Visual Culture Essays (Examples)

Visual Culture Exam

Mobilizing Shame

For a very long time now, people have perceived shame as a feeling of embarrassment, inadequacy, or the feeling that prevails after someone has done something, which a given society believes is wrong. However, shame can mean something else; it only depends on the perspective it is viewed. Therefore, shame is brining or exposing something to the public, for the public to critic, and allow social transformation. The word shame is the root of the term mobilizing shame, which is popular with human rights movements, and associated with a mass of people. It refers to the awakening of people, by making them aware of the oppression they are facing, as a means to identify with their suffering, and instigate them to protest against the oppression. One of the earliest statements, which helped in establishing the meaning of this term, states, "We intend, in the language…

People evidently do not want to disturb the experiences of others in a museum, even though it is a public space. In the mall, voices proclaiming entire conversations could often be heard. Young babies cried and loud music blared in the background and people seem less self-conscious about disturbing others -- there is no price of admission, only the price of consuming.

In both places, the hard floors echoed sound, or carpets constrained the delivery of sound in different areas. But one are was entirely characterized by silence with the occasional hum of a whisper, the other by loudness, and both places were either so silent or so loud, listening soon became uninteresting -- everything was white silence or white noise. However, this did not mean that there was a lack of engagement at the museum between people -- individuals often walked in groups, talking and discussing inaudibly either the…

, 2004, p. 27) Yet, really folks, this idea of the nation as dislikable came long before Bush and will likely continue long into the future. One of the biggest hopes of the nation, for this new "administration" is that the image of the U.S. will be reclaimed and she will be welcomed back into international relations with open arms. As a South Korean living in America my sentiment on this ideology is, "good luck, you have a lot of ground to cover, and that ground is much older than 2000 or even 1996, Mr. Obama."

eferences

Auerback, M. (2006). Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power. Journal of East Asian Studies, 6(3), 465.

Begala, P., Buckely, C., Dionne, E., Drum, K., Dwight, N., Easterbrook, G., et al. (2004, September). What If He Wins?. Washington Monthly, 36, 27.

Donaldson, G.A. (1996). America at War since 1945: Politics and Diplomacy in…

In this way, symbols transform themselves into specific ideas or conventions from the world of ideas and language and these symbols can often change according to society and historical period.

Signs therefore signify through the use of code. Sometimes, the sign is obvious. Other times, it has to be decoded.

Icons and Symbols

Two primary codes are Iconic and Symbolic. Icons are a literal representation of the object (the referent) - e.g. A painting of a hamburger is meant to represent the original. Symbols, on the other hand, are meant to allude to something such as Turner's sunset, or a traffic sign, flag, or word that points to a meaning behind that. Some representations such as a Coke can be both -- it is both icon and representation of American consumption.

Words are a typical symbol. By itself they mean nothing. The word (or symbol) 'rat' can mean different things…

Value of Access to Excessive Visuals

Business - Advertising

Assessing Value of Access Excessive Visuals

The paper will consider visual literacy with respect to legal and ethical implications of the access to numerous visuals to users of the Internet in the 21st century. The overall subject matter of the Youtube video students were to watch has to do with copyrights and use. The Internet is a vast and useful resource. There is no doubt that its existence has changed and in many ways improved humanity and human relations around the world. As part and parcel of the Internet, users in most countries have at their fingertips access to an innumerable amount of material, including a vast number of visuals such as photographs, diagrams, and charts.

On the one hand, access to numerous visual sources can have positive effects. People can be exposed to works of art, to data infographics, and…

With the death of the male member of the family, this family is forced to be together, and it is through their unity that they are only able to make themselves stronger individually. The image of a grieving family demonstrated the strength of the dead soldier (male) as an individual and the helplessness of each member of the family (specifically, women and children) he has left behind.

Picture 4, meanwhile, highlighted a common stereotype associated against males as more dangerous and suspicious in character than females. This picture of Iraqi males being searched by soldiers serves to reinforce the concept of males being inherently physically threatening to society. They are thereby discriminated against and are met with greater caution and scrutiny in the society. Though it demonstrated male physical strength, it also portrayed society's inherent hostility and antagonism towards males.

The last picture evoked a similar effect as was shown…

..now requires understanding and manipulating the processes used to create messages in the modern world" (Adams & Hamm, 2000, p. 22) in fact the student is expected to be able to decode the information from various types of media. However the equally important point is also made that this expanding definition of what literacy comprises does not "...diminish the importance of traditional reading and writing skills; rather, it recognizes the increasing importance of information and communication technology" (Adams & Hamm, 2000, p. 22).

This is an important caveat to the enthusiastic embrace of modern technology and visual aspects of modern teaching. In other words, while visual literacy has become more important and while this aspect is closely linked to the use of modern technological tools such as computer, yet the basics of teaching and education should not be forgotten. Of equal importance however is the view that; "Today's students live…

Similarly, women today feel the need to appear beautiful and perfect all the time in order to be a part of a class in society. According to what Kilbourne suggests, women use their bodies as masks or objects that need to be taken care of all the time and kept in perfect shape and condition. The media and the advertisements program their minds to think that their appearance is not perfect and they need to change themselves in a particular manner (Kilbourne, 2002).

