On the course homepage open the lecture notes for last week.
Go through the outline. We didn't cover everything I had planned, however:
- what TOPIC do you wish we had discussed more in depth (or, if we didn't get to it, you wish we had discussed?) WHY?
- what TOPIC we discussed that you thought was a waste of time? WHY?
- what TOPIC would you have introduced that is not in the outline? WHY?
IN A SEPARATE PARAGRAPH:
still relating to the lecture's outline, is there a question you would like to ask?
As usual, REPLY to a comment: choose a comment that was written AFTER yours.
l really enjoyed the conversation we had on privacy. On whether or not the government is entitled to our personal information. l entered with the idea that it doesn't entirely matter if the government has access to all of your information because l truly don't believe that the government is out to get me in any way. But, it was interesting to get everyone's perspective on that subject and hear why they believed that we have a right to privacy, l definitely felt like l came out with a more nuanced understanding of how Americans regard privacy. l'm not sure how much my opinion has changed but it was good to hear everyone's thoughts.
ReplyDeleteA question l would've liked to ask is how others felt at the protagonist's decision to move to America with his father. lt seemed like a really emotionally charged thing and kind of a divisive decision and l'd like other's perspectives.
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ReplyDeleteFrom last weeks lecture #3 class, If I could pick which topic we would discuss more it would be Phrenology. I found it very interesting that people used science to define why some races were inferior to others. However, I found the disturbing pictures of the lynching to be a waste of time. I felt that everyone could understand lynching from the way it was explained in class, and that those pictures weren't needed. A topic that I would introduce that was not on the outline would be the racism in the book To Kill A Mockingbird. We discussed a lot about the racism from years back and even the racism in the movie Django, and I believe this book could've really proved some more valid points on how crazy racism really was.
ReplyDeleteOne question I have is about the book, Son Of Italy. Pascal stayed in America while his father left, along with most of his other friends that he came here with. Why do you believe he stayed? I feel as if he really had nothing good going for him, so what do you think persuaded him to stay and toughen it out? Of course we know in the long run it was worth it, but he obviously did not know that at the time.
I really enjoyed the conversation about the Physiognomy. This discussion was really interesting because we are judged by the way we look and act. But this discussion made me to think differently how one group can be judged by the characteristics of their face. The topic which I think was waste of time was on privacy. Because in my opinion in todays world I think no one has their privacy. It is really crazy when I see people talking about privacy, while they put or share all of their information on public like the websites Facebook, Instagram and etc. The topic which I would of introduced would be the view of an immigrant who came to USA. I would like to see how is it different for us today than it was for Pascal.
ReplyDeleteQuestion which I would like to ask is about Phrenology? Is it true that our skull and brain have our personality traits
l can imagine Phrenology having some scientific merit. l don't think it's something that's common to people depending on their race, but l could see the way some people's skulls are built being a determinate of the way their brain is wired. l think there's a loose science to it but it's a science that ended up being used to propagate racist agenda.
DeletePersonally, I don't know for a fact that Phrenology is accurate and that our skull and brain can predict our personalities. But I honestly believe that it was just something to help people seperate races as inferior or superior. A skeleton is a skeleton, whether black or white, no matter the race.
ReplyDeleteThe topic that I found to be interesting was about the government and our privacy. I feel like the government feels that they are entitled to every detail of our personal business and would do anything to get it. I felt like it was a waste of time to talk about how science characterizes certain races. If they had scientist around the time of racism and slavery, of course they would make any study to prove African Americans, or any other races to be inferior.
ReplyDeleteI recently saw a video that showed a little boy in Africa was abandoned by his mother and became malnourished. The people of his town called him a witch because he looked so sick and skinny and couldn't speak. A woman fed and clothed the little boy. As time went on the little boy became healthy but has yet to speak. That made me think of the witch in "Son Of Italy".
My question is was the woman in Son Of Italy in need of help?
