Cultural Studies: Media, Power and Truly Educated Person

                                       

Cultural studies, media and power

The word “culture” itself is so difficult to pin down, “cultural studies” is hard to define. As far as cultural study is concerned, it has broader meaning because we see from various perspectives then an individual can know what actually lies in the meaning. Therefore firstly it becomes my job to deconstruct the meaning of culture as the meaning is elaborated according to different critics so at first we will have a glance on the meaning of culture.

Cultural studies, media and power.

1) your understanding of Power in Cultural Studies (you can write about Michel Foucault's 'Knowledge and Power' also)

It is hard to define culture because it has different definitions at different places and everyone has their own culture which can not be denied and also defined, so it is also hard to bind cultural studies to one particular definition. Cultural studies is also very hard to understand. It always breaks the difference between high and low, it puts everything under the same umbrella. It needs deep thinking and if you fail to dig deep, cultural studies also fails.

There is 6 types of civic power like,

*physical power

*wealth

*state action

* social norms

*ideas

* numbers

Physical power controls harmful behavior to the society. In this fast growing world now everything is possible with money so if you have wealth, you have power. We are living in democracy and we elect some one to take decisions in favor of people but that decisions also control us. Social norms are the things which don’t have any official law but it creates their own laws as per their comfort or thinking. Ideas also have power, if you have interesting ideas the people will start be with you and it also talk about the 6th power the numbers of people which supports your idea and have one voice with you and you have power.

• Power is everywhere around us. To read power, one has to start thinking about the things which happens around them. Think how it happens and which type of power is working behind it. After having habit of doing this one can understand the power and also can save themselves from the trap of power.

Second thing is, it always looks critically at power and that makes cultural studies “politically incorrect” and it will become hard to survive between the majority of “politically correct” and “Right wingers”. It is impossible to talk about cultural studies without the study of power and media. Nowadays media is one of the elements which control our perceptions and power also uses media. So, by studying media and power we come to know how power works over media.Click here

2) Why Media Studies is so important in our digital culture? (you can also write about post-truth)

It’s really good to have the opportunity to discuss the impact of technology on the wider society and culture. I’m going to argue today that even while we know post-truth politics is having a terrible effect on our political culture and our role as citizens, it’s curiously difficult to combat it because of a set of beliefs about what politics is, and about the Internet and the way it enables ordinary people to have a voice. And these beliefs intersect with a prevailing anti-intellectual anti-elitism which associates knowledge, discernment, and truth with snobbery and power.

3) Who can be considered as a 'Truly Educated Person'?

If we think about this topic of a truly Educated person, Education is a basic necessity of any person as is the food, clothing and home. It is because of this reason that the Indian constitution has recognized the right to elementary education as a fundamental right.

In today’s world education does not only mean acquiring booking knowledge and acquiring degrees but it really means translating the acquired knowledge into one’s action. In fact, the process of learning is an ongoing and continuous process.

*Role of educated people in the society*

A responsible educated person owes a duty to the society at large as the society invests into his education by providing necessary facilities and infrastructure. Some of the specific roles and responsibilities of educated people could be summed up as under:-

• An educated person owes a responsibility of creating a good and peaceful family or home. Aristotle maintained that family is the smallest unit and the first school of anyone’s life. Only educated persons can educate and inculcate morals, built character in his children. Similarly, an educated person can play an important role in promoting women’s education by treating both boys and girls in his family equally and offered them equal opportunity for education.

• An educated person can use his knowledge to educate and awaken the people at large about their rights and duties. They can also make other realized that in a democratic set up, while we have certain rights, there are certain duties also on our part which co-exists.

• An educated person can create love for our country by sharing and spreading our rich culture. Simultaneously, they can also encourage our younger generations to prepare themselves for discharging their responsibilities to build a national character by sharing our legacy which we inherited as a result of huge sacrifices made by our ancestors.