One of the main roles that media has played in this subject is to make an individual perceive themselves from the eyes of others and to take it as a responsibility to be appealing to the eyes of the audience instead of what they themselves want to do. Advertisements today sell the bodies of women, not in the literal sense but metaphorically speaking, all advertisements have women…

Culture and Marketing Strategy

About the print ad from http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2013/johnnie-walker-from-the-future/

The print ad is about a certain brand of alcoholic drink that is endorsed by a professional athlete. The athlete takes a sip from a glass of whisky and begins walking. This in a way appears to suggest that consumers of this particular brand of whisky can cover long distances after taking this whiskey. Information pertaining to alcoholic content and how the brand is matured are not clearly visible on the ad. The only visible thing is the image of the person who has endorsed the brand making some strides.

Assumptions made by the authors of the ad

The authors of the ad try to make the ad to be more appealing to the motives and desires of the consumers. They give form to people's deep-lying desires. They assume that they will best arrest the consumer's attention by tugging consumer's…

This also has major implications for military operations, both within a military unit and in the interaction between the military unit and another culture. Essentially, the problem of ethnocentrism can be seen at the root of the other cultural problems discussed in this context; it implies both a lack of understanding about the impacts of the unit's culture on the people of a foreign culture, as well as a lack of appreciation and understanding for that culture (Hoskins 2007).

Conclusion

Culture is strange, in that it is both constant and always changing. The only static culture is a dead one; as the various elements and generations of a culture interact, change is bound to happen. When there is no longer any interaction within a culture or between a given culture and other cultures, there is no longer any point to that culture, and indeed that culture could not realistically exist…

James ond is presently one of the principal sexual concepts that the film puts across. Daniel Craig's ond is no longer seen as a very effective killing tool, as it shown as an object of admiration.

Craig's physical appearance is no longer a crime deterrent, as it is actually used with the purpose of impressing viewers. This ond is no longer yelling, as he speaks in a gentle voice and some might even be inclined to consider that he has become more sensitive. When considering ond's overall development, it appears that society is becoming more and more obsessed with the masculine body image and less preoccupied with manliness as an intellectual concept.

The masses in the 60s saw masculinity as an idea that needed to be exploited and largely believed that men had to be particularly aggressive in order to truly be appreciated by individuals around them. However, trends changed…

Urban Culture

hat is urban culture(s)?

Hear the words 'urban culture,' and quite often one thinks of hip-hop, the music that is a fusion of black city culture with other ethnic elements of various cities, from Jamaican to Latino sounds. Of course, this is a single example of modern urban culture. hat hip-hop shares in common with other urban cultural expressions of the past is that hip-hop is the product of fusing the diverse cultural elements of a variety of new ethnicities into a new culture. Urban culture is the result of tightly packing people into close apartment structures, neighborhoods and blocks that often allow them to be ethnically or racially 'isolated' from mainstream modern culture, yet creates a proximity that forces urban residents to adapt to a new American environment in a socially 'sharing' way.

The notion of urban culture is older than such modern-day constructions as hip-hop however.…

Black Elk utilizes his visions to create understanding of nearly all things he is later exposed to. The discussion in closing will further illuminate his utilization of vision, to ask for help for his people in a time of crisis.

To discuss the vertical model of artistic communication it is difficult to narrow the filed to just one example, as Native American literature, and to a lesser degree film have become somewhat prolific as genres. Two authors who build upon this tradition are Scott Momaday and Alexie Sherman as they are significant and prolific writers of Indian tradition. Each has written and published several works, including a variety of genres, that all attempt to translate the oral traditions of their nations into a written form that contains the expression of the oral tradition.

In Alexie Sherman's collection of short stories, the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven he offers…

Popular culture defines what is desired by any given sociological group based on pressure by peers. Every moment of the day, we are saturated by culture. hen we turn on the television, not only are we watching the programs but we are inundated by advertisers trying to convince the viewer that there is some new product that needs to be purchased or a new movie that needs to be seen or a new service that is essential to the happiness of the consumer. On the Internet, each inquiry provides banner headlines where we are also bombarded with advertisements and attitudes. Similarly, there are billboards and ads on cars and radio commercials while we drive to and from work. It is characteristic of a capitalistic society that so much of our culture has to do with the consumption of goods and services (Yar, Lecture 2, slide 2). Everywhere someone or something…

Visual in Western Thinking and Culture

It is true that, as a society, we tend to focus on the visual in most of our endeavors. One only needs to look at the many aspects of vision that permeate our lives. Aspects of entertainment like movies, magazines, and the electronic media fill our hours with an endless array of visual material to be used and consumed towards different ends. Even in education, a lecture becomes much more interesting if visual images accompany them. Visual images also tend to enhance a text of reading material. Children learn by means of visual images, and this is an aspect they do not seem to lose as they grow up. In most classrooms, visual materials are considered one of the most important aspects of learning.

Hence, the texts offer some interesting analyses of the way in which culture has evolved to become what is referred…

A widely quoted and interesting functioning definition has been provided by Geert Hofstede who suggests that culture should be considered as software of a person's mind. He is reported to have said that each individual possesses certain patterns and forms of contemplation, emotions and possible acting that they have probably acquired during their life (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005).

Most of these patterns have been obtained through their early childhood experiences as those are the time when an individual is most likely to acquire learning and build on it. Just the way a computer regards its "thought processes" and functioning as its software, the patterns or formations of thinking, experiencing and carrying out psychological processes in an individual can be referred to as the software program of the mind (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005).

