A reflection of International Media and Communication

Once again my blogging adventure has come to an end. Learning about media and communication from an international perspective has really opened my eyes. I learnt about everything from globalisation to transnational film, media capitals to digital dissent, hip hop to television in translation; all on a global scale.

It was an interesting structure this semester, attending class and listening a different group present on the weekly topic each time. This structure was effective in my own opinion. In addition, I enjoyed working in groups; it was a great way to interact and meet new people.

Hip hop was definitely the most interesting topic for me, hence why I chose it for my presentation. I have always enjoyed music. I also am a lyrical writer in my spare time, which I focus on hip hop based rhyme lyrics in particular; you could probably see this in my previous blog post about hip hop. I found April K. Henderson’s reading Dancing Between Islands: Hip Hop and the Samoan Diaspora extremely intriguing. Previously I had only really considered hip hop from African-American history, or the uprising of Australian hip hop. The reading made me realise that hip hop was much more widespread than I had thought. One aspect that i would have liked to study a bit more is the changes and/or evolution from traditional hip hop to more contemporary artists.

Discussing hybridisation and Americanisation in the sixth week (Transnational film industries: Hollywood and beyond) was enjoyable. I like watching shows and film A LOT, so getting to watch snippets of TV shows, such as The Office, and movies, such as Slumdog Millionaire, made going to class even more exciting than it already was. Looking at such visual media and considering the concepts hybridisation and Americanisation actually made me enjoy them even more. I guess viewing something and considering with a certain concept in mind makes you truly appreciate it.

Well that is me signing out for the semester and the year. I have learnt so much in BCM111 that I’m sure I won’t ever forget. I have a new outlook on media from an international perspective.

Tommy over and out.

Hip hop ’til we drop

What’s the hip-hop definition? Attention, please listen
Dive into a culture of perspective and vision
The past tells a lot so look back, try to envision
African-American street life they be living

I heard they say being hip hop is implied to be innate
It’s a learnt practice too so let us open the gate
I think it’s safe to say that we can all appreciate
Doesn’t matter where you’re from, different country, different state

Yeah hip-hop rhymes are lyrical, touching on the spiritual
It is all applicable in every single syllable
Some asking for a miracle, others living at the pinnacle
The words stay the same but the tracks have gone digital

Evolving in a world that we’ll never outrun
Hip hop is still alive, just undone and redone
So please lend your ears because we’ve only just begun
Hip hop on our minds for BCM111

That is a quick 16-line rhyme that I wrote. I myself am an artist and poet who uses hip hop influences to produce music and the underlying lyrics. Whilst I am generally considering hip hop from a contemporary perspective and the African-American culture in relation to this, I now have new ideas to consider.

There are many definitions of hip hop. Zulu Nation expressed that “Hip Hop culture is defined as a movement which is expressed through various artistic mediums which we call “elements””. These elements are: MCing (rapping); DJing (scratching, mixing, sampling); breaking (dancing); graffiti (street art); and a possible fifth element, beatboxing (making sounds using your mouth). Global Awareness Through Hip Hop Culture also describes hip hop as “the constantly evolving spirit and consciousness of urban youth that keeps recreating itself in a never-ending cycle”.

The reading Dancing Between Islands: Hip Hop and the Samoan Diaspora by April K. Henderson gave me a fresh outlook on the history of hip hop; it also made me realise that hip hop truly is a culture that is communicated on a global scale.

Henderson’s reading discussed the Samoan culture and its influence on hip hop. In Los Angeles, Samoans were among the practitioners of such street dance forms as popping, locking and, in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, strutting. In addition, the City of Carson was a community in California which drew large numbers of Samoans relocating from the islands in the 1950-1970’s. There were two key figures in the hip hop movement, Kosmo and Suga Pop. Kosmo, who learnt the dance moves from his stay in LA, brought back popping to New Zealand. Similarly Suga Pop, a dancer from Wellington, made a name for himself in Honolulu, Hawaii before moving to LA at the peak of popping. He visited New York and learnt breaking (or b-boying) and brought this back to New Zealand and Samoan culture.

Today, Pacific youth cultures still exist; they embody hip hop influences in their own culture. They perform in a contemporary hip hop form. For example, Pacific Islanders may still dance in a traditional way but also express themselves through the culture of hip hop.

