Nathan's Blog Post #9: Instant Gratification Craving

In community today nothing is actually private. The communities wide acceptance of the internet has made everything private. Fortunately or unfortunately the internet, and social media, have given everyone a voice. Generally speaking there is not much information that cannot be obtained through a Google search. The lines of public and private have become so blurred, that to me there is no difference between the two.

I believe in every community there are tidbits that are "supposed" to be private, but people like to gossip. Once people gossip information gets out and information spreads through the internet where anyone else could pick it up and spread it. That spread of information can also be viewed as a circle; people give up information about themselves, which creates a community that craves information. When I was really enthralled into Facebook, I could spend hours "Facebook stalking" people. Many of my friends still do Facebook stalking. That craving and availability of insight in to somebody else's life is what is blurring the boundary of private and public. A person's mug shot is not private, anything to do with a celebrities personal life is not private. I, and most in the community, want to know everything about everything.

Not only do I crave information, be it private or public, I crave it now. Even though there is not really a line between private and public the individual tries to keep the nation's eye looking away from them. I try to embrace having no privacy and know that it is and will be public record, in some form or another.

Tonisha Spratte Blog 9

 Blog 9 Racism!

The movie we started on Thursday was really captivating to me.  I kept thinking about it over the weekend.  There were so many different points within the first hour of this film.  I really liked the point of view of this movie; it showed that of the white man who despises blacks and foreigners or people of color.  I can’t say that I’ve seen this side of racism so clearly before.  There were a few instances where the reasoning for their hatred was stated, explained, or rationalized.  The two most prominent ones which stick out in my mind is the scene right before they raid the store and the dinner scene where the teacher is over (and he subsequently breaks things off with the boys’ mother).  The leader, Cameron Alexander, was the brains behind these people.  He saw a group of young white men who were tired of the fear they were living with.  He had these racist, Neo-Nazi, ideals which he then planted into their eager and willing minds.  He obviously believed in some/all of the ideals and arguments made by Hitler.  But why?  Why was it so simple to get the attention of these young men and woman and plant these racist/supremacist ideas in their head? 

                At one point, before the store raid, Derek made a speech, and in his speech he said something about the good hard working white man, who slaves to make a living for his family, and these foreigners come in and take jobs away from them.  So, it’s like America is only for white folks, everybody else get out.  In Imagined Communities Anderson basically says that nationalism and racism stem from the same place but went down different paths.  “Where racism developed outside Europe in the nineteenth century, it was always associated with European domination, for two converging reasons.  First and most important was the rise of official nationalism and colonial ‘Russification’.  As has been repeatedly emphasized official nationalism was typically a response on the part of threatened dynastic and aristocratic groups – upper classes – to popular vernacular nationalism.  Colonial racism was a major element in that conception of ‘Empire’ which attempted to weld dynastic legitimacy and national community.”   Therefore, one can argue that learned nationalism has affected theses young men and women in an unconscious or subconscious way.  Having been exposed to class differences and race differences as well as colonial history, where the white man was on top and inherently superior to the native inhabitants, they were easily captured in what___ had to say, especially since there was unrest between the whites and blacks/people of color. 

                A by-product of building a sense of nationalism was the racism that ensued.  When Cameron found Derek he found his protégé and was able to really control and influence this group of people with his Neo-Nazi ideals of white supremacy.  The upbringing of these young men and women along with the current tensions between the white and colored community left them open and ready for someone to come and provide structure and empowerment to them.  Racism which, according to Anderson, stems from ideals of “inherited superiority” was associated with European domination.  Therefore, could we say that if there was never any imperialistic rule or colonization, that there would be no racism?  Because there would be no imperialistic ruler who faced marginalization and had to create nationalism in order to remain relevant or a need for the indigenous people to rally together and forge a sense of nationalism in order to combat those in power. 

Tenille Jensen Blog 9

I belive that what affects the community directly should be public knowledge within that community. It is their right. This is an interesting question and one that I specifically addressed in my “Imagine Me Teaching My Community” project. I won’t go into the full details (because I haven’t presented yet) but my documentary surrounds the story of communist China and the struggle to obtain public knowledge that has subsequently become private knowledge based on the government’s ability to mold the way information is provided to the public. The government also has the power to invade the private lives of citizens based solely on their discretion. Through strict forms of censorship, much of China’s global image, it’s history, its societal structure, and collective ideologies are strictly defined and regulated through the government’s power. As Spivak explains in her article, knowledge is never innocent and tends to depict the interest of its producers who are the power holders in society. When the intentions aren’t selfless and for the good of all, it can lead to corrunption. This can be a very dangerous recipie when public knowledge becomes manipulated in order to shape the way people think, feel, and imagine. The community then becomes fundamentally based on deceitful relationships and are colonized mentally.

