Week 2 Seminar Notes Gp2

Seminar Outline
1. HOUSEKEEPING (17.30-17.40)

2. HOW TO CONTRIBUTE TO DIIGO &amp; WIKI (17.40-18.00)

- WHAT IS A WIKI? - EXPECTATIONS &amp; BENEFITS

3. ESTABLISH INTERCULTURAL TEAMS (18.00-18.10)

4. ESTABLISH PARTICIPATION CRITERIA (18.10-18.30)

5. OUTLINE RAT PROCESS - TRIAL (18.30-18.50)

BREAK (18.50-19.00)

6. INDIVIDUAL RAT (19.00-19.15)

5. TEAM RAT (19.15-19.35)

6. CHALLENGES (19.35-19.45)

7. DISCUSS ISSUES/THEMES FROM READINGS/RATs (19.45-20.15)

8. REMINDERS (20.15-20.20)

Key Seminar Points
Academic Reading Tips

NB These tips will save you time and increase your understanding of academic writing

1. Read first for 'the gist' (general understanding)
 * Read the Introduction (or Abstract) and the Conclusion
 * Read any subheading and the first sentence of each paragraph only - to ascertain the general development of the reading
 * If the reading is broken into sections, you can follwo this process for each individual section

2. Read again for detail
 * Now re-read the reading in full, building your understanding by reading for the detailed development of the argument


 * Also, for tips on annotating readings, please see the article on this topic posted to our Diigo group

Any notes or points on these matters from the RAT, the reading or our class?

Globalisation processes

''"It should not be taken to imply that there is, or will be, a unified world society or culture--something skin to the social structure of a nation-state and its national culture, only writ large." (Featherstone 1996, p60) ''

Most theorists believe that globalization will make the world into a more unified and homogeneous place; that people are becoming alike regardless of their cultural background. However, this is an oversimplified way of thinking; these theorists are forgetting the fact that with the convergence of economy (money market), political system and technology, comes the divergence of human behaviors. Convergence of income, political system and technology across different countries/cultures allows people to express themselves according to their own culture and value system.

Postmodernism

- is a response to modernism (rather than replacing modernism)

"This notion of modernity points toward postmodernism and postmodernity, with the latter term not to be understood as a new epoch which is now replacing the modern age, but a growing awareness of the limits of the claims of the project of modernity." "Put simply, postmodernism points to the problem of handling cultural complexity, of having to deal with what from the point of view of established, well-ordered categories appears to be a disorder which cannot be adequately incorporated in to existing classifications or ignored." (Featherstone 1996, p59)

National identity

Imagined Communities

"all communities larger than the primordial village of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined Communities are to be distinguished not by their falseness/genuineness, but the style in which they are imagined" (Anderson cited in Featherstone 1996, p53)"

Cultural Imperialism

the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, or artificially injecting the culture of one society into another society.

- usually the case that the former belongs to a large (economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter belongs to a smaller, less important one)

- According to Tomlinson (2000, p.54), economic power has enabled high capitalistic countries to exert a considerable control over weaker countries economically and culturally. 

- e.g. the English language, Nike, McDonlads etc.

Wiki

-network knows more than any individual in the network

-all knowledge is constructed (There is no such a thing as naturaly important information)

Glossary
Anomie- (i) a state or condition of individuals or (ii) socially characterised by a breakdown or absense of social norms and values

Ubiquity - state of being everywhere i.e. omnipresent

Commensal- eating together at the same table