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[blacktechne]

Nollywood Film Industry

As you would exspect, Nollywood, is the Nigerian version of America’s Hollywood. The Nollywood film industry began around 1992 and produces films for as little as 15 grand. Despite producing films with such a low budget, Nollywood is the third largest film industry. It follows right after Inida’s Bollywood and America’s Hollywood. It’s home is Lagos, Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest cities. Just as one of the speakers discussed, Nollywood is used as a platform to tell African stories. Before these films, there was an influx of films from other parts of the world such as China and Britian. However, since Nollywood has taken over, you no longer really see such types of films. This is mainly because, Africans want to see the African story. During the documentary, one thing that intrigued me, where that a lot fo the speakers refered to Nollywood being the voice of Africa. One woman in particular, had stated that many of the Nigerian actors and actresses are not very attracted to Hollywood. She made a point that these talented artist actually prefer to stay in the Nollywood sphere because Hollywood is “too-white.” I can say that I whole heartly agree with her. Although I am not Nigerian, I can tell from the documentary that the producors and consumers of Nollywood films are very proud of their work because it consist of people like them, and it tells THEIR story. It also made me think about the recent boycott of the Oscars awards. Since Nollywood consist of mainly, if not all, blacks/people of African decent, and paints a positive picture of blacks/African decent, then why are there not many African Americans participating in the Nollywood film industry? This is not to say that African Americans should just completely overtake the Nollywood film industry. However, I often times see in magazines and even social media of black actors and actresses complaining that Hollywood is basically being bias towards them because Hollywood is a white sphere. In my opinion, I say why continue to complain and boycott to an industry that, honestly does not respect, hardly employees, and have no interest in any other ethnicity except for white? Furthermore, even when African Americans are able to make it in Hollywood, they are unfortnately only most noted for stereotypical roles. Lupita was only known for playing a slave, Denzal Washington mostly played thug and crime roles, and even the first African American female to win a grammy recieved the award for playing a mammy! The list goes on and on. I really did not mean to make this an “African American” thing. But as I was watching the documentary and some of the comments the speakers were making about Nollywood and what it meant for them, it sparked an idea. Although, African Americans and Nigerians obvisouly have two totally different cultures, I feel as though Nollywood would do a better job at depicting a black/African person of decent than Hollywood. So again I ask you:

Should African Americans writers, actors, actresses, producors, etc. participate more in Nollywood film industry verses the Hollywood industry? Would it help them or would it have a negative impact due to cultural differences?

[blacktechne]

In my opinion I don’t think that will work out quit easy.  Like you said before Africans take pride in their film industry because most of the movies are based upon what most Africans (those that actually live in Africa) are faced with on a daily base.  In the documentary some of them also stated that acting was one of the major ways that people will use to get out of poverty, with that being said I don’t believe that Africans (born and rised) would fully support African- Americans in their industry.  So overall I do believe that the cultural difference and also the competition of actually getting the role will always clash.

[danielscovotti-blog]

Yeah I also agree with the idea that if more black actors were to leave the Hollywood industry, it would start to become more exclusively white.  I also wanted to add that some actors consider more to it then just taking pride in their culture.  I feel like some are there in especially the Hollywood industry for the fame, attention, money, cars, etc rather than the role that they play in a certain movie.  It is sad to think that but even up till today, the African American Community is still fighting to gain more recognition through the Hollywood Industry.  I don’t think it would be necessarily good for the Nigerians and the African Americans to clash cultures with one another through the Nollywood Industry due to cultural differences, a lot of competition, and just in general it not make alot of the African actors happy if all of these guys were to leave Hollywood and all jump into this industry. 

[blacktechne]

