Year of Germany Event 2 - The Berling wall

The second year of Germany event was aimed around the fall of the Berlin wall, in 1989. This was the wall that divided East and West Germany for so many years.
It was good to see some of my friends/teachers dress up in clothes that would depict the style warn back during that time.

When I cam to the event, I was greeted with questions regarding my knowledge of the Berlin wall and what I knew about it. I was clued up with the general facts but not a lot so was informed of many others. I then participated in a small game where I had to knock down a small brick wall with a ball. This was supposed to be done with ur hands, but as the guy running it knew I was a soccer player, he allowed me to kick it, but I would still have to kick it past him as he stood in the way as a goal keeper. My next task was to write/ draw  on a sheet of paper that spread a good number of yards in length. People had already added to it, and I was having a mind blank at that point so I decided to draw a soccer ball and goal.

History of the Berlin wall - The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. Between 1961 and 1989, the wall prevented almost all such emigration. During this period, around 5,000 people attempted to escape over the wall, with an estimated death toll of over 100 in and around Berlin.

I wasn't able to stay at the event longer than  25 minutes due to having class, but I enjoyed my time.

When I began researching the history of the Berlin wall, it originally stated that the wall was in placed by the East to prevent the wets from crossing over. This was because they felt not all of the Neo Nazis had been stopped and so didn't want the East being encouraged by fascist movements. I think that was harsh thing to put in place as I am sure, not all the West Germans were for Nazi's etc and so many had to live in a place they couldn't leave. I think the coming down of the wall has helped turn Germany into a European power, that will continue to grow every stronger.

Year of Germany Blog 1 - Oktoberfest

Reinhardt University this year decided to do a 'year of Germany' event. On the 17th October, at the Glass House an event was help allowing students and teachers to come along and indulge in the culture of Germany with informational booths relating to Germany, such as German culture, literature, art, business.

When I went along to this event, I didn't really know what to expect, but was quite interested to see that there were many tables set up offering information about the Country of German. I had been offered a Germany T shirt, but only if I could go to each table and get a signature. It was a lot easier said than done. It seemed that most of the tables required me to perform some sort of task, like answer questions about Germany, take part in a quiz and also try a variety of foods available.  Needless to say, I eventually answered the questions correctly, defeated the dragon and gained my prize.....the T shirt, which I now wear to the gym.

I think I enjoyed the booth which required me to read a couple of pages about the German culture and answer questions regarding it. It was hard at first, but I was able to learn the most from it. I always knew that the Germans had a work hard ethic which I have always respected as it has made them become a powerful country around the world. All you have to do is look at the cars they produce to see that the quality is with them. I think Germany have done well as a country in rebuilding itself since WW2 to become a powerhouse. I think it comes down to hard work and determination.

Overall, a enjoyable event, with the added bonuses of free food.

Blog 6 - Migration - Crossing border -New

Paul Dudson

Blog 6 – Crossing Borders

             

The world is constantly changing, and it’s not surprising that most economically developed countries are seeing an influx of migrants coming to their country to work and live. Being from England, a day doesn’t go past when immigrants/migrants are mentioned on the news or in the papers. Unfortunately, what is being mentioned in the news is not necessarily positive. I never used to take much notice of how many migrants/immigrants were entering England, until I would go back to England for holidays and would notice many people living in England from different countries and minorities had grown each year. I personally feel that people should be allowed to enter a country as long as they are bring something positive to that country, not to just get free benefits, which is what usually happens when people come to England.

Today, “more people are on the move today crossing cultural boundaries and national borders than ever before in the history of mankind. In 2009, more than 214 Million people lived outside their country of origin, and currently 940 million tourists have crossed international borders as tourists.  ” (United Nations world Tourism Organization, 2011)

There is a slight difference in the term migrants. Migrants are people that move from one place to another, one culture to another. This can be either voluntary migration, in which he person has chosen to move. People who do not choose to move and after often forced to by war in their countries are called involuntary migrants. Many migrants will try and leave one’s country and move to another to better their lives and often give their children a better upbringing. The problem is that sometimes, they do not go about it the legal way, which is why there can be such negativity with people coming to live in another country. 