We are fortunate enough to live in a nation where we have the right to knowledge, the ability to express ourselves freely and the right to openly state our beliefs and opinions. Although there is plenty of knowledge that might not be disclosed by the government for the safety and security of the nation, I situate myself within the realm of freedom – I do believe I am free. I am free to live a private life and I am also free to public knowledge that directly affects me as a citizen of this nation. Many people in this world do not have either of these priveledges: the ability to live a private life and the ability to public knowledge without bias and manipulation from the government and other powerful sources. I don’t believe a community can be a true community without either priveldge – it becomes a prison.  

Mackenzie Wenner #8

Return to your first article earlier in the term and respond to it. Where do you and your community fit in all we have learned so far? Propose a project you feel is vital into the positive imagination of this community.

Like many others of you I don’t disagree at all with what I wrote for Blog 1 on describing a nation and its purposes, though I did have another thought while reading some other posts. I forget who, but someone mentioned the class itself as a nation. While I would probably chose community over nation to describe our group it did call to question a claim I made in my first post. I wrote that the purpose of nations was “to self-preserve, protecting the identifying traits or beliefs that cause individuals to join.” A class’ objective is never to self preserve, it may wish to continue the relevance of a theory or protect the knowledge it is designed to impart, but no class wishes to “maintain citizenship” – keep the same group united until the end of time. With so much of the class comprised of seniors, all departing in only a little over a month, I think we have garnered a silent comradery knowing the status quo cannot and will not continue. We all have a sense of comfort here, a comfort that is productive as it allows us to sit in a circle and speak freely.

I might propose a geographical project. One in which the class mapped out where everyone was before there time at William and Mary, and where they will be afterwards. The fact that we all hail from such divergent locations, and know each other to have varied views, but all have the commonality to respect the voices of others in the circle would, I think, illustrate the uniqueness of our community and class. It could also instill a sense of confidence for the future – showing constructive, productive, and valuable relationships can be achieved across all forms of social barriers by employing respect and purpose.

Mackenzie Wenner #7

In reference to ch7, what is American Nationalism? Within its geography, what does it expect of its citizens? Globally, how does it contextualize the rest of the world?

I’ve said before in previous blog posts that the US draws its national identity from several principals that were inherent to its founding. As related to citizens within our borders I would say this identity tends to manifest itself in a national sense of individual responsibilities. It’s American to vote and it’s American to participate in government. But there are elements of our national identity not specifically geared towards civic action as well. It’s considered part of the “American Dream” to buy a home and take good care of it, and to succeed through industry and commerce as well. We’re not all that easy on ourselves, and that is part of what makes this country great.

When Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war he said “America must make the world safe for democracy”. I doubt it began with that statement but America, I think, tends to view the rest of the world in terms relative to what we are. For instance “Authoritarian vs. Free” or “Third world as opposed to First World”. Its popular and it sounds good to use phrases like “spreading democracy”, because why wouldn’t we want to bottle up a system that makes this country work decently well and give it to a struggling state. But to undertake this could be to forget why the system we have was formed in our country to begin with, and why our national identity is what it is. We have to begin to contextualize the world in relation to what it is, and how it can be better than it is presently, rather than how it can be more American. I say this not because I don’t like our society and government, but because I believe it only works here because of the unique history America has had since it was first settled. Thus I suppose what I am actually advocating for is the fostering of more “American” systems after all: national identities formed around what makes each nation uniquely more productive, not what makes us that way. 

Mackenzie Wenner #6

Discuss a current case of “an anticipatory strategy adopted by dominant groups which are threatened with marginalization or exclusion from an emerging nationally-imagined community.

Education. This is a current case, though not at all a new strategy of maintaining dominant status and position. Throughout most of history receiving an education said much more about your lineage and pedigree that innate intelligence. Today a lot of that is gone, but not nearly all – and because education is so important in market based, service based economies, it is still probably the single largest determining factor of future success and class.

With an eye towards social democracy we as a society have taken steps to level the playing field through government action. These include a mandate on public education levels, public funding of education at every level, government backed student loans. In individual institutions one can find need and merit based financial aid, and scholarships in nearly every subject matter imaginable.