• An educated person can also play an important role in creating social, cultural and religious harmony so that love, trust and peace is ensured in community life. This would also ensure national unity and protect our national integrity and development

• He can also play an important role in educating people about the need and value of our natural resources such as rivers, air etc. In view of increased climate changes due to massive exploitation of natural resources, we are facing a severe threat to our earth. Therefore, this is a very important area where they should and must play a more proactive role.

• They can also take upon themselves the responsibility of fighting against social evils. This can be done by them by challenging different wrong customs such as child marriage, dowry system, untouchability, child labour etc.

Thanks😊

               

Slow Movement

                             Hello Friends!

Here I am going to write about the thinking activity on Slow Movement: A Cultural Shift towards Slowing Down Life's Speed that works given by dilip barad sir as reference to cultural studies. So we have studied one cultural study so in that paper we see points in this blog as a part of the study. So let's see about the technoculture in the society and also day to day life and also see the speed and slow movement how it works in the cultural studies and also in the society .

 

Jean Baudrillard  was a French socialist and who coined the term ' Hyperrealism' .  He defined 

              "A real without origin or reality"

        Paul Virilio - (Dromology)  , he is one of the most important theorists of speed and technology. He had discussed the significance of speed and technology in the postmodern era. He also mentioned that the speed of transmission  shared not only the  individual perspective but also the social, cultural aspects. That speed through we can say that the real became more fake.

                Ulrich Beak - ( Risk society )

            who has written extensively about risk and globalization. He argues that the risk is not only about technology , and all the things , is n which we can include all the traditions that were abolished, the traditional custom changed, erosion of traditional family patterns and democratization of personal relations.

In a modern society, there is technological change. Industrial society has created many new dangers of risks unknown in previous ages. The risks associated with global warming are one example. In the present era of industrialization. In nature obviously the risk is there. But we can say that new modernity creates dangerous risks for society. There is a chain of problems and solutions.  How hurriedly the atomic power and weapons industry increases, in a way that is the risk. So for that risk another country tried to make more powerful weapons. In that way the chain of problems and solutions is going on. We are in a trap of social evils.

Organizations are not only part of the solution but also very much part of the problem: “We have more to fear from organizations and experts overextending their reach, propelled by forces endemic

to modern society, than from conniving conspiracies,” argues Clarke.

 

 *Slow Movement *

 Slow movement is related to  balance.

            Slowness is also about balance, so if you must hurry, then hurry slowly. “Festina Lente!”

  In this technological world we want everything very fast.so we are always in a hurry to get something and to do something. But we should be speedy as well as slow to make decisions.

  Baudrillard  talk about the real and truth. We also here remember the great thinker Plato. He also made his view on reality and truth. Baudrillard said about the depth of something in a speed we can not get one's depth it will not be real.

 Virilio argues that higher speed belongs to the wealthy and upper class society and slower is belongs to lower class and who are poor. He said that this world is governed by speed. He further said that Instantaneous communication actually reduces the time for detailed discussion, deliberation and consensus -building. So, we can say that we should be speedy with slowness. So your work process can take place in the right way. 

      

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Why are We so Scared of Robots / AI?

                    Introduction

Robots have become an integral part of the manufacturing industry, but they’re also moving into other industries as well. As they continue to become a larger part of our society, people are voicing growing fears about them. Whether it’s a fear for their jobs, their lives, or something else entirely, it’s all built on a lack of knowledge.

*Major Fears About Robots That Simply Aren’t True*

We’ve all seen science fiction films about robots turning on their masters and we’ve certainly heard naysayers talk about how robots are coming to steal human jobs, but are they really so bad? The answer is no. Let’s explore three fears that about robots that simply don’t hold up to the light:

 1. They’re Not Safe

First and foremost, you’ll hear about how robots aren’t safe. While it’s true that fenced robots in manufacturing are behind said fences for a reason, that’s not to say that their collaborative counterparts are dangerous as well. While nothing is completely safe, collaborative robots are in fact built using a standard set of guidelines known as the ISO TS 15066.

