Gone to Ghana

Check out my personal blog that will chronicle my experience in Ghana! I will be there from January 14th-May 15th.

www.freepostagefromghana.wordpress.com

Poster Session Tomorrow!

Howdy!!

Tomorrow is the poster session for all junior Elon College Fellows. It will be the first time that many of us (myself included) will be presenting our research to anybody in a formal setting and so there is a lot of excitement as well as nervousness happening right now!

The session will take place tomorrow, December 3rd, at 4:30 pm in McKinnon.

When I first began creating the PowerPoint that would eventually become my poster, I was trying to use a fairly structured format based on my project proposal. This included Abstract, Introduction Background, Significance, and Timeline sections. While this breakdown can be applied to my project, Evan quickly pointed out to me that this wasn’t necessarily very representative of the work that I am doing, which is largely based on visual material and multiple creative pursuits. So, after much gutting of the original PowerPoint, rethinking and reworking what I really wanted people to know about what I am doing, I have come up with a much more appropriate poster for my project. It now includes images that I have made throughout my project, images from popular culture that I have been thinking about and considering in light of what I am doing, as well as an excerpt from a  written work of mine that I wrote this semester.

I know that this description is rather vague and hasn’t helped to explain how it all fits into my project, BUT I have attached the PowerPoint (see link below) so that you can look at that OR better yet! Come to the poster session and ask me as many questions as you want! I would love to chat with you

Thanks for stopping by.

My Poster for the Elon College Fellows Poster Session

Focusing Direction

As I mentioned in my last post, a couple of weeks ago, Evan and I met with Dr. Tom Mould in the anthropolgy/sociology department to discuss my possible involvement in incorporating some works of art into the common space there in Lindner. This art would be coming from Elon’s art collection that I am working with as part of my 499 research hours this semester. One of the goals of mine for this semester is to hang an exhibition somewhere on campus using the art from Africa that we have in this collection. The anthro/soc department is interested bringing art into their space and we initially thought that we could combine their desire for art work with my desire to hang an exhibition. After discussing with Dr. Mould and Evan, we decided that it would be best if the art that was in that space not just be art from Africa because it was a misrepresentation of the academic work and research that faculty and students are doing in the anthro and soc departments, as there is no Africanist in the department. Work from the collection will still be used for this space, but I will just not be involved in the process as the art will be art not from Africa.

During this same discussion, Dr. Mould also asked me specifically about my project and what I am doing with it. There is a level of anxiety that also comes over me when someone asks me this question. Not because I am not passionate about what I’m doing and not because I don’t want to share my project with other people, but because my project is dealing with such large questions and multiple components that I am not always sure how to effectively convey my project as a cohesive and worthwhile endeavor. So, Evan and I sat down for a couple of hours in the library with blanks sheets of paper and pencil and sketched out what we think my project is at this point.

At this point, we have decided to focus a little more heavily on the question of “Why do we (humans) create?” within the contours of what I am doing. At the heart of my project, and something that I have really been asking in different ways all along, is a pull to consider and explore the different reasons and impulses for creative expression and representation. I have been thinking about this a lot recently and am excited about what this new emphasis will do for my project.

Another element of my project that I was feeling unsure about was my personal creative output in terms of what I am learning and experiencing through my project. A large component of my project was intended to be my personal reactions in the form of photographs and writing and this has fallen somewhat to the wayside because of where I have decided to put my attention during my 499 research hours this semester. Evan and I are trying to brainstorm ways in which to work on this and one of our ideas for solution was to create what we called a “Maggie Box” and what we are now calling the “Do Box” (because of a cutout that Evan recently taped to the front of the box.) In this box that sits in front of Evan’s office, I am supposed to drop anything that I have forced myself to write or make for this project. By having the box there, I can share and include whatever I want whenever I want, but there is not a strict schedule for when I have to produce something. This has been working really well so far and at this point I plan to include everything that makes it into the Do Box in my final exhibition as another sort of chronicle of what I am doing.