However, this does not imply, most definitely that individuals are supposed to function or behave as a computer…

Moreover, "learning takes place within and is influenced by the cultural context of the learner." Although Pallapu does not address culture in the research, learning styles may be a reflection of cultural background.

Reflection

he Pallapu research is limited. he research sample size is small and not diverse enough, as 21 of the 22 participants were female and all were Caucasian. However, the results suggest that learning styles vary even within an otherwise or seemingly homogenous population. he Pallapu research is important because it shows that gender and ethnicity are not necessarily the most important factors in learning. Although gender and ethnicity are important and may in some ways be correlated with learning styles, Pallapu shows that learning styles are independent of cultural background and gender. Educators who assume that gender and ethnicity necessarily influence learning styles may be incorrect.

In a homogenous classroom, teachers may be tempted to teach…

visual depiction of 5 personal impact groups to which you belong.

My five impact groups.

African-American

This has its own culture, history, language (e.g. AAVE) and way of looking at the world. It supports me in difficulties and provides with a social support group that is easily recognizable in any state and all over the world. Our color binds us together. It has impacted the way I grew up, and accordingly my experiences and therefore the way I perceive the world as well as what I like to read, watch, study, and think about. It has certainly too influenced the way that I feel on race and racism and also the way that I feel towards other minority groups and to people who are 'outsiders', scapegoats of society, or oppressed by so-called more powerful, influential others. It drives my desire for justice. This is important for a social worker, and…

As a result, what could be a solid expose on how cultural art forms have been misappropriated becomes a spurious, although interesting piece. Intellectual property and the laws surrounding it are indeed direct products of the Western European culture in which we live. Therefore, it is only natural that the laws of such a society would reflect its cultural ideals. Moreover, Coombo fails to account for how it would be possible to protect collective cultural expressions, many of which are universal symbols such as those from nature. Coombo also fails to offer any clear examples of how artistic forms have been misappropriated from the "ritual contexts" she refers to. The Crazy Horse example is a clear-cut and understandable example to support Coombo's argument, and the article would be strengthened had the author offered more. The article can serve as a good springboard for sociological research studies and investigations into means…

Memory and Culture

visual media and how they shape our collective memory.

Zelizer and food culture

According to B. Zelizer's analysis of the book ealms of memory: "We are enlightened by the curious notion that one's food an indicator of one's level of civilization" (Zelizer 1999: 202-203). In discussing the symbolic language of France, food plays an important role in the author's analysis. Food symbolizes collective aspects of the culture as well as personal aspects of nutrition. This can be seen in every nation. Cultural constructions affect personal tastes, and quite often what food symbolizes is equally important as how the food tastes. The visual of a steak or piece of meat has symbolic significance in America beyond providing information about what is available at a supermarket or restaurant.

ed meat has come to symbolize indulgence and decadence in the eyes of many people. This is partially because it is…

As a result, not only are foreign markets changing to adapt to the Chinese marketplace needs, the Chinese marketplace, and consumer, are likewise adapting and changing to meet the needs of the global market. For instance, the economic boom in China's urban areas is creating a new consumer culture where the consumer has more disposable income to work with. This itself has effected consumer preferences and patterns within the Chinese marketplace. The general result is that a more sophisticated Chinese consumer is emerging and foreign companies need to market to their sophisticated needs while at the same time marketing to the general population's needs.

Therefore, the most effective way for a company to build a strong brand name in the rapidly emerging Chinese market is to adapt itself to the rapidly changing Chinese culture. To do this, it is important that the foreign company create a local presence and thus…

Culturally Biased Intelligence Assessment

Intelligence assessments have existed since the early twentieth century and have continued to be a topic of debate. We all know full well that intelligence assessment is critical to the type if academic success that we achieve in life. One of the primary tools used to assess intelligence is the IQ test. However, the intelligence quotient test has been under scrutiny for decades because it is believed to harbor culturally biased precepts.

The purpose of this discussion is to explore the cultural bias' that exist in intelligence quotient testing. We will begin with a literary review which will start by explaining the definition of cultural bias in testing and the historical implications. We will explain the origins of the IQ test and the reasons why the cultural bias exist. Our discussion will then focus on how cultural bias in intelligence assessment has produced historical implications.

We…

Interactivity With One's Culture

The concepts of literature and history as identified in the excerpt from the Potiki that is referenced in this assignment is one of continuous interaction. Moreover, they underscore the degree of continuity that these people have with their past, which is quite at variance with conventional Western perceptions of the past. These facts are demonstrated throughout the manuscript that this excerpt stems from. Still, they are indicated perhaps most poignantly in the subsequent quotation "But our main book was the wharenui which is itself a story, a history, a gallery, a study, a design structure and a taonga. And we were part of that book along with family past and family yet to come."