These provide some standards for collaborative robotics to abide by, which helps manufacturers ensure that their robots are as safe as can be. Today’s standards, combined with safety technology, has resulted in several excellent options for safety with collaborative robots:

* Power and force limiting

* Speed and separation monitoring

 *Hand guiding

New safety technology continues to emerge as time goes on, quickly revealing that humans have no need to fear their safety around robots in the workplace, so long as they are well informed.

 2. They’ll Take Our Jobs

Throughout history, people have always feared technology, because they were scared it would make their jobs obsolete. Cars, the printing press, industrial technology, all of these things were met with fear in the past. People were afraid these things would put them out of work, but in every case, they did not.

Instead, technology creates new industries, new jobs, and more prosperity as a whole. With robots, the same thing is happening today. People in manufacturing are afraid their jobs will be taken, but new jobs are already being created.

Whether it’s someone to program the robots, or a human to work on more intricate tasks that robots can’t perform, new roles are emerging as robots increase production and lower costs. Back-breaking jobs that humans hate can now be given to robots, thus freeing them up to do more rewarding work.

There’s nothing to fear, because technology creates far more than it destroys when it comes to industries, jobs, and careers.

 3. Artificial Intelligence Is Dangerous

We’ve made some huge strides in regards to artificial intelligence, but we’re a long way off from robots that are as smart, or smarter than humans. People who think about decades in the future may have concerns about the intelligence of robots being used against us, but that’s not something we need to worry about now.

The current landscape of robotics puts us squarely in control. As a result, the idea of robots turning on us or becoming sentient is still in the realm of science fiction. Major technology figures like Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others are already thinking about how to properly harness A.I.

Geoff Hinton, known as the “godfather of deep learning,” told the BBC that “You can see things clearly for the next few years, but look beyond 10 years and we can’t really see anything. It’s just a fog.”

Instead, we should focus on the fact that today’s A.I systems can process information too vast or too complex for humans to grasp. There’s nothing to fear from the growth of A.I as we are still in the infancy of the technology.

 

Example:

If we can think that there are so many films that which depicts that robot is not a good sign for a people because Films sometimes said that Robot are very dangerous, this was the conclusion of the Film because The Robot Chitti Killed so many innocent policemen as we as so many human are dying in this film so that kind of film makes a very different effect in us that we can not trust on Robot. Here i would like to include one video of that Robots can killed us but it's not reality to do this kind killness has been by one Robot, Because there are some software or program  which is in Included in the Robot.

Further Query Click Here

Thanks😊

               

CS and Feminism - Cyberfeminism:

                   Introduction 

The low and shrinking numbers of women in higher computer science education is a well-known problem in most Western countries. The dominant Western perception of the relationship between gender and computer science codes the latter as “masculine,” and the low number of women is seen at least partly as an effect of that coding. Malaysia represents a different case. There are large numbers of women in computer science, and computer science is not perceived as “masculine.” Rather, it is deemed as providing suitable jobs and good careers for women. This reflects an understanding of gender where femininities are constructed by association to office work, commonly recognized as a woman-friendly space because it is seen as more safe and protected than, for example, construction sites and factories. The findings suggest that gender and computer science may be more diversely co produced than commonly believed Western research.

Teachers Blog:Click Here

 

Speech assistants with a female voice are already part of our everyday life. Simultaneously, women continue to be under-represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), a situation that does not seem to be changing substantially. Meanwhile, new human-like robots are increasingly being equipped with female characteristics, and the global entertainment industry expects a new generation of female sex robots to thrive. With these developments in mind, the chapter asks to what extent the role of women and contemporary technology are connected, and where this relationship is heading in the imminent future. One focus is on the latest technologies equipped with Artificial Intelligence systems that, if we trust some scientists, may change the future fundamentally toward a general feminization of avant-garde technology. The authors consult various feminist theories with the aim of analyzing and understanding these developments as well as stimulating discussion about the issue of transcultural feminization at the human-technology interface.

*Watch videos in which Kriti and Robin are talking about AI and unconscious bias. Write about your experience of cyber space and women's identity.