Africa Twitter and the hashtag system

After reading this paper, I realize African Twitter and social media shares many similarities with Black Twitter. Due to the fact that Africa is often technologically behind in the way of media like news or mobile devices that have the ability to alert individuals of news constantly, Africans use the hashtag system on social media to communicate events that are of importance or significance. In the paper they group the influential hashtags into five groups: “global media events; culture and everyday life; crisis intervention; governance; and protest movements”. The same can be said for Black Twitter.  For global media events we actually adopt hashtags from “Africa Twitter” such as #PrayforSudan, #BringBackOurGirls, #WorldCup or #PrayForNigeria, just to name a few. The Black American population often adopt what is going on in Africa because, at the end of day, we come together in solidarity to help our black brothers and sisters. We also utilize hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter or #JusticeForTrayvon. The next similarity that we share is culture and everyday life. The #GrowingUpAfrican hashtag was also circulating in America among African people that lived here. As someone who is African, I can personally say I have used many of the Africa Twitter Hashtags, for example #JollofWars or #NigerianJollofvsGhanaianJollof. These hashtags make this into mainstream media, which is the purpose of this. As for American culture and everyday life, Black Twitter uses things like #AskRachel or #GrowingUpBlack to unite the community. Africa Twitter also uses crisis intervention like the #BringBackOurGirls hashtags mentioned above or the #Ebola. Black twitter also uses these, along with ones of our own like #Zika or #SandraBland.  Both Africa twitter and black twitter also utilizes governance hashtags, as you can see throughout the current election. Even politicians use them to attract younger voters. Finally, like the Africa twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, Black twitter also uses things like “Justicefor[insert name], or #NoJusticeNoPeace. There are many similarities in the way both Africa Twitter and Black Twitter utilize social media to create a niche to get their message out there. Social media forces us to be confronted with the issues going on in other countries or amongst minorities, and Africa twitter is the perfect example of how a continent can force people to listen.

Are there any other ways that we use social media to mobilize and unite that have not been mentioned above? Or can there be a downside to this hashtag system?

-Lorraine Scott

[danielscovotti-blog]

There is definitely many other ways that we can use social media to bring together groups or communities that haven’t been mentioned above.  Besides using the hashtags to spread messages throughout African or Black Twitter, there are many other options outside of twitter where you can gain insight to the world and the issues that are evolving or currently going on.  Examples include sharing videos on Facebook or the many advertisements it now brings about on the network, Snapchat always giving us a couple of events that are going on live whose stories we are able to look at such as NHL Playoffs, Kobe Bryant’s Last Game, Party in Seville, and Music City: Nashville (All were there today on Snapchat.  Even Instagram allows individuals to access the photos of friends and celebrities from all around the world.  To me, the hashtags is only one of the many methods that certain individuals use to gain insight to the world and bring unity within communities.  All these different sources of social media tend to bring together the world sort of due to the easy ways of being able to know what is happening not just in your country, but also worldwide.    

[danielscovotti-blog]

Nokutela Mdima Dube and the Role of Women in Liberation Movements

I recently attended the meeting today that the film director, Cherif Keita, was at. During the time, Keita discussed about his film, “Remembering Nokutela” and in the film, Keita figures out pieces and bits of history about how the relatives of Nokutela and John Dube have had their experiences with both of them. I also learned how Nokutela and John Dube had traveled to the United States to raise funds for a school that they were trying to open up back in the Natal Province and for the African National Congress (who Dube was the president of). Even though the couple didn’t have any children, Keita obtains a lot of information from the grand nieces of Nokutela and their shared experiences they had with Nokutela in order for Keita to get pieces of information to shape up the history of Nokutela.

[blacktechne]

Black Twitter Sets the Stage

Over the years, the community coined “Black Twitter” has achieved notable fame throughout the existence of Twitter itself.  In the chapter, “From the Black Hand Side: Twitter as a Cultural Conversation”, Brock mentions that Black Twitter has an aspect of theatricality, which juxtaposes against what the ideal Twitter audience was accommodated for, “white geeks”. In the passage, it touches on how the community members of Black Twitter can be perceived as performing, with the use of semantics, punctuation and more to speak in the “coded language” of this subculture and as a result, spread our message.  Our capability of being unapologetically black in 140 characters or less, while sharing our voices has strengthened our cultural identity, one tweet at a time by forcing our issues onto center stage. So with the introduction of the hashtag, which is used to organize replies to a certain topic, it has provided Black Twitter with the director, script and audience for our performance. So with that, we have all the tools we need in order to exhibit our “blackness”.

One very interesting point in the passage was the recognition of white racial ideology and how that “makes racial formation an undeniable cornerstone of technology”. This also ties into W.E.B Dubois idea of double consciousness, where the article dissects one’s black identity being one aspect of consciousness and membership of the black community being the other. This idea plays into how we perform our blackness on other mediums outside of Twitter as well. For example, Tumblr, another social media site which has been utilized to spread innovative ideas and messages, much like the page we use for class. While we all share the commonality of being in a part of the same class, our identities differ, each having a different perspective on life. Like Black Twitter, we have formed a community by using similar hashtags to organize discussion that holds a variety of ideas and opinions. Personally speaking, mediums like Black Twitter and even Black Techne have given me a voice that I never thought I would have acquired, and with that, I am able to contribute to an ongoing conversation. All in all, Black Twitter has set a precedent for a successful online community, uniting people all around the world and giving them a voice, or in other words, a stage to perform on.  