Potts said “there are three waves of migration that have happened over the years. The first wave can be traced back to the European Colonial period in the 16^th Century through the 19^th Century. Thousands of Migrants sailed out of ports in Europe for colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas.” (Potts, 1990)

Castles & Miller explained that “the second wave of migration took place rom the mid -1800s to the early 1900’s during the industrial revolution. Many peasants fled European countries fleeing poverty, famine and migrated to other areas in Europe and North and South America.” (Castles & Miller, 2003)”

Hammer said “the third wave of migration following WW2 saw large numbers of Jews leaving Europe for Israel and America. Guest worker programs were started by many countries to help bring in labor from other countries as wok forces were cut short due to the war. Many people from countries which were once colonized would move to that country to start a new life and help with the labor”. (Hammer, 1995)

In terms of labor and countries producing labor workers, migrants can be divided into either high or low skilled labors. Low skilled labors are usually from poorer countries, such as the Philippines, India and Vietnam, in which many people work in factories. High skilled workers on the other hand migrate away from their countries and usually end up in Western Europe and America, to take on more complex jobs. 

Macro Level Theories

            “Migrants are variations of Push Pull Factors”, first articulated by a British Geographer in the late 1800s. Push factors are seen as factors which force a person to leave their current place, such as economic hardship, famine, war or persecution. Pull factors are seen as things that encourage and draw people to want to move and live in a different area, such as better way of life, more work opportunities, better living, better education.

Today the United States is describes as the melting pot, popularized by Jewish immigrant Isreal Zangwill. The constant influx of migrants from all over the world coming to American in the early 1900s has created a multicultural society that is constantly growing and changing. 

Micro Level Theories

            A study was taken by a study abroad program of Norwegian students travelling to America. Norwegian researcher Sverre Lysgaard, 1955, noted three significant stages in cultural adaption. The first was Anticipation, the excitement and what they thought it would be like. The second was Culture shock, being unfamiliar to a certain environment. The Third stage was Adjustment in which the students were able to encode what certain objects where and relate to verbal, norms, values and behaviors. This was called the U –Curve Model.

 Meso Level Theories

            Meso level theories aim to analyze the connections between micro and macro level theories. Theories of organizations, social movements, or communities are often at this level. Basch felt that “today, migrants maintain connections to more than one nation, community, and location, reinforcing, breaking and rebuilding collective identities of migrant networks across national boundaries”. (Basch, Blanc, & Schiller, 1994)

There are many positives and negatives that can happen when a country take in migrants from other countries. There are the benefits of getting some very intellectual, hardworking people who want to come and benefit a country. On the negative side, which I tend to see a lot more off, it seems that a lot of migrants tend to come to England as we are very generous with our benefit system and tend to allow pretty much anyone into our country. As a result, many ethnic minorities tend to group together and often refuse to adapt to our way of life and culture. They will often feel a national identity to their home country and will often refuse to integrate with the local culture. This often causes many problems as locals and migrants usually stay away from each other causing tension and prejudices towards the other culture.  In England one problem that is happens is many Muslims are trying to enforce their religion into British society and wanting the laws to be changed. I feel that this isn’t right because we are allowing people to come to our culture and helping them out, but all they are doing is either not want to help our country, or spread the word of hate against our country. I understand it is not all of Muslims, but if you watch this video below, it doesn’t take much to make you angry watching it. I often wonder how I would be treated if I were to go to their country and start demanding the Christian laws be in place. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psZBaJU_Cvo

            As Tony Morrison pointed out, our world in motion requires “Us to come to terms with being, fearing, and accepting Strangers”. (Riding, 2006)

Bog 5 - Intercultual Communication and body politics chaptrs 2-4 - New

As I write this blog, I look around the room in the hope that something catches my eye to bring me back to life and ignite my blog written ability. It doesn't take me long to start looking at the variety o people sat in the room with me. As I sit and watch them, I start to say things in my head about individuals. I soon realize that I am interpreting different people, from the clothes they are wearing to the countries they have come from.

The world is constantly changing and it doesn't take much looking in a magazine or web search to notice that the majority of the world is being influenced by Americanization. Many cultures today have adopted many American traditions and clothes, sports and technology. This is although bring the world closer together for what many see as a positive, it can also be a negative and be seen as cultural imperialism by other countries, which as a result can cause tension and conflict as seen with 9/11.

