Course Plan I Sem Optional English - JPEng

Dept of Media Studies

Christ College (Autonomous), Bangalore

I Semester JPEng

Print Culture and the Rise of the Nation-State

Course Plan

Name of the teacher : Anil Pinto

Total No of Hrs (aprox) : 24

Subject : Optional English

Paper : British Literature: Late Victorian to the Present

No	Authors / Texts	No of Hours	Dates/Remarks
1	Introduction	1	June
2	Chaucer	2	June
3	Shakespeare’s Sonnets	3	June/July
4	Introduction to Drama	1	July
5	Donne, Herbert	2	July
6	Dryden, Pope	2	July
7	Thomas Grey	2	Aug
8	Shakespeare - Macbeth	6	Aug
9	Blake	2	Sept
10	Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelly, Keats	2	Sept
11	Review/Feedback	1	Last week of Sept

Teaching Methods

The classes will have lectures and student presentations. The lectures may draw upon visual material namely painting, films, advertisements, print media and literary works. Lectures will explore the theme of the paper at the intersection of various disciplines.

Supplementary reading will be announced from time to time.

CIA III

Will depend on the way discussion will shape up by the last week of July. It will be announced in the beginning of the I week of August.

Guidelines for Submission in case of written assignments:

· The written assignment should be based on your field research. The typed assignment should adhere to the following specifications: A4 size paper, 12 font size, 11/2 line space, font: Times New Roman, Book Antiqua, or Garamond

· Assignment details - your name, reg. no, class, semester, assignment code, name of the College, name of the teacher in-charge and date of submission- should be mentioned on the top right-hand side of the first page. Do not use a cover page.

· You are free to take the assignment beyond the expected criteria. Such efforts will be appreciated

· Those who are going to be out of town can submit the assignment online

· No late submission is entertained

· Plagiarism will not be tolerated and may result in rejection of assignment

· Remember to give reference at the end of your assignment of the books, articles, websites, and films that you have referred to. The following pattern may be followed: Author’s name with the last name first, a period, name of the book italicised, a period, Place of Publication, colon, name of publication, year of publication, page no

o E.g.: Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand, My Experiments with Truth, New Delhi: Penguin, 1998.

o In case of a website give the complete URL of the site referred to along with the above details

o If you are directly lifting some lines quote them. If you are using some idea write it in your words but acknowledge it

For further information on bibliography writing please refer to MLA Handbook – Sixth Edition.

Note:

Ø Attendance is compulsory for all the sessions.

Ø Please be punctual. If you are late, you will not be allowed to attend the class. However, should there be any serious issue, do discuss with me or bring to my notice through the counsellors.

Ø I expect you to come to class having read the required texts. Failing to which you may not allowed to attend the classes.

Ø Please feel free to clarify your doubts, ask questions or give feedback in the class, department or through email.

Ø While emailing please mention your name, class and batch.

Ø If you are absent for any of the classes please get the help of your classmates to get updated, before you approach me for help.

Ø If you wish to make classroom presentation on any topic or idea within the framework of the syllabus, you will be given encouragement and guidance.

Ø Visit my blog for notices and announcements regularly

Ø I reply to emails within 24 hours. If you do not receive reply within that time, you may assume that I have not received your email.

Ø As far as possible avoid calling me on my mobile phone.

Ø I am available in the department for any meeting or discussion between 8.30 and 9 am only. If you come at other times there is a brown hard cover book on my table in which you could leave me messages.

Ø All the best. Let us grow together.

Anil Pinto

Email: anil.pinto@christcollege.edu, ajpinto42@gmail.com

Blog: http://anilpinto.blogspot.com

ON THE JOB REPORT PATTERN

ON THE JOB REPORT PATTERN

Cover page
Declaration of student
Declaration of guide
Letter from college
Employer’s letter
Acknowledgment
Content
Intro to the course
Objectives of the internship
Choice of work place
Job description: appointment
Duration
Profile of workplace
Organizational structure
Tasks and analyses
Challenges
Retrospection
Appendices

For bibliography, footnotes, follow MLA style

AND THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT….