With all this of course still remains the ability to leverage financial assets into educational ones in the interest of investing in future generations. I, for instance, am not sure whether I would have gotten into William and Mary had I gone to a public rather than private high school. Similarly I’m positive if my prep school had been a tad more elite I might have attended UPenn or Dartmouth instead.

With all our current attempts to create an egalitarian academic utopia there are of course now means through which family history and wealth affect ones credentials, and I believe they are likely to stay. As long as education remains a valuable commodity in achieving other goals (namely wealth and status), barriers to it will continue to be set up by dominant groups threatened by newcomers.

Mackenzie Wenner #5

Discuss the state of “women” or “womanhood” in at least two of the films we have seen so far. In reference to Anderson, where is “woman” in the formation of a nation?

If nations are formed as I described earlier– based on cultural, ancestral and belief based factors as well of course a practical and geographic ones, the role of women must be central. This is only underscored by the role of women in two of the films we have viewed thus far, “Who killed Vincent Chin” and “Black Girl”.

Across cultural borders throughout time and into the present mothers have served as the principal teachers of the world’s population. With most of human history having occurred in times devoid of formal schooling for the masses and many modern nations having been created in times and places where education as we conceive it is absent, cultural and ancestral education was taught to children in the home from female family members who were domestically occupied. Thus while the nation founding ideals that we can recall today such as the American sense of independence and the French “liberty equality and fraternity” were all delivered by men, I would argue they were first instilled by the women who raised them.

In the films we see a different way women play a role in the formation and continuity of nations. I will begin with “Black Girl”. The movie is set on the stage of the French colonization of parts of Africa. The friction this causes, however, is only shown through the actions of women. We see throughout the film the subjugation of Duanna entirely by the lady of the house. Her husband on the other hand remains rather neutral. After Duanna’s suicide, he attempts to make amends, but it is Duanna’s mother who does not accept his money. Through these actions we see the women expressing oppression and rebellion of nations.

In “Who killed Vincent Chin” Chin’s mother is, I believe, the most sympathetic and distressing person to watch because one can so easily imagine one’s own mother grieving in if in the same situation. It’s that pubic grieving that inspires everyone else in the community to unite, and in a way form a nation. 

Matt Raimondo, Blog 8

What makes a nation?  It feels like yesterday was the first day of the semester, and that original blog post seemed so recent, yet here we are addressing it for a final time!  Anyway, I remember that I wrote some sort of Government major response to that question, something along the lines of "state boundaries, culture and an active citizenry make up a nation".  Not to say that this answer was wrong, but I feel that after my time in the class that a nation can be both the definition I wrote in my first post as well as something completely separate.  For example, one might call our class itself it's own small nation; after all, we have boundaries, a distinct in-class culture and quite an active citizenry.  As to a nation's purpose, why not simply say that a nation's purpose is to create a sense of belonging and inclusion amongst a population?  Some of our early films, such as Nathan Adolfson's Passing Through,  approached the topic of inclusion, and learning to discover just where someone truly belonged.  We have explored this concept through other films like La Noire de Black Girl, where Diounna wants to be French, but ends up literally dying to return home as well.

In regards to where I personally fit in within our own community, I feel quite attached to the class.  Our discussions tend to bring up excellent points, and we have many frequent speakers in our classroom discussions.  I personally rarely share my opinions, but that does not mean that I am simply daydreaming off in the distance; instead, I am comparing my own thoughts to what others share in class.  I have often found myself really remembering what a few individuals have said simply because their views seem to have so well coincided with my own thoughts and opinions.  Even those that present opposite opinions receive merit in my eyes; all views are important, and those that feel inclined to share them should do just that.  I guess that I am trying to say that just because some of us are silent does not mean that we feel detached from the class.  Rather, I feel like I belong just as much as anyone else, I just happen to rely on my thoughts rather than my words.    

I think that a project that we could do to foster enhanced bonds of community could fall with a group or  partner situation.  For example, in the Business School we do so much work in groups; often, you either live or die by this group.  As a result, one usually does whatever he/she can to find a role in the group, even if the members do not necessarily get along.  In our class, I believe that we would find just as much value in group work as with our current set-up.  For example, random groups would be excellent for the "Imagine Me(Us) Teaching My Community" because many perspectives could be illustrated in one project.  I love how our class is currently structured, but maybe groups wouldn't hurt in the future!