  The video of Kirti Sharam’s Based on Human Biases. In this video she talks about the AI is not problems also she says that the Indian culture is based on Marriage kind of things also says that the AI has stealing the job but its not reality but the AI is so useful for us . also says that the test of pregnancy based on the Ai ‘s test. Also The AI never done that activity like this person is white or this person is black. Also AI is the leader of the company. There are so many things that give advantage to the people .She gives support to AI with technology. However she gives so many examples of technology.

 

*The second video is about Robina Hauser. Can we protect AI from our biases?

She talks about unconscious Bias Is. All humans have biases. All humans are facing biases , why unconscious biases are a problem. AI is good or not. Machines are human ?There are many scientists working for biases but it's not easy, Ai is connected with humans, Losing control makes it a problem . As an Example Microsoft. It says that humans are also cool. Here is a design for human. she makes people laugh for some examples. People are laughing and China is a success. Omg means oh my god. There is one dog that is different. Google launch has its own images. AI makes all decisions like banking work etc. she gives her point of view that I believe in Technology.

Thanks😊

 

Thinking activity - Foe - J. M. Coetzee

                                            

Foe is a 1986 novel by South African-born Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee. Woven around the existing plot of Robinson Crusoe, Foe is written from the perspective of Susan Barton, a castaway who landed on the same island inhabited by "Cruso" and Friday as their adventures were already underway. Click Here

*How would you differentiate the character of Cruso and Crusoe?

Robinson Crusoe is much less passive and senile in regards to his own development on the island. Crusoe kept a painfully detailed account of every action he does on the island in a journal he updates daily. In this journal, Crusoe meticulously records every step for all of the tools he crafts, and he writes about his own progress with his newly acquitted relationship with religion. This Robinson Crusoe is much more in tune with his own reality and interested in his own accomplishments than Foe’s Cruso. This is also evident in the number of tools and objects that Robinson Crusoe makes in comparison to Cruso. Robinson Crusoe fills his multiple homes with various types of pots, tables, chairs, fences, and even a canoe. All of these items Crusoe builds are to improve and aide in his growth on the island, and he must be mentally sharp in order to build these items. Cruso in Foe has not put any effort towards building tools, as he only has a bed when Susan arrives at the island, and from the quote, it seems like he may not have the mental capacity to build these tools. Although Cruso does builds many terraces, he exclaims that they are for the future generations and not himself.

*Friday’s characteristics and persona in Foe and in Robinson Crusoe?

    Friday has a huge literary and cultural importance. If Crusoe represents the first colonial mind in fiction, then Friday represents not just a Caribbean tribesman, but all the natives of America, Asia, and Africa who would later be oppressed in the age of European imperialism. At the moment when Crusoe teaches Friday to call him “Master” Friday becomes an enduring political symbol of racial injustice in a modern world critical of imperialist expansion. Recent rewritings of the Crusoe story, like J. M. Coetzee’s Foe and Michel Tournier’s Friday, emphasize the sad consequences of Crusoe’s failure to understand Friday and suggest how the tale might be told very differently from the native’s perspective.

* Is Susan reflecting the white mentality of Crusoe (Robinson Crusoe)?

J.M. Coetzee presents Barton as a submissive supporting actress to the extremely dominant character of Robinson Crusoe. Barton’s role as a submissive supporting character to Cruso displays Coetzee’s formulation of Susan as a man’s woman. Susan is a sensual woman, and as the only female character in both Defoe’s novel as well as Coetzee’s novel, she is represented through her sexuality. Susan’s sexuality is first displayed in the beginning of the novel, when she is on the island and Cruso is alive. As she falls asleep one night, Cruso begins to make advances toward her.

* Which novel is convincing and has poetic justice? (or is there poetic justice? – Has the writer achieved what it wished for? – Has Friday got the justice? )

Poetic justice, in literature, an outcome in which vice is punished and virtue rewarded, usually in a manner peculiarly or ironically appropriate. The term was coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer in the 17th century, when it was believed that a work of literature should uphold moral principles and instruct the reader in correct moral behaviour.