What this particular section means is that the indigenous people have a deep rooted connection to the wharenui and to their background that transcends mere heirlooms and symbols (which is typically how…

Caravaggio's Calling of St. Matthew

Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew dates from 1599-1600, in an extremely late phase of the Italian Renaissance. With the glories of Raphael and Michelangelo already belonging to a generation that had passed on, Caravaggio's style emerged out of the final trend of the Italian Renaissance in the sixteenth century, generally known (often derogatorily) as Mannerism. Mannerist art tends to emphasize the artifice of the painting itself, whether through trompe l'oeil or "fool the eye" style visual trickery or distortion of form in human figure in deliberately anti-classical ways in order to emphasize visual expressiveness and novelty. Caravaggio stands as a transitional figure between the Mannerist phase of the Renaissance, and the post-Renaissance movement of the Baroque: to a certain degree, he may be regarded as a late Renaissance school of painting unto himself. We may note, though, that despite Caravaggio's novelty of form, his…

Visual Media and Collective Memory

How visual media shape collective memory

Visual media: Shaping collective memory

According to Barbie Zelizer's review of the book ealms of memory, the simple question: "What does it mean to be French" is the focus of all three volumes of the massive cultural history of the nation (Zelizer 1999: 201). The artifacts chronicled by the author of the book are simple, yet complex enough to sustain the reader's attention. The work Zelizer is reviewing is divided into three sections: conflicts and divisions, traditions, and symbols. Certain visual themes, including food and competitive bicycling, run throughout all three works, given the significance they have in French culture. Within America, other visual themes in history have similar symbolic significance and embody all three aspects of visual history -- conflicts, traditions, and symbols. This can be seen in the treatment of the Vietnam War in the media.

The…

Culture, Dreams, And Artwork

Dreams and artwork are two things that seem to provide an invitation for interpretation, and cultural perspective is almost always going to influence that interpretation. At first blush, this statement may seem to fly in the face of Jungian interpretation, since the collective unconscious and the enduring interpretation of symbols might suggest that symbols would not vary across cultures. However, such an interpretation ignores the fact that Jung acknowledges the impact that individual culture has on the interpreter. While symbols may retain a broader overall meaning across cultures, the details of those symbols are certainly influenced by the surrounding culture. Moreover, some symbols may be culturally specific. In fact, this paper will discuss the veil and its relation to Islam, and how the surrounding culture can color interpretations of the veil in art and in dreams.

Because the symbols in dreams and artwork are influenced by…

Consumption, Society and Culture

Cultural Industry

There are two social processes which are linked with each other and provide the basis of popular culture in modern capitalist societies. These two processes are related with production and consumption of cultural goods. In the first step, the commodities are produced in the light of customers' desirable features and packaged in culturally acceptable methods. In the second step, the products are used by their respective target markets as status symbols to satisfy self-esteem needs. The identification of the target market as a considerable portion of society is largely based on its presentation in fine arts particularly TV programs, music shows and films (Benjamin, 1968).

Social system is a comprehensive study, whose knowledge is mandatory to understand the popular culture. Artifacts represent the cultural symbols, yet these artifacts are strongly influenced by the taste and choice of professionals and cultural elites. There are many…

Assembling Culture

Assembling Southern Appalachian Belief Culture from the Foxfire Archive

This project looks at the belief structure of people in the Southern Appalachian mountains as recognized through the Foxfire archival project, documentary evidence and artistic interpretation. Through an examination of belief systems it is believed that unique cultural aspects of this isolated group of people can be determined. The Foxfire project is an archive that documents how the people lived prior to the mass introduction of outside influences that happened concurrent to the ability of residents to electrify their houses which occurred from approximately 1935 and into the 1950's. Prior to this time the residents of these southeastern mountains were isolated due to the remoteness of villages, and they were able to remain relatively self-contained even though some sections were being encroached by industry. The belief systems in this examination include religion and healing, but mainly relate to how…

Denver Museum

Culture and Visual Identity:

The art piece chosen is "Soliloquy: Life's Fragile Fictions" painted by Moyo Ogundipe in 1997. Ogundipe is from Nigeria and belongs to the Yoruba culture. Many of the elements within the painting express the ideas and customs of the Yoruba people. The Yoruba people founded their particular part of Nigeria in approximately the 12th century AD. Art was a very important part of the culture; they were especially known for their statues featuring images of human beings. Yoruba religious practices and natural elements were also common characteristics of artwork from the region. The Yoruba were primarily an agricultural people who were harvesters rather than hunters (Mullen). Everything that possessed a life force was considered of equal importance to the Yoruba. They would take the same amount of effort in naming their children as their pets, putting both through a special ceremony.

According to researchers,…

Monkey King: Visual Analysis of a Movie Poster

Journey to the est is one of four classic novels written during the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1500 -- 1582). It tells the story of a monk named Xuanzang, who traveled to India in the seventh century with the hope of finding Buddhist scriptures to take back to China. The novel's author, u Chen-en, was an elder statesman who used all that he had witnessed in his lifetime about human nature to write his story, which he infused with his own sense of compassion and humor. The adventures of the monk (Monkey) and his guardians are well-known in China today, and they are familiar to children in Japan and Korea as well. The Monkey stories are readily seen in pop culture, from television to comic books (Kulik, Gu, and Patt n.p.). The poster for the movie The Monkey King would therefore need no…

The level of access that a blind person can hope to achieve from these otherwise important pop culture resources will be somewhat lessened when contrasted to the experience of sighted individuals. As a result of this reality, there "is growing concern about a 'digital divide'. This divide [...] refers to the space between those who access, and therefore use, new technologies and those who do not" (Blair, 2006).