Do you think all social media outlets can create this sense of community?

Also, do you think Twitter/Black Twitter has done a good job exhibiting “blackness”?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlT9dAE7oXA (If Black Twitter were a party)

-Olivia Carter

[danielscovotti-blog]

I do think social media outlets like Black Twitter and Black Techne in general can form these “online communities.”  By this, I mean that whether discussing between classmates or people from around the world, we are able to read about other people’s issues regarding race from all over the world and you have several people right there to give a voice or an opinion on how they feel about that certain issue.  This then leads to the point that online communities like Black Twitter do a good job exhibiting “blackness” since people are able to connect with one another and attempt to find solutions to all of the racial tensions that happen throughout this country and more so this world through just 140 characters.  In general, when you are able to express your voice and opinion to a community such as Black Twitter about what you have experienced and what you want to fix about certain issues without worrying about criticism.

[tretip01-blog]

65 of 80 homicides Black lives

With a whopping 14 homicides occurring in September, making the total, thus far, 80, Allegheny County is on its way to having a more deadly year than in 2014, which had 105. Looking back at …

In recent years the murder rate throughout Pittsburgh has increased by major numbers in the past 3 years. According to Pittsburgh Today “the murder rate for per 100,000 people was 22.4% and had reached a major increase in 2014 to a more frightening 53.4 %.” Numbers of 2015 are still being calculated, but most websites are saying the murder rate has once again increased in the city of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh News Courier states that “out of the 80 homicides calculated so far in the year 2015, 65 of the people have been black people, and 60 out of those 65 black people are men.” The city of Pittsburgh may not have a huge population of people, but the Pittsburgh Today claims that “the city of Pittsburgh is in the top ten for homicides within a city.” Death has seemed to loom over the city of Pittsburgh these past few years at petrifying rates.

Most people say that the homicides are due to street gangs, and the everlasting war on drugs. It is sad to hear that people are dying in the neighborhoods that I grew up in, and places that my family currently live. I talk to my cousins all the time about what Pittsburgh Public schools were like for me. To me it seemed as if it was the “cool thing to do” to go sale drugs, or be a part of a gang, it made life seem like the only way I could gain respect. Seeing what that type of lifestyle has done to my family, I could never let myself be part of that way of living.  I never quite understood why my friends were okay with living that type of lifestyle, but I guess that is something I will never understand. Some of my friends claimed that people kill for revenge, or what someone does to them. I lost my cousin in 2009 because he was a part of that life, but no part of me wanted to avenge his death by killing someone else. I guess the question that is imprinted in my mind is what can we do as communities to make the murder rate in Pittsburgh decline?

~ Tre Tipton

Extra link:

http://www.pittsburghtoday.org/view_MurderMSA.html

[danielscovotti-blog]

Tre, I do agree that the homicide rate increase in the city of Pittsburgh itself has become a major problem and the question of how to tone down these rates year by year.  I read a New York Times article (I’ll put the link to it below) that throws in all of the factors of how murder rates are increasing in alot of major cities.  To me, it’s crazy to think that someone can go into this “deadly” mind of killing somebody over anything ranging from something mild (like a simple argument over politics or an argument over social media) to something significant (such as the loss of a loved one).  It’s just crazy to think that we can all take things different ways, but some people take it to a whole different level and think violence is the only way to solve the issue when there are clearly many different paths that you can also to take that are much better choices.  All I can say really is do we just keep adding more police control and more advertising of psychologists to speak to about your problems before you go out and commit a mass shooting?  What if they don’t feel the need to speak to a psychologist when they really do or they hide their ideas about wanting to see a psychologist?   