Globalization is seen the complex web of forces and factors that have bought people, cultures, cultural products, markets, as well as beliefs and practices into the increasingly dynamic and mobile world. This has led to the greater interaction of people, cultures, and cultural forms across national boundaries. With the positives that have come from this, there are also the negative effects of conflict between counties over resources along with the rapidly growing global interdependence. 

This did not just happen over nigh though, his goes back o he historical legacy of colonization, western domination, and U.S hegemony that shapes intercultural relations today.

As wok places, communities, schools, and people’s lives become more interwoven in global webs, intercultural communication in increasing preset in all areas of our lives. This can be seen with the mixing o different cultures from different places around the world also know as Hybrid cultural forms.

As people move around the globe, whether it is for wok, political asylum, military, survival or even tourism, they will carry their culture with them and will make efforts however big to create a sense of home. Our beliefs, religious views and practices we enact are significant in representing our culture.

Due to the everyday forces of globalization, people from different cultures and backgrounds such as ethnic, class, national cultures etc. start to become entwined causing a change. Cultures become Deteitorialized, which means the cultural subjects and objects are uprooted from their place of origin and geographically relocated  (Reterritorialized).

In the past when people left their homes for another area or country, they wouldn’t usually ever go back to that place.  With today’s technology and transportation, people are now able to move around the world more freely. For example; when I went back to England after spending time a college in America, I had grown fond of certain foods such as Mexican food and especially Ranch dressing which isn’t very big in England. After letting my friends try ranch they too began to like it more and use it more. This is very small but just an example of how certain foods can spread across the world so easily. There are still however people who have been forced to leave their country and move to another, and are just wanting to go back as soon as possible. This is known as Diasporic Communities.

Today many of the big U.S corporations are going abroad due to cheap labor cost. This is causing many local businesses to lose their businesses while also taking jobs away from many Americans. This is a problem for many countries around the world, as there are positives and negatives that come from such a move. It just usually seems that the big corporations are the only winners.

America is ever changing and is called the melting pot because of the amount of different people from all over the world coming to America to live and bring their cultures with them. It is not only the same for America, every country from around the world is evolving and every changing with the influx of people bringing their cultures and beliefs along with their own cultural values.

When I go to different places in America and I see an English pub, I usually try and stop by for a pint as it will usually bring back memories of how an English pub looks like, as the American pubs are usually a lot different. I think the only thing I have ever influenced an American into doing is add a few words to their vocab, as there are many slag words in England that are unknown to the average American.

Body politics refers to the practices and policies through which power is marked, regulated, and negotiated on and through the body. This is what mut be looked at in order to understand how race and our body politics has been interpreted over the years and how it is constantly changing in certain ways.

The difference in our genders can be very important in how we are brought up in a culture compared to another culture. The way we walk, talk, speak eye contact, touch, gesture, dress and even down to what sports or activities we participate in can determine masculinity or femininity. Males in many cultures are seen as the people who bring food to the table and work for the family, where women are seen as staying at home and looking after the children resulting in the term social construction of gender. This has changed over the years but is still a norm in many places. In china, because of their one child per family policy, many families will either kill or abandon a daughter as the males are the ones who will stay and provide for the family unlike the females who will go join the husbands family.

  

            Race is a very important subject when we talk about globalization. It has been this way for hundreds and hundreds of years. With today’s global interactions spreading across the world, there are more interracial couples forming. This is becoming more normal in society, and not looked down upon compared to fifty years ago. As different cultures get together, we are now seeing a lot more mixed raced people.

Race where ever you go in the world will be an issue. Many cultures have looked down upon certain races and stereotyped them and hated them. This can go back hundreds of years to the hierarchy of difference. Racism will always be in our society, no matter how hard we try to gt rid of it, its inevitable to always be with us, which is a crying shame.

Since coming to America I have noticed that there are a lot more African American in American compared to the black people in England. I think the way different races are treated is a global thing, and I don’t think it will completely stop which is a sad thing. When I went to Houston, Tx , he majority of the area I was in was mostly African American, and whenever I would try and speak to someone to ask them a question etc., I felt they didn’t want to help or know me. I think every culture, group, race, religion stereotypes everyone.

