Culture and Power by B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks en-us 2020-09-11 19:52:55 UTC 2026-03-25 00:53:04 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f30d.png W3 B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/782440674 This poem portrays the anger and betrayal felt by the people involved in the Windrush Scandal. It talks in terms of 'you' and 'us', which is powerful because this shows the division that is created by denying citizenship to your own people. It situates the scandal within the stigmatization felt by black British in everyday life- "what to do with these darkies? The sarcastic tone of the poem is indicative of the feeling of division, a tone we've got used to, a mocking of the racism so thinly veiled in Britain. But it communicates the pain too, of losing a family member in a place where belonging is delegated by the colour of your skin.]]> 2020-09-27 15:04:37 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/782440674 Week 2: Crime and Punishment B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/782516134 This documentary (available on 4od) looks at a weekend prison camp for children to try show them what happens if they misbehave. These kids are treated like dirt for crimes the adults in their lives assume they will one day commit. It's the impact of the 'breaking windows' theory, and it raises questions about what the police are for. In this situation, parents blame their kids for being 'bad', police blame parents for poor skills, and the presenter is taken aback by the whole situation. ]]> 2020-09-27 16:25:21 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/782516134 Week 2: Crime and Punishment B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/790890536 Molly Crabapple's video illustrations represent the discussions around this week fantastically. For instance, 'the zo'  narrated by Michael K. Williams, draws on the double standard for prisoners and police, where criminality is a social role rather than a result of behaviour. It also goes towards questioning: what is punishment for? The psychological abuse experienced in these stories relates to the purpose of punishment as a place of emotion, rather than a socially purposeful institution. The illustration of how police and state treat sex workers alludes to the problem of what we consider crimes. Moral lawmaking directed at vulnerable individuals is a mode of forcing uniformity. It highlights where the power lies. Sex work becomes an issue of female morality in a way that puts everybody involved at serious risk. I am sickened by the fact that male police officers trap female sex workers by having sex with them,  and I wonder what this has to do with justice? ]]> 2020-09-30 11:57:49 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/790890536 Week 2: Crime and Punishment B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/791137342 Vitale's book strongly criticises the heavy reliance on policing as a form of social management. The presence of a military mindset built into the policing system is poorly transferred to issues like protection of sex workers, management of young people in schools and housing disparities. He is repeatedly insistent: the police are not here to protect you; punishment is a method of sustaining inequalities.]]> 2020-09-30 13:18:34 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/791137342 W3 B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/796561056 Plans like these are symptoms of the racism of our political system. These attitudes show how people are reduced to that status as refugees and criminalized. This article comments on Britains treatment of undesirable citizens by sending them away. "Outlandish plans" to offshore refugees reflects the precarious position Khosravi () highlights in his auto-ethnography. People are dehumanised and made nothing more than their status as 'other', their humanity becomes blurred as they are distanced from us (literally). ]]> 2020-10-01 22:53:34 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/796561056 W3 B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/796569565 Ticktin's (2006) article drew on the idea of commonality in illness. I found this an interesting contrast to this article (and others like it) where families were deported from Australia if a member had an illness or disability which could be considered a strain on their medical system. I think this shows the varying attitude towards migrants, but also how ideas about national identity can influence how others are treated. In this case, people's identities are only valued as contributors to the country. Whereas in the French example it is the opposite- they are the subjects of charity and can stay as long as they fit into the image of a vulnerable migrant- relatable as bodies rather than people. Selectivity in both cases depends on an idealised image of migrant people, and failure to fit into this makes them vulnerable. Here, the mother arguing the case is clearly aware of these expectations and is emphasising that he does not take much space, he is doing well at school - they are worthy by the framework given to them.