-Daniel Scovotti 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/us/murder-rates-rising-sharply-in-many-us-cities.html?_r=0

[blacktechne]

Midterm Audio Essay by Daniel Scovotti

Songs Used (In Order):

1. Amazing (Instrumental) - Kanye West

2. Love Yourz (Instrumental) - J. Cole

3. Viva La VIda (Instrumental) - Coldplay

Effects Used:

- Fade in, Fade Out, Amplify and Invert

Bibliography:

- Hall, Stuart. “The Work of Representation.” Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (1997): 179-214. The Open University. Web. 29 Feb. 2016. <http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic500286.files/Representation_by_Hall_Pt1.pdf> 

- Introduction: A War of Images. Janette L Dates and William Barlow: 1-22.  Web. 29 Feb. 2016

-  Squires, Catherine R. “Chapter 5: Mainstream Cinema and African Americans, 1900-1940s.” African Americans and the Media. Cambridge: Polity, 2009. 1-301. Print.

-Daniel Scovotti

[danielscovotti-blog]

The Audio describes how being able to access what is going in the world has impacted race issues on social media 

-Daniel Scovotti 

[auhhduhh-blog]

The Great Black Migration is a huge gap in american history. This migration had a massive impact and effect on just about everyone lives back then, not just black people. It had an influence on about every aspect from the music people listened to, to politics. This great black migration even had an impact on the south, because they were losing a lot of their workforce due to this movement north. So both the north and south had to change a lot of things. Radio had tremendous impact on the the great migration. Radio gave African American hope. Radio had made black people from the south dream of going north and possibly making it. People like Jack Cooper was a model for blacks. He became the first black radio host ever. He not only played music on the radio, but he actually talked about black lives and black issues; which later inspired the black press to do the same when given the opportunity. Different races of all kinds especially blacks loved to listen to jazz. As a person of color you heard people like Duke Ellington, Earl “fatha” Hines, Cab Calloway and etc, on the radio and wanted to be where they were; even thought maybe you could make it like them. Before the Great Black Migration about 90 percent of blacks lived in the south, after about more than 50 percent moved north. This mad a lot of the whites mad because the blacks were now looking and trying to take their some of the jobs they were able to get. Do you think the reason blacks were not allowed on the radio was because some whites were intimidated by the uprise in the community?  

~Rimoni Dorsey

[danielscovotti-blog]

Yes, I think it does come from the white community being intimidated by the up rise in the Black Community in the North.  Besides the radio, the white community was overwhelmed by how many African Americans migrated to the North in a short amount of time that had also affected how the Whites viewed the changes in the industry, labor unions, housing in the major cities, etc.  From this feeling of the white community being overwhelmed from this great migration, I believe that this was one of the main reasons that a significant time period such as the Harlem Renaissance especially had developed.  During this time period in the 1920′s, it gave African Americans a huge opportunity to represent themselves and to give their culture a new and better identity than how the White Community would generally label them through major interests such as music, radio, politics, fashion, education and many other areas.

-Daniel Scovotti

[blacktechne]

The Oppositional Gaze

Black women have always written little about black female spectatorship towards Hollywood.  Most were aware of the cinematic racism and they never went to the movies expecting to see compelling representations of black femaleness.  Screen images referred to black women as “bitches” or “nags” in the television show Amos ‘n’ Andy, which most black women resented the way that these images could assault black womanhood, the white representation of blackness were laughed at and at the same time being criticized by blacks. Those who enjoyed cinema had to forget critique, racism and even sexism, in the name of an ‘adoring black female gaze… that could bring pleasure in the midst of negation.  For example, Miss Pauline, sitting in the dark must imagine herself transformed, turned in the white women portrayed on screen.  After watching the movies, feeling the pleasure, she said, “But it made coming home hard.”

On the other hand most developed an oppositional gaze, encouraging black women not to accept stereotypical representations in film, but rather actively critique them.  In addition to spectatorship, this article critiques Hollywood’s portrayal of black women and criticizes the lack of more substantial role opportunities.  Black women assumed that white women were also aware of the role of white womanhood.  Mulvey’s essay shows how white women had a particular problem in developing an oppositional gaze arising from their love of cinema whereas black women had already chosen not to be identifying with Hollywood films. This black oppositional gaze offers a critical space to replace the binary oppositions of Mulvey, and a new pleasure too –'the pleasure of resistance, of saying “no”: not to “unsophisticated” enjoyment… but to the structures of power which asks us to consume them uncritically’

At the beginning of the chapter they spoked upon how a “gaze” played a major part in blacks culture identity.  Whites used “gaze” as a way to maintain power over African Americans.  The attempt to repress black people rights to gaze has only produced an overwhelming longing to look.  Through “looking at films with an oppositional gaze, Hooks asserts that those voices that are silenced can develop a realm in which critical judgments and assessments can be made.  This condition does not punish gazing, but rather praises it as an essential element in being able to transform what is into what can and should be.