* Who is the Protagonist? (Foe – Susan – Friday – Unnamed narrator)

Cruso is adapted from Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist of Daniel Defoe's famous novel. He has long moved past any semblance to Defoe's character by the time he is introduced to the narrative. Susan tries to extract information from Cruso but notes that his memories are scattered and unreliable. Any version of Defoe's Crusoe that once existed has been replaced by Cruso and his empty terraces and empty mind. Whereas Defoe's Crusoe was a younger and more sympathetic figure, Coetzee's character is older and more stubborn. He is the lonely king of his pitiful domain. Coetzee's Cruso is a beguiling character. He wages war against apes that pose no apparent threat. He is struck down by mysterious fevers. He builds terraces but can not plant any gardens. He bullies and cajoles Friday but welcomes Susan into the camp without hesitation. He shouts at Susan but agrees to make her shoes. In a fevered state, he sexually assaults Susan and never mentions it again. Susan nevertheless finds Cruso's story compelling. Even after he dies she wants to tell the story because she recognizes the lingering traces of goodness in Cruso's character. The realization that Cruso is more antagonist than protagonist makes sense of Cruso's story. Susan begins to think about Cruso not as the central character in the story but as the master of Friday; Friday is the real protagonist. Cruso may be a slave owner, a torturer, and an abuser but his scattered mind and empty deeds neuter his past villainy.

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Thinking activity: Wide Sargasso Sea

                Introduction 

Wide Sargasso Sea is a 1966 novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys. The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from the point-of-view of his wife Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress. Wide Sargasso Sea, novel by Jean Rhys, published in 1966. A well-received work of fiction, it takes its theme and main character from the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The book details the life of Antoinette Mason (known in Jane Eyre as Bertha), a West Indian who marries an unnamed man in Jamaica and returns with him to his home in England. Locked in a loveless marriage and settled in an inhospitable climate, Antoinette goes mad and is frequently violent. Her husband confines her to the attic of his house at Thornfield. Only he and Grace Poole, the attendant he has hired to care for her, know of Antoinette’s existence. The reader gradually learns that Antoinette’s unnamed husband is Mr. Rochester, later to become the beloved of Jane Eyre.

 In the novel Jane Eyre, Brontë reveals a firm stance on feminism by critiquing the assumptions about social class and gender. She also places the context within the postcolonialism era during the Victorian society age. Throughout the novel, Jane is subjected to some kind of oppression, where she has no financial or social freedom. The challenges she faced existed during the Victorian era, whereby women were considered powerless and as objects to serve their families and society. Jane fights gender hierarchies and class to ensure a status quo.

Jane is the epitome of femininity, the first instance where Jane starts to reveal feminism is when she fights with her cousin, blamed even if she was not the one at fault, and locked up for a night. She says to Mrs. Reed.The Wide Sargasso Sea novel also portrays irony as the author tries to describe the idea of postcolonialism. Rhys wants readers to realize that being a casted woman is demanding. Therefore, with Antoinette’s Creole character, individuals have to understand that they cannot change their inevitable, and thus they should accept event.

“I hated the mountains and the hills, the rivers and the rain. I hated the sunsets of whatever colour, I hated its beauty and its magic and the secret I would never know. I hated its indifference and the cruelty which was part of its loveliness. Above all I hated her. For she belonged to the magic and the loveliness. She had left me thirsty and all my life would be thirst and longing for what I had lost before I found it.”

― Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

“You can pretend for a long time, but one day it all falls away and you are alone. We are alone in the most beautiful place in the world...”

― Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

“Justice. I've heard that word. I tried it out. I wrote it down. I wrote it down several times and it always looked like a damn cold lie to me. There is no justice.”

― Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

The postcolonialism era, men considered women   to be their appendages. Men would work, own business, and remain in public. However, only family life and marriage belonged to women. They had to depend on men spiritually, financially, and physically. For example, Adele and her mother demonstrate this idea, whereby they depend on Mr. Rochester for everything. Their dependence is further despised by the British people like Jane and Mr. Rochester consider them sensual and materialistic, characteristics associated with foreign women at the time.