Many have replied that phrenology was a revealing aspect of the lecture. I would absolutely agree with that. The theory, or method, of phrenology was a justification for the dehumanization of minorities. It is a tangible piece of evidence that illuminates the jarring disconnect between the ruling majority and the "sub-human" minority. As many races often resemble each other with certain characteristics, this does not mean that share a genetic disposition toward any sensibility - be it criminal, or otherwise. I think it is a huge part of the institutionalized racism that occurred in the 20th century. That it was justified in something as simple, and heinous, as phrenology.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say I disliked any part of the lecture. I enjoy speaking with my classmates. Although, I admit, I find the conversations about privacy to be useless in regards to the context of Italian Literature. It is absolutely a topic that should be on the forefront of the American public's minds. However, I fail to see the connection to the hardships of Italian-American in the 20th century. I don't think that our dwindling privacy is comparable to the destitution and poverty of immigrants.
What I do think we should be talking about is the refugee crisis in America and Europe. It relates directly to the hostility that Pascal experienced as an immigrant, and the abuse that most immigrants experience. My question is: why are immigrants treated so appalling? Why do we immediately hate them and seek to marginalize them? Everyday I hear negative comments about Syrian refugees. People are worried for their jobs and their homes, and the danger of terrorism. Why is this a constant over history?
Unfortunately, your question on why immigrants are treated so appalling cannot be directly answered. In my opinion, these views may be related to a trait or just a state of mind being passed down overtime. Parts of our society are brought up to have these negative perceptions about immigrants without any background information and it's a shame because it has continued over all of this time and does not seem to be coming to an end.
DeleteA topic from last weeks discussion that I personally wish we discussed in more depth was physiognomy. Although I cannot argue whether or not it is statistically true, it fascinates me that a persons character was assumed, especially expressed through these cartoons, based on their physical traits. It is known that some people are genetically predisposed to be (for example) an aggressive person which can be linked to criminal behavior, or that there are hormones in the brain that are linked to a certain way of thinking (racism). But it's still hard for me to believe that physical traits are in relation to these personalities as well. I'd have to agree with other students that the images of lynching were unnecessary and that the description was vivid enough for us to understand.
ReplyDeleteRelating to the lecture's outline, what I'd like to ask is if the class sees how racism in our society today is relatively similar to racism in the past (immigrants), and what peoples thoughts on the similarities are. What do you feel is the reason for racism to have continued all of these years, from the days of lynching to now? What are your opinions on genetic predispositions possibly relating to racist thoughts?
A topic from last weeks discussion that I personally wish we discussed in more depth was physiognomy. Although I cannot argue whether or not it is statistically true, it fascinates me that a persons character was assumed, especially expressed through these cartoons, based on their physical traits. It is known that some people are genetically predisposed to be (for example) an aggressive person which can be linked to criminal behavior, or that there are hormones in the brain that are linked to a certain way of thinking (racism). But it's still hard for me to believe that physical traits are in relation to these personalities as well. I'd have to agree with other students that the images of lynching were unnecessary and that the description was vivid enough for us to understand.
ReplyDeleteRelating to the lecture's outline, what I'd like to ask is if the class sees how racism in our society today is relatively similar to racism in the past (immigrants), and what peoples thoughts on the similarities are. What do you feel is the reason for racism to have continued all of these years, from the days of lynching to now? What are your opinions on genetic predispositions possibly relating to racist thoughts?
Regarding how we see racism today, I don't not think racism is as prevalent now as it was years ago. However, like any idea, it gains trend with the frequency of its spread. My grandmother is racist, and the things she speaks of are lessons she was taught as a child. Communist Soviet Union was closed off to the rest of the world, so not only were they taught that they were the best in the world but also the idea of white supremacy through genetic hierarchy had a huge impact. To this day my grandma thinks that being of a particular background or lineage makes you smarter or better as a person. I think this is just a way of viewing the world. For my grandma, this is how she was brought up to think. I went to public school, and had a mix of friends, and live in New York, and thus see the potential and equality of all races. So I do not look down on people as she does. I think what you are looking for will vary greatly between people in our class versus people from a different part of the county. New Yorkers see race differently as we grew up in a Metropolis. Small town minds with only white lineage only know the white experience. As the world gets smaller, I think we'll see less racism due to more understanding of cultures and seeing equal potential in all of them.