-Racquel Williams

[danielscovotti-blog]

What really stood out to me in the article was when it talked about the distinctions between black males and female spectators while both distinctions led pathways towards representing white supremacy.  Yes, when both genders had spectated early cinema, the women to be shown on film were dominantly white.  However, the ability for black males to be able to “gaze” at the woman on screen was seen as sort of an escape from reality (because of the punishments they would receive while “gazing” at white woman) while for woman they “developed looking relations within a cinematic context that constructs their presence as absence.”  

This part of the article definitely caught my eye due to the fact that the art of cinema was just another thing on the list of in causing racial tensions between Whites and Blacks.  The fact that the Black race was mostly able to connect with themselves to the films in a negative way, have an “oppositional gaze” compared to whites or even try to look past all of the issues generated in cinema had caused a lot of pain within the race which shouldn’t shape up what cinema really is (especially from early cinema)

-Daniel Scovotti

[blacktechne]

The Oppositional Gaze

Black women have always written little about black female spectatorship towards Hollywood.  Most were aware of the cinematic racism and they never went to the movies expecting to see compelling representations of black femaleness.  Screen images referred to black women as “bitches” or “nags” in the television show Amos ‘n’ Andy, which most black women resented the way that these images could assault black womanhood, the white representation of blackness were laughed at and at the same time being criticized by blacks. Those who enjoyed cinema had to forget critique, racism and even sexism, in the name of an ‘adoring black female gaze… that could bring pleasure in the midst of negation.  For example, Miss Pauline, sitting in the dark must imagine herself transformed, turned in the white women portrayed on screen.  After watching the movies, feeling the pleasure, she said, “But it made coming home hard.”

On the other hand most developed an oppositional gaze, encouraging black women not to accept stereotypical representations in film, but rather actively critique them.  In addition to spectatorship, this article critiques Hollywood’s portrayal of black women and criticizes the lack of more substantial role opportunities.  Black women assumed that white women were also aware of the role of white womanhood.  Mulvey’s essay shows how white women had a particular problem in developing an oppositional gaze arising from their love of cinema whereas black women had already chosen not to be identifying with Hollywood films. This black oppositional gaze offers a critical space to replace the binary oppositions of Mulvey, and a new pleasure too –'the pleasure of resistance, of saying “no”: not to “unsophisticated” enjoyment… but to the structures of power which asks us to consume them uncritically’

At the beginning of the chapter they spoked upon how a “gaze” played a major part in blacks culture identity.  Whites used “gaze” as a way to maintain power over African Americans.  The attempt to repress black people rights to gaze has only produced an overwhelming longing to look.  Through “looking at films with an oppositional gaze, Hooks asserts that those voices that are silenced can develop a realm in which critical judgments and assessments can be made.  This condition does not punish gazing, but rather praises it as an essential element in being able to transform what is into what can and should be.

-Racquel Williams

[olivebranch23-blog]

I agree that for too long, blacks were stripped the ability to look for so long, that when we finally were given that power, we did not/could not utilize it to its fullest capacity. So in turn, as Bell Hooks put it, we were oppressing ourselves just at the white people did. It shows how we must work to once again acknowledge the power that not only gazing holds but also black women hold as well.

[danielscovotti-blog]

What really stood out to me in the article was when it talked about the distinctions between black males and female spectators while both distinctions led pathways towards representing white supremacy.  Yes, when both genders had spectated early cinema, the women to be shown on film were dominantly white.  However, the ability for black males to be able to “gaze” at the woman on screen was seen as sort of an escape from reality (because of the punishments they would receive while “gazing” at white woman) while for woman they “developed looking relations within a cinematic context that constructs their presence as absence.”  

This part of the article definitely caught my eye due to the fact that the art of cinema was just another thing on the list of in causing racial tensions between Whites and Blacks.  The fact that the Black race was mostly able to connect with themselves to the films in a negative way, have an “oppositional gaze” compared to whites or even try to look past all of the issues generated in cinema had caused a lot of pain within the race which shouldn’t shape up what cinema really is (especially from early cinema).  