Of course, significant strides are being made to harness the technical wonders of modern pop culture in order to help blind people better navigate this new world. For instance, the ubiquitous cell phone has been appropriated to create the "smallest text-to-speech reading device ever built, a device especially useful for people with impaired vision" (Greenfieldboyce, 2008). This technology allows blind people to snap pictures of objects with their phones, which are then analyzed by the phone software to interpret to the text…

In this situation, the images work on their own in presenting an effective argument. Just as a lawyer must often rely on visual evidence in court to persuade the jury, so too does a pro-life advocate need to use visual aides to get his or her point across to the general public.

The audience for the Abortion Pages will vary. Some pro-life advocates will visit the website to reinforce their beliefs and remind themselves why they are dedicated to the cause. People in the religious community might point others to the website in order to inform them about the implications of abortion. The values and beliefs of those in the religious community will be generally in line with the views of the creator of the website. The website will bolster the opinions of religiously-minded visitors and will consequently show them that their beliefs have considerable support.

Furthermore, showing the Abortion…

powerful connection between visuals and words in storytelling. Before doing the research to write this essay, it never occurred to me place words in a hierarchy above images, so I confess to some surprise at the debate over which should be considered more important. I began my research with the premise that the two are equal; different yes, but equal certainly. And nothing that I discovered in my survey of literature on the subject has changed my mind.

The saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" sums up the debate over the relative importance of images vs. words. This statement was clearly made by someone who believes in the primacy of images. Based on my research, however, it would seem that proponents of the position that images are more important to communication than words appear to be in the minority.

There is no question that Sandra Martin believes that…

It is clear the artist wants to communicate his feelings to his audience, and the text makes this clear in using codes and thoughts to convey these feelings.

There are cultural assumptions assumed by this text, especially that everyone is familiar with the history of World War II and the Holocaust. It seems many of the images of the artist are related in ways to this, and it assumes that everyone will understand the meaning and the history, without having to ask questions. The artist, in that, seems to depart from dominant culture values, not because his work is dark and disturbing, but because somehow, the works seem to convey the dark side of life that many people want to ignore. He takes a dim view of humankind it seems, and that is not so common in cultural values, because most people want to hope for the best, and Kiefer…

Cultural Studies

Lewis Hyde, William Morris, and Sally Banes each offer a perspective of how capitalism affects creativity. For Morris (who writes closest in time to Karl Marx himself) the focus of inquiry is work itself: seemingly with an awareness of Marx's concept of alienated labor, Morris emphasizes the need for dignity and meaning in work. For Hyde, the central answer lies in a social and anthropological understanding of gift-giving: what becomes important is not the work itself so much as the relationship between creator and recipient. For Banes, the issue is collective: her discussion of Fluxus raises the issue of Marxism as we see the communal and collective sense of operation. Ultimately, however, what each of these writers is focusing on is the notion of the self, and how it might resist commodification.

When William Morris delivered his lecture on "The Beauty of Life" in 1880, the Industrial evolution…

Art Culture: Public Space Art

Public art like that of Koon's Train (2011), Serra's Tilted Arc (1981), Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1981), and James' Sea Flower (1978), ignite discussion to the point of its modification, re-arrangement, or removal. The reason for this controversial treatment of public art is its ability to embrace a variety of aesthetic practices. The adoption of different aesthetic values like poster art, outdoor sculpture, earthworks, multimedia projections, and community-based projects among others, breaks the public's traditional understanding of art (Glahn, 2000). This critique finds that the public's totalizing classification of public sphere brings about controversy and dialogue over public art displays. By reviewing the famous public art "Tilted Arc" (1981) by Richard Serra, this analysis will show that there are distinct differences between public understanding and professional understanding of public art.

The government with the intention of exhibiting, protecting, and edifying art, commissions public art in…

Popular Culture in the Classroom

From the wide range of materials teachers can use in the classroom, popular culture is one of the best sources. They appear to public attention as the indication of the rapid growth of the society. Many of the pop culture icons are mostly well-known, regionally and internationally. Students enjoy working with pop culture that they are familiar with. Some of them think that such materials are less intimidating than heavy textbooks. With appropriate use and organized application, the pop icons can be remarkable teaching tools in the classroom. eading sources and mass produced resources are widely available in all seasons, giving teachers plentiful options.

Despite the 'pop' reputation, the community does not need to worry that these materials would wreck the traditional schooling rules. Modern people are quite erudite to recognize popular culture items more than just as second-class articles. In fact, the culture symbols…

Traditional & Non-Traditional Cultures -- India and U.S.

Traditional & Non-Traditional Culture in India

India has a number of religions within its culture -- including Buddhism, Christianity, and the Sikh faith -- but the main religion is Hinduism; over 80% of the population of India are practicing Hindus (www.sights-and-culture.com) (SAC). Hindus believe that every human has an "immortal soul" which, after death, moves to another body, an animals or another human. So if a person has a bad back all his life, it must have been due to the soul that came before him of which he is a product; so goes the belief of the Hindus. The happiest festival in Hinduism is the Diwali, the festival of lights, which "…commemorates the victory of Lord Rama over demon King Ravana" (SAC). Religion is a very traditional part of the Indian cultural experience. A non-traditional cultural trend in India is dating,…

