@TheSocyCinema - Videos. The Problematics of the Fake Harlem Shake. Cross-posted at Racialicious.
The Harlem Shake is a syncopated dance form that first appeared on the New York hip-hop scene in the early 1980s. Here is what it looks like: In 2012 music producer Baueer created an electronic dance tune, unfortunately calling it The Harlem Shake. Baueer’s song inspired an Internet meme in which people rhythmlessly shake their upper bodies and grind their hips in a tasteless perversion of the original dance. For example: This fake Harlem Shake meme has become so ubiquitous that it has been “performed” by the English National Ballet, and gone further globally with a video from the Norwegian army, and in Tunisia and Egypt, where the song and imitation dance has become a protest anthem.
A major problematic of this meme is that it takes an already marginalized group in America, one whose history and culture has often been appropriated and co-opted in fetishistic ways by the white majority, and makes a mockery of not just them, but an entire dance tradition. A Portal to Media Literacy. Www.gradschool.wsu.edu/CurrentStudents/TeachingResources/ Syllabus - Sociology 214 – Spring 2011 – Dhiraj Murthy. Critical Theory and New Media Sociology 214 Dhiraj Murthy Class: Tuesday/Thursday 10:00-11:25 p.m.
(Adams 202) Contact Information Department of Sociology/Anthropology Adams Hall, Office 102 Phone: 207-721-5152 e-mail: dmurthy AT bowdoin.edu Office Hours: Thursdays, 2:30-5 PM (2:30-4 p.m. scheduled using the online office hours tool and 4-5 p.m. drop in) Course Description Explores theoretical aspects of new media through specific case studies from social media. Course Requirements 1) Attendance/Participation. If you have a documented need for accommodation, you must schedule to meet with me before the end of the third week of class (not the day before an assignment!)
2) Reading. 3) Blackboard. 4) Two Essays. 5) Reading Blog. Guidelines for Weekly blog-based reading journal entries. The main objectives of this requirement are: Every weekly entry should address at least two of the following questions: A Better Blogging Assignment. [This entry is crossposted from 2012 THATCamp CHNM, where I recently organized a session devoted to designing a better blogging assignment.
This session generated many ideas, and I imagine its pedagogical goal is relevant to many ProfHacker readers. And so I welcome your thoughts and suggestions here.] I’ve got a pedagogical problem and I want you to help me. I’m sick of student blogging. This confession probably sounds strange coming from me, a vocal advocate for using blogs in the classroom, and for public writing more generally. Some background: a key component of almost every one of my classes is the collaborative class blog. My blogging guidelines typically look something like this: Each student will contribute to the weekly class blog, posting an approximately 200-300 word response to the week’s readings.
I’ve tweaked the blogging assignment over the years, in particular experimenting with the overall structure of the blog, the rhythm of postings, and my use of roles. And yet. Course blog » Popular Culture in America. An anthropological introduction to YouTube. Modern Friendship - Questionable Skills. MoMA's applied design video game exhibit reinforces the gender gap in gaming. Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images Amid all the recent stories underscoring the hardships of being a woman in tech, one that’s slid under the radar is the "Applied Design" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
The show features 14 video games, ranging from the familiar (Pac-Man, The Sims) to the obscure (Vib-Ribbon). Of those 14, exactly one, Portal, included a woman on its creative team. This isn’t surprising—women comprise barely 12 percent of the creative force in gaming—but it is depressingly symbolic of an industry that continues to marginalize women. By not even acknowledging gender as an issue in both design and user experience, MoMA’s missed a terrific opportunity. It’s the rare female-designed game that garners big interest.
Otherwise, a “no girls allowed” mentality pervades gaming more than any other pop culture medium. MoMA’s exhibit is a rare instance of the museum being traditional, acting as a repository rather than a leader.