 I picked this case because of the way it is framed, it is written to appeal to our better nature and take pity (or become outraged) by this families deportation based on disability. ]]> 2020-10-01 23:00:08 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/796569565 W2 B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/802708571 What is punishment for? Who does the law protect? This documentary explores how sex offenders are treated in America and the emotion that is connected to their punishment. Dooley questions whether the way people are prosecuted is a way to protect children, or rather an emotional response to a horrible thought (ill-considered in reality). A striking interview with a father and daughter who fight to increase the persecution of sex offenders shows the emotion that is behind the construction of laws to protect children- particularly the children of those with authority, money or power. The effects of this system of emotional lawmaking have problems in practice, it doesn't eradicate the crime, and it fails to deal with people who commit it properly. 

Sex offenders are dealt with by public persecution (like warning signs on their lawn), and by distancing. The problem seems to be that this protects some children and not others. Sex offenders are forced to live on the street, which poses different public safety dangers. They are also made to live in a closed-off community away from schools-- but surprisingly are still allowed to be in contact with children. This calls into question which children are being protected here. 

Variations on this crime are punished with equal power, so men who have abused young children live and are punished alongside young men who have, for example, dated girls a few years younger than them. This method fails to hold people accountable for their actions, and more importantly, fails to show people what they have done wrong- it doesn't seem so bad compared to this other guy. The extreme response to smaller offences means that people are unlikely to seek help or change, and more likely to find ways to hide their behaviour in a way that makes it unprovable. 

Shifting to a medical narrative for people who commit crimes like these is interesting because it seems to propose an approach that is less persecutory and therefore, less emotionally triggered. ]]> 2020-10-05 12:23:41 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/802708571 W3 B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/815101162 This documentary aligns with the narrative on what we value, and how this is projected onto how we cope with immigration. Its focus on refugee children and families is part of the need to make refugees relatable- done through family narratives valued so much in Britain. The ending asks each child what job they will do as an adult, I think this is part of the same argument- they are valuable to us because they will be beneficial to our economy, health services and country. It simultaneously appeals to public anxieties about the danger of others, while appealing to our humanity by evoking images of family values. 

This also demonstrates the liminality of refugees, and the unsteady status of their citizenship as the status of many of the young people are questioned. For instance, one boy was sent to another country because he had claimed asylum there first, although his family lived in the UK. ]]> 2020-10-08 18:54:33 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/815101162 W4 B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/818131312 This links to everyday resistance and especially Navo-Yashin's (2002) article on cynical citizens. This is a semi-autobiographical comedy show written by Caitlan and Caroline Moran. Their mother is a conspiracy-theorist, anti-establishment character, who decided to keep them out of school. Increasing resistance to state schooling is an interesting perspective to take when thinking about everyday forms of control.  This tv series shows the funny side of political action and acts of resistance from the perspective of people growing up without deliberate political resistance.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/nov/03/get-to-be-free-rise-in-home-schooling
]]> 2020-10-09 22:54:36 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/818131312 W4 Resistance in (on) the body. B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/818141040 This video shows the narrative of a female tattoo artist in Kabul. In this video she is shown walking down the street with everybody looking at her, she doesn't wear a veil, she is wearing different clothes and her lip is pierced. She talks about how she stands out, that people don't like what she does or they think it is against the law, but that she does it anyway because of the personal fulfilment she gets from embracing her personal identity. But she situates her job within Afghanistan's history and culture, pointing out women have had their faces tattooed. She talks about how women come to her to talk, and she wants to set an example for them, her 'everyday resistance' made clear by her appearance creates a safe place for people (especially women) to think and talk. "Because Afghanistan should change, and someone should start it, so I started tattooing." ]]> 2020-10-09 23:05:38 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/818141040 W4 B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/818504016 This example illustrates the complicated relationship between the state, private lives and active resistance. A teenage girl was assaulted by a group of men and was later treated with disrespect by the officials dealing with her case. This later led to a denial of the assault in the first place, paired with blame on the victims family and defence of the abusers. This story is a part of a wider problem of sexual assault against lower caste women in India. It has been influenced by politically motivated action spurred by earlier protests sparked by a similar case in 2012. "Rallies in support of the accused men" in conflict with protests over the mistreatment of Dalit women changed how cases like this are handled in a strange way. Politicians are accused of "doing politics over the dead bodies of the poor", by using public outrage to better their positions. The struggles of these teenage girls are "lost amid the political din", as speaking out and protesting becomes part of a political stratergy. This relates to the problem that resisting within the framework makes space for further problems of power that Abu-Lughod outlined, but I would also say it is a problem of protest that has been mirrored in the other sources- particularly in the square. ]]> 2020-10-10 10:29:36 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/818504016 Week 5: Violence and Power B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/841150899 This newsreel documenting the riots in northern England links Appadurai's article on living alongside the other.