Title page- centered and bold- times new roman- 14&12
Page numbers for the following in roman numerals (i, ii….) :-
Student declaration
Guide dec
Letter from coll
Employer’s letter
Acknowledgement
CONTENT page- do not number this page.
- “CONTENTS” write in bold+centered+caps
- Items-not bold, no caps
Intro to course- start numbering (1,2,3,4,…) from this page
Reason for choice of workplace- keep it short
Profile of workplace
Job description, tasks, analyses
Challenges, retrospection
Page numbers: centered+bottom
Logo of the college in title page-black, uniform in size
Paragraphs to be justified

Note:

1. I am emailing the initial page format with text for the benefit of all. Will try to mail it to all,. Just in case if you have not received it please contact Preethi who will forward it to you.
2. some of you have not given your diaries. Neither have you met me at the appointed time nor have you informed me about the absence or reasons for absence. I strongly disapprove this.
   
3. those of you have not given the diaries please do it by tomorrow. Lest I may be forced to penalise you in your evaluation.
   
4. I am available in the dept for general meeting between 8.30 and 9am. If you wish to leave any message you may either write it in the brown book left one my table or email me.
   

(I thank Nehal Shah for taking down the instructions meticulously last year and making them available this year)

Literary theory class 2 for PSEng on 20 June

Names dropped: Foucault, Lacan, Hayden White, Claude Levi-strauss and Derrida, Chomski

Concepts dropped: Narratology, power, language in psychoanalysis, binary

Issues:

1. Critique of notions of ‘Students own opinion”

2. Looking at student originality in terms of connections they make between ideas and see problems with the ideas/ works being engaged with when confronted with the local contexts/lived experiences.

3. Problems with existing frameworks of sociology and psychology as disciplines in the Indian academia

4. Our problems while engaging with concepts like nations. Conditioned by narratives

5. Unconscious is organized like Language – Lacan

6. Gap between linguists and psychoanalysis over language (I owe this insight to Prof Da Silva)

7. Do add what I have forgotten.

Course in Existentialism

Dept of Media Studies

organizes

Certificate Course in Philosophy

Existentialism: A Way of Life

Course content

1. Introduction - Existentialism as a 'Movement'
2. Soren Kierkegaard - A Journey through the Stages of Life
3. Martin Heidegger - A Call to Authenticity
4. Jean Paul Sartre - A Response to Challenges of Freedom
5. Gabriel Marcel - A Life of Intersubjectivity
6. Albert Camus - A Philosophy of Absurdity
7. Conclusion - Critical Appraisals

Classes: July first week onwards on Saturday afternoons

Course fee: Rs 1000 for CC students (Other s Rs 1500)

Course coordinator: Anil Pinto, Dept of Media Studies

For further details: Email - anil.pinto at christcollege dot edu

Or

Meet Anil Pinto between 8.30 and 9 am or Padma Kumar between 4 and 4.30 pm in room 107

II JPEng GE Groups for presentation

I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII	VIII	IX
1 11 21 30 39 48 57 67 77	2 13 22 31 40 49 58 68 78	3 14 23 32 41 50 59 69 79	4 15 24 33 42 51 60 70 80	5 16 25 34 43 52 61 71 81	6 17 26 35 44 53 62 72	7 18 27 36 45 54 64 73	8 19 28 37 46 55 65 75	9 20 29 38 47 56 66 76

• The roman numbers represent the II semester lessons in Perspectives and the numbers below them are of those of the respective team members.
• Each group has to present a summary of the lesson and two critical write ups of not less than 1000 words each. The rest of the group can explore the assigned piece through skits, films, musical compositions, songs, sketches, cartoons etc. However, such things should be supported with a write up giving the text and comments on them.
• Groups can decide on the venue of classes with prior intimation to me
• The groups have to choose leaders and give their names to Shwetha by Saturday.
• The students have to present the respective pieces on allotted dates.
• Evaluation criteria and the dates for presentation will be announced in the next week with mutual consent.

Groups	Leaders
I	Alphin (7D2301)
II	Anjan (7D2302)
III	Shikha (7D2350)
IV	Prakruthi (7D2370)
V	Shwetha (7D2352)
VI	Bhavani (7D2326)
VII	Sunaina (7D2354)
VIII	Sagarika (7D2319)
IX	Parinatha (7D2366)

Literary Theory Classes- suggestions

Suggestions from FEP: I have given my answers in brackets.

