Postcolonialism Notes

• Colonialism is the practice of a power showing control over weaker people or areas
• Post-colonial perspective - considering race, nationality, being the 'other' race
• Multicultural society - road signs in other languages, classes that teach different languages
• Benedict Anderson says physical appearance, religious beliefs, language and history are factors of similarity
• Liberty means freedom but America are launching missiles 
• Pursuit of happiness only seems okay for white americans
• County Borders - Some borders changed to change peoples political views e.g. Warwick became own county
• Thomas Friedman - Culture can be expressed through food people eat
• Pork was eaten as a clear sign of being christian - sign that they weren't jews or muslims 
• Subway Halal Meat - only sold in certain areas to make more profit, caused problems with people complaining that certain religions were trying to take over
• Sending Scottish soldiers to a war they don't agree with
• UKIP are above lib dems despite having racist views
• Avoiding Korea and going for places like Syria because they have oil and it will make more profit
• Torture people for vital information - waterboarding, forcefed during ramadan
• Expectations that Public Enemy should be positive role models even though they're only popstars
• Western Superiority - Only reported that British people were affected in accidents, other cultures were ignored
• America - globalisation of the world 
• Every high street has been taken over by American chains - mcdonalds, Nike, KFC
• Films all American/British, tell stories from Western Perspective
• Globalised market
• Globalisation is countries that sell products internationally e.g. Nike, Mcdonalds
• Westernisation - Selling product but promoting Western ideologies, 'west is best', sell products to promote capitalism - Mcdonalds in budapest promotes American Dream
• promote English being main language, speak to people in other countries like they're dumber for not speaking english, we should respect someone elses culture if we're in their country
• Idea that we'll all turn into some kind of america 

Russell Brand Apple Watch video

In this video Russell Brand highlights the impact of media on our 'need' to buy products that we don't actually need and is using the new apple watch as an example of this. He brings up the fact that Apple claims to care about people's health and wellbeing but still use cheap labour to make their products, as well as pointing out that Apple have enough money to end world poverty.

Feminism Links

Emma Watson feminism article

Beyonce feminism act at VMAs

M.I.A Born Free

Prophets of Rage Notes

-People were learning black history from popular culture rather than it being taught in schools
-Public enemy upset the media & government with songs
-Studied at uni - goes against stereotype that they're bad people/they don't try hard to work
-Got written off as criminal troublemakers
-They played at community centres
-Political fire drives their songs
-Civil rights policies were being cut
-Drugs were allowed to keep the black population down
-Developers would buy houses and move black people out to sell for a higher price
-Popular culture provided an outlet
-Martin Luther King was a peaceful protestor but methods didn't work so they tried to convey the protest through music
-Music filled the lack of politicians
-'Who is Malcolm the 10th?' Talking about Malcolm X, shows the lack of education given about black history
-Aimed to spark curiosity to learn that black people should be respected
-Public enemy introduced people to Malcolm X as schools didn't teach it
-Their songs highlighted that no black heroes are celebrated
-Lyrics contained political content
-Most didn't smoke, drink or do drugs
-Made white people aware of problems with racism
-White supremists didn't want to see black and white people together, their songs were banned on some radio stations
-It was claimed that they didn't come to mainstream attention until one member made controversial comments about Jews, only brought to media when they are shown in a bad light
-tackled issues that African Americans face
-'Anti nigga machine'
-Their message is more important than media coverage
-'The purpose of rap music or any kind of music is to raise dialogue'
-Hip hop has gone from raising dialogue to mass consumerism
-Major labels wouldn't fund them so they had to create their own label
-First group to make internet only album
-Public enemy politicised a new generation in America
-One of the greatest musical entities but they are never heard on the radio

Postcolonialism Links

Racism in the United Kingdom

This is a wikipedia page explaining the term racism and discussing the various issues surrounding this topic. Statistics about the number of black people under attack from racism are shown on this page.

Dave Chappelle - Open Racism

In this video the stand up comedian Dave Chappelle pokes fun at the use of racism in various regions and highlights the ridiculous nature of some white peoples' views towards black people. He mentions various stereotypes associated with his skin colour as well as questioning the use of the word 'nigger'.

Public Enemy - Fight The Power

This video is a protest song dedicated to ending racial violence. Throughout the song they mention that they are entitled to freedom of speech and in the video they have gathered a crowd of protestersholding up signs and pictures. The pictures they are holding in the video show black people they would consider to be heroes. In the song they use lyrics like 'Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me you see, straight up racist that sucker was' as an example of the fact that most of the celebrities publicised as being heroes were white men. 

Bob Marley - No War No More Trouble

Bob Marley's song No War No More Trouble is a song about ending the trouble and suggesting that we need to focus more on love than starting wars. The song may be seen as going against racial stereotypes as black people are often stereotyped as 'troublemakers' and this song is dedicated to ensuring there is less trouble. Love and peace are they key themes running throughout this song as he uses lyrics such as 'We don't need no trouble, what we need is love'. 

Skin Bleaching Epidemic in Jamaica

This video is explaining that skin bleaching has had a rise in popularity in Jamaica and it shows different peoples' views towards the idea. The process of skin bleaching suggests that the paler you are the more likely you are to have a good sense of identity which is suggesting that being paler is superior to being black. Our society is highlighting being paler as a better skin colour which is making people with darker skin want to adapt their tone in order to gain a better social status. In one part of the video someone states 'black skin is associated with social disadvantage, while brown skin is believed to be more beautiful'. The mentality that brown is beautiful while black isn't has encouraged Jamaicans to bleach their skin and this epidemic is shown in this video. 

Cricket Test

This page discusses the term cricket test and how British politician Norman Tebbit doesn't believe immigrants to be loyal. The phrase was created in 1990 making it a fairly modern phrase which suggests that racism is still a rising issue. He suggests that immigrants are still sticking to their old culture despite them moving to Britain as well as claiming they are 'dangerous'. This narrow minded view highlights the fact immigrants are discrimated against as a whole purely for coming from different cultures. 

http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/communication-and-culture/a-level/communication-and-culture-2625