I have shared my current struggles with my Fellows class to get feedback and Evan and I are still working almost daily on these issues. While sometimes this project can cause anxiety or confusion, I am glad for it because I know that these ideas and issues are not supposed to be easy to understand or handle. My project was never intended to find answers or come to conclusions and I know that it never will. These “problems” are part of this exploration and while this makes it difficult sometimes on a day-to-day basis because I often feel lost, I am happy to be lost in situations that I know are causing me to think, that are causing others to think, and that will continue to create discussion and questions for a while longer.

If you care to share, with these new ideas in mind, why do you create? What do you create? What does “personal expression” mean to you?

More on where I am on this to come. We have discussed further and I will be updating you shortly on some new focuses and ideas that we have thought of in terms of bringing all of these things together.

African Art and Exhibited Art

Hey–

Schedules moved around this week so I am actually meeting with Evan tomorrow, but I will update you today anyway! Almost done reading a book called African Art by Frank Willett.

By next week I will have a 5 page paper written about some of the core themes. The book is a little intimidating in terms of its depth–there are many peoples and regions that are mentioned that I have had no experience with before–so it has been a challenge trying to get all of these straight in my mind, but I have gotten more used to it as the book goes on. It also part of my point in reading this book to begin to become familiar with these concepts, so that is going well. A new dream: to get the ceiling of my room wallpapered (ceilingpapered?) with a map of Africa. That way, as I’m falling asleep or doing absolutely nothing, I can be getting everything straight in my head and becoming more familiar with geographies and regions. I think it would make my research a lot easier in some respects. Maybe someday! Is that dorky?

Anyway…After I write my paper, I will feel more confident in relaying to you what exactly the book is about. At this point, I’m still digesting.

In other news: I have contacted Dr. Tom Mould in the anthropology/sociology building about incorporating some art work from Elon’s Art Collection into the anthro/soc space, as well as working with some of the PERCS faculty to get a better handle on the program. He is excited about the idea and Evan and I are meeting with him and a few other interested faculty members next Wednesday to work out the details! I think this is going to be really cool because it will be one of my first opportunities to work with the Art Collection and also because I have never had to hang or conceptualize the use of art work in a given space before. I think this will be really helpful for the execution of my final exhibit at the end of college.

But I am not going to get ahead of myself…that is all I have for now! Not the most exciting post, I know, but at least you’re in the loop.

Take it easy.

Shame on You, B and N

Yesterday at Barnes and Noble, my third home, I decided yet again to check out the Africa travel guide section in the hopes that maybe I would be able to get my hands on a book on Ghana. Yet again, to my dismay, there was no book on Ghana. Even worse, there weren’t nearly enough books in the Africa section to cover even a quarter of the countries on the continent. And when I say “Africa section” what I really mean is the “Africa/Middle East/Israel” section because that is exactly what it’s titled. So what other books are filling almost the entire travel section, you might be asking. Take a guess. Yup, the United States and Europe. Upon considering this situation, I whipped out my handy dandy iPhone to finally document this imbalance and to make it visually apparent that there is really something wrong here.

"Africa/Middle East/Israel" section

"Europe" section, which overflows into the top three quarters of the bookshelf that the "Africa/Middle East/Israel" section is on

Well that’s not very even, is it? Especially considering the relative size of the geographies in question to each other. Actually, India, the United States, Argentina, and Western Europe combined could essentially fit inside the continent of Africa in terms of land space and still leave room. Obviously, that’s not the measure Barnes and Noble is using to decide which books make it onto their shelves.

found at http://haha.nu/entertainment/the-size-of-africa/

Now, understandably Barnes and Noble has to stock merchandise that is going to make a profit for them. If that’s true, that means that literature on Africa and many other countries in the world that aren’t the United States or in Europe is apparently not desired by consumers. So maybe this gross misrepresentation isn’t the fault of Barnes and Noble, but perhaps our, the consumers’, own? We’re so interested in the European countries and the United States that there simply isn’t a need to for chain bookstores to carry books on other countries. Without demand, there is no need for supplying.