1. Avoid reading the text in class (ok)
2. Go beyond the text (Fine)
   
3. Keep the exam point of view as well during the discussion (Will integrate the classroom discussion and text in testing)
4. Give question bank (since such a move will undermine the classroom discussion, will let that go)
5. Online forum for clarification (have already created post on my blog. Open to orkut as well, if you initiate)
6. Train in writing (will analyze some answers in classroom)

Suggestions from PSEng:

1. Expect students to read essays (absolutely)
2. Give also your views after the student persentaitons/ group work should be backed by teacher response (sure)
3. Keep exam in mind while explaining (aye)
4. Give homework on concepts (would love to)
5. Give training in answering (yes)
6. Give a clear framework (done)
7. Give an essential bibliography of the books available in the library (will do)
8. Give adequate time for assignments/ do not give it along with those of other papers. (will bear this in mind. Will also experiment with online assignments.
9. 
   

Literary theory Class 1 for FEP

Today I discussed three concepts - literature, theory and criticism.

I have not yet critically engaged with your explanations of these concepts. I must say it was a stimulating class for me, despite the fact that some of you said you were lost and some wondered at this pace whether we would complete our syllabus. All reactions are welcome and encouraging.

Some of the additional questions that emerged were the difference between theory and conjuncture; Do assumptions make theory or assumptions backed by facts do? Going back to radical doubt.

We also engaged with the words like creativity and imagination.

The discussion also steered towards philosophy of science and Karl Popper’s notion of science.

Some names dropped were: Raymond Williams, Jean Baudrillard, Descartes, Kant, Derrida, Plato.

Other concepts that were dropped: Postmodernism, post structuralism, structuralism, cultural studies. hyperreality, postmodernism

Please do comment on what made you ‘get lost’. Was it information overload or complete lack of exposure to theoretical terrain? Feel free to share all your views. By the way look forward to my next class which will be differently conducted. After which I want you do a comparative study of both the classes.

Have a nice time till you see me again.

Post Graduate Diploma in Philosophy

The parent institution of Christ College, Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram is offering a one year PD diploma course in Philosophy through distance education mode. Those of you wish may apply for it. The minimum qualification required is graduation in any discipline. The course is of one year duration and the course fee Rs 4800.

The papers are

Subject		Credit
Introduction to Philosophy		1
Formal Logic		2
Philosophy of Being		2
Ancient Western Philosophy		2
Ancient Indian Philosophy (Sruti & Smrti)		3
Medieval Western Philosophy		2
Moral Philosophy (General Ethics)		3
Philosophy of God		3
Indian Orthodox Systems		2
Research Methodology		1
Modern Western Philosophy		2
Modern Indian Philosophy		2
Contemporary Western Philosophy		2
General Psychology		2
Existentialism and Phenomenology		2
Philosophy of Knowledge		2
Philosophy of Human Person		2
Philosophy of Science and Nature		2
Research Paper		3

For further information you may visit: http://www.dvk.in/dade.htm#12.1.%20%20PG%20Diploma%20in%20Philosophy
You may also write to Fr Kurian Kachappilly <kkachappilly@hotmail.com>

Please forward this information to those who might be interested.

MA in English with Communication Studies at Christ College

We are staring MA in English with Communication Studies this year. The papers are :

Semester I

British Literature:Genres and ideas
Reading Twentieth Century Art, Culture and Society
Literary Criticism
American Literary Thoughts and Ideas
Professional Communication

Semester II
Gender Studies
Contemporary Theory
Linguistics
English Language Teaching
Mass Communication

Semester III
Indian Writing in English
World Literature
Postcolonial Studies
Comparative Drama
Research and Writing Heuristics

Semester IV
Dissertation

Film Studies
Indian Writing in Translation
Cultural Studies

Translation Studies

Script Writing

Note: After the second semester there is a compulsory internship in any of the following area- media, schools, colleges, research centres.

For any information, help regarding the course or admission please contact me on : ajpinto42 at gmail dot com or post your comments on this blog.

A Review of Far From Home: Confessions of a Foreign Student by Douglas Waudo

Following is the review of the book Far From Home: Confessions of a Foreign Student by Douglas Waudo. Dauglas was my student for two years. In his first year of BA i had come to know that he wanted to write a novel and i remember asking him to read Things Fall Apart which was written by Chinua Achebe as a BA student. I also vaguely remeber the inspiration to write was his sister who had passed away in Bombay after suffering of cancer for a long time, if my memory serves me right. By the time he reached the third year I had left the college. But he had managed to complete the novel by then. Prof Lourdusamy, the publisher of the book had sent a copy for review. It was later published in two websites from Africa. Thought should archive it in my blog. I have taken it form the website www.advance-africa-forum.com. - http://www.advance-africa-forum.com/archive/index.php?t-447.html. Here it goes.....
-------------------------

Far From Home: Confessions of a Foreign Student by Douglas Waudo

A Review by Anil Pinto, Lecturer, Department of Media Studies, Christ College, Bangalore University, India.