[blacktechne]

Weekend Update- Updated or Overplayed?

In Squires chapters 5-7 we learn that throughout the 1930s and the 1940s, prejudicial casting practices were used to send messages that reinforced racist ideology in films. Blaxploitation films began in the early 1970s; these action films starred black actors and focused on their adventures in the ghetto. Buddy films paired white and black main characters, and largely relied on racial differences to create a dynamic. 

Much of the media depicting African Americans throughout the 20th century was created as the result of pressure from organizations and legal threats or an attempt to expand revenue. These films, and the media that came before them, had no intention to and largely failed to represent African Americans. Today there are new, cheaper ways of producing content and African American filmmakers are no longer limited to creating solely based off of audience appeal. Squires noted an interesting dichotomy. Although media being produced by black creators has been made more easily accessible as the result of Netflix and the Internet, many of these productions tend to rely on urban stereotypes and largely exclude black women.

I think it is important to recognize and discuss the types of films that were being produced, why they were being produced, and acknowledge that there are examples of these themes still in our media today. Let us take for example the buddy film, which often depicted a leading white male and his black male sidekick. The buddy dynamic still exists today; on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live. Co-hosts of the Weekend Update Michael Che (black) and Colin Jost (white) often rely on their racial differences for much of their material. I’ve linked to a few of their bits relating to race below.

Weekend Update Burger King: https://twitter.com/jdavhill/status/650529174562689024 Jost: “Oh sure, but when I turn black for Halloween I’m setting back race relations.” Che: “I begged you not to do that.”

Weekend Update What You Can Say http://www.hulu.com/watch/695308 Jost: I just feel like I can’t say anything, and you can say everything. Che: There’s things I can’t say, like, “Toodeloo,” or, “Skinny macchiato.” Or, “Thank you for your help, officer.”

Weekend Update Gun Control: http://www.hulu.com/watch/855653 Che: “Which, by the way, if I owned a dozen or so jacked Africans I’d probably want a dozen or so guns too.” *Camera cuts to Jost* Jost: “It’s not supposed to cut to me…” Che: “Oh it is, I told them to do that.”

The segment continues to reveal that while Jost assumes Che doesn’t have a gun, he slips in that he in fact does because he “owns a lot of sneakers”.

In your opinion, are the jokes in these bits problematic? Why were these types of films being produced then? Why are they being produced now? Is it troublesome that our media continues to rely on these themes, or is it just part of the trade?

Since African American creators now have more artistic freedom to produce media, has there been an increase in media that is representative? Is this media making its way into the mainstream?

Jess McDade

[danielscovotti-blog]

I do agree a lot with what Daria said in that these issues with the African American Community that have happened in the past are used in attempt to pull off some jokes here and there on film.  I really do think it has developed a problem that while some people take time to reflect on the jokes that the people on TV throw to the audience, there’s plenty of people out there that only just catch the humor aspect of it and don’t actually jump to the other side of things.  From my opinion, I believe there’s plenty of other roads that entertainers can take to go around the racist issues (that I guess they seem to pull off as a joke) that would be able to entertain and make an audience laugh which is what it should be more focused towards.     

-Daniel Scovotti 

[danielscovotti-blog]

Visit Original Link

Group 3 Question 

[blacktechne]

This article talked about representation of material and non-material things with the use of language. It was really interesting to read because thinking about how people have such complex communicating skills is amazing. We are able to communicate things that are unseen and unheard. I am able to communicate with everyone that I am on the bus going to school and as you read that statement you know exactly what I mean and you are able to visualize me sitting on a bus. Our brains are able to break this statement down to who I am, what a bus is, and what school is. This is extremely amazing because you cannot see me, the bus, or the school but you know exactly what I mean when I say it. When you read that statement and other statements you are deciphering words that people have created to represent material and non-material things. This to me is amazing because being able to communicate complex feelings and thoughts is something that enables us to ultimately connect with other people. We have all had those deep conversations were two or more people explain their thoughts and feelings about nearly everything in life. These conversations make us feel connected to the person we are talking to and it makes us feel a connection with the world. So this feeling of being connected is something that is achieved by simple sounds and symbols that we have created in order to express complex feelings and thoughts. Have you ever been frustrated because there are things you want to say and thoughts that you want to express but just don’t know how? I think that this frustration is mainly because in our society we are able to explain and express nearly everything we think, feel, or see. So when we are finally at the point where we cannot express something it is hard for us to process that reality. Overall this article was really informative and really fun to read.

