Assignment one challenged me to think about the concepts of
culture and identity, and what they meant to me, as well as my perspectives on
a human right and historic event.
When I think about culture, I think about where I have grown
up and lived all my life, and therefore ‘New Zealand’ or ‘Kiwi’. Ryan (2010)
talks about culture as “a way of life” and of norms we learn as we grow up. By
this standard, my answer should be correct, yet, my answer is usually followed
by further questioning of where I really am from, or rather, where my parents are
from. In this case, it would be ‘Taiwan’. Prior to the assignment, I strongly
believed that was my parents’ culture, not mine. However, now, I do believe
some behaviours and values of that culture have been shared with me, and had an
influence on the way I connect with the larger community. To show this in a
picture, that my culture is a mixture of both ‘kiwi’ and my ‘Taiwanese’, I
chose a picture of someone mixing something in a pot – a symbolic cultural
mixing pot, if you will – and I as a product of that mixture. The cartoon
aspect of it was also intentional, to show humour, and as a cultural artefact
showing the influence of western pop culture in my childhood (as a child
growing up in New Zealand).
The image I chose for identity was of a New Zealand
passport. As one of many citizens entitled to one, I chose this for symbolic
purposes. Lawler (2008) describes the “notion of identity” as a “paradoxical
combination of sameness and difference.” From this, I can identify myself as a
female, a New Zealand citizen, and a traveller. I have had the opportunity to
travel a lot, since young, and do not take it for granted. My value of the
ability to travel distances, and the experiences that come with is part of my
identity.
With the third image, I chose to discuss the human right
describing “freedom of opinion and expression” (Un.org, 2016). The image I
chose was intentionally straightforward – a monochrome picture of a person silencing
the viewer. I thought it implied the position of influence and power another person
may have on someone’s thoughts and opinions. We should have the freedom to
think and express our thoughts, yet we often hold back out of fear for
backlash. I thought this was an important human right to showcase, because it
is often overlooked, when it is our human right.
The final image was of a stage at VidCon, an event thousands
gather to celebrate online video, following the growth and popularity of
YouTube. Photo four was to show my view of a historical event that influenced
society today. I chose this image because it represented the influence of a
video-streaming website, and online content creators. Despite being a ‘newer’
event than usual historical events that would come to mind, the creation of the
website and Google’s acquisition of the company is now a decade ago. The
influence YouTube, and online content creation continues to have, is why I find
this event relevant to today.
Sharing these ideas in the Google Plus community has been an
interesting experience. I can see various ideas surrounding culture and
identity, as well as what is important to others in their choice of human right
to discuss, and historical influence to explore. The varying ideas reinforce
the notion of identity, that there is sameness, yet there are differences.
Reflecting on these concepts have helped shaped my own.
References
Lawler, S. (2008). Introduction: identity as a question. Identity
- Sociological Perspectives.
Ryan,
M. (2010). Preface. Cultural
studies: A practical introduction. Hoboken: Wiley.
Un.org,. (2016). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Retrieved 3 April 2016, from
http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html