MEDIA (MIS) EPSENTATIONS OF CHINESE-AmericanS

Culture

Media (Mis) epresentations of Chinese-Americans

Media (Mis) epresentations of Chinese-Americans

In the west, representations of people who are outside of the standard or norm, (white, middle & upper class, male) are not represented with accuracy. Chinese-Americans are one such group that doese not often receive an accurate or dynamically real representation of the spectrum of the culture or the people within it. Media representations in the west of Chinese-Americans are limited to a few stereotypes, generally. Some of those stereotypes include that all Chinese people practice and have mastered martial arts, and that all Chinese have exceptional intelligence in mathematics, sciences, and technology. Another media stereotype of the Chinese is that they are all short of stature, particularly poking fun at short men. Chinese men are often stereotypically represented as geeks or nerds -- exceptionally "book smart," but lacking in coolness and social skills.…

If the individual's personality and cognitive processes gear him or her up to be rebellious, then he or she might become attracted to persons with different ethnic features. Other cognitive factors such as memory or ethnic and gender stereotypes may come into play when viewing arousing imagery. For instance, if a woman was once raped by a man with a mustache, she might respond negatively to a photo of a man in a mustache, even if the man is found alluring to other women. Likewise, a person who is prejudiced against African-American people might not find potentially arousing images of Blacks stimulating.

Finally, physical traits such as gender play a key role in the way people respond to images that are potentially arousing. Gender and sexual orientation affect one's view of physical beauty and attractiveness. A gay man will not find Angelina Jolie's photo to be sexually arousing, whereas a…

Black Culture Films

Black Culture Documentaries

Quite often and particularly in the United States, it is commonplace to understand the black cultural experience largely through the lenses of slavery and the Civil Rights movement. And to be certain, these are aspects of the experience that have left indelible imprints on black identity. However, as the collection of documentaries assessed here denotes, the black cultural experience is diverse and nuanced in a way that often goes unnoted in the discourse over struggle and oppression. This is particularly on display in the pair of documentary installments by Basil Davidson, which are concerned with the cultural conditions both historical and present in different parts of Africa.

Indeed, what is so compelling about works such as Caravans of Gold is that such films alter the discussion on the black cultural experience by reflecting on the variant of positive contributions made to the evolution of…

America: Readings in Race, Culture, and Conflict

Susan yle's book Revisiting America: Readings in Race, Culture, and Conflict explores the history of the America through the lens of the political, racial, social, and cultural issues that make up the population. The story of American history is retold. idely known stories about America's past are revisited and additional information about cultural conflict of the period is used to show a new reality to the country's past. yle's history also discusses the importance of socially constructed terminology and how the conflicts of America's past continue to shape the United States today.

The textbook includes both primary and secondary sources to explore the truth behind American history. Of particular interest are some of the historical documents, such as the transcripts from the actual Salem itch Trials. This period of American history is symbolic of all occasions where religious zealotry and fear overtake the…

Nensa Arzuaga's "Implementing a Happy Culture at a Workplace."

Critique and rate the speaker's use of vocal variety, vocal fillers, and jargon or slang (delivery).

Score = 1

Unfortunately, this presentation has no speaker notes. Therefore, the presentation lacks vocal variety. There is actually very little verbal content in the presentation, which requires speaker notes. Therefore, delivery comes across as being poor.

Critique and rate the speaker's introduction.

Score = 2

The speaker does offer his or her name in the title slide, which also offers the title of the presentation. This fulfills both Rule 1 and Rule 2 of the 12 S's in "Guidelines for Professional Communication." However, there is no explanation of what exactly will be covered in the presentation. The introduction would be better if it offered more of an outline. Rule 4 of "Guidelines for Professional Communication" suggests that the speaker should state the focus of…

Dadaism and Surrealism

"It is not the fear of madness which will oblige us to leave the flag of imagination furled." ~ Andre Breton, "Manifesto of Surrealism"

The world of art is always influenced by the historical moment in which the movement originated. The concepts of Dadaism and surrealism were the direct product of artists witnessing the atrocities of the First orld ar which would become even more unpalatable during the events of the Second orld ar (Hoffman 2-3). The visual presentation of both movements can be initially jarring. Dadaism has been described as "anti-art." Instead of beautiful icons of religious scenes or young women, the paintings of this movement are often images of war and violence painted in harsh colors to illustrate the harshness of the world around the artist . Surrealism is by the very definition of surreal, something beyond what the normal person can understand (Claybourne 4).…

Teaching Culture: Strategies for Building Culture in Education Institutions

Building relationships and an overall culture is important in any organization both to ensure that the organization itself operates in an efficient and effective manner, and to make sure that each individual within that organization is achieving their full potential for advancement and growth. This is no different in educational institutions, where interpersonal relationships and overall culture can have a large and direct impact on the quality of education provided and the development of educators in their profession. The following paragraphs will outline a particular example of a strategy used to build relationships and strengthen culture in an educational institution as experienced first-hand by the author, detailing the theoretical underpinnings of the strategy and the particulars of its implementation.