Rachel Choi blog 8

In my first blog, I gathered my thoughts on what a nation is made of.  I still agree with my points on how a nation is made up of those who support a common belief.  Looking back in retrospect, what I wrote seemed very definition based.  It’s hard to describe how I feel as though I can identify with two nations and none at the same time.  I found a great article on what it means to be Asian-American.  http://cornellsun.com/node/49940

 My favorite quote was “It means that you’re bi-cultural: both Asian and American, yet neither at the same time.  In Asia, you’re American; in America, you’re Asian.”  This perfectly describes my position.  I understand both nations and feel as though I am a part of both.  So instead of redefining what I believe a nation is, I bring up the question of, can one belong to two nations? Or, can one not belong to any nation at all?

In class, I realized how easier it was to share my thoughts and experiences when in a smaller group.  When we separated into groups based on what we wanted to talk about, I joined the “I don’t know” group.  But in just a minute, I was talking about my church back at home and how the church was divided into English speakers and Korean speakers.  

Looking back to the first day our class met, our community has made so much progress in opening up and creating an environment where all opinions are welcome.  But I have noticed that even though we have created this environment, that there will always be some who do not speak up.  Gradually those who speak often are granted power over others as their opinions are the only words that enters our minds.  The people who speak could quite possibly demonstrate and practice hegemony.  Of course we have too much trust and respect in each other to let this happen but if it actually did happen, would we be more inclined to speak up now that we have learned about the sub-altern?  Despite the fact that I don’t speak up as much, I do listen to every opinion that comes out into the open.  Simply listening has helped me understand how my community thinks and what it believes in.  I believe that we have made a unique community with the most diverse group of people. We accepted one another and allowed room for individual and group growth.  I am proud to be a member of this community and proud of the fact that on a larger scale, we represent William and Mary. 

In regards to a project that would be positive towards our growth, I believe that a field trip would be best.  A retreat of some sort.  Every class on campus is inside a classroom for a certain allotted time that is expected and given.  Even in this class, we are given a strict regimen in which we must open up our minds and speak from 11 am to 12:50 am.  I suggest that we go on a trip in which we can bond as a community.  The best thing I can think of right now is a camping trip.  A camping trip would not only create an intimate setting that no classroom can create, it would allow for us to gather outside of the college and experience a whole new environment.  What would we do on this camping trip? Anything we like.  Whether it be fishing, painting, running, or cooking, any time we spend together would be indispensable to our bonding.  Also, there would be no itinerary.  We would only decide the day we leave on and decide later on when we would come back.  I am quite certain that if we do go on this trip, we will be surprised to find ourselves wanting to stay longer.  

Mayssa Chehata, Blog #8: Sub-Communities and the Nations they Exist Within

Looking back at my first post, I’m still in agreement with everything I wrote. My post was basically a stream of consciousness regarding Anderson and the formation of nations, and my views about that haven’t changed much throughout the course. What has changed, however, are my views about my position within nations, and how nations are created and shaped by their members.

I wrote in my first post mostly about nations defined as states/countries, but throughout the class, I am coming to think more about nations as they exist within and across borders. Racial groups, people with similar interests, religious groups, gangs, tribes, etc. This is how I think about nations now, about 10 weeks into our class. I think about our classroom as a nation, or rather as a community. The way we have found something that connects us (being a part of THEA/AFST322, coming to class every T/R from 11-1, watching the same films and sharing our various perspectives and sometimes intimate details about our personal lives and viewpoints) and formed a bond over those things.

In addition, through the films we have been watching and discussing, I am seeing the fundamental importance of communities/nations that exist within nations. We can see how within the army in Amigo, you have the larger nation of the entire army, then smaller sub-nations of each group and different posts/stations. And the dynamics and characteristics of the larger nation do not always reflect the intricacies of the culture of the smaller sub-communities within it. We see this phenomenon in almost all the films and readings we have consumed, from the skinhead community within the American nation in American History X, to the different racial groups again within the American nation in Who Killed Vincent Chin, and again with the American/ex-pat community within the Saipan nation. We see it in the readings as well, with Spivak’s self-immolating women within the larger Indian nation. The list goes on, but the point is that we see how these sub-communities draw from the larger nations/communities they are a part of, and that the larger nations are a product of the combination of all the sub-nations. And sometimes, we see one of those things taking over the other. For example, if you have the larger nations controlling the sub-communities, then you have abuse of hegemony or authoritarianism.

A project I would propose for the positive imagination of a nation as I see it now, 10 weeks into the course would maybe be along the lines of having everyone in the class say adjectives that describe themselves. Then, to have everyone say words that describe the class as a whole, the community. We would be writing all the words down as we go, and I think it would be interesting to see how the two lists of words match up, and if they do at all. This could show us the similarities between the individuals (or “sub-communities”) and the class as a whole (or the “larger nation”). Finally, we could look at each word pairing and try to determine if it is something that the individual contributed to the nation, or something that the individual received/learned from the greater classroom community. I’m really interested in this idea about how we affect our nations and how our nation is affected by us, and I think a close examination of that could be useful for understanding our individual positions in the class.

