Episode 4: Representations

Episode 4: Representations

This episode’s main focus is on media representations and how they are more complicated than just the reflections of subjects. This is primarily because the more we home in on a subject, the more we see the many multifaceted ways that subjects exist in dialogue with their surroundings. The dynamic potential of subjects is often reduced by way of how they are mediated, since there is no one fixed subjective reality, which reveals that recognizing the power over that mediation is crucial to understanding how subjects are constituted in society. Along the way, we’ll talk about the stress of the global pandemic, and highlight with music from fónes. Sources and recommended readings Transcript for today’s episode [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a6cXZNgly8fm93hoJGCKvDbP_Yezn7uIwfKKS32wU0k/] Today’s retrospect: * Democracy Now! Coverage of Coronavirus Racism [https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/19/trump_anti_chinese_racism_coronavirus_covid19] * Increased racism against Indian Jews in Israel [https://www.972mag.com/coronavirus-indian-jews-racism/] * Avi Schiffman’s Novel Coronavirus Tracker Website [https://ncov2019.live/data] Today’s Highlight: * Marina Satti on KEXP Transmusicales [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEs0YJrdjYg] * The WOMADelaide festival website [https://www.womadelaide.com.au/about] Today’s main focus: * “Representation and Media” Stuart Hall, 1997 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXdqV6cjHqs] * Hari Kondabolu on The Problem with Apu [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC0P8dLSLg] * Tokenism: The Result of Diversity without Inclusion [https://medium.com/@TonieSnell/tokenism-the-result-of-diversity-without-inclusion-460061db1eb6] * Letter to the Editor: FSU Can Be More Inclusive to Minority Students [https://www.fsunews.com/story/opinion/2015/12/02/tomahawk-chop-racism/76663624/] --- About the podcast The ethnomedialogue podcast is a bi-weekly audio presentation dedicated to the critical exploration of media narratives in the digital age. My primary goal is to investigate power and representation in media--specifically the structure, scope, and the ideology of media narratives. I am interested in the gap between where culture is performed and where it is defined, and I think in our present world, media sits in the middle of that gap where it represents the primary mode of control over the articulation of “Culture,” broadly interpreted, and subsequently our (various communities’) connection to it. Research, writing, editing, music, and narration by me, Bret Woods (pronouns: they/them/their). If you like what I'm doing, please consider supporting this work on Patreon. Patreon [https://patreon.com/ethnomedialogue/]Twitter [https://twitter.com/ethnomedialogue]Website [http://ethnomedialogue.com/]

Episode 3: Queering Subjectivities

This episode’s main focus continues the conversation of media narrative analysis, focusing on the internal negotiation of subjectivity and the process of reading and engaging with subjects. Primarily I confront narrative simplifications. Narrative simplifications of subjects are the mediated frameworks that can enforce hegemonic, linear, and binary presumptions of existence as subjective points of reference. Queering subjectivities dismantles these presumptions. Also today, I highlight a band from Seattle, NAVVI, who released an EP and album this past August, and I briefly introduce #QueerCinemaForPalestine, the group spearheading the boycott of this year’s TLVFest. Sources and recommended readings Transcript [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_e_0HUYy3u4DHvHdqM5yXoRkKTwFDFW7c_DLyZlovP0/] Today’s retrospect: “#QueerCinemaForPalestine” Queer Cinema for Palestine [https://queercinemaforpalestine.org/] “10 Queer Arab films to watch during pride month” [https://arabfilminstitute.org/10-queer-arab-films-to-watch-during-pride-month/] “The Palestinian Exception to Free Speech” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIni_3TYg-A] Today’s Highlight: “NAVVI from Seattle” NAVVI on bandcamp [https://navvi.bandcamp.com/] NAVVI on Soundcloud [https://soundcloud.com/N4VVI] NAVVI on Twitter [https://twitter.com/N4VVI] Today’s main focus: “Queering Subjectivities” Randall Amster. 2012. Anarchism Today [https://books.google.com/books?id=wKytkq6sr3gC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=deconstruct+power+relations+without+duplicating&source=bl&ots=LdJ19x6czS&sig=ACfU3U0kR1uOHrQowhcnyvlfDb4erKT6PQ&hl=en&ppis=_c&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiHzvjAw4HoAhUyg3IEHZsPBcQQ6AEwAXoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=deconstruct%20power%20relations%20without%20duplicating&f=false] Walter Benjamin. 1936. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” [https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm] Jonathan Ned Katz. 1997. “The Invention of Heterosexuality.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLJzzbtGLVI] Eli Manning. 2009. “A Queer Disruption to Methodology.” [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.427.35&rep=rep1&type=pdf] Philip K. Dick. 1978. “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart in Two Days.” [https://urbigenous.net/library/how_to_build.html] --- About the podcast The ethnomedialogue podcast is a bi-weekly audio presentation dedicated to the critical exploration of media narratives in the digital age. Our primary goal is to investigate power and representation in media--specifically the structure, scope, and the ideology of media narratives. I am interested in the gap between where culture is performed and where it is defined, and I think in our present world, media sits in the middle of that gap where it represents the primary mode of control over the articulation of “Culture,” broadly interpreted, and subsequently our (various communities’) connection to it. Research, writing, editing, music, and narration by me, Bret Woods (pronouns: they/them/their). If you like what I'm doing, please consider supporting this work on Patreon. Patreon [https://patreon.com/ethnomedialogue/]Twitter [https://twitter.com/ethnomedialogue]Website [http://ethnomedialogue.com/]

