Field Research Election: October 21 · 10/5/2019 · And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate,...
Transcript of Field Research Election: October 21 · 10/5/2019 · And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate,...
• Thinking about rituals and power: how is the meaning of the “hakuna matata” ritual affected by changes in both individual and social contexts?
• How might the meaning of a text be affected by who is reading it?
• How might the meaning of a text be affected by who the author is?
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• Contract due October 11➡ Find 1 or 2 partners!
➡ Pick a place to visit!
➡ Can change your minds later!
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Field Research
Election: October 21
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Next week:Reading Week!
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5. Ritual + “Texts”
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Today
• Finish: Ritual!
➡ Power + rites of passage
• Film Analysis
• “Texts”:
1. Theories of texts2. What do texts mean? 3. Which texts do we study?4. Why study texts?
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Ritual
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1. What is ritual?
2. Ritual studies
3. Theories of ritual
What is Ritual?
• Ritual = stuff people DO (i.e., actions)
➡ But which stuff??
➡ Many definitions!
• Ritual as meaningful action
➡ Meaning is relational➡ Meaning depends on the people and the
context
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Ritual Studies1. Ritual studies showed that actions were
important in religion
➡ Religion was not only about belief
2. Shift in focus within ritual studies
➡ From “Is this action a ritual?” to “What does this action mean?”
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Ritual Theories
• Many theories focus on the FUNCTION of ritual (not “content”)
➡ Not about (symbolic) meaning (e.g., bread = body of Christ)
➡ About the effect of the action(s) on participants (e.g., rituals help create relationships)
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Ritual Theories
• Emile Durkheim (society)
• Sigmund Freud (neurosis)
• Harvey Whitehouse (memory)
• Malory Nye (power)
• Arnold van Gennep (rites of passage)
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Harvey Whitehouse
• Rituals and memory (p. 143-4)
1. “Imagistic” mode: high intensity (dramatic and/or traumatic)
❖ E.g., wedding, funeral, assault
2. “Doctrinal” mode: mundane repetition (routine)
❖ E.g., daily prayer, national anthem
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Imagistic
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Doctrinal
Harvey Whitehouse
• Rituals and memory (p. 143-4)
1. “Imagistic” mode: high intensity (dramatic and/or traumatic)
2. “Doctrinal” mode: mundane repetition (routine)
• What about rituals such as:
➡ Ramadan; Christmas; Rosh Hashanah; Diwali; attending weddings?
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Power
• Rituals involve power relations (p. 149)
➡ Can express power or challenge power
➡ (Note: this is not Nye’s theory)
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Power
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Power
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Power Power
• The same ritual can mean different things
• Need to know contexts
➡ Bloch: social/historical contexts (p. 149)
❖ E.g., royal wedding
➡ Bell: individual contexts (p. 150)
❖ E.g., attending lecture
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Hakuna Matata
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Power• The same ritual can mean different things
• Hakuna Matata?
➡ Bloch: social/historical contexts (p. 149)
❖ E.g., T+P help Simba overthrow Scar once they all learn about Pride Lands
➡ Bell: individual contexts (p. 150)
❖ E.g., friendship helps T+P in a different way than it helps Simba
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Ritual Studies: Example
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• What is the meaning of this action?
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• What is the meaning of this action?
Theories:
• Durkheim?
• Freud?
• Whitehouse?
• Power?
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• What is the meaning of this action?
Possible meanings:
• Durkheim: Form relationships
• Freud: Avoid difficulties?
• Whitehouse: Remember
• Power: Express/challenge power
• Examples?
• Indigenous rites of passage:
➡ Pondo healers
➡ Anishinaubae vision quest
➡ Wiradjuri boys
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Rites of Passage
• Rituals and transformation
➡ Rituals often involve changes of some kind
➡ Space, time, social relations, etc.
➡ Boundaries
➡ Rites of passage
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Arnold van Gennep
1. Separation➡ Death of old self; leave home
2. Liminality
➡ “Threshold”; anti-structure
3. Incorporation
➡ Birth of new self; go home (new/old); physical change?