             

Blog 4 - 'Children & Fire' and how it relates to todays cultures- new

I have often wondered what it takes to make a whole country believe and follow one man's theories about religion, power and the human race. I would sit in my history classes, study the war and think, 'how did so many people get brain washed into thinking what was being said was so true? And what was it like growing up around that time?' Reading Ursula Hegi's book has allowed me to understand what it was like growing up in Germany around the time where Nazi's were starting to take over the country and control the minds of people.

The book begins…...

It is February 27th, 1934 and the first anniversary of the burning of the Reichstag. The Fire that has remained in the memory of every German person for the past year that burnt down the parliament building in Germany. This has given the Nazi's an excuse to blame their enemies, the Jews and communists, and consolidate their power over the country. 

It is evident throughout the novel that the German Government has influnced the perople of Germany to thank negatively against the Jews as though they are not supposed to be apart of that culture. This was also shown to other races such as homosexuals, black and Gypsies. This is called Ethnocentrism as it is showing the German Culture thinking that they are superior and above other races.

Many Burgdorf boy's have joined the Hitler-Jugend, which Thekla, the lead character to which the story is told from originally sees as the equivalent to the boy scouts. They have been recruited to eventually join the German Army and fight and die if needed to for their homeland. This is seen a patriotism. 

 Books have been burned in the town square. Jewish families are leaving with the remaining Jewish children now attending a segregated school in the synagogue. The town's once beloved Jewish teacher has been forced out of her job due to ethnocentrism and left. 

 “But within a few weeks after Markus left ,a Jewish family who left Germany for America, despite others saying leaving was premature Jewish children were no longer allowed in her school. Instead, they were taught all their subjects in the synagogue across the street". p22

Her replacement is Thekla Jansen, who is now teaching her 17 boys, who are keen to follow in the Nazi Germany ways. They are keen to be apart of the Hitler-Jugend, which the 'fuhrer' who was Adult Hitler. This was called a folk term, which was know by the people of Germans and spoken every day when mentioning him. This was also shown when saying 'Hail Hitler' which was a common phrase used before school would begin.

Thekla, although happy with the opportunity she has been given, realizes that her happiness is at the cost of misfortune for her previous teacher, inspiration, and devoted mentor, Fraulein Sonja Siderova. 

Thekla persuades herself that what she is doing isn’t morally right, but rationalizes her feelings by seeing it as holding the teaching position until the former teacher returns. As time goes by, what Thekla once thought was helping her students needs, was only pushing them closer to Hitler's Nazi accomplices. Thekla, finally, after going back and forth on the idea, decides to seek out and find her mentor once again to see how she is doing whilst also bringing her up to date about her former class. This is called Cultural Identity. Cultural Identity is the Identity of a group or culture as far as one is being influenced by the group or culture around them. This was shown as the book went from beginning to end, with Thelka once going along with the Nazi rule, soon realizes that what they are doing is morally wrong.

As the book goes back and forth, Theckla starts to realize that what the Nazi's are doing isn't right and that she must not allow herself to believe it like so many others and actually regain her true feelings.

Children and Fire is told over two different periods of time. One is the unfolding of events on that cold February day in Burgdorf. The second explores the first story with a series of vignettes that begin with Thekla's parents' history and then move on to her own childhood. The story aims to show us how one society of educated, cultural, compassionate people can slip into a reality that’s fabricated by propaganda and controlled by fear. How a surge of national unity can be manipulated into the dehumanization of a foreseen enemy and the justification of torture and murder. Hegi uses this book to explain how easy it was to become sucked into Hitler's reign and believe in what he preached the people of Germany.

This book's central question—What can ordinary people do when a monster takes control of their country? This is a question that looks into how people react under certain powers and given situations. Since WWII, the world has grown together to stop such a war from happening again. For thousands of years prior to this, many wars were fought over power, religion and land. Many Christians went on many religious battles against the Jews hundreds of years before Hitler came into power. 

As we have developed as countries since the war, we have grown to realize that such a war cannot happen again. Although we hope that such things will happen in the future, it is never inevitable as seen with many recent wars over religion etc. We must just try and learn from our past mistakes.

Blog 3- The Cultural Difference - New

The Cultural Difference (Cultural Informants) - Ethnography

Choosing a micro culture can be easy, the hardest part is actually getting out there and finding the people in that Micro culture to  talk to you about it.I have chosen to do my ethnography project on Volleyball, and so will be gathering information from both interviews and the internet.