Far from Home is a tale of ‘the lives, hopes, worries, fears, experiences, guilty pleasures, mistakes and lessons learnt’ of the Kenyan students studying in India. Through its protagonist, Raymond Wasike, it brings out multiple facets of the lives of foreign students, especially the African students in India. Ray who comes from Nairobi full of dreams and ambitions gets drawn into the complex life that almost all the overseas students perhaps get introduced to. Despite his strong will and determination to fulfill his purpose of coming to India, Ray becomes a prodigal son, drops out of college, becomes a drug trafficker and even gets arrested for rape. The novel ends in Ray longing for a new life, without of course trying to reject the past although he thinks ‘that chapter in his life had nothing good or worthy written on it’.

The title Far from Home is polyphonic with pun in it. Although the ‘land of dreams and aspirations’ tries to reassure, it can never be another home or a home-away-from-home as there is no lasting concern beyond the need for recognition. In the absence of a caring family the system that tries to fill the void only destroys the individual. It is also a place that is far away from the homeland, Kenya. The subtitle of the novel Confessions of a Foreign Student indicates the theme, which at one level is very Christian in nature. It is a confession and therefore demands forgiveness and understanding. The last is one of the important objectives of the novelist himself. Although the word ‘foreign’ could have been replaced by the politically correct term ‘overseas’, the retention of the word makes the title ironic. The students are perhaps treated as foreign, despite their stay for as long as five years. The novel portrays a complex insight into the world of Kenyans in India and the west coast of India in particular.

The life that is projected in the novel is very fragile. In the absence of the traditional family control, the life gets easily controlled by forces outside oneself. However, the novel is one of hope. Ray can always think of going back to his family and beginning life afresh. The world view of the novel is traditional Christian. Family is the ultimate institution an individual can confide in.

Unlike most Eurocentric narratives this novel is as much about the struggle of a family as of an individual. The novel also offers interesting insights into how African constructs and views India. We have been by and large concerned with the image in the West of India. Whereas this novel offers a vital point of view of Africa, which the Indian intelligentsia has by and large refused to take note of.

The writing of the novel is driven by a vision for the future of the African students studying in India, and a passion to tell the tale in a convincing manner to initiate change. Keeping with its purpose, the novel calls for a change in the way educational institutions have seen the ‘foreign’ students. One perhaps requires to take recourse to more accountable systems on the part of the educational institutions towards the parents of these ‘foreign’ students.

In author’s own words the novel makes ‘an interestingly informative, educative and entertaining reading’ with its modern-day tale of prodigal sons and daughters of Africa in India. It is a voice from the margins of Mangalore.

One needs to appreciate the efforts of Prof Lourdusamy who has consistently and many a time alone tried to foster the creativity of students through many such publications such as Al-Buds and Blooms which were anthologies and now a novel, a first time in the 125 year history of St. Aloysius College.

Resistence to Blogs. A response

I had posted the following write-up in 'ictineducation' gmail group on 28 Nov 2005 following a National Seminar on ICT Technology in Higher Education held at Mahatma Gandhi College Trivendrum/Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala in Nov 2005. I had presented a paper on blogs in education there which attracted stimulating/emotional/resisting discussion. This long reply was an attempt to address the issues that came up after my presentation. Of course, as is the norm in most of these cyber forums there were no responses to this.

"I wish to respond to some of the questions raised at the workshop
following my presentation on blogs.

Mr Alwyn D'Sa's enquiry as to how blogs ensured that the lazy
students submitted the given assignments.
My reply: The concept and the nomenclature 'lazy students' does not
exist in the ELT discourse. The issue is not one of being politically
correct in the usage of words, but one of approach. I see
non-submission of assignments as a case of low motivation or lack of
interest on the part of students owing to other external factors. The
way out would be to find out the cause and remedy it. Apart from this
there are institutional factors which most of the time ensure that the
students/learners do their job irrespective of the problem they face. A
blog in itself cannot do anything as it is a tool or a medium, a unique
one at that. My experiment with blogs was to take assignments to the
doorstep of my students or to the places of their comfort, utilizing
the unique possibility that blogs offered. Medium itself is a message.
And therefore the assignments given through blogs and the blog as a
medium itself will change the way a learner perceives learning. For
example the assignment posted on my blog for BBM students. No other
medium will enable such creativity in giving an assignment.

