Monthly Archives: November 2013

“Old Women Should Get Married” – More on ‘Leftover Women’

Stop being picky and just get hitched! This is what China is telling the young women in today’s society through the pressure and influence from family, friends, and the media. There are even television shows, and a LOT of them, … Continue reading

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Hashtags and Raymond Williams

When thinking about which theorists to use for my topic I was immediately drawn to Raymond Williams.  His concept of the emergent culture fits perfectly to the whole idea behind the #Hashtag.  Simply the fact that the emergent culture is … Continue reading

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The Giving Pledge ext.

Throughout my research on The Giving Pledge, it seems that despite the Pledges’ relative success in the American context, it has floundered a little bit on the international stage. This is not to say that is hasn’t garnered some support; … Continue reading

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China’s Leftover Women: A Case Study

Independent. Intelligent. Successful. Believe it or not, in China and several other Asian countries, these are all qualities that drive men away from women, rather than attract them. I became interested in the topic of ‘Sheng Nu,’ Leftover Women, when … Continue reading

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Case Study: Wine in China

So this is just your typical wine chateaux, built upon sprawling acres of maturing grape vines… in China?! That’s right—this chateau was actually built within the last few years outside the northeastern city of Tianjin, not in the Loire Valley … Continue reading

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Earth Day: A grassroots counter-hegemonic movement?

The human interaction with the land is a very complex and varying one.  As we recently read in Glen Coulthards’ “Place Against Empire: Understanding Indigenous Anti-Colonialism” the relationship to the environment and land is very different to varying cultural groups. … Continue reading

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Social media as a platform for empowerment (and disempowerment)

“Remove the kinks from your mind, not your hair.” – Marcus Garvey After deciding that my case study will be on the natural hair movement I have been outlining and thinking of the examples I want to use to support … Continue reading

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Images of Orientalism

A major theme of interest that arose in our class discussion of Edward Said’s “Orientalism” was Said’s argument that Western perceptions of “The Other” or the “Oriental” in fact reveal more about the West than they do about The Orient. … Continue reading

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The Importance of Worldliness

In “De-Eurocentricizing Cultural Studies”, Stam and Shohat explain the importance of a multicultural outlook on international affairs, and recognize that Eurocentric discourse has generated a bound set of world power relations in favor of the West. European discourse isn’t limited … Continue reading

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What to do? Vlogs, Reality Shows, and Afro Natural Hair movement?

I have been thinking a lot about my case study paper and presentation. The topics I have been thinking about thus far are vlogs, reality shows and Afro natural hair movement. All three topic are interesting and connected to me … Continue reading

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