Anthropologists on the other hand will usually spend long hours with their cultural informants often become closer friends over that period of time.

There are many ways in which to find an informant. Many people will struggle to start off with, especially if they do not know the person personally. Some ways of finding an informant include:  
Talk to someone you know – By speaking and asking someone you know, it not only makes it easier for that person to trust you, but makes the atmosphere around both parties more comfortable. Although this can be very good, a negative to it, is that you and your friend might not be able to change your role of friends to roles of ethnographer and cultural informant.

 Find an Informant (cold Turkey) – The direct approach gives you the chance to experience what it is like to enter the field of a stranger. It is however the most difficult one to do. It can lead to many rejections, take the most time and cause you the most anxiety. When doing this it is often wise to have a backup micro culture you can look into just in case. 

Find the Informant through a go between –  Locate an informant through a person you know who is acquainted with a suitable informant. You should also try and ask you contact if they have any more people you could go to in case one of the informants can’t do it. There is an advantage to a go between as because the informants will trust the person who is the go between and that will allow them to trust you and the ice will be a lot easier to break. One negative that can happen is if the go between person is of higher ranking authority than the informant can result in the informant not feeling comfortable enough talking about that place of work honestly in case it gets them in trouble with the higher authority figure.

When looking for an informant, there are attributes that you should look for such as an informant that is currently involved in that culture and  not previously involved. It is important to get a person who is a sociable person with verbal skills to communicate with you properly and give you the information you are wanting. A plus is if the informant lives close by so you are able to go a number of times without the struggle of time and travel issues.

The book (The Cultural Experience) recommends that you should stick to one informant, 2 max, as they felt that the students would have all the time in the word to get around to asking any more informants questions etc. I have used two informant for my Ethnography, one being a coach and another being a player.

Once you have found a likely informant you must prepare yourself to explain what you would like from the informant.  Many of the informants will be expecting you to just ask those questions like a survey. you will have to explain what you shall be expecting from them. Explain what ethnography is and what kind of research is done by other anthropologists when they do their own research.

It is hard to remember what that person is always saying, especially if they talk about and explain lots of details. It is important to make lots of notes or take a tape recorder to help you so you can go back and listen to the conversation again.The informant might tell you things that are personal so you must always remain professional during it. You should always let the informant read your draft before you send it out there.

The first interview  should preferable take place away from the persons place of work as to avoid distractions and influences of others and distractions.

Stay away from the direct questions like their age, income and where they were born etc. Instead you will be asking questions that a new employee would ask at a new job, such as what things are called, where they are and how they work. 

Try and explain to the person what an ethnography interview is as well as a little history about it. Ask descriptive questions such as: Culture categories, folk terms, analytical terms and translation terms.There are two ways to discover folk terms - hang out with people who belong to that culture or interviewing them, which is usually the best way.
Folk terms in volleyball would be certain called being said whilst playing the sport, such as 'Spike' the ball means hit the ball for the ball. Can be called Analytical terms.

It is important that when interviewing someone to follow a set of rules, such as do's and don't s.

1. Do-  what members of the micro culture do and what things are called and look like.

2. Do -put questions into context.

3. avoid asking "what is a...." question - Don't

4. do not ask informants why they do something?- Don't

There are four types of descriptive questions that should be approached, such as: 

1.Grand tour questions- most general types of questions

2.Mini tour questions - descriptive questions that ask for more details

3.Story questions - Based on folk terms you have learned from responses

4.Native language check - check whether or not a particular term is really a folk term

Throughout the Interview you should gather a set of field notes which are written accounts of what transpired. If you recorded the interview, you should write up your notes. Add observations about how the interview went and how was the interviewee. 

It is important to collect taxonomies through the interviews as they add a sense of how members of a group order or structure their cultural knowledge. It can help remind an informant to remember what they know about their own culture, eliciting  more detailed and exhaustive data. It finally helps provide illustrations and occasionally the structure for the final ethnographic report.

I shall be following these guide lines when researching Volleyball for my ethnography project. I think I would have struggled to have done my ethnography properly and asked the write questions to the informant if I do not follow these guide lines provided.