the 'cage' of identity) - representation involves not only how identities are represented (or rather constructed) within the text but also how they are constructed in the processes of production and reception by people whose identities are also differentially marked in relation to such demographic factors. Consider, for instance, the issue of 'the gaze'. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women?


Mediation and representation
View more presentations from kbamediastudies


This slide share has examples of Mediation and Representation in Media.


Hegemony - Hegemony is the indirect form of imperial dominance with which the hegemon (leader state) rules sub-ordinate states, by the implied means of power, rather than direct military force. this can relate to media through the institutions such as Disney taking full control of the media industry and buying the independent movies off of the makers of the film, therefore showing them taking control and dominating the others areas of media.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemony


Colonialism and Post-Colonialism - Post-colonialism (postcolonial theory, post-colonial theory) is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism. Postcolonialism comprises a set of theories found amongst anthropology,architecturephilosophyfilmpolitical sciencehuman geographysociologyfeminism, religious and theological studies, and literature
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Colonialism is a process whereby sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole and the social structuregovernment, and economics of the colony are changed by colonists - people from the metropole. Colonialism is a set of unequal relationships: between the metropole and the colony, and between the colonists and theindigenous population.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcolonialism


Youth Subculture - A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as familyworkhomeand school. Youth subcultures that show a systematic hostility to the dominant culture are sometimes described as countercultures. this term may relate to collective identity through the different behavioral types of each in a collective identity and the different interests in which each collective identity may have. 


Syncretism - Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining," but see below for the origin of the word. Syncretism may involve attempts to merge andanalogise several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.

Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture as well as politics.

Post-Modernism - Postmodernism is a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. More specifically it is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problem of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place.

Urban Music - a genre of music in which covers such styles as hip-hop, drum and bass, R&B and garage.