The failures of integration, coupled with the longlasting unemployment in ex-industrial towns echos Appadurai's discussion about fears of globalisation. "They're taking our jobs" has become a mocking staple of the ignorant racist. Still, it is a real complaint felt by the lower classes of the UK, who grow increasingly anxious about their positions in a changing world. These acts of violence, expressed in an endless cycle of vandalism, rioting and hate crimes, are a visible enactment of people's anxieties stuck in a scary financial and social position with no one to blame but their neighbours.

This is a good example of how structural violence can almost be seen very literally as a noose. Where anxieties are produced, and racism is built into a society like in Britain, violence is directed to align with the country's priorities. By which I mean, many refugees were sent to places like like Burnley with very little funding for integration to meet the increased demand for housing or welfare needs. This political decision was influential to the lives of people in this area, a place where acts of hate crimes and other forms of violence continue to happen daily, ]]> 2020-10-19 14:15:04 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/841150899 Week 5: Violence and Power B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/846917614 The way that coronavirus has disproportionality affected different racial groups shows the reality of Farmer's (2004) argument. The way this discussion was handled, by launching an investigation and not clearly acting on its outcomes (or not doing enough), shows how people are forced to rely on the institutions that made vulnerable in the first place. It's telling how much people questioned this when it was discussed, and the current narrative of whether the UK is racist in the first place. Covid, like HIV or TB, is an indicator of systematic inequality, and shows how historically produced prejudice has a quantifiable impact on bodies. ]]> 2020-10-20 23:20:04 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/846917614 Week 5 Violence and Power B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/853616770 "One of the delightful things about Americans is that they have absolutely no historical memory."
I found this article via an online disagreement that started with someone claiming Asia had been at war for thousands of years. The article points out that the thought process that makes the west the hero of the other, is what allowed for colonialism. It argues the importance of remembering our history if we want to understand modern-day acts of terror. ]]> 2020-10-22 17:52:16 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/853616770 Week 6: Understanding Violence B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/877319716 This video relates to Edward's (2017) discussion on the internet's role in spreading ideology. In this video, Derek Muller discusses how posts that "tickle our brains" with powerful messages can spread through the internet because of their emotional power. The "evolution of ideas on the internet", segregates ideologies and detracts from the context, silencing multiple perspectives and ideologies favouring the most extreme. The most powerful, radical and feeling-evoking ideas get pushed to the top of the algorithm, dividing communities by creating concentrated ideology spaces. 

I think this is taking place in Edward's description, particularly of Abida and peer pressure on Facebook. The spread of feeling-provoking content (as love in the form of words and music or anger evoked by "grisly images" (p177)) works to create an atmosphere which normalises the online culture and creates the need to produce and be more exception, in whatever way the user believes is needed. ]]> 2020-10-30 17:39:26 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/877319716 Week 6: Understanding Violence B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/877814742 A comment on this article says "Time to throw Malaysia out of the UN then." Most of the discussion is about religion and morality. It's difficult to imagine how a cultural narrative or the consideration of another perspective other than "compassionate" (as Hage, 2003 argues for) can be adopted, especially when people are still raw with horror and anger. Spaces like Twitter, where comments like these aren't elaborated or discussed, left ambiguous (perhaps deliberately) consider the broader picture difficult for most people.

I agree that an anthropological perspective has a lot to offer. But I'm concerned that long and complex anthropological studies tend to seem like a faint whisper compared to the kicking and screaming that shapes opinions when emotions are high. ]]> 2020-10-30 20:22:17 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/877814742 Week 7: Violence and it's consequences B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/889123730 This article discusses the lasting impact of traumatic events on children's health. Increased awareness of post-traumatic stress in children held in detention centres shows consideration of the lifelong impact of structural violence on entire populations; Dr Kliman predicts, “an epidemic of physical, psychosomatic health problems that are costly to society as well as to the individual child grown-up". 

