2/4/10 Class Summary

In class we divided into 4 groups to discuss and summarize the readings from Media and Cultural Studies:

Barthes ("Margarine" and "Myth Today"): Barthes uses margarine as an example of how recognizing an object's faults shields it from criticism. HE contends that myth takes the history out of an object--no more concern for how it was obtained, prepared, set out, etc.--if the object is overanalyzed.

McLuhan ("The Medium is the Message"): McLuhan defines media as any extension of ourselves: "The medium shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action." He uses the examples of the light bulb (which signifies the ability to work day and night) and the television (which offers faster information both visually and aurally).

Debord ("The Commodity as Spectacle"): Debord says that everything man produces is a spectacle. Because spectacle becomes commodity through the dominant class, it also becomes commodity in its production.

Dorfman & Mattelart ("Disneyland Club"): This article expands on Debord's concept of spectacle as commodity. The authros say that adults create commodity from spectacle by creating literature and inputting their own ideas of childhood in the text, thereby creating embedded ideas within the culture that are perpetuated generation after generation.

Williams ("Base and Superstructure in Marxist..."): Williams defines base (or process) as the social interactions between people. Superstructure (or product) organizes the ideas coming out of the base. While the two cannot be separated (process and product), the base is the more important concept. Hegemony determines how processes become ebedded in everyday lives. The dominant culture struggles with emerging and residual cultures, resulting in new cultures.

Hebdige ("Culture and Subculture"): Hebdige makes two distinct points: everyday life is culturea nd subcultures exist within every culture. There is a push/pull cycle between dominant cultures and subcultures; the subculture eventually becomes dominant and then changes again.

Hall ("Encoding and Decoding"): Hall discusses how people's histories and influences affect the way they encode and decode messages. Some audiences may decode the message in the way the producer intended (creating a cyclical relationship between audience and producer) while others react in opposition to the encoding (there are multiple types of oppositional reactions).

Ang ("On the Politics of Empirical Audience Research"): Ang says that Hall's ideas are not accurate because people aren't so black-and-white. Ang recognizes and argues the existence of the gray area. There is no point to encoding because there are too many layers to everyone's experiences and influences to be able to discover the way any single person will decode a message.

After these discussions, Patrick gave us three handouts explaining changes and developments in material and cultural theory, encouraging us to read and understand these as we figure out our own project. We also discussed the concept of media by identifying forms of media within our surroundings.

We also discussed the Lubar/Kingery readings. Each of these had the concept of contextualization in common. Put gardens in the context of what came before and after as well as what is happening between the social classes. Look at what is happening outside of the "social and physical vacuum" in which gardens exist.

2/11/2010 questions

Questions inspired from the Media Culture book (more theoretical based from someone who isn't that into theory):

1. Herman and Chomsky in "A Proganda Model" note that print-based media companies crossed over into television in the 1980s. Pierre Bourdieu notes in "On Television" that print-based media companies are now victim to television and now the internet and must continually make decisions about whether they will continue to exist or if they too will roll with the tide of change. Does the move to from print culture to television make print culture turn to sensationalism? Why has television and print culture both rejected opinionated, politicized news? Is is because of fear of libel/slander law suits a contributing factor as Herman/Chomsky suggest?

2. Bourdieu has a bone to pick with sensationalized news. If we apply his issues with that type of news to how "the mass media are interested in attracting audiences with buying power (p 268, "A Propaganda Model"), how are commercials sensationalized to gain consumers' money? Is advertising only for commodified products or fear factor in election cycles? What would YOU advertise and how instead?

Response to Leslie Miller's "The Many Figures of Eve" essay:

First, I'll start with a couple questions.

1. In examining the methodology of this essay, Miller seems to privilege the leisure class in this essay because of the use of satin in the corset's construction. To what extent are her findings appropriate for wealthy women? What sources might she have used to understand other women in relationship to corsetry?

2. As this essay started with a specific corset tied to a specific person (pun intended, though not necessarily going to make you roll on the floor laughing), why does the author tell us nothing further about the OWNER of the corset? Consider the possibilities of the U.S. census of 1900 and 1910 (corsetry leaves the dominant culture in the aftermath of the first World War), local censuses, etc.

Secondly, I had MANY issues with her conclusions (I will not enact a pretense of objectivity unlike mass media). Several times in the essay she uses dress reformers (an emergent culture which started in the 1840s but did not become a part of dominant culture until after both the Victorian period [1837-1901] and Edwardian era [1901-1910] had passed, see page 135-6 for example). She states that women could not bend at the waist, deeply breathe, or sit anywhere except on the edge of chairs.

In considering historical problems, one way to form one is examining the discrepancies between arguments of others and primary source evidence. I contend another way is to reconstruct through living history (where one attempts to educate self and others to the ways of the past). Therefore, having never worn a corset, but enjoying the study of mid-19th century America so much as to participate in living history with lots of people who do wear corsets, I find this statement of immense restrictive mobility to not add up. Furthermore, I'm not sure I can answer my own question #1 (in regards to Miller's article). Miller points to husbands and servants helping women into corsets but also admits that women could place themselves within them alone. I can assure you that women of across society (races, places, classes) wore corsets and were active within them.