DeleteOne topic I wish we had discussed more in depth is the idea of arbitrary signs vs non-arbitrary signs. Arbitrary signs refer to things that do not reflect the visual of that actual thing. For example, the color green means to go whereas the color red means to stop. Those colors alone have no connection to the “meanings” that people have associated it with. I connected these terms to what I have learned in my psychology course about classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is similar to arbitrary signs, however it is a process that involves pairing two stimuli repeatedly until the response given to the second stimulus is given to the first stimulus. I find it amazing that our bodies can learn all of these newly taught connections.
ReplyDeleteA topic that I thought that was a waste of time was debating about whether we should have privacy on our phones. I feel like we completely missed the actual point of the New York Times article. I personally think Apple should unlock the criminal’s phone because it can help assist gathering useful information. This would have made a more interesting and fixated debate.
A topic I would have introduced that is not in the outline would be criminal anthropology. Criminal anthropology, is the scientific study of crime. There are many terms and ideas that could be difficult to understand. Even more, it would give us a better understanding of that specific area.
One question I would like to ask is about a theme in the Son of Italy. Throughout the autobiography, Pascal lives in poverty while struggling to find an adequately compensated job…why is this still a problem in America today?
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ReplyDeleteI did not really find any of the topics that we discussed to be a complete waste of time; however, I do think that the privacy discuusion was excessive and could have been trimmed down to cover more of the lecture, which I found more interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs for I personally wanted from the discussion, I would not have minded a more rounded discussion of Birth of a Nation . I doubt there are many people that can argue that the film blatantly racist and a massive mistelling of history, but it is also a crucial part of cinema history. There are camera, editing, and overall storytelling techniques in Birth of a Nation that were revolutionary at the time, either by being the first to use them or by using them in creative ways. This might be a selective way of viewing the film compared with looking at its social impacts, but so is ignoring how it was innovative.
Continuing with Birth of a Nation , the topic that I would introduce is the era of race films that was brought about in response to the Griffith. Outrage over Birth of a Nation helped alert production companies to an untapped African American audience and directly inspired filmmakers like Micheaux to make films that realistically depicted African Americans. This period was a stepping stone as far as seeing other races on screen.
As far as the outline, I was interested in the definition of self consolatory:
SELF-CONSOLATORY:
1) it's always been that way.
2) it used to be much worse.
Are those things not true, because I would like to think some fraction of headway has been made, or is the issue that they're used as excuses to further change things?
-Moz
I didn't really find any topics to be a waste of time. However as much as I enjoyed the deep discussion on privacy and technology, it did seem to derail the class and shut out more relevant topics. I could go on for days on the importance of privacy but the class is on Italian-American literature, and I wish we stayed more within the subject matter. For instance, the idea phrenology was very interesting to me. I don't think I've been in a class that extensively discusses the inner workings of such a bogus science. I've been told of its existence, and what we discussed in class is as extensive as its ever gotten for me and I still have a lot of questions about it. Also, I wish we went more into the impact of Birth of a Nation. The social impacts and the advances in editing were very important and basically led to what we now know as film today. It was a great example of the racism of the time but the film itself was much more than that.
ReplyDeleteBirth of a Nation was a very famous movie and had a lot of impact on this country. Therefore, I would have liked to discuss more of that movie as well.
DeleteThe topic I'd want to get into deeper detail would be the lynching and actions taken against Asians who migrated here, if there were any lynchings; because surprised by the fact of Italians being lynched I want to know if Asians were lynched too. The topic that was a waste of time was probably the privacy and invasion of info, we all should probably know by now that the government can and do whatever they want, whenever they want. They can tap into any wire, phone, computer, anything they want because they have the knowledge and accessibility to do so. Even a few classmates during class were saying we should know this by now, etc. A topic I'd introduce would probably be the cases where whites and blacks worked and stayed together and made a revolutionary move to side with one another because its not something people want to hear about.
