Week 9 Seminar Notes

Seminar Outline
1. HOUSEKEEPING (17.30-17.45)

- CRITICAL CASE STUDY

2. INDIVIDUAL RAT (17.45-18.00)

3. TEAM RAT (18.00-18.20)

4. CHALLENGES (18.20-18.25)

- ONLY IF REQUIRED

5. LECTURE INPUT - DISCUSSION ON READINGS/RATs (18.25-19.00)

6. DISCUSS REFLECTIVE ESSAY & TEAM PROJECT (19.10-19.30)

7. 2nd TEAM MEETING (19.30-20.20)

Important Information, Ideas & Questions
Bollywood movies, especially the popular ones, are symbolic representations which highlight how society would like to represent itself. These movies deal with narratives that emerge from socio-political transformations in society, and the authentic values in them emphasizes and privileges Indian traditions and family values.

The Indian diaspora attempts to reconcile their experiences in the new place with society back in India via popular movies.

Glossary
'''From p 207 of “Viewing the West through Bollywood...” Kaur, R2002. I am not quite sure which “definition” to use here...'''

 

Occident 'n. 

1. 

2. Occident http://www.thefreedictionary.com/occident

Occident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occident_%28movement%29

Diaspora:

The term diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering [of seeds]") refers to the movement of any population sharing common ethnic identity who were either forced to leave or voluntarily left their settled territory, and became residents in areas often far remote from the former ... the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.

Diasporic cultural development often assumes a different course from that of the population in the original place of settlement. Over time, remotely separated communities tend to vary in culture, traditions, language and other factors. The last vestiges of cultural affiliation in a diaspora is often found in community resistance to language change and in maintenance of traditional religious practice.

The first mention of a diaspora created as a result of exile is found in Deuteronomy 28:25 "thou shalt be a dispersion in all kingdoms of the earth". Its use began to develop from this original sense when the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek[1]; the word diaspora then was used to refer to the population of Jews exiled from Israel in 607 BCE by the Babylonians, and from Judea in 70 CE by the Roman Empire.

The term diaspora carries a sense of displacement; that is, the population so described finds itself for whatever reason separated from its national territory; and usually its people have a hope, or at least a desire, to return to their homeland at some point, if the "homeland" still exists in any meaningful sense. Some writers have noted that diaspora may result in a loss of nostalgia for a single home as people "re-root" in a series of meaningful displacements. In this sense, individuals may have multiple homes throughout their diaspora, with different reasons for maintaining some form of attachment to each. --Cgzed 12:32, September 21, 2009 (UTC)

With contemporary globalization, especially labour mobility and the deregulation of labour markets, there has been considerable dispersion of human populations around the world. for example, almost half of the world's twelve million Sikhs live outside India. there are various Muslim diasporas in Europe from North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, amounting to some fifteen million Muslims. the emergence of these expatriate communities means that transnational cultures have developed, often resulting in freater cultural hybridity.

The concept of diaspora -'dia' means through and 'sperein' means to scatter - invokes notions of place, locality and home from which dispersion into other locations entails journeys, border crossings an deterritorialization.

Media Imperialism:

Media imperialism is a theory based upon an over-concentration of mass media from larger nations as a significant variable in negatively affecting smaller nations, in which the national identity of smaller nations is lessened or lost due to media homogeneity inherent in mass media from the larger countries.

The Media Imperialism debate started in the early 1970s when developing countries began to criticise the control developed countries held over the media. The site for this conflict was UNESCO where the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) movement developed. Supported by the McBride report, "Many Voices, One World", countries such as India, Indonesia, and Egypt argued that the large media companies should have limited access to developing countries.

The United States' corporate media coverage of events has been seen to limit the freedom of the press. Integrity can be lost among media giants. This combined with the control and flow of information reduces the fairness and accuracy of news stories. American news networks like CNN also often have large international staffs, and produce specialized regional programming for many nations.

Media Imperialism is not always an international occurrence, however. When a single company or corporation controls all the media in a country, this too is a form of Media Imperialism. Nations such as Italy and Canada are often accused of possessing an Imperial media structure, based on the fact that much of their media is controlled by one corporation or owner.

...

Media imperialism is a theory stating that smaller countries are losing their identity due to the force-feeding of media from larger nations. It can be equated to small community shops closing down due to large superstores moving in, taking over and having a monopoly. As the larger media corporations begin to take over, smaller media companies are either being forced out or swallowed up.

The media coverage of the larger nations has been criticized as having blanket coverage of the world's events. The media content may be affected by the ability to control the content and amount of media coverage on a particular issue. Many think that media imperialism has led to biased information and inaccuracy within news stories.--Cgzed 12:32, September 21, 2009 (UTC)

Liminality:

lim⋅i⋅nal⋅i⋅ty –noun Anthropology.

the transitional period or phase of a rite of passage, during which the participant lacks social status or rank, remains anonymous, shows obedience and humility, and follows prescribed forms of conduct, dress, etc.

...

Liminality (from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold") is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective, conscious state of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes, as defined in neurological psychology (a "liminal state") and in the anthropological theories of ritual by such writers as Arnold van Gennep, Victor Turner[2], and others. In the anthropological theories, a ritual, especially a rite of passage, involves some change to the participants, especially their social status.

The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy. One's sense of identity dissolves to some extent, bringing about disorientation. Liminality is a period of transition where normal limits to thought, self-understanding, and behavior are relaxed - a situation which can lead to new perspectives. --Cgzed 12:35, September 21, 2009 (UTC)

People, places, or things may not complete a transition, or a transition between two states may not be fully possible. Those who remain in a state between two other states may become permanently liminal. 

Liminality means in between of two things.