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with traveling or being interested in Europe or the United States. I think those places are wonderful and deserve to be researched and read about, absolutely. But I also think that considerations need to be made about why things are the way they are. Why the under-representation of such a large percent of our world in bookstores? Where else is this misrepresentation or other such misrepresentations present? Why so much interest in Europe? Is it our doing that these imbalances exist or is it in fact the larger chains and the commercial market? Is it both? What do we do to change this? Why would it matter if we did change this? Why? Why? WHY?!

Please let me know what you think about this. Clearly, I have not made up my mind completely on this and am still wrestling with all the different aspects that come into play. Have you ever noticed this or something similar? Any other ideas or theories? Share your thoughts.

The Grand Plan (for this semester, at least…)

After meeting with Evan, my mentor, today, we have decided upon a semester plan of action that I am really happy with. It’s going to be a lot of work, but it is all going to help my project out in ways that I haven’t really begun to dive into yet and is going to prepare me, if even minimally, for my semester in Ghana. Here is the basic outline of what we came up with:

•    Research the Arts of Africa, and especially the Arts of Ghana.  Special attention to be paid to questions of historiography and display.
o    Read African Art by Frank Willet
o    Compose a 5-page response essay to Willet focused on themes and issues for further research
o    Following these themes gather additional scholarly essays and write annotations for each essay
•    Coordinate and hang an exhibition of works from Elon’s Art Collections related to themes or issues in African (and Ghanaian) art.
o    Design an exhibition for display on campus.  Chose location, works of art, resolve display and information issues.
o    Wall labels and/or promotional materials
•    Conduct related research on the perception of Africa and the History of Ghana, with special attention paid to colonial and postcolonial periods.
o    Read:
•    Mistaking Africa by Curtis Keim
•    White on Black by Jan Nederveen Pieterse
•    Photography Theory edited by James Elkins
o    Select a “chapter” to share with faculty mentor for discussion.
o    Compose a 2-3 response to each book.
•    Report research process on Blog after each weekly meeting (on Wednesdays! So be sure to check in at least weekly. )
•    We will meet weekly and I will conduct at least 5 hours of research outside of these meetings.

This is a general idea of what I will be doing throughout the semester! Thanks for stopping by.

America, What Art Thou?

I think that a lot of this project is going to require me to personally evaluate my own perceptions of the concepts and subjects that I am studying and researching. As I have been conducting interviews here in Florida I have realized that my perception of what we call “America” or the United States is fairly unclear to me. Hearing the people that I am having conversations with describe their ideas about America has made me think about how I would answer the same question: “What do you think of when you hear the word ‘America’?” 

While I have been exploring what that question and that word means to me, I have also been listening to a lot of country music. And rightly so, I suppose, because the country station is littered with songs that directly proclaim what the definition of ‘America’ is and that quite clearly state what our country is made of and stands for. While I am not quite sold on a lot of the following lyrics, I thought that this was really interesting to bring up–not only the lyrics, but the whole concept that people feel compelled to share what their beliefs and perceptions of America are with whoever is listening to their music.

Why do people want to sing about our country? Pride, comfort, nostalgia, guilt, and I’m sure a slew of other reasons. The whole America-through-song culture is not new and has been alive since country music began. But how have those definitions of America changed and why, if at all? For now, I will post some contemporary country lyrics, but will be researching and looking more closely at older lyrics to answer some of the above questions. 

Please post reactions or thoughts to these or anything mentioned above. It will be interesting to see what we can learn about our perceptions of our national community through some of these lyrics!