Das' (2007) commentary on the silence around violence can be built on by considering the long term health implications of experiencing extreme stress. Violence is undisguisable in the body if invisible everywhere else. PTSD is a condition that cannot be disguised or forgotten. In flashbacks, anxiety and weeping, invisible violence is made visible through the bodies of these children. Like the widower, illness and disorder (like PTSD) are uncomfortable reminders of the horrors of the past. 

“... the children separated from their families, locked in cages, forced to sleep on concrete floors under tinfoil blankets, will live with this trauma for the rest of their lives,” he wrote on Twitter. “We’ll have it on our consciences for the rest of ours.”]]> 2020-11-04 08:27:08 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/889123730 Week 7: Violence and it's consequences B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/889763271 #itsokaytotalk
I used this charity as an example because I was told about it as a teenager, but no one explained what the charity was for because they still couldn't talk about suicide. I was told it was a 'charity for men to talk', and years later found out what they were talking about.

This is a charity created to try and tackle the stigma felt by men struggling with suicidal thoughts. Providing a space to talk, and trying to create an environment where talk is acceptable. Suicide is heavily stigmatised and surrounded by silence. This charity calls for a change in health-seeking attitudes. As in Das' discussion of partition, where a language of gendered violence was the only mode of discussion, suicide prevention is often framed using medicalised language to make it easier to discuss. This narrative attempts to displace blame and formalises suicide prevention in a way that makes it more acceptable for discussion. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/29/-sp-talking-mental-health-crisis-access-therapist]]> 2020-11-04 13:20:16 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/889763271 W10: Elections B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1030929601 When Russel Brand told us not to vote, people were outraged that he would have the audacity as a comedian to involve himself in politics. By turning young people, and his fans away from the system we use, he was seen to be influencing in matters he knew nothing about. "David Cameron labelled him 'a joke', before describing him as 'some comic with a beard who thinks terrorism is funny'". This raises two issues, first the criticism of entertainers involvement in politics, and second this within the context of devolving electoral participation. 

The attitude of Russel Brand, as shown in this article, mirrors the desperate need for change Koch (2017) draws attention to in her article. In the way that Brexiteers used their vote in hope to be heard, Brand hoped to achieve the same thing by not voting-- both can be seen as people scrambling for alternatives to the electoral process that has seemingly failed them so far.

Interestingly Brand framed his 'u-turn' on the issue as the realisation there is no current alternative to it, rather than to devote any faith to the system. There was a sense that everyone knew our system wasn't helping... but this is all we have. This mirrors Banerjee's (2007) observations on why people vote. Perhaps people see it doesn't work but '" why would anyone want to waste this opportunity?- the vote is our weapon'" (p1561). 

Additionally, I think it's worth exploring celebrity endorsement and activism from a populist perspective. His supporters were framed as ignorant, ridiculous for following a comedian's opinion. For instance, one comment in this article in response to his endorsement of labour says "a lot of Brand's supporters must be feeling pretty stupid at the moment", implying that they were swayed by admiration of the man, his words alone and that they would change their mind just because he did- rather than relating to the message made popular with the face of a celebrity. His status an influential comedian, by extension a populist, masked the genuine discontent that people were (and still are) desperately trying to escape. The outright mocking of Brand, and anger felt towards him seems to mirror the way populists are described in the media.]]> 2020-12-18 11:51:43 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1030929601 W10: Elections B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1034218914 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/09/lord-buckethead-elmo-and-mr-fish-finger-a-very-british-election
If elections can be seen as performative acts, the tradition of joke candidates can be seen as a mocking (or even resistance) of the pantomime of democracy. Amongst the flux of empty promises,  instrumental campaigning, and dichotomisation, the presence of joke candidates significantly shifts the tone of performative actions during the election process; as in videos like this, where the prime minister waits for the announcement of votes for Lord Binface and Elmo.

