Hey everyone! My daily robot is the Mechanical Nun (http://vimeo.com/75310697)
The writing prompt is simply this: Reflect on your 'guilty pleasures.' Why do you have feelings of guilt about this pleasure? W
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Hey everyone! My daily robot is the Mechanical Nun (http://vimeo.com/75310697)
The writing prompt is simply this: Reflect on your 'guilty pleasures.' Why do you have feelings of guilt about this pleasure? W
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Just thought that I would share this song by christian hip hop artist Trip Lee. Much of what he says is relate able to the class. there are a lot of critiques to be found here, but I love the song none the less :D. -Ameryah H. Here is a link to some poetry and writing you all may find provoking/interesting and somewhat similar to Kearney in terms of breaking traditional form of poetry and creative writing. http://returnthegayze.tumblr.com/
-shalin http://www.npr.org/2014/01/15/262738801/how-to-bridge-the-racial-tech-gap
This piece is about the racial gap (specifically Black and Latin@ vs. White) in technology use. The dialogue focuses on how the difference in internet usage affects group attitudes towards media consumption/creation and STEM careers. The panel agrees that access to the internet from a computer is the most effective way to enact change and fully integrate into the digital world. Also, media presence does not connote creative power or influence: People of color have access to cell phones with which to consume content, but they do not always have access to devices that allow them to create content. The panel goes on to explain the importance of technological literacy to inspire political action and community outreach. They imply that people of color in STEM fields have a responsibility to mentor younger people in the community to actively bridge the gap in the workforce and online. I don't have any particular feelings about "responsibility," but feel that this is an interesting article about how communities are reacting to technological inequality. - David Kawa I remember seeing this commercial late last year and it made me think about "Race (ethnicity) as technology". The commercial is straightforward and makes a clear and blunt point. If you notice, the person that they (Macy's) uses as the "technological replacement" for the black male is "Asian/Native (Latina)-American" (because you can't discern her ethnicity completely) with a European-American male supervising the transition. I think it is a Native-American female due to the "Ugly Betty" red framed glasses, but I cannot make that assumption.
The African-American male is juxtaposed to the "New/Model Minority" and European-American male while standing proudly next to his overtly antiquated robotic invention, seemingly oblivious to the technological advances made over the last decade. This opens the opportunity for the "replacement/upgrade" perfected in the "model minority female" (because our ethnicity-driven society is based on people seeing your ethnicity before they see anything else) to berate and point out the "outdated limitations" of him and his just finished, poorly produced, product (it sputters and sparks!). Notice the use of the word "useful" with an cut to the man-of-color standing beside the automaton. It (the robot) AND the man of color physically react to the word. The reaction gives the impression that the robot and he, are BOTH being spoken about in a round-about way (the robot reacts by turning red and frowning when she says the word). Then to add injury to insult the robot, who is outdated, seems to "short-out/overload" and becomes hyper-sexual. This is shown through the "robot" advancing after an invisible, intangible, "app" application in the model-minority's smartphone trying to extract affection from it. The "model minority" and architect/overseer/scientist (European-American) slowly step back from it. Check out the commercial at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoo6cD-g1cQ This again shows how even in advancements by people of color that men-of color, especially those of recent direct-African ancestry, supercede their wealth of knowledge (and opportunity for employment advancement) over the attainment of instantaneous physical pleasure (he couldn't make a modern technology, but he can give it amourous emotions... so much talent wasted!). He is ignorant of modern technologies, amenities and applications, but he knows how to make something sexual. This fits perfectly into the dehumanizing of males of color, they are ultimately beasts that, if given the chance, will create technology in their image (through European-American guise) which is this: slow, lazy and sexual. After this commercial they have made a couple of other commercials with the anomalous "Asian/Latina-American" hybrid, along with the European-American male. The African-American male, like his automaton invention, have not been seen since. I guess the rule is that there can only be one other ethnicity besides European on the screen at one time. This proves the point they were trying to make all too clear. The time, in the opinion of the Macy's company, of courting the African-American market has come to a close. The company has went above and beyond trying to get new, more "model-minority" markets that cater to the other people-of color, so long as they go along with the premise that African-Americans are outdated and deserved to be sub-served in the new world order (with people-of-color being divided and stratified, with African-Americans at the bottom of the order). This was quite stunning to me at the time. Then the holidays (Thanksgiving and X-mas) came around and things changed, slightly. A semi-famous African-American male actor named Rob Brown (he starred alongside Sean Connery in the film "Finding Forrester" by Gus Van Sant and now is in an HBO series called "Treme" about the "new" New Orleans, post-Katrina hurricane) was arrested, handcuffed and paraded around (by the NYPD) inside the store under the accusation of theft in Macy's. He has now filed suit. Check out what he went through just because he purchased a watch for his mother.: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/black-actor-alleges-nationwide-pattern-profiling-2nd-suit/story?id=20880469 They have now changed their marketing tune, ever-so-slightly, by bring back in African-American non-speaking models into their advertisements alongside European-Americans. This is being done because they want to show that they aren't the ethnicists (i.e. racists) that they really are. By