Honourable chairperson's comment on the necessity of looking at the
cost factor. Also his statement "A chalk is a luxury in a government
college".
My reply: The cost factor works quite differently here. If you look at
the other possibilities discussed like the use of movies, radio,
cartoon they do not require any investment on the part of the students.
Whereas the use of blog, both by the learner as well as the teacher,
does. If the institution does not have a free internet facility to view
blogs, then the students need to have the connection at home or need to
go to an internet browsing centre. Both these involve investment on the
part of the students. I agree. But, for the teacher if s/he has the
internet connection at College, the person can manage it without
spending money. Or, if the person has an internet connection at home
then s/he does not have to spend extra for the sake of blogs. Even if
the teacher spends Rs 10 for half an hour (this is the average tariff
in most parts of our country) per week it will be about Rs 40 per month
and Rs 480 per year. Which I don't think is much for a lecturer who
is drawing UGC or state government scale. This reasoning holds good, if
an undergraduate teacher has inclination to reach out to the students
through the cyberspace.

"A chalk is a luxury in a government college" is no argument at all
to question the feasibility of using the internet to reach out to
learners. The question is one of interest on the part of the teachers.
(I am not saying that one must have interest and must make use of the
internet/cyberspace as if it were a panacea) Developing infrastructure
is of course a challenging task in institutions which have serious
resource crunch. But it is no impossible task. There are various
sources that need to be tapped namely UGC, different central/state
government projects, alumni/ae, IT companies both big and small which
dispose off their PCs when they go for upgrading their infrastructure,
donors, benefactors, and local MLAs and MPs who have local area
development funds. It requires effort. But it pays to take that extra
step. I can cite innumerable example of my friends and myself where a
lot of money was spent from the personal kitty even with the meagre
salary which we used to get in the initial years of our teaching.

At last, I need to clarify my position.
1. The whole concept of blogs as I presented and as I am experimenting
with, is different from most other possibilities for creativity. The
basic difference is that a blog can be used more as an extension of a
classroom and a class away from classroom- the virtual classroom. Most
of the possibilities with technology largely talk about classroom
practice, without considering the cost, gadget failure, infrastructure
availability, technical know-how required for teacher and the time
available. For example, Use of movies especially clipping requires
editing. Where is the facility. Or to show full length movies one
requires TV sets as well as cassette, VCD/DVD players, uninterrupted
power supply. Giving worksheets involves huge photocopying cost apart
from more pressure on depleting green cover/forests. With the little
time, normally 45 to 55 minutes, that is available and the vast
syllabus to be taught to what extent can a teacher try these
possibilities?
2. I am not of the view that it is time everybody shifted to blogs and
the cyberspace. Or that it is an answer to all the problems that
ESL/EFL classes face. I present blogs as another possibility,
especially under the changing socio-economic profile of the students.
It is also to be noted that the PC penetration is far more than that of
TV or radio in the institutes of higher education in India
3. I feel that making use of blogs will empower the students in the era
of information technology. There is far lesser chance of teachers of
other disciplines taking the initiative to initiate the students to the
cyber world. A very crucial question to ask is why are we teaching
English? For the sake to teaching it? If it is for the sake of teaching
it then it serves no purpose at least for the learners. English is now
used and is increasingly going to be used for 'faceless
communication'. The employability of the students will depend on
their ability to use English via emails, telephones and such other
telecommunication media. Use of the cyberspace will enable the students
to use English with its practical implications. It is in this
background that I propose the experiments with blogs.

. The discussion that happened after the presentation was very useful
to me in terms getting more conceptual clarity. I thank all those who
actively took part in it both during the session and during the tea
break. I will be very happy if this discussion continues and will be
pleased to answer any queries regarding my own views as well as blogs."

Cultural Studies Final paper clarifications

A few clarifications regarding the research paper.
To reduce your work esp at this critical period i thought i will drop the peer review part. Of course i will have do some explaining to the office. Will take care of that.
Hence you do not have to give two copies of your research paper. One hard copy would do.