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Arnold van GennepRite of passage = literal / symbolic journey
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Pondo Rite of Passage
(liminal stage)
• Limin = “threshold”
➡ Doorway, path, tunnel, etc.
• Liminal stage (from Nye, p. 147):
➡ Inversion of “normal” life
➡ Different dress/place/behaviour
➡ Bizarre, upside-down
➡ Anti-structure, opposite of normal
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Rite of Passage
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Rite of Passage
Time
InitialStatus
NewStatus
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Rite of Passage
Time
Sepa
ratio
n
InitialStatus
NewStatus
Inco
rpor
atio
n
LIMINALSTAGE
Threshold
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First Time Voting
Time
Sepa
ratio
n
InitialStatus
NewStatus
Inco
rpor
atio
n
LIMINALSTAGE
Threshold
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Time
Sepa
ratio
n
InitialStatus
NewStatus
Inco
rpor
atio
n
LIMINALSTAGE
Young + Disenfranchised VOTE! Politically
Engaged Citizen?
First Time Voting
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Rite of Passage: Simba
Time
Sepa
ratio
n
InitialStatus
NewStatus
Inco
rpor
atio
n
LIMINALSTAGE
Threshold
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Rite of Passage: Simba
Time
M d
ies,
S ch
ased
aw
ay
Cub King
S re
turn
s to
Pri
de L
ands
Timon + Pumbaa
Irresponsible + Immature
Hakuna MatataAccepts
Responsibility
Separation
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Symbolic Death
Liminality
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Incorporation
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Film Assignments!
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Film Paragraph
• Grades + assignments will be posted later this week
• Overall: well done! Yay!
• You ≠ your grades
• First assignment only worth 5%
➡ Chance to learn and improve
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• Key problem: not following instructions
➡ Some penalties in quantitative rubric
• Grading process + appeals
➡ Will post announcement
➡ Not graded to achieve certain average
➡ C = adequate (UofT standard)
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Film Paragraph
• Learning and improving
➡ Education!
➡ Please look at feedback from TA
➡ Also look at samples posted on Quercus (under Assignments > Film Paragraph)
➡ Students who met with me or the TAs improved their work
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Film Paragraph
Film Analysis
• Film Analysis: due Oct. 22
• Tiny extension! New deadline is Oct. 23
• Yes: use theory to interpret film
• No: use film to understand theory (or use film to illustrate or prove theory)
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Film Analysis
• Documents on Quercus!
➡ Film Analysis Instructions
➡ Film Analysis Theories
➡ Grading rubric
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Film Analysis
• Also review Film Paragraph documents!
➡ Film Paragraph Advice + Examples
➡ Example Film Paragraph with Comments
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Film Analysis
• Use theory to interpret film
➡ Avoid the obvious!
➡ Look for interesting questions
➡ Start with what you don’t understand
➡ E.g., why are Scar and Mufasa so different? Why do Timon and Pumbaa help Simba fight against Scar?
• 4 paragraphs in total:
1. Belief (revised!)
2. Ritual
3. Text
4. Reflection
Film Analysis
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Oct. 21 tutorial homework (bring 2 copies)
• Ask for help!
➡ Me / your TA (office hours Oct. 21–23)
➡ RG Academic Skills Centre
➡ Accessibility Resource Centre
➡ Health + Counselling Centre
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Film Analysis
u Walk-in Clinic on campus u Davis Building 1st floor
u Open to all UofT students u Doctors
u Nurses u Counselors
u Nutritionist
u Flu Shots
u Medications and Vaccination
Film Analysis• Ritual paragraph
➡ Do not worry about whether an action is a “ritual” or not
➡ Simply use a theory of ritual to analyze any action(s) that interest you
➡ Question: what does the action mean?
➡ Using Freud’s theory, it’s possible to see that Simba uses the “hakuna matata” ritual to avoid dealing with problems.