not showing fault they have entrenched themselves deeper in their own ideologies (African-Americans are good enough to be seen, but allowed to speak.). The reason being their bottom line (money) has been affected during the most prosperous time of their year. The reason I brought these points up are to point out the blatant alignment of their marketing and actual treatment of African-American males within Macy's. They are not valued in the company as employees, and they are not wanted as customers either. If their company can arrest an African-American male actor who is well known (and paid) and accuse him of not being who he is and not being able to afford to buy something expensive without apologizing, they will do that to anyone who looks like him. It is a sad, but true fact. With all of our discussions about "race as technology" I also thought this was a great example showing the full extent of European-American views placed in a "ethnic accepting/annexing marketing" visual campaign. If "other" people of color (Native (Latino)/Asian-Americans) accept this cutting away of African-Americans from the shopping pool (therefore having no visibility) and African-Americans don't protest their annexing too much they could start the stratifying paradigm without too much resistance. Then the same thing that they had been denying that they had been practicing (i.e. economic-ethnic discrimination) happened again at Barney's to another African-American male. Nothing has been said since. Technology is a Muthaf@#$%^&! DeCarlo http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/09/17/technology-trends-among-people-of-color/
The article above outline three trends among people of color and their use of technology. The most interesting to me was Trend #3: Minority internet users don’t just use the social web at higher rates, their attitudes towards these tools differ as well According to this Pew study, people of color use social media sites at higher rates than whites, and have described their use in terms of community mobilization and dissemination of political information (especially during the 2008 presidential election) more so than whites. What are some reasons for this difference, do you think? - Ali Barclay Humming n Weaving Rebellion by preyanka
__________ this is a part of a poem I wrote about race, gender, class, labor, disability& colonialism in the context of my blood family. I feel like it reflects themes like humxn/machine, womxn of color's invsibilized labor, and expectations of labor (whose labor is valid & recognized) by empire. I also think it brings in the bodily and emotional pain and violence of these expectations and the patriarchy it reinforces in my family. This is under a desi indian hindu immigrant context mama hums again between paprika & turmeric collisions and the sizzle of elaichi seeds as they swarm into flaming morning chai water she bursts with prayers craving the non-arthritis kataria body she used to dance with and erupts with wild electric singing and humor of old school melodies in hindi her boiling punjabi rants about love, neglect, and trauma whirl in the steamy air to rebirth nostalgia of haryana, india playful childhood days ruptured with the raid of english frocks and american tunes bruising her love for dhol beats and dupatas and her almond colored flesh mama hums against the boom of my papa’s empire pleasing glare his mouth forced to shame his hindi & maltani rhythms & pre-partition pakistani roots then told to divulge in mathematical accountant skills devour the british pedagogies polluting his dehli educations so this hoarding nation’s eyes could leech on his spirit try to make his body transform into the machine they need paint his compliant labor as america’s successful immigrant tale paint his homeland as “behind” and “uncivilized” “Three Ways of Looking at Death in the face” This piece is by chitra ganesh, a queer desi artist who often creates a lot of installations like this involving bodies meshing with technology, like with electronics spilling out of bodies like this. She focuses on portraying desi womxn, queerness, gendered oppression, I see themes like challenging colonialism, racist violences, trauma, honoring mental health, illness, and struggles with selflove and family also often in her work. I wanted to share this piece “Three Ways of Looking at Death in the face” that I feel reflects the blur between humxn and machine. The fact that it is called three ways of looking at death in the face for me implies humxness as a symbol of “life”, heart & pulse and machinery as a symbol of “lifelessness”. This piece shows humxness & machinery intertwined and links it with looking at death. I wonder what Chitra Ganesh was thinking as she made this. I wonder if this reflects her relationship to technology and what she means when she says death? Also often times she has multiple eyes in her pieces or a camera pointing to a body. I feel like this use of many eyes and camera represents surveillance by oppressive forces like the government. This makes me think about machines as a vehicle of surveillance on bodies and flesh and machines as possibles form of raciliazed, gendered (etc) policing. -Preyanka Kataria http://bitchmagazine.org/article/black-to-the-future-afrofuturism-feminism-music-janelle-monae-kelis-ebony-bones-theesatisfaction
Here is an article about the expansion of Afrofuturism and the connection with feminism. There are a lot of videos as examples, which will hopefully turn you on to some new artists if you didn't already know them. -David Kawa Hey fellow group members,
I thought I would put the lyrics and words to one of the great lyricists of rap. His name is Pharoahe (pronounced "fair-oh" like King Tut) Monch and he released an album a couple of years ago titled "W.A.R." which stands for "We Are Renegades" it is truly a great listen. I picked this song ["The Grand Illusion (Circa 1973)] in particular because of what it says. It is quite powerful in its statement and I think goes along quite well with what we have been talking about. An alternative band called "Citizen Cope" plays the music for this song and sings the chorus. Douglas Kearney knows the man and his work, I thought you might want to hear what it's about. Here's the website: http://rapgenius.com/Pharoahe-monch-the-grand-illusion-circa-1973-lyrics You can also listen to the song through soundcloud on the same webpage. Hope you enjoy! P.S.: I forgot to mention that midway through the song he says "the rapist" before anyone can get offended, I want to mention that the two words are a play on the word "therapist". DeCarlo |