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Archive for April, 2009

Keep the conversation going

In Black cultural production, classroom, college, jazz on April 29, 2009 at 4:00 am

If you had entered my 300-level sociology seminar two days ago, you would have seen a 86-year-old African American student talking about jazz. Good Dues Blues and Shoo Shoo Baby playing in the background, Luora was presenting her final research project on jazz music in front of the class and the professor.

Studying with diverse individuals has proved to be a highly valuable experience for me. And when I say diverse, I refer not only to the students’ race, ethnicity, religion or political affiliation. I also refer to their age.

Mount Holyoke College runs a program (Frances Perkins program) for women of non-traditional age. Every woman over the age of 24 can earn an undergraduate degree on a full or part-time course schedule. Each year approximately 140 diverse and intellectually curious women enroll at Mount Holyoke as Frances Perkins scholars (FPs). And I was lucky enough to have Luora, the oldest African American FP student, in my sociology class Black Cultural Production and Consumption.

“Let me tell you mine experience,” Luora started answering a classmate’s question about the given jazz presentation. Everyone in the classroom beamed and listened attentively. We love her stories. We love it when she makes the abstract theories about, for example, black authentic identity, real for us.

Born in 1923, Luora is not only an active participant in our class discussions but also a carrier of her generation’s worldview. In the classroom, she enables a discourse between at least three generations–her Civil Rights generation, our professor’s Generation X and the students’ Generation Y.

“Jazz is a conversation,” she said in conclusion to her presentation. “It continues a tradition of communication.” Undoubtedly, having her and other FP students in my academic program also continues a tradition of communication.

Social media and indigenous people

In Inuit, Isuma TV, indigenous people, new media technologies on April 21, 2009 at 5:15 am

In today’s global society, the maintenance of cultural heritage and celebration of diversity have become especially relevant topics. In this context, new media technologies definitely contribute to the communication rights’ expansion of indigenous people.


Firstly, they allow greater access to alternative sources of information. For instance, there is a wide range of blogs dedicated to the causes of indigenous people. (Indigenous Issues Today, Ushahidi, Noongar) They offer personal perspectives about the distinct realities of many indigenous people. As a result, these blogs play an important role in raising cultural awareness and recognition.

Similar is the function of news and music podcasts for indigenous people. For instance, Michael Kickingbear, a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, narrates and hosts a podcast titled Indigenous Peoples Music. This is a show that features Native American Indian artists and allows listeners to “experience traditional as well as contemporary styles of native music.”

Free and open-source projects like Wikipedia can also positively influence the expansion of indigenous people’s communication rights because they foster collaboration. By being open to constant improvement from experts as well as from the public, Wikipedia encourages valuable participation and social activity.

The Internet video portal for indigenous filmmakers Isuma TV brings positive change to the Inuit population. In addition to encouraging more independent filmmakers to tell their stories in a creative fashion, Isuma TV works on restoring “old videos whose irreplaceable cultural information is in danger of being lost forever.” Thus, it aims at reinforcing the Inuit collective memory and cultural heritage in a well-structured and widely accessible space.

Iraqi Refugees: The Hidden Crisis

In IRC, Iraqi refugees, Maureen White, hidden crisis on April 17, 2009 at 1:13 am

“These refugees wouldn’t have existed if we hadn’t invaded their country,” said Maureen White, the co-chair of the Board of Overseers of the International Rescue Committee. She was referring to the two million Iraqi refugees who fled their country in search for shelter in Syria and Jordan.

Tonight, White gave the Mount Holyoke community a public lecture titled Iraqi Refugees: The Hidden Crisis. She made the point that it was time for the U.S. to accept its obligations toward the war victims of Iraq. White noted that most European countries, with the exception of Germany, Sweden and Denmark, have ignored the intensifying situation with the Iraqi refugees. These countries believe the crisis should be solved by the ones directly responsible for the war in Iraq. That would be the U.K. and the U.S.

In Iraq, the International Rescue Committee works to upgrade water services, renovate schools and improve public health institutions. It has launched humanitarian programs in Syria and Jordan where the majority of Iraqi refugees are now living. The committee has been also supporting organizations that provide “outreach services and aim to bring together and improve relations between the overwhelmed host community and Iraqi refugees.”

Although the IRC is fully devoted to mitigate the humanitarian crisis with the Iraqi refugees, White acknowledged that the committee faces many challenges. “Even if you want to help them, they are afraid to come out. It is a tiny number of people that we are reaching,” said White.