Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Faces of Popular Culture
While this reading covers a large body of information I don't think any article could represent the cultural identity or face of a region with so many backgrounds. I thought it was interesting how it focused on the middle ground between the traditional culture and the modern world of media. The connections between rural and urban culture are important because they represent people with different lives working together to sustain an identity for the entire region. These connections can be seen in art, music and religion as well as everyday life. I'm impressed by the way the radio was used to bring people together from very different backgrounds to create a hybrid of culture which could make it easier for everyone understand each other. The People's Radio is an effort to recover the voice of people, history, tradition, and religion to communicate the hopes and problems of the people. It seems symbolic that the culture and hopes of people in rural areas are transmitted over airwaves so their voices are heard by everyone. These people would not have an opportunity to represent themselves without the opportunity of independent radio as a medium. In the western world opportunities of expression are taken for granted but giving people who haven't been absorbed by modern culture a voice is unique.
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I think it was an interesting concept to think about how often, we think that culture is something that is created in a high place of prestige in society and trickels down to the masses, when this article and our class discussion helped me to see that culture is something that moves in multi-directional ways. Seeing how the rural, indigenous, and culture of the oppressed and marginalized in a society can equally shape a regions culture is quite interesting. It is interesting how certain things which start out to be the culture of the poor and marginalized (such as Jazz in it's early days in the U.S. or Tango in the poor parts of Buenos Aires) can trickle up to shape culture as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI too found it interesting that the radio was able to bring so many people together with ease. I think that it is true that many people take the opportunity to express themselves for granted and have no idea what its like not to heard or have no value placed on your statements. This notion may drive me to use my voice for greater things and urge others to do the same.
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