Building an Effective Culture in Educational Settings

One of the most essential aspects of culture in any education setting is building relationships…

Jonas (1992) points to the first signs of life as the quickening of an unborn person in the womb. From prenatal quickening, a person soon learns self-expression in different ways. One is in the form of a meaningful series of bodily activities or motions called dance. It has evolved into both a tradition and an unconscious external display of purpose, emotion or message. Through history, it can be a form of wooing, entertainment, mourning, praying, healing, teaching or communication. These expressions evolved into a people's culture upon which their society was built (Jonas). Sklar (2001), on the other hand, lists five premises for a culturally sensitive approach to, and an appreciation of, dance. He lists them as a knowledge of movement as cultural in nature; as conceptual, emotional and kinesthetic; as embedded into other kinds of cultural knowledge; as requiring a discernment beyond physical movement; and always an immediate physical…

Blindness Aspergers

Equivalence, availability, and participation are taken for granted by people without special needs. People with special needs understand that working methods and utility help create vibrant participation in community life. Visual impairments and blindness create the need to interact with the world in completely different ways from sighted people. Likewise, a person with a developmental disorder like Asperger's also requires nuanced methods of interacting. These two conditions are prime examples of how environments and people can be adapted to suit all residents of a community, in order to foster social justice and equality.

Blindness can be congenital, meaning the individual has been blind since birth. Others lose their sight over time or suddenly as the result of an injury, illness, accident, or disease. Either way, visual impairment impacts the ability of the person to accommodate daily reality. A person who has been blind since birth has learned how…

African-American Literature:

A Comparison of Two Poems by Phillis heatley

In times of hardship, a community often finds a voice through which it can express its torment and its hopes. This can range from expressions of culture through storytelling to the incitement of a movement. The Black community, for instance, has always endured a unique hardship, especially in the United States. For this reason, it has adopted many kinds of means of expression. One of the earliest pioneers of the African-American 'voice' was Phillis heatley. Along with a few other early African-American authors, heatley helped establish the earliest Black print presence in the United States in a time reserved only for those privileged. This paper will analyze two heatley poems, both focusing on the death of Reverend George hitefield, in order to better understand heatley's role during this time in American history.

An Elegiac Poem and On the Death of…

Workers are employed in fisheries, mining, and defense industries while the farmers work in the agricultural collectives. Standards of living are defined by the family background as to the political and ideological heritage. The children of revolutionaries (those who died in the Korean War) are given special educational opportunities at an elite school called the Mangyndae Revolutionary Institute. However, the children and descendants of those who were in collaboration with the Japanese or the "exploiting class" are considered to be 'bad elements' in the society.

North Korea supports equality in aspect of the genders. The employment of women is expected and demanded by the South Korean government and those working with children under the age of four are expected to put the children in permanent nurseries if there is no family to take care of them while the mother works. However, the women are paid less than are men and…

Middle East comprises a diverse group of regions, countries, peoples, customs, and cultures. On the one hand, it is daunting to offer a semester-long course that treats all Middle Eastern issues with clarity and fairness. The risk of oversimplification, however, is outweighed by the risk of ignorance. This course will explore the Middle East with as much depth and breadth as possible, stimulating student thought on political, social, religious, historical, ethnographic, and economic issues related to the region. Included in the course rubric will be current events ranging from gender issues to terrorism. In between the heavier topics, lighter lessons on local customs, culture, music, and food will reveal the ordinariness of daily life in the part of the world we call the Middle East.

Islam will be covered from a multidisciplinary perspective, allowing for nuanced and rich class discussions about the unique interface between politics, religion, and social norms.…

Semiotics

Its product debut in Atlanta occurred the same year as the Statue of Liberty was erected in New York City. The Coca-Cola Company (2011) avers its achievement of material culture: "It was 1886, and in New York Harbor, workers were constructing the Statue of Liberty. Eight hundred miles away, another great American symbol was about to be unveiled." The first Coca-Cola sold for 5 cents per glass at the Jacobs' Pharmacy soda fountain: the primary means by which consumers encountered the soft drink during its early existence and years before it became the cultural icon that is not ironically compared with the Statue of Liberty. The original inventor of Coca-Cola has been nearly forgotten in the annals of cultural history. John Pemberton's name is not the household word, but the product he created has since taken on a life of its own. Coca-Cola has yielded books entitled, For God,…

Mass Culture in Postwar Japan: As Seen Through the Films, Tokyo Drifter and Ohayo

Post war Japan was flung into a mass market that was unlike any she had ever seen before. Old cultural ties and values were challenged and sometimes discarded. Everything from traditional gender roles and family standards to westernized dress and mass media. The challenges that people faced were enormous and included a generation gap that might have paralyzed the entire culture. The changing values associated with family, respect, love, work and many other factors required many adjustments, for both the generation that remembered a more traditional past and the one who recalled only war and technology. One possible way to interpret such cultural changes is through the relatively modern cultural art of film. The Japanese films Ohayo and Tokyo Drifter both embrace and challenge mass culture in different ways.

In a film review which, contextually analyzed…

Learning an L2 is important because it gives an individual an opportunity to not only learn the way in which a people communicate but also the chance to understand the culture of the community in which the immigrant lives. Language is the expression of culture and the avenue by which all people advance to social, academic and economic success. This paper discusses the meaning of learning a new language in cultural and socio-economic terms and why it is so imperative that people have the supports they need to acquire linguistic skills.