“Only in America” Brooks and Dunn

Sun coming up over New York City
School bus driver in a traffic jam
Starin’ at the faces in her rearview mirror
Looking at the promise of the Promised Land
One kid dreams of fame and fortune
One kid helps pay the rent
One could end up going to prison
One just might be president

Only in America
Dreaming in red, white and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

Sun going down on an La. freeway
Newlyweds in the back of a limousine
A welder’s son and a banker’s daughter
All they want is everything
She came out here to be an actress
He was the singer in a band
They just might go back to Oklahoma
And talk about the stars they could have been

Only in America
Where we dream in red, white and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

“It’s America” Rodney Atkins

Drivin’ down the street today
Saw the sign for lemonade
They were the cutest kids
I’ve seen in this front yard

As they handed me my glass
Smiled and thinkin’ to myself
Man what a picture perfect postcard this would make
Of America

It’s a high school prom
It’s a Springsteen song
It’s a ride in a Chevrolet
It’s a man on the moon
And fireflies in June
Kids sellin lemonade
It’s cities and farms
And open arms
One nation under God
It’s America

Later on when I got home
I flipped the t.v on
I saw a little town that some big
Twister tore apart
People came from miles around
Just to help their neighbors out
And I was thinkin’ to my self
I’m so glad that I live in America

It’s a high school prom
It’s a Springsteen song
It’s a ride in a cheverlet
It’s a man on the moon
And fireflies in June
Kids sellin lemonade
It’s cities and farms
And open arms
One nation under God
It’s America

Now we might not always get it right
But there’s nowhere else I rather build my life

Cause it’s a kid with a chance
It’s a rock n roll band
It’s a farmer cuttin’ hay

It’s a flag blowin’ in the summer wind
Over some fallen hero’s grave.

It’s a high school prom
It’s a Springsteen song
It’s a welcome home parade
It’s a man on the moon
And fireflies in June
Kids sellin lemonade
It’s cities and farms
And open arms
One nation under God
It’s America
It’s a welcome home parade

“Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” by Toby Keith

American girls and american guys
Well always stand up and salute
Well always recognize
When we see old glory flying
Theres a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Until the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flyin in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of july

Hey uncle sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the statue of liberty
Started shakin her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, its gonna be hell
When you hear mother freedom
Start ringin her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue

Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And youll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
cause well put a boot in your ass
Its the american way

Hey uncle sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the statue of liberty
Started shakin her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, its gonna be hell
When you hear mother freedom
Start ringin her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue.

“American Child” by Phil Vassar

I was ten,
I was thin,
I was playing first base 
with a secondhand glove and dirt on my face
In nowhere, Virginia
Who’d ever figure that kid in the yard would go very far
It was 419 Lakewood , had no silverspoons
Just an old beat up upright that played out of tune
Now I’m singin’ and living the life that I love
And when I count my blessings I thank God I was 
An American child

An American child
‘Cause dreams can grow wild 
Born inside an American child

Seven pounds, three ounces, she’s got my nose
And she’s into my heart as deep as it goes
With a promise that’s more than just someone’s last name
Anyone’s equal, in late August came
An American child

An American child
‘Cause dreams can grow wild 
Born inside an American child

My grandfather would have been eighty today
But in ’45 he fell down beside an American child

An American child
Oh, an American child
‘Cause dreams can grow wild born inside an American child
An American child

World is Africa

I ran into Starbucks the other day for a coffee before work and, yet again, could not resist picking up the CDs that they tactfully place right at the register for you as you wait for your -ochas and your -ccinos to be rung up. And, yet again, I happened to purchase one of those CDs. However, this said CD was not your typical Cat Stevens or Feist release. It was…

World is Africa!

Since I began this project, my eyes and mind have jumping-jacked every time I see the word “Africa.” Walking into Starbucks these days, it’s a whole 10-minute mind-cardio-workout while I wait for my beverage of choice. In case you don’t know to what I am referring, Starbucks now, at least in the Sarasota, FL area where I am, has a specific focus on all things Africa–coffee from Africa, jewelry from Africa, and as you probably guessed, music from Africa.

Cutting to the chase…I bought the CD, partially because it simply had to do with Africa and I am trying to learn as much as I can in any way that I can about the continent, but mostly because this is what the back of the CD jacket reads:

“These new and vintage recordings (dating from 1966 to 2009) display the diversity of Africa, a contnent with more than 50 countries and just as many distinct music traditions. Encompassing Ethiopian jazz, vintage reggae, Senegalese hip-hop, Malian Afro-pop, heavy Afro-beat and the gorgeous vocals from the late South African legend Mirim Makeba, these selections reveal how African sounds impact and intertwine with the music of the rest of the world.”