Can't move? Note the (staged) but still active movement: Young women cutting and fitting clothing in class at Agricultural and Mechanical College, Greensboro, N.C.

http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c10000/3c18000/3c18900/3c18917v.jpg

Across races: African American family standing in a yard in Georgia. http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c20000/3c24000/3c24800/3c24820v.jpg

Across races and completely in chair: Nursing student wearing a starched white uniform, seated in a rocking chair, reading http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c20000/3c24000/3c24800/3c24811v.jpg

Cooking in 1860s corsets: Two of my friends are shown here by another friend (and daughter of one of the women) cooking (see Dec. 7, '09 entry) http://blog.historicalfashions.com/search?updated-max=2010-01-07T23%3A34%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=10

Cutting hay in 1860s corsets: http://agsas1861-65.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=3420419&IID=117024448&Page=1 and http://agsas1861-65.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=3420419&IID=117025412&Page=1

Miller contends (from only one source) that corsets were frequently used to terminate pregnancies. This is difficult to prove one way or the other because few nineteenth century women wrapped up in the cult of domesticity would admit to purposefully terminating a pregnancy. Greater information however points to the importance of the corset DURING the pregnancy and in the timeframe after the birth of a child. In the period there were gestational and nursing corsets which were not as restrictive as the one shown in this essay. See some images here http://corsetra.livejournal.com/20947.html

Ok I think I've said enough.

2/4/2010 questions

Discussion Questions for History From Things (94-139)

-What can copies or imitations of work tell us? What does this emphasize about the theories?

-Bridgeman, Kent, and Brown didn't find it necessary to write down their theories behind their designs - Do you think this is because they wanted people to only study the object?

-What were the influences behind the variation between the garden plans and the garden in its finished state?

-If we analyze Greensboro, or only UNCG campus, the way Pierce Lewis analyzed Bellefonte, PN what can we determine?

reading assignments for 11feb10

i encourage everyone to take a glance at ALL the readings, as you will learn the most from that. however, the rubric below represents what you should really focus on if you run short of time.

DURHAM/KELLNER
everyone reads intro...pp. 197-200
erin/michelle/claire/melanie...pp. 201-229, 295-310
micah/serena/kaytee/sarah...pp. 230-256, 311-327
emanuel/sam/suzanne/annie...pp. 257-294. 328-336

LUBAR/KINGERY
everyone reads....pp. 197-214; 231-241

PROWN/HALTMAN
erin/michelle/claire/melanie...pp. 29-46
micah/serena/kaytee/sarah...pp. 47-70
emanuel/sam/suzanne/annie...pp. 129-148

OUR QUESTION POSTERS FOR THE WEEK
emanuel/sam/suzanne/annie...post on what you've read...we'll catch the other readings in class, in terms of questions...

Discussion Questions for 2/4/10

Each of the following is from Media and Cultural Studies:
Marshall McLuhan says, "literate man is quite inclined to see others who cannot conform as somewhat pathetic...in a culture that assignes roles instead of jobs to people--the dwarf, the skew, the child create their own spaces." How does McLuhan's definition and assessment of "culture" coincide with that of Dirk Hedbige's?\
What roles does the bourgeoisie play in creating cultural and social myths, roles, and norms? (see Roland Barthes and Dirk Hebdige)
How do Stuart Hall and Ien Ang approach the issue of television's intended message (encoding) versus the viewer's interpreted message (decoding)?47
What effect does "the spectacle" have on society? (see Guy Debord)

Feb 4 HIS-552

In What way does Debord argue that consumers of the spectacle are seperated from the process of production of every day life?(The commodity asw Spectacle, Guy Debord)

In what ways to Disney character and comics integrate children into existing cultures and cultural roles? (How to become a general in the Disney Club, Ariel Dorfman and Armond Mattelart)

Given several definitions and explanations of culture, What elements cause subcultures to break from mainstream culture? What can cause a subculture to be brought back into the folds of mainstream culture? (Subculture, The meaning of Style, Dick Hedbige)

1/28 Recap Overview

The collection of essays we discussed this week all dealt with the use of objects to acquire a greater knowledge of not only the past, but the present, and possible the future.



Class began with an overview of the beginning of the material culture world. In the 1960s, historians and those from the English/literature community realized that objects could be used to create a more diverse and complete examination of their disciplines.



Objects themselves speak multitudes

Objects with documentary evidence help fill in the gaps

Objects when there is no documentary evidence can reveal new ideas and information



Knowing your sources is critical in placing objects in context. We examined the two books we read for class: American Artifacts and History from Things as objects. Color, text, photographs, placement, etc. are all important in understanding what the object is trying to say. What is its purpose, why is it here?



Haltman and Prown's American Artifacts defines material culture and lays out steps to the Prownian Analysis of objects:



description --> deduction--> speculation--> research--> interpretive analysis



Everyone in the class was given the same image. We were asked to write a description of what we saw. This is the first, very basic step in Prownian analysis: write down what you see, not what you think you see. A classmate explained that she wrote her description as if she was explaining it to a blind person. As easy as that sounds, the task proved difficult. The image was jam packed full of detail and individual scenes that created one. The hardest part was probably figuring out where to start. Once that decision was made, the next difficulty, for me, was to keep my own outside inference and analysis into what the scence represents. That is another step...



After we finished we traded descriptions with another person in the class who is in a different field than our own. I am a historian, so I partnered up with a classmate from the IAR department. We decided that if we put our two descriptions together, it would form a pretty thorough example.

This exemplifies the idea that two heads are better than one, especially when those heads

are accostomed to different thinkings!



We took time out of the rest of class to discuss the readings found in History from Things. These essays dealt with more specific ideas in the material culture world. Topics included why we need objects, different ways to look at objects (instruments, signs), materials used to make objects, importance of history of evolution of objects, importance of objects in understanding technology and changes.



Our discussions raised awareness of how important material culture is to broaden our knowledge of the world, and just how different that world is.