Voting for these candidates is a sort of participation while acknowledging the failures of the electoral system. Ironically, by throwing away a vote, you are most likely to be heard. As Benerjee (2007) suggests, when the vote is not seen as a "plausible tool of material improvement" it can be used as a "powerful instrument of morality and protest" (p1559). In a sense, this could be seen as a protest.  In its most extreme form, this can be seen to undermine the authority of the voting process. As an indication of disinterest in politics, and that strategic voting is less appealing than having fun with the system.

This stands in stark contrast to antagonistic voting described in this weeks reading and in the lecture. It detracts from the seriousness enacted in the voting process. By doing this, joke candidates create common humanity outside of this a-cultural event. I think then that this can be used as an example in favour of the idea that elections are secular rituals as Banjerjee suggests. Joke candidates create a break in the election ritual while becoming a part of it. Representing resignation to the political process, and even changing the tone of hostile divisions between opposing groups. ]]> 2020-12-20 11:17:53 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1034218914 Week 8: The People B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1034368588 This video demonstrates a disillusionment with the concept of 'the people'. The lack of consent given from minorities and their exclusion from the formation of 'the people' in history is deeply felt in this emotive explanation of black Americans' exclusion. Her defence of looting during the riots draws attention to the problem of a social contract assumed to be signed by an autonomous American society, in that it disregards any discontented voice that hasn't followed the process agreed on by those who constructed it.

Asking to exist safely, within the contract, and to say black lives matter- is not only to state the obvious but to ask for inclusion in 'the people'. To have this denied, and therefore losing the power and protection of being an American, makes the sacrifices needed for that protection unfathomable.  

It could be argued that the focus on looters and unacceptable protest links to Gotteberg's discussion of fictive ethnicity and belonging. It attempts to explain the anger at these protests in terms of the shared moral code of the American people rather than discontentment at the fight for racial equality. This tries (and fails) to define the people in terms of morality rather than race and maintain an illusion of unity, and fails to contemplate the extent of the division felt and illustrated in this video.]]> 2020-12-20 14:48:38 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1034368588 Week 9: Populism B122951 https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1035789958 https://soundcloud.com/lsepodcasts/lse-fstival-2019-populism-and?in=lsepodcasts/sets/lse-festival-2019-new-world
 
This source discusses how populists movements appropriate religion as a cultural identity marker. As part of the process of cementing the 'us' and 'them' in populism, religion as a personal faith is conflated with religion as a cultural identifier. Particularly in the creation of Islam as a homogenous group in opposition to Christianity. Far-right groups can define national identity in terms of race by "hijacking Christianity...not for its values but its whiteness", creating an identity in opposition to the cartoonish Muslim figure representative of the other. This other is then used as the figure of social issues: poverty, failures of integration and criminality. 

The polarisation of identity, as Samet (2019) discusses, refuses to acknowledge ambiguities in identity. A third narrative- for instance, the experience of white Muslims- is not acknowledged here. The integration problem in Britain is framed in the mainstream primarily as the failure of Muslim people to conform to British values while failing to explain what these values could mean or why they are opposed to Islam's practices. But in doing so, it creates a unified identity of the non-muslim. An argument raised in this podcast is that by creating a focus on cultural loss rather than economic loss these groups that have materialised in recent years are legitimised- cultural loss is immeasurable, vagueness makes it relatable. This draws on Gotteberg's comments on fictive ethnicity, the unification of the British people is reenforced by the exclusion of the imagined other.

Samet comments that in populist movements, "the enemy is often more clearly defined than the movement itself". This is represented in this example as Cremer (in the podcast) draws attention to the failures of identifying Christianity with right-wing populist movements in America. He points out that while Donald Trump and other right-wing leaders are seen as the saviours of Christian America, they are simultaneously opposing Christian ideology. The actual characteristics of popular figures become almost irrelevant, and the perception of what this person represents becomes crucial. ]]> 2020-12-21 12:01:44 UTC https://padlet.com/b122951/Bookmarks/wish/1035789958