Episode 2: Chronotopes and Media

This episode’s main focus centers around media analysis, particularly the type of analysis that facilitates a more diverse approach toward understanding and framing media subjects within various narratives. To that end, I explore the concept of the “chronotope,” offering some origins, definitions, and uses of the term, qualifying its use in media narratives and offering a contrasting comparison with the concept of the “archetype,” which is somewhat more popularized in global literature and media conversations. This analytical deep dive gets to the heart of how I approach media study.  Along the way, I will highlight a band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Strange New Places, who released an EP this past October, and I will briefly discuss #WetsuwetenStrong, recent settler colonial mistreatment of Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and misrepresentation of Indigenous people and current politics as visible in media.  Sources and recommended readings Transcript [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h9SviuPhwLlCPoADON25ne9HzayvUL1rM6x01B_GnbU/] Today’s retrospect: “#WetsuwetenStrong / Indigenous Sovereignty”  Real Peoples Media and #TyendinagaStrong [https://bit.ly/32Ayv5V] Red Braid Alliance for Decolonialism and Socialism [https://twitter.com/stopdisplacemnt/status/1230935862256340993] The Intercept, Article on Recent Wet’suwet’en resistance [https://theintercept.com/2020/02/23/wetsuweten-protest-coastal-gaslink-pipeline/] Indigenous Youth in Support of Wetsuweten Hereditary Chiefs [https://globalnews.ca/news/6580747/indigenous-youth-occupy-melanie-marks-office/ ] Today’s Highlight: “Music and Human Rights in Northern Ireland”  Strange New Places on bandcamp [https://strangenewplaces.bandcamp.com/track/this-city-2] A recent Guardian article about music and human rights in Northern Ireland [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/27/basic-human-rights-are-being-rejected-northern-irelands-anti-dup-protest-music] Today’s main focus: “Chronotopes and Media” Bakhtin’s Theory of the Literary Chronotope [http://library.umac.mo/ebooks/b28005533.pdf] “Intersectionality and Chronotopes” [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2020.1719041?scroll=top&needAccess=true] “What is Intersectionality” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViDtnfQ9FHc] “Intersectionality is not Identity” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPtz8TiATJY] Russel Brand on Hot Ones [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHTR-XF6MXU ] --- About the podcast The ethnomedialogue podcast is a bi-weekly audio presentation dedicated to the critical exploration of media narratives in the digital age. Our primary goal is to investigate power and representation in media--specifically the structure, scope, and the ideology of media narratives. I am interested in the gap between where culture is performed and where it is defined, and I think in our present world, media sits in the middle of that gap where it represents the primary mode of control over the articulation of “Culture,” broadly interpreted, and subsequently our (various communities’) connection to it. Research, writing, editing, music, and narration by me, Bret Woods (pronouns: they/them/their). If you like what I'm doing, and would like access to our Discord community, as well as behind-the-scenes posts, music, reading recommendations and discussions for each episode, and more, please consider supporting this work on Patreon.  Website [http://ethnomedialogue.com/] Patreon [https://patreon.com/ethnomedialogue/] Twitter [https://twitter.com/ethnomedialogue]

Episode 1: Whose Cultural Heritage?

The pilot episode! This episode’s main focus briefly discusses the ideology of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) concept as it pertains to the mandate of cultural heritage archiving and preservation methods through the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In my discussion I survey the history and scope of UNESCO and the push toward ICH after the 2003 Convention, and I note the power inequity between nation-state controlled preservation projects and the communities who create the acknowledged cultural heritage. Along with today’s main focus in Episode 1, I highlight a recent art project of David Chavannes, and echo the voice of climate activist Vanessa Nakate who was mentioned in the news after outcries on social media over her omission from a report on Davos garnered broader attention. Sources and Relevant Links: Transcript [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fNP5V8us3LuEPdRh0Itd4ywpaMei_muwjYX1IthGn4k/] Retrospect: “Vanessa Nakate cropped from photo of climate activists at Davos” Vanessa Nakate on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanessa_vash [https://twitter.com/vanessa_vash] The Rise Up Movement: https://twitter.com/TheRiseUpMovem1 [https://twitter.com/TheRiseUpMovem1] Highlight: “David Chavannes using sound and music to amplify voices and messages” David’s website: http://www.dchavannes.com/ [http://www.dchavannes.com/] David’s soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/dapacha [https://soundcloud.com/dapacha] Main focus: “Intangible Cultural Heritage and cultural preservation through UNESCO” UNESCO’s ICH Home: https://ich.unesco.org/ [https://ich.unesco.org/] Lixinski, Lucas. 2011. “Selecting Heritage: The Interplay of Art, Politics and Identity.” European Journal of International Law, Volume 22, Issue 1, February. Pages 81–100. (https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chr001 [https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chr001]) --- About the podcast The ethnomedialogue podcast is a bi-weekly audio presentation dedicated to the critical exploration of media narratives in the digital age. Our primary goal is to investigate power and representation in media--specifically the structure, scope, and the ideology of media narratives. I am interested in the gap between where culture is performed and where it is defined, and I think in our present world, media sits in the middle of that gap where it represents the primary mode of control over the articulation of “Culture,” broadly interpreted, and subsequently our (various communities’) connection to it. Research, writing, editing, music, and narration by me, Bret Woods (pronouns: they/them/their). If you like what I'm doing, and would like access to our Discord community, as well as behind-the-scenes posts, music, reading recommendations and discussions for each episode, and more, please consider supporting this work on Patreon. Website [http://ethnomedialogue.com/] Patreon [https://patreon.com/ethnomedialogue/] Twitter [https://twitter.com/ethnomedialogue]