American History X - Tatiana Bull's Blog #8

      First, I would like to talk a little bit about the movie was saw in class the other day.  In what we have seen so far of American History X, I can already start to see some connections between the two brothers.  The high school Danny (the younger brother) goes to sort of doubles as prison for him. While his older brother, Derek, is in prison, Danny’s identity is likewise shaped in high school. Ironically, they change in completely opposite ways. Danny becomes increasingly racist in high school, while Derek becomes de-radicalized in prison. So far, we can see how the hierarchy is determined by uncontrollable factors such as race, social status, and gender.  
Secondly, I will reflect on my first blog. In this blog entry, I talked about what makes a nation. I think my view on what makes a nation is still the same today, in fact, I believe this class has only strengthened my claim on what makes a nation. Watching all these films about how one race thinks they are better than another and movies on gender roles just shows me what a nation should never be like. I understand there are different rules for different nations/countries, but I do not believe that having the mentality that one race or gender is superior than other is right. It only weakens society in my eyes. As a nation, we should all act as one and everyone should be treated equal.

Yue (Ivy) Wu Blog #8: Personality-based matching for cultural exchange student housing

My first article in this series discussed Anderson's notion of inherent communities as well as imagined ones. He argues that human beings draw allegiances based on immutable aspects of identity such as genetics or geographic origin, but also that imagined communities form on the basis of custom and culture, which bind the social fabric.

My community, the William and Mary population, is honestly one of homogenous culture. We are in the heart of Virginia's historical roots, a place steeped in memories of this nation's anglo-saxon origins. Though I am not certain of the actual numbers, I estimate that 80% of the students are from Northern Virginia and that most of them are caucasians. In recent years however, I've noticed a significant increase in the Asian subset of the William and Mary demographic- international students primarily. As an international student myself, I am keenly aware of the cultural barriers between those who have lived in this country and those who have just "stepped off the boat."

Based on what we've gathered from Imagined Communities, our campus is on the verge of schism. The racial differences among the Virginians, gender differences, whether you are from Norfolk or Lake Braddock, these differences are rather dwarfed when we talk about internationals. Inevitably, internationals will stick together.

If I were in charge of how William and Mary operates and if I were inclined to make changes to how our community operates, I would target student housing. In the three years that I've spent here so far, I've learned equally as much from the people I lived with as the professor's I've studied from. Therefore, I would suggest that William and Mary implement a cultural exchange program, which would match roommates mutually interested in learning each other's cultures. Example, a Northern Virginian African-American person who can play jazz piano interested in learning Japanese matched with a Japanese international student interested in learning better English and who also has an interest in Jazz.

In a sense, I am proposing a type of dating website style personality/interest matching system by which individuals can form relationships based on things other than their innately constructed social ties. This would allow individuals to find avenues of personal growth as well as a means of forming meaningful relationships with members of communities that they would never have imagined to explore.

Blog 8 John Wang

Looking back at my first blog I still agree with what I said.  I would add that in a nation there will always be groups of people who are oppressed and want change. I assume the question “Where

do you and your community fit in all we have learned so far?” refers to our classroom community. Our classroom community is but a microcosm of a real community but it does exhibit some of the same characteristics. In real communities, besides the people in power, people have to demand to be heard to be heard. The same is true in our classroom community.

 In response to “Propose a project you feel is vital into the positive imagination of this community.” I will propose a project with strenuous physical activity. People always have said actions speak louder than words and that adversity reveals a person’s true character. In the classroom we sit behind social facades despite our efforts to be open, but in that very attempt to be open, we are acting. There’s no real adversity in our classroom, sure there are some edgy questions, but that’s all. We can only form a community as deep as our knowledge of each other. If it’s built on surface level projections of ourselves, that’s all we’ll have. Maybe we don’t want to know that much more of each other. Maybe there are things about our true character that only we know about and don’t want others to see. Maybe we prefer who we want to be and who we want others to see over who we are and maybe that’s the only way communities can and know how to function. I think it would be interesting to look into each others' eyes during torturous physical activity that breaks us down to the core of who we are. That’s where we’ll catch a glimpse of who will have integrity, who will do just enough to get by, who is compassionate, who is a leader, who is a teacher, who is a whiner, who is unpleasant, who is a friend, etc.