Radio 1Xtra Extract Task 6

'What Is Black British Culture?'

In this extract we hear that both black and white people are being represented. In the radio 1xtra extract the presenter is a white man, which suggest that this might give him a sense of control, power and also a biased viewpoint on the subject because it is from a white person's view, not a black person's.

When people think of 'Black Britain' they might think of things such as gangs and crime.

The reasons for this are partly because there is not father figure to help the kids grow up and become adults, so the mother is left on her own raise and protect them. Some people have this view of 'Black Britain' because of the way Black Britain is represented in the media which is mostly negative response to Black Britain's. Music also has a huge influence on them, when we see and hear songs from Black artist's such as 50 Cent, although he is not British himself, the media uses this image as a representation of gangs and crime for Black Britain. This can also lead onto that black people feel that the media portrays Black people as they are always represented as violent people, gang members and drug dealers.

Other cultures are accused of 'Acting Black' which Black people think in an imbalanced stereotype. This ‘Acting Black’ might include how aggressive and loud they might be or also by them using slang words and phrases, such as 'you get me'. All cultures of people may have grown up in an area and learnt the culture of Black people which is why they ‘Act Black’.

I have also learnt from this extract what black British culture consists of and the things that they have bought to this country e.g. Music, R&B, Hip Hop, Ghetto, Reggae and Foods, Curry's, Chicken Rice and many more.

In the end from this clip I have learnt a lot about 'Black Britain', from the reason why black people migrated to Britain, to why the media portrays black people sometimes as a negative impact on Britain. I have also learnt how much times have changed in the space of 60-70 years.

Radio Extract 1958 Task 5

Radio Extract

Who is being represented?

What is being represented?

How is the representation constructed? (communicated?)

In this video extract the representation is about racism and racial violence, it is about the existence of 'Black Britain's' after there help during Britain's struggle against Germany in World War II. The radio extract enquires that the 'problem' of the 'Black Britain's' should be removed, whereas there was some differences between the opinions of the 'racial problem' in Britain.

The representation of the radio extract is that the White Britain's would want all of the Black people who immigrated to Britain to help our cause in the war to immigrate back to there country so Britain can just be populated with White people, as it was before the war.

Windrush Years Task 4

Half a million people from the West Indies were brought over to the UK to mainly help with the economy and soldiers to fight within the second world war. Jamaica was one of them many countries that was colonised by Britain. Jamaicans were taught to respect England, they were eager to protect their motherland within the war. The West Indian soldiers were made very welcome by the British.
Many West Indians became popular musicians and singers during the war. The British people no longer wanted the black British within the UK; they did not understand why they had not returned to their 'home' after the war. Many black people returned, although some stayed in Britain.

The West Indians believed that they had built up a relationship with the British, but this was wrong. Black people were shocked with the cockney accents of the working class British people, as well as how dull Britain was. A slogan was made to make the Blacks feel un-wanted, 'Keep Britain White'.
Black people were discriminated further when trying to find homes, as many white men did not want black people to rent rooms in their houses; which then resulted in the black people being homeless and having to end up living on the streets.
The Notting Hill riots then started which became so uncontrollable for the police, as petrol bombs were used as ammunition to start fires on the black people.

White people still wanted black people to go back to their own country, therefore began to also start carrying chains and knives to threaten them with. The black people started to then protect themselves, which began leading into head to head violent confrontations with the white people.
Britain then announced that it wanted to become multi-cultural, to bring people of all ethnicity's together. A new wave of parties came in the 1960's with Blau's house parties for Black people. These were parties in which people felt safe, but also cool. Music such as 'ska' came into Britain from Jamaica which and became huge as many people enjoyed it and still do today; Caribbean music also began to hit many of the British club scenes also.

A wealthy white woman had relationships with West Indian men which caused many problems for black people within the media, which caused another negative outlook on black people, as it shone them in a sleazy light. Black people wanted to fit into the community, but white people did not want them in their Churches on Sundays as they were seen as 'breaking the white community'. Black people then rebelled against these people by creating their own Churches, in which they could pray and worship God with their families in a safe, homely environment, in which everyone was equal.

In 1964Martin Luther King then appeared and became an inspiration. Black people then decided to fight back which lead to Labour creating a race legislation.

Michael X caused controversy as many radical black people and even liberal white people began supporting him. Michael X was donated money from celebrities to support his cause however, he murdered two people which lead to him being hung.