Would you say no to that? I guess what made me happy upon reading this was the acknowledgment of Africa as a varied and diverse place. And a healthily-connected place to the rest of the world. Even the list of descriptions of the kinds of music that are on the CD is varied and shows the infusion of cultures and time periods that this music is made of. To me, it was a relief to see something that supported the positive and unique aspects of Africa and its countries, which differs heavily from some of the media that we are exposed to and to some of the research about this that I have been doing. (More on this soon to come…). It was a good find that day in Starbucks.

Later that day I put the CD in my car and it was rockin’. It’s really hard for me to drive to with it on because I just want to throw the car in park and dance. I highly recommend picking it up next time you stop into Starbucks for a drink. It’s okay to be a sucker for marekting schemes and carefully-executed merchandise arrangements sometimes. Especially when the CD you are looking at holds such an on-target purpose and has such energizing grooves.

Technology Update!: LS-10

I recently purchased the Olympus LS-10 audio recorder to use in my interviews and for other parts of my project. We used these recorders in my Photography as Social Critique course spring semester, and they worked really well.

 

(image found at thaimarketpost.com)

If you are ever in need of a high-quality, fairly affordable audio recorder for any reason, I would recommend this one! For more information about the LS-10, visit here.

IRB and PERCS–a lot of letters and a lot of good information!

Hey there!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am in Sarasota for the summer and will be conducting interviews throughout my time here for my project. In order to conduct these interviews, I had to get approval from the International Review Board (IRB) because I am doing research involving human subjects. Dr. Stephen Bailey, the head of the IRB committee at Elon, along with my two mentors, worked with me very hard on my application. (Visit Elon’s IRB website). This application involved me answering questions about the steps that I am going to be taking in my interviews, producing the photographs that I will be presenting in my interviews, writing the consent form that I will be presenting to the people that I speak with, and drafting a summary of my project for potential “interviewees,” among other things. This whole process is to ensure that researchers are executing ethical, effective, and efficient research. I went through many drafts of my application, which was very detail-oriented, and this really helped me to work out any project kinks and to understand my project better. I will have to re-apply for approval each time that I do interviews in a new location.

It was often difficult for me to answer the IRB questions without remaining vague or ambiguous regarding my project because I really don’t have a lot of anwers about my project at this point. I didn’t want to limit myself in terms of the directions I could potentially take my project in, so it was hard for me to supply direct, concrete answers on the application. Much of this is because my project falls under the heading of ethnographic research. Another one of the biggest challenges that I am finding so far is that it is hard to be concise and articulate in conveying to others what my project is about. There are so many elements to that it is hard for me to give a straightforward answer, but I have gotten much better at it since I began my project and still have much room for improvement!

And now the rest of the letters…PERCS.

The Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies (PERCS) at Elon is devoted to ethnographic research and cultural/community study. (For more information, visit the Elon PERCS website). I mentioned the word ethnography earlier, so what does that mean? According to the PERCS website,

“Ethnography is a method of studying the social and cultural dimensions of human interaction. Its goal is to understand communities and cultures from an insider’s perspective, and then translate that understanding to outsiders. Ethnography focuses on what people do in face-to-face interaction and depends heavily on participation, observation and interviewing. This methodology is grounded in the same principles behind experiential learning—that we can understand the world by participating and engaging with other groups.”

I have been using the PERCS website as well as speaking with one of its committee members and my secondary mentor, Ken Hassell, about how my project fits into this field. PERCS has many resources on its webpage, some of which I utilized when preparing my IRB application. I will be referencing the PERCS website and working with PERCS committee members throughout the next two years and it will be an integral part of my project. Be sure to check out the PERCS website if you are personally interested in entering an ethnographic field or if you are interested in how these types of studies work!

Feel free to ask me any questions that you have about this or my experience with either of these two programs!