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Reading Task on Ajanta caves

                     Hello Friends, 

I am Jignesh Panchasara as a student of  Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. So we are going to see some of the photographs of the Art gallery in Bhavnagar. So I have some friends of English Department those were going to seen that Art gallery .so Let us see the picture of My friends were be the Part of visited the Art Gallery.

           

Khodidas Parmar

 He is a well known Indian painter. Though hailing from a poor family, his parents were determined for him to get a good education. He did his M.A. with Gujarati and Sanskrit, learnt painting even as he studied and went on to become a guide to students doing doctoral research on folk literature for their Ph. D. He was trained in art by Guru Somalal Shah from 1948 – 1951 whom he met at the Alfred High school.

 Fascinated with traditional art, particularly the folk style of Gujarat, Parmar, spent his last years documenting and collecting motifs for a book on the arts of the region of Kutch and Saurashtra. He also wrote and published several award winning books on the region like the Folk Embroidery of Saurashtra, Gujarati Folk Tales Collection and Krishna: Legend, in Gujarati. A recipient of several awards, he has participated in several group shows and his works are a part of several permanent collections like the Museum of Modern Art and National Art Gallery, New Delhi. Parmar died in March 2004 in Bhavnagar.

 

Let's see some of the pictures taken By English Department students, who were going to be a part of it.

 

The art gallery is magnificent and has more than full time dedication to real art. I Like that gallery so much as it always welcomes new art. That gallery is really big and has more attention from the people who are looking for some cool art. The khodidas parmar was also a great painter and had a collection located there. I personally love that art. The atmosphere was so positive and people who came there were also knowledgeable people of that particular art form.

Thanks😊

                                                                                        

                  

 

                                           

The Home and the world by Rabindranath Tagore

                                                Introduction

The Home and the World is a 1916 novel by Rabindranath Tagore. The book illustrates the battle Tagore had with himself, between the ideas of Western culture and revolution against the Western culture. 

*Rabindranath Tagore was poet, writer and playwrighter and Novelist.

*He became the first non European to win the Nobel prize for Literature in 1913.

*His Novels, stories, song, Essays spoke about political concern. It is particular Novel.

Related with west & Indian culture.

*Tagore describes western culture and revolution against the western culture.

*Novel is about swadeshi Movement.

Boycott of British Goods.

*As a first person narrative divided into 23 chapter.

The Major Character of the Novel

Question 1 : To see the growth of individual character

*The major character of the Novel.

*He is one of the revolutionary Man.

*He has good command over the speech to attract any person would have been participated in his idea about against the western civilization.

*Who is the pioneer of Rally which was in Bangal during the partition time.

*His revolutionary ideas makes effect on Bimala’s Character.

Question 2: To see the psychological growth of characters in the course of the novel

If we can see the story of Three characters, so we can find different kind of observation from the all characters. Also, Three characters has different kind of Mind set to Brings Their idea to depict the reality of whenever india got the freedom so The point is Sandeep's Character has full kind of Rhetorical thoughts to present the as leader of the party, while the Bimal is so innocent and easily kept towards Sandeep and major trustable character is Sandeep has  Innocent and depict  his own western kind of idea to present himself.

Question 3 :Write about Rabindranath Tagore's art of characterization

Tagore characterization, though dependent

on realistic psychological exploration, does not

involve any existentialist choice, as it were, since he is content with lying bare such determinants as are capable of clarifying social relationship and responsibilities deriving from the character’s engagement with life. Tagore was not a committed experimentalist; but to deny him any formal expertise or to judge him solely on the basis of recent innovation in novelistic technique would be indeed far from it. The art of characterization in Tagore’s novels, suffer from a certain weakness of

craftsmanship which results in a kind of diffuseness and looseness a ‘flabbiness’ of narrative. The undue reliance on chance and coincidence in some of the novels and the contrived ending of some other point towards impatience on the part of the novelist in working out a structure of ordered

episodes.

                                                                 Thanks😊