At the same time i want you to upload your assignment to www.turnitin.com. Below is a step by step approach to uploading. Remember, uploading your assignment is mandatory. Just in case there is a misplacement, i can rely on your uploaded copy. if there are problems please seek the help of your friends. If you still can't do it, please email me.

Remember, your name, register no and class and date of submission should be on the top right hand corner of the first page.

Followed by title of the paper. and the text of the paper.

please print the paper only on one side of the A4 size paper. font size 12/ font : times new roman or agaramond.



1. Go to /http://www.turnitin.com/
2. Click on New Users button on the left hand top corner of the page.
3. Select the option Student and click Next
4. Enter your class id ( 2228118 ) and password (ultimatum) and click Next
5. Enter your email address which you normally use and click Next
6. Enter a password for your turnitin account. Re-enter it and click Next
7. Select your Secret Question. Write an Answer to the question.
8. Enter your First Name and Last Name
9. Click on I Agree – Create Profile
10. Click on End Wizard and Login, if you do not want a demo
11. Click on your respective class
12. Click on the submit icon
13. Enter your First Name, Last Name, and Submission Paper Title and click on the Browse button to upload the file. After uploading click Submit.
14. Check your write up and if it is ok, click on Yes, submit. If not click No, go back
15. Copy your submission id. A digital copy of it will also be sent to your regular email account.
16. Click Logout

I FEP SUMMER INTERNSHIP – APRIL, MAY 2008 Guidelines

I FEP SUMMER INTERNSHIP – APRIL, MAY 2008

Guidelines for the group assigned to me:

• Prepare a proposal in about 100 words and email it to me. The proposal should include name and address of the newspaper where you would be doing your internship, a brief write up on that newspaper, reasons for your choice of that particular newspaper, your plans during the internship and your opinion on how the internship will help you develop as an effective media person. The proposal should reach me on or before 15 March 2008.

• You are to collect a diary from Mr Kennedy by showing the receipt for Rs 30 paid at the admission office. Make entries into the diary on day-to-day basis. Your diary entries should include the assignments you were given, details of how you went about doing the assignments, new things you learnt about the field, about yourself and your abilities that day. After a few days, the diary entries will look similar, clichéd and monotonous. It is up to you to find newness and creativity in your internship everyday.

• During your internship in the newspapers, try to get as many by-lines as possible. They will carry a lot of weight on your CV later. However, you will soon realise that it is not easy to get them. Most of the time the news briefs or news stories that you write will be published under the title ‘From our staff correspondent’ or ‘_____ News Network.’ Do not lose heart.

• Try to build as many contacts as possible both within the organisation and with people you meet in the field. You will realise the value of it during the internship and later as you try to climb the professional and social ladder.

• Try and do challenging news stories or features. See if you can come up with your own topics for features or news stories. Remember journalism is literature in a hurry and has a very short life span. Therefore, timeliness of an article or news is the most crucial value that will prove your talent and ability. Your genius is not what will make you valuable but your consistency.

• Compile the copies of your published works regularly, be they briefs, news stories or features in a file. You will have to submit them along with your on-the-job reports when the college reopens.

• If you want some guidance, want to share your success or failure feel free to email me anytime

06 March 2008 Anil Pinto

------------------All the best------------------

A note from Abhaya that was sent on 7 April 2009.

• the internship diaries are over; so do not pay at the office and come with a receipt for the diaries. maintain a 50 page book as your diary. write the daily activities, date, and get it signed by your mentor in the organization; do not forget this task; you may not be able to remember everything you did during your internship
• show interest in work and get some work; this is the time when you get your contacts and test your own ability to work with professionals
• do not forget to get appendix; if you are unable to get some evidence contact your guide, so that alternatives could be worked out before you finish your internship and return empty handed and land in trouble
• mail your guides once a week; it would be easy for them to suggest things if you are in contact regularly; regular contact with the guide has 5% marks

Enjoy your internship. Come back with fresh ideas and enthusiasm.

Rethinking Community through Crash

Rethinking Community through Crash

Anil Joseph Pinto

Dept of Media Studies, Christ College, Bangalore

(Paper presented at the National Seminar on Psychology and Cinema at Christ College, Bangalore on15 Feb 2007)

Crash winner of three academy awards for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing in 2005, has had interesting circulation among film buffs and social science classrooms both in the host country and many countries across the globe, including India. The film has attracted considerable discussion on the race issue as well the portrayal of race in the cinematic media in academic journals and film portals alike. This paper intends to look at some of those debates and tries to take the debate to another location - community - with an intension of opening up new questions for psychology within the limits of this paper and time.