ReplyDeleteI was not present during last weeks class, but I was very interested in learning about how phrenology was used in the movie Django. This was a movie I had watched earlier and I didn't pay any attention at all to how phrenology might have been used. I was actually aware of the term phrenology and I wasn't oblivious to it because I had learned about it in a previous psychology class before actually watching the movie. I was interested in seeing how when you watch a movie and pay attention to certain things, how much things you might actually find that have went unnoticed previously. Now that I have watched the Youtube video, I actually remember the exact scenes but when I was watching the movie initially, I gave it very little attention, and merely thought about it as part of the story and not as a way of reasoning and thinking that was present during the setting of the movie. I also feel as if unless I was watching the movie specifically looking for types of phrenology, I wouldn't have noticed it at all.
ReplyDeleteLooking through last weeks lecture I would have enjoyed learning more about Italian History because history is the foundation of any nation and therefore can express a lot about one place or another. It's beautiful to see how people came together and what they formed. Also I would like to know the difference between arbitrary and non-arbitrary signs, I don't recall us looking at anything specific concerning that, but I may be wrong. I would just like to see the difference because how can you have an arbitrary sign really, it must have a meaning of some sort or another. I don't necessarily think any topics are a waste of time, especially now that I am understanding the format of the classroom. It's not just literature it's reality and how literature can be used as a tool, so discussing world issues I am all up for because it is who we are now and what is going on is quite important for the shaping of tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that everything we discuss in class is interesting and relevant. However, I wish we were focusing more on Italian Literature and film. However, I felt that the discussion on how the government wants to have all our information was a bit irrelevant to the class. Although it is very relevant today, I personally would have liked to delve more into what the class is about.
ReplyDeleteI definitely wished we could have discussed physiognomy more. I thought it was extremely interesting and I would have liked to see more examples of this concept more.
A question I have wanted to ask is actually about the author of "Son of Italy." I would like to know more about his other work as well as background information on him.
In regards to the government having our information, I have heard many people liken the lack of privacy and constant monitoring as a form of slavery. In that case, it may be relevant. We don't know what we don't know. Sometimes you just got to take in everything and see what others may interpret it as.
DeleteI really enjoyed the conversation we had on privacy. It really made me think about what I do on the computer and on my phone. I know I don't post anything bad, but like one of the students in the class said, they can set you up for something that you may have done and you can face penalty for that.
ReplyDeleteThere aren't any topics that I think was a waste of time yet. The topics we covered in class thus far have been relevant to our class discussions and in our class.
I wish we had gone more in-depth with the Apple opening a back door for gov't agencies. I feel we were making good progress on it and we stopped for some reason or another. Personally I think Apple should allow some agencies into they're software. It creates more problems than it solves and isn't efficient enough to catch criminals.
ReplyDeleteI didn't personally feel as if any conversation was a waste of time. Our discussion of the book, especially the witch section was eye opening and it helps to have alternate perspectives.
Personally I wish we could have discussed the introduction of computer coding as a different language to learn in schools, as opposed to Spanish or French.
I do not feel that any topic needed further discussion, simply because we spent so much time dissecting the individual issues presented. I was also able to voice my point of view on all the issues so I did not leave the class feeling deprived or having more to add to the discussion.
ReplyDeleteThe topic I felt that was a waste of time was the discussion on privacy and the FBI trying to gain access into iPhones. This topic is not of personal interest to me, nor does it have anything to do with the class.
The topic I wish we spend more time on is scientific racism. We touched on this topic in class in the form of physiognomy. I would like to learn more of this and hidden racism in language.
I was extremely interested in "picnic". I had no knowledge of the true meaning or origin of that word. It makes me think that I'm glad I never went out for a picnic. I would have definitely love hearing more about this to broaden my understand of how it came about. I would have introduced the Trayvon Martin case. My focus would have been on him looking suspicious and being attacked and killed because of it.
ReplyDeleteI would like to ask about the romanticism of blacks and the discrimination against whites by blacks. Why fight for equality but elicit superiority?
What interested me the most was the topic about lynching. i was surpised to find out that other groups in the U.S were lynched. I wished we went more indept about this topic, because no where in history did they mention other groups being lynched. I also felt like none of the other topic was a waste of time. They were all interesting, and taught me a lot of things i would have never knew about. The topic about criminal anthropolgy was also very interesting, because to me it was really ignorant. how can a person facial features tell if they are a criminal or not. People can use that theory to commit crimes, and get away with it because their face says that they are no criminal.
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