STUDENT BLOGGERS UNITE!

I'm going to encourage all students who are interested in digital and cyber space as a palette/platform to do your research project to develop that interest!

I have some background in that work as well, and would be happy to give you some help there.

For now, I'm going to begin showcasing student work. Today, I am showcasing this blog. I am also starting a new link section on the right margin. You will see student bloggers's sites there, for easier access.

Thanks!
Margo Tamez

GENDER, POWER & MEDIA OWNERSHIP/CONTROL

(Source: "Tongue In Chic" http://www.tonguechic.com/articles/2356-Nike-RED-Lace-Up-Save-Lives-AIDS-Awareness-Campaign


In the last sections, ("Gender and the Rise of the Modern State"; "Communities and Nations"; "Feminist Organizing Across Borders"; and "Ways of Seeing" there has been a great deal of emphasis on some of the underlying connections between the state, governmentality, privileged elites and social control.

Grewal and Kaplan provide you with a framework intended to strengthen your 'seeing' skills. For instance, in the article, "Making Things Mean: Cultural Representation in Objects," Catherin King gives us two ways to understand her own meaning: "Making Things Mean" (i.e. to asign meaning to certain visual representation, ideas, signs) and how certain privileged groups 'make things mean' (i.e. hurtful, oppressive, damaging, destructive) explicitly.

In "World Media" William Wresch draws your attention to quantitative and qualitative data and 'data making' informed by the political, economic and social agendas of states, nation-states, and the corporations which govern global markets. He makes specific ties between so-called "third world" nations/spaces and "first world" wealth and histories of colonialism/predator-ship by European and North American nation-states.

He raises the keyword of "cultural imperialism" and social control on a global scale.

Cynthia Enloe, in "On the Beach" calls upon you to critically engage in de-mystifying the connections between militarism, militarization, capitalism, colonialism, sexism and tourism--on a global scale, and she particularly challenges you to examine the difficult relationships between U.S. consumerism, global wars fought for resources, and sexual and gendered violence in colonial contexts.

Here are a few visuals to help you grapple with the role of corporate media and corporate social control, factors which are critical elements to any analysis of visual culture, power and gender.




(Source: www.webtvwire.com)



(Source: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4072772.stm)


(Source: www.alternativenews.net)

ANNOUNCEMENTS & PLANS FOR FRIDAY, JAN 22, 2010

Tomorrow, FRIDAY, JAN 22, 2010, I will quickly show the 10minute film, 'F Word'.

Thereafter, I plan to provide you with a structured space to accomplish three things in small groups, with large group report-outs.

1. I will have you do an 'ice-breaker' exercise. We will spend about 15 minutes introducing one aspect of our first journal reading response (which I will return to you).

2. You will review primary documents which I will provide to your group and think collaboratively about issues of gender and power, and answer questions as individuals and as a group.


3. I will also introduce a primary source (from one of my current projects) and ask you to contemplate the uses of science, technology, politics, race, gender and media in the production of a postcard image.

For now, I am re-scheduling some activities on the syllabus, due to a time re-arrangement that the Librarian had to make with me due to her recent illness. I am currently scheduling two mandatory library experiences for you. The first will take place next Friday.

So, yes, I am going to re-schedule the film: "Race: Power of an Illusion" for a different day next week, in order to provide you the full class period next Friday to be spent with the Library staff.

Please update your syllabus and calendars accordingly.


--M. Tamez

POP QUIZ: LIBRARY SKILLS ASSESSMENT

All:

As promised, I am giving you a 'quiz' which helps me to assess your library research skills.

CAN YOU FIND THIS JOURNAL ARTICLE USING WSU LIBRARY TOOLS?

Instructions:

1. Click on this link to see this book review: Kellogg, Susan.
Women in Ancient America, and: The Women of Colonial Latin America (review).

2. Keep this window open to help you search using the details provided.

3. Open another window. Copy and paste this link into your browser: http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/.

4. Locate this article in its pdf form through the WSU library system.

5. When you find the article, save a copy of it to your desktop, or copy it to your "My Documents" folder, or email it to yourself, or save it to your personal disk/jump drive.

6. Bring a copy of it to class on Friday or Monday (latest).

7. On a separate sheet of paper, write down the steps that you took to find the journal article.

8. IF YOU CANNOT FIND IT, SEEK HELP FROM ONE OF THE REFERENCE LIBRARIANS! They will help you walk through the process. This is a trial and error process. Keep moving forward, don't stop.

Film Response Form: To support your critical thinking and writing

(This is also linked on the sidebar: 'Documents you need'

200-300_FilmResponseForm

CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS IN WASHINGTON STATE: ORAL HISTORIES, PAPERS & DOCUMENTS

The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project is an EXCELLENT website for examining the contexts, texts, and legal sources from impacted communities, community activists, and the historical record on issues related to CIVIL RIGHTS (as opposed to constitutionalist rights=privileges based upon ideologies of race, class, gender, sexuality, religious preferences, and geographical continents of origin). Here you will find oral histories, original key documents, papers, and much more. For example, see Dorothy Hollingsworth, a social worker. Notice that she brought forth aspects of the anti-hunger campaigns of the Black Panthers, that the U.S. government appropriated as the Head Start Program. When we trace the history of that program, we are guided to the Black Panthers, migrant workers, and Indigenous peoples who are the originators of the U.S.' first urban anti-hunger brigades.

WASHINGTON STATE'S KKK WOMEN: GENDER & POWER

KKK gathering at the Crystal Pool in downtown Seattle, March 23, 1923. Photo: Washington State Historical Society

Ku Klux Klan Gathering at the Crystal Pool (2nd and Lenora) in Downtown Seattle, WA. March 23, 1923. Photo courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society. Copyright (c) reserved.