To finish off, here is a clip of Samoan/New Zealand hip hop group Footsouljahs. The video and music show the Samoan culture expressed through hip hop.

Tommy over and out.

I’m with Cosmopolitan

Whilst Simon Marginson’s reading International education as self-formation focused predominately on internationalising education, I want to take the concepts from this and use it from the interpretation of education being social. What I mean by this is that I look at such from a viewpoint that people need to be culturally educated on a social level.

One month ago I travelled to another country for the first time. I experienced another culture first-hand. I learnt about the perspective a different nation had on life.

As mentioned in my previous post about globalisation in Fiji, I spent half-a-month in Fiji in July. The experiences I gained from there were amazing to say the least.

I learnt some of the native language when I was in Fiji, thanks to the help of the staff that I made friends with at Ratu Kini (on Mana Island). Even though I could converse with the Fijian people easily in English, they enjoyed that I was attempting to learn their local tongue and encouraged me. I felt as though being so eager to learn more of their culture, for instance their language, they felt even more obliged to form a closer relationship with me.

In my opinion, this is the main barrier between nations; the willingness to learn and experience another culture. Are people too ethnocentric or too parochial to partake in various cultures? Why can’t everyone be cosmopolitan?

The first two stages of cultural awareness are the parochial and ethnocentric stage respectively. At the parochial stage people “ignore the impact of cultural differences“, then at the ethnocentric stage “cultural differences are perceived as source of problems and people tend to ignore them or reduce their significance“. Fijian people are neither of the two, as are most of the travellers I met. From observation, however, there are some tourists are extremely ethnocentric. We colloquially described these typical people as “yuppies”, which meant they were people who thought they were superior (generally stereotyped rich people). They stayed in fancy hotels and expected the very best service, as if they were in their own country. If they didn’t get their way or what they wanted, they would cause a scene and complain.

I would like to think of myself as cosmopolitan; I welcome cultural diversity with open arms and accept the values that different countries have. Being cosmopolitan is predominately about being a ‘citizen of the world‘. Fijian people are very cosmopolitan; they accept difference and diversity, and hope that you will accept their own culture and values. They are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. Over 800,000 people visit Fiji every year, making tourism one of nation’s primary industries. With the exception of ‘yuppies’, the shared cosmopolitanism between the Fijian people and travellers to the country has allowed barriers to be crossed simply by accepting each person for who they are and where they come from. The willingness from both parties to learn about the different cultures has allowed international bonds to be formed.

Just for the record, Fijian people LOVE Australians.

Tommy over and out.

Globalisation: Attention Fiji

When someone says ‘globalisation’, they are talking about growth to a global or worldwide scale. Yet such a simple concept has such a large impact in everyday society. Personally, I am astonished and somewhat dumbfounded at the impact globalisation has had on developing countries.

I recently returned from a half-a-month trip to Fiji. Whilst I had seen images of the country being commercialised by big-name hotels and large-companies, I was a little uneasy to see this first-hand. How could a country with so much history and culture become engulfed in so much outside influence. Okay, tourism is a massive industry in Fiji and the country has to cater for that…but massive billboards that obviously look completely out of place? Really? I suppose this is what happens when you visit any larger settlements in any country these days.

I was happy to still experience elements of the Fijian culture even in Nadi, the third largest ‘city’ in Fiji. Despite the billboard advertising for such companies as Coca-cola, Vodaphone and Weet-Bix, the ‘city’ still provided a Fijian experience. I had a friendly ‘Bula!’ said to me whenever I caught the eye of a native Fijian.

Travelling away from the mainland to the outer islands ensured that I did not see such large corporation advertising for the rest of my trip. Besides recognising some brands at the local shop and at the bar, I felt as though I had separated myself from witnessing the mass impact of globalisation. It made me truly joyful that the Fijians on the island were very aware of their culture and where they came from.

Instead of sitting at home and playing Xbox or Playstation they would play in the sand and ocean.

Instead of watching television of a night time they would drink kava, play music and sing.

Instead of buying canned fish and seafood they would catch it themselves.

This made me think; globalisation may have negative impacts on cultures, but the elders of a culture will always pass down traditions. They will remind their people of where they come from and what culture they belong to.

Tommy over and out.