Culture, Identity, and Language: Uncovering Human and Social Capital

As Cok and Novak-Lukanovic (n.d.) point out, language is not just the way we use words to communicate -- it is an expression of the totality of our personhood: our culture, our experience, our identity and our awareness. When learners do not become proficient in their L2, they lack the…

Economic, Political, and Social History
African American culture arose out of the turmoil and despair of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. From West African port towns to plantations, African American culture is unique in that it was forged under the pressure of bondage. People with different cultures and languages formed new identities relative to their subordinate social, economic, and political status—their culture therefore being in part defined by the experience of oppression and the determination to overcome it. Bereft of social, political, or economic independence for centuries, African American culture nevertheless emerged as organically as any other, but flourished especially after emancipation.
Yet the economic history of African American culture cannot be divorced from the human capital model of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation laid the first foundation stones for African American economic, political, and social empowerment but Reconstruction failed to fulfill the objective of genuine liberation (DuBois, 1994). African Americans in…

These shows depict diverse expressions of sexuality and relationships within the gay and lesbian communities, but they also tend to overgeneralize. Bisexuality is hardly treated at all, because it does not fit into neatly defined categories like "gay" and "straight." Occasionally this theme is discussed in films and television, as with one episode of Six Feet Under.

Stereotypes can constrain real-life behavior as film and television offer visual cues for modeling. This is why it is important to feature more diverse characters and diversity of experiences. Not all black men are highly sexed, aggressive, and dominant in their sexuality, and not all black men abandon women as is sometimes suggested by the media. Likewise, not all Asian men are nerdy and asexual and not all Asian women are detached vixens.

When stereotypes do capture a general truth, they can be funny, which is why they are commonly used in the…

Most fundamentally, virtually everything associated with Hip-Hop culture as it pertains to males relates to the portrayal of masculinity and a high degree of self-esteem, a positive self-image, and to being a powerful person on every level. This is portrayed in numerous specific ways, including the lyrics of songs, the adoption of certain physical mannerisms, manner of dress, and to inferences of social and physical dominance of men, particularly toward women (Price, 2006).

In many respects, these images completely contradict reality. For example, Hip-Hop artists have frequently appeared on prominent cable television programs profiling their success through guided tours of multi-million-dollar mansions and expansive estates complete with several brand new Lamborghinis, Ferraris, olls oyce, and Bentleys in their driveways. Aside from the social irresponsibility of promoting ostentatious displays of luxury to impressionable youth, in many cases, the portrayals are themselves largely phony (Price, 2006).

That is simply because much more…

statistical data is important in any quantitative research, but even of more significance is if the statistics captured therein can be interpreted into meaningful information that can be absorbed and well understood by the targeted individuals. In the case presented, there are various ways that John and Jane could use to correctly interpret the statistics presented by the media and filter out the accurate number of the uninsured Americans. One of the ways to interpret the data they get from the media is presenting the data graphically. This involves use of bar chart and pie chart/diagram in an instance where the data being handled is nominal data as is the case here. Such graphic methods will allow John and Jane to carry out an easy visual assessment of the data presented by the media and see if the representation is real or could be skewed.

The other approach is the…

The extreme power of this new cultural tool is the very nature -- it depends on nothing but an electronic connection. it, like many things in the modern world, is instantaneous, satisfying the 21st century need to have both dependence and independence based on our own decision or whim. Therein lies the confusion for many -- just how real is an electronic friendship that can exist without really "knowing" the person physically? How robust are virtual relationships except in the mind of those participating? and, how do we know with whom we are actually chatting or forming a bond -- could the mother of three living in Scotland be something quite different on the Internet? and, specifically, what impact might these social networks from a psychological perspective? (Gross, 2004).

Besides community, technology has changed entertainment for teens. Violence in the entertainment genre is not something that is new to the…

(Absolute Astronomy).

[PHOTO HERE]

Here, we see the Mediascape landscape alongside many other of the success factors for design in real-world situations:

[MORE PHOTO HERE]

Compare that last to the landscape identified as Ethnoscapes here:

[APPLICABLE PHOTO HERE]

Here we find Ethnoscapes defined:

In the anthropology of globalization, the suffix "-scape" signifies transnational distributions of correlated elements whose display can be represented as landscapes. For example, transnational arrangements of technological, financial, media, and political resources can be seen, respectively, as technoscapes, financescapes, mediascapes, and ideoscapes (Appadurai 1996: 33). The prefix "ethno-" refers to "people" rather than stricly to "ethnicity."

Next up we have Financescapes. Through these next images the heart of this majestic capitalist nation: the financial market alongside the culture associated with financial markets:

[CAPITALIT PHOTO HERE]

Up next, of this Anthropology of Globalization, here we find Ethnoscapes, or the people (Greek, ethno-) + the transnational distribution of correlated…

Gaze and the Culturally Determined Body

Michel Foucault first developed his theory of the panopticon as a means of describing the ways in which a society may dominate the thought processes and behavior of the individual by "convincing" that individual to implicitly engage in their own surveillance, in the same way that a literal, brick-and-mortar panopticon relies on the self-regulation of prisoner behavior due to the fear of possible surveillance and punishment. In formulating this theory, Foucault uncovered important details regarding the way in the body is created, regulated, and sometimes even decimated by societal standards, something which Susan Bordo expands upon in her essay "Beauty (re)Discovers the Male Body." Bordo analyzes the way in which bodies (and in this case, male bodies) and the meanings gained from them are culturally determined, to the extent that the human body as it is commonly considered has almost nothing to do with…