Theoretical Readings Flashcards
What is the name of the author for Imagined Communities?
Benedict Anderson
What does Anderson discuss in Imagined Communities?
He defines a nation as an ‘imagined political community’ and described is as being both limited and sovereign.
Explain the use of the word ‘imagined’ in Imagined Communities?
It’s imagined because the members of the nation will never know most of the other members, but in their minds still exists the idea of community.
Explain the use of the word ‘communities’ in Imagined Communities?
Regardless of any inequality and exploitation in the nation, it is always conceived as a deep comradeship. They share ideas and culture.
Why does Anderson describe Imagined Communities as ‘limited’?
Because no matter the size of the nation, it is limited in the sense that it has finite boundaries with other nations beyond them.
Who is the author of Deep Play?
Clifford Geertz
What is the basic background at the start of Deep Play?
Geertz and his wife travelled to a Balinese village in 1958 to study as anthropologists. The whole town ignored them for a week. They attended an illegal ‘cock fight’ (which was intended to raise money for a new school) and when the police arrived they joined in with the rest of the crowd running. The next day people were willing to talk to them.
Why did the town accept them after running from the cock fight?
They demonstrated that they were peers with the crowd by running, instead of pulling out their papers and saying they were just anthropologists documenting.
Who is the author of Third Space?
Homi Bhaba
What is the concept of third space?
When two musical cultures combine, they aren’t necessarily one or the other. Some music doesn’t exist in one culture or the other, it exists in its own space.
Who wrote Orientalism?
Edward Said
What is the concept of orientalism?
It’s the idea of creating an ‘other’, based on stereotypes in order to control and limit another culture. For example, the idea of the orient limiting the east as imposed upon it by the west.
What is thick description?
Culture gives actions and events meaning, not the actions themselves.
Who wrote thick description?
Clifford Geertz
What is Deep Play?
The cultural aspects of the cock fight make it much more important than simply two cocks fighting.