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Film Analysis
• Text paragraph
• Apply theories to “texts” WITHIN the film
➡ “Text” = anything in the film that is spoken, sung, written, named, signed, etc.
➡ “Author” = character who writes or speaks
➡ “Reader” = character who reads or listens
• E.g.,“Hakuna Matata”: Author? Reader?
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• Do NOT do the following:
➡ “Text” = screenplay of the film
➡ “Author” = writer of the screenplay
➡ “Reader” = viewer of the film
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Film Analysis
“Texts!”
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Author – Text – Reader
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“Texts”
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1. Theories of texts
2. What do texts mean?
3. Which texts do we study?
4. Why study texts?
1. Theories of texts
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• Authorship (p. 169–71): Michel Foucault + Roland Barthes
• Readers (p. 176–78):Wolfgang Iser + Stanley Fish
• Gender (p. 178): Judith Fetterley + Julia Leslie
• Language + interpretation (p. 158–59): Jacques Derrida
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Authorship
• Two issues re: meaning of a text:
1. Barthes: “Death” of the author (=author’s intent is NOT important in determining the meaning[s] of a text)
2. Foucault: author’s identity IS important in determining the meaning(s) of a text (status, expertise, gender, etc.)
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“You know this is your master, eh?
Do you feel the lash?”
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Author’s Intent Does NOT Determine Meaning? (Barthes) Song
• “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift (2014)
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“Shake It Off”I stay out too late
Got nothing in my brainThat’s what people say, mmm-mmm That’s what people say, mmm-mmm
‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, playAnd the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shakeI shake it off, I shake it off
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“Shake It Off”I stay out too late
Got nothing in my brainThat’s what people say, mmm-mmmThat’s what people say, mmm-mmm
‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, playAnd the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shakeI shake it off, I shake it off
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author’s identity IS important to meaning (Foucault)
Hakuna Matata
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One True King
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What kind of texts are involved in elections?
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“There is absolutely no room in Canada for intolerance, racism, and extremism.”
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Andrew Scheer
Jagmeet Singh
Justin Trudeau
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Trans Mountain Pipeline
2015 Election
Issue: pipeline running through Indigenous lands
APTN Interviewer: “Would no mean no under your government?”
Trudeau: “Absolutely.”
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September 1: The Two Sides of Canada
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“just say the truth.”
How does the author’s identity affect the meaning
of the following texts?
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Adolf Hitler
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Readers
• Iser: meaning produced by relation b/t reader and text (very broad idea)
• Fish: identity of reader affects how they read a text
➡ Science book read by scientist vs. artist
➡ Bible read by Christian vs. Hindu
➡ Nye’s book for you now vs. last month
➡ Scheer quote for Liberal vs. Conservative 85 86
Adolf Hitler
Gender
• Fetterley: “important” texts written by, for, and about men
➡ Most often male “voice” is heard
➡ Sacred texts?
➡ The Lion King?
• Leslie: gender of reader may impact how a text is read
➡ See Iser + Fish 87
“Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife just as Christ is the head of the church.” (Ephesians 5:22)
“Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to
have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” (I Timothy 2:11-12)
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The New Testament
Jacques Derrida• Logocentrism (p. 159)
• Belief that words are window to the world
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Logocentrism: The Office S04E04
I . . . DECARE . . . BANKRUPTCYYYYY!
Jacques Derrida1. Texts are important
2. The meanings of texts are variable
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Jacques Derrida1. Texts are important
➡ We live in worlds shaped by texts
➡ Course syllabi, essay instructions, laws, political promises
➡ Sacred texts!
➡ The Lion King
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Jacques Derrida2. The meanings of texts are variable
➡ Unstable links between words + reality
➡ Meaning affected by changes in history, context, author, reader, etc.
➡ Meaning of words not fixed
➡ Icon
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Icon: The Ladder of Divine Ascent
(12th C)
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“Fuggetaboutit”
(warning: language)
agree disagree the greatest
go to hell forget about it
Have a great Reading Week!
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