The black children of the first generation that had come to England had began their own clubs within the community halls to feel safe. Celebrities like Micheal Jackson, Bruce Lee, and Mohammed Ali became very famous and skin heads wanted action on this. Within the education system the black children suffered further discrimination as many were removed from mainstream classes and put into lower sets, as white people did not believe they were as intellectually inclined as them.

Definitions Task 3

Identity

The state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, asunder varying aspects or conditions: The identity of the fingerprints on the gun with those on file provided evidence that he was the killer.

Collective Identity

The term collective identity may refer to a variety of concepts. In general however, these concepts generally pertain to phenomena where an individuals perceived membership in a social group impacts upon their own identity in some way. The idea of a collective identity has received attention in a wide variety of academic fields.

Mediation & Representation

Mediation in Marxist theory refers to the reconciliation of two opposing forces within a given society (i.e. the cultural and material realms, or the superstructure and base) by a mediating object. Similar to this, within media studies the central mediating factor of a given culture is the medium of communication itself. The popular conception of mediation refers to the reconciliation of two opposing parties by a third, and this is similar to its meaning in both Marxist theory and media studies.

Mediation and representation

http://www.slideshare.net/kbamediastudies/mediation-and-representation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation_(Marxist_theory_and_media_studies)

Hegemony

The processes by which dominant culture maintains its dominant position: for example, the use of institutions to formalize power; the employment of a bureaucracy to make power seem abstract (and, therefore, not attached to any one individual); the inculcation of the populace in the ideals of the hegomonic group through education, advertising, publication, etc.; the mobilization of a police force as well as military personnel to subdue opposition.

Hegemony and the Media

Gramsci believed the media have always had a key role in teaching people to do things in their everyday lives that support the power structures. In media studies today, people look at how the media support power structures such as government, capitalism/corporations, and patriarchy. For example:

• A news report that shows strong support for a controversial foreign policy decision can be said to hegemonically support the government.
• A home improvement network that makes it seem "normal" to own high-end granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances can be said to be hegemonically supporting the capitalist economic system.
• A game show that shows scantily-clad women passively standing still until the host tells her to "open the case" can be seen as hegemonically promoting patriarchy.

http://www.suite101.com/content/hegemony-and-media-studies-a52278

http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/marxism/terms/hegemony.html

Colonialism and Post Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Colonialism is a process whereby sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole and the social structure,government, and economics of the colony are changed by colonists - people from the metropole. Colonialism is a set of unequal relationships: between the metropole and the colony, and between the colonists and the indigenous population.

Post-colonialism (postcolonial theory, post-colonial theory) is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism. Postcolonialism comprises a set of theories found amongst anthropology, architecture, philosophy,film, political science, human geography, sociology, feminism, religious and theological studies, and literature.

Imperial 'Other'

Of, relating to, or suggestive of an empire or a sovereign, especially an emperor or empress: imperial rule; the imperial palace.

The Media Imperialism debate started in the early 1970s when developing countries began to criticise the control developed countries held over the media. The site for this conflict was UNESCO where the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) movement developed. Supported by the McBride report, "Many Voices, One World", countries such as India, Indonesia, and Egypt argued that the large media companies should have limited access to developing countries. This argument was one of the reasons for the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore leaving UNESCO.

Youth Subculture

A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, work, home and school. Youth subcultures that show a systematic hostility to the dominant culture are sometimes described as countercultures.

Syncretism

the attempt to reconcile contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining," but see below for the origin of the word. Syncretism may involve attempts to merge and analogise several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.

Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture.

Post-Modernism

Postmodernism is a movement away from the viewpoint of modernism. More specifically it is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the problem of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place. It emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations; in particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus colonial. Rather, it holds realities to be plural and relative, and dependent on who the interested parties are and what their interests consist in. It attempts to problematise modernist overconfidence, by drawing into sharp contrast the difference between how confident speakers are of their positions versus how confident they need to be to serve their supposed purposes. Postmodernism has influenced many cultural fields, including literary criticism, sociology, linguistics, architecture, anthropology, visual arts, and music.

Urban Music

Musical genre of the 1980s and '90s defined by recordings by rhythm-and-blues or soul artists with broad crossover appeal. Urban contemporary began as an American radio format designed to appeal to advertisers who felt that "black radio" would not reach a wide enough audience.

Black Britain: Collective Identity Prezi Task 2

Collective Identity on Prezi