- Caitlin McIntyre

[blacktechne]

THANK You Caitlin, Please in the future include a title, maybe some links, or an image or multimedia. Carina and Aisha’s posts from las week were good examples. Please comment and reblog as yourself.

[danielscovotti-blog]

I do agree with Caitlin’s post especially when she talks about being able to connect with people especially your friends through how we conceptualize our thoughts and feelings towards one another.  I also wanted to add to that point of being able to “connect with the world” that the idea of sharing “conceptual maps” also plays a huge role in how we are able to communicate with one another and to the world in general.  To me, it’s amazing that though all of us have our own opinions on certain topics or concepts, there is still plenty of room in our “concept map” where we can link to one another through similar interests, thoughts and feelings.  Going back to Caitlin’s point, I think that it’s important that as we break down each of the words that an individual says to us and picture it (Such as the school bus and school), it helps us to get a better understanding of one another and being able to point out how there can be certain ideas that we all conceptualize in our head differently from one another.    

-Daniel Scovotti 

#blackmediastudies

[blacktechne]

Visit Original Link

In this week’s reading authors Jannette Dates and William Barlow discuss the creation and evolution of the image of black people from both a pop culture and media stand point. In order to express the importance of discussing this topic Dates and Barlow open with a famous quote by W.E.B DuBois within this quote DuBois introduces the concept of a double consciousness which refers to having more than one social identity. These various identities that exist together and form one person often form a complex internal relationship making it difficult for an individual to develop a healthy sense of self. As Du Bois put it

“The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born _with a veil, and gifted with second sight in this American world, a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the old selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his negro soul in a flood of white Americanism for he knows that his blood has a message for the world He simply wishes to make it possible for man to be both an American and an negro without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face.”

In this excerpt DuBois’s words highlight a view key points

In addition to introducing the concept of double consciousness he outlines the extent to which the intersectionality of social identities causes strife within the individual and for those attempting to make sense of that person’s position in the world. His words also convey the sense that DuBois not only believed in more pluralistic societies, but that he also highly valued the role social differences can play in creating a better world. Or as renowned writer and Activist Audre Lorde would have put it he realizes difference should be used as a spring board for creative change. After framing the importance of any discussion on the image of black people Dates and Barlow take the reader through a short history crash course of the depiction of black people beginning with stereotypes such as the contended slave, the wretched freedman, and the brute Negro. The creation of such negative images of course incited black Americans to begin to create their own self depicting images thus creating a war of images. One interesting point expressed by the authors was how this war on images acts as a reflection of the relationship between media and society and the bourgeois of society vs the proletariat. While on the surface the war may be over images, which is an important war, if we dig slightly deeper it is a war of hegemony and the weapon of those in power is racist ideology transmitted through inaccurate depictions of Black Americans. In order to fight the expansion of this power that sought to mark them as permanently inferior blacks had to begin constructing counter images and ideology that speaks to who they really are. The struggle to completely replace these stereotypical images and racist ideology still continues on today. I have exceeded my word limit, but below are links to things I found relevant to the reading.

Links:

We Wear The Mask by Paul Lawrence Dunbar

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173467

Nigerian Cartoon

http://blavity.com/27006-2/

Controversial Children’s Book

http://blavity.com/28568-2/

Soundcloud clip of audio

https://soundcloud.com/yung-panda-hughes/war-of-images

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[danielscovotti-blog]

After reading the War of Images by Jannette Davis and William Barlow, what I got out of this text is that the Civil War had played a huge contribution to the culture and stereotypes of African Americans.  As stated earlier in the text, W.E.B Dubois brings out the idea of African Americans having “more than one identity” to them.

After the Civil War had ended, slavery was still a debatable topic. Southern writers had developed different types of literature portraying their heroic values prior to the Civil War and their pride for the Confederacy.  Even African American writers like William Still had written stories issued towards slavery and Charles Chestnutt who is seen as the Father of “black dialect and parody.”  

In general, I do concur with the post, however, I do believe that the Civil War itself played a role in W.E.B Dubois’ perspective on African Americans “merging  his double self into a better and truer self.”  Even up to today, cultural images towards African Americans branch off from their history even from hundreds of years ago, especially the issue of slavery.  

#blackmediastudies