Roger Ebert, one of most celebrated Chicago Sun-Times reviewer, gave four-star rating saying, “Crash tells interlocking stories of Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism … I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves” (2005). While Ebert is pleased with the film for the kind of ‘positive’ sensitivity that the film will build in the viewers, a host of scholars, especially Black, engaged with issues related to race and multiculturalism, have begged to differ trying to throw light on the way the film only goes to reinforce the existing Hollywood stereotypes of non-whites. David Holmes argues that “Crash complicates the moral facets of ethnic and racial biases while simplifying the material structures that cause and perpetuate these biases.” (2007:318). Joyce Irene Middleton agrees with him when he says, “I felt disappointed and frustrated by the film’s use of surface, sketchy characters; its failed attempt to challenge racial stereotypes, especially as most people of color (raced people) would recognize them; and its dominant pedagogical fallacy; that everybody’s a little bit prejudiced.” (2007:321). The absence of redemption for the Asian characters has also been foregrounded by quite a few critics. (Prendergast, 2007)

However, despite the significant issues of representation that these critics bring out, it is important to note the centrality that this visual text assumes to engage with the various sociological and political questions in the public domain. One important domain that I wish to open up is the concept of community this visual text allows to problematise.

Classical sociology has largely viewed communities as “closed collectivities or traditional groupings in which the questions of individual choice did not matter … [and where C]ommunities prioritized norms and value of the collectivity over the individual.” (Jodhka, 2001: 18). To these characteristics Nisbet (1967:5) adds “high degree of personal intimacy, emotional depth, moral commitment, social cohesion, and continuity in time.” Continuity, cohesion, boundedness and adherence to tradition are other features that are ascribed to a community. (Upadhaya: 2001:33).

A close look at these notions of community seems to be positing community as the other of individual. However, recent scholarship in cultural studies has shown that the historically community comes to be constructed as the other of capital and not as the other of the individual. These constructions throw up serious challenges for theorization when the community is no more out there or as constructed community makes a claim to capital.

Crash, with its narrative involving multiple racial groups and mixed racial characters coming together under one statist political entity, poses challenges to the narrative of community as closed collectivities beyond individual questions. The state itself functions through a complex assimilation of Blacks, Whites, Latinos who are constantly struggling to belong, not precisely knowing where – because of their positions or lineages. Hence, Graham Waters, does not really want to own up his race and is thrilled by having sex with a ‘white’ lady.

When the film begins it seems to be constructing itself as a community of Los Angeles – a fragmented one at that - as against other communities. The film opens with Waters’ voice over, “In LA nobody touches you, always behind metal and glass. I think we miss the touch so much that we crash into each other so that we can feel something.” However, most characters seem to completely ignore this imagination. Farhad will insist on his right to buy the gun by asserting his American citizenship. He says, “I am an American citizen.” He also does not own up the Arab identity as he is a Persian. Both Kim Lee, the Korean lady, and Shaniqua Johnson, the doctor’s secretary and the black lady who picks a fight over the last car crash, stress on their identity more on the linguistic lines, emphasizing their ability to “speak English” or “speak American.” The Korean will sell his fellow Asians not in anyway trying to own up the Asian as a community identity. Anthony and Peter will go out and rob the Blacks. Cameron does not wish to be identified with the Black community.

Thus the film takes us beyond the simple constructions of community to those of complex play of power and dominance. The constructions of community based on race, geographical location or common political entity now become categories difficult to work with or, to use Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept, they become “inoperative communities.”

Given this inadequacy of the concept of community, what happens to the disciplines in social sciences including psychology, for which community is one of the fundamental concepts around which huge body of knowledge and practice exists? Will it lead to a fundamental rethinking of these disciplines and their practices, especially Community Psychology?

Reference

Cheadle, Don et al (Producer), & Haggis, Paul. (Director). (2005) Crash. [Motion Picture] United States: Lions Gate Films, DEJ Productions, & Bob Yari Productions.

Ebert, Roger. “Crash” May 5, 2005 http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ article?AID=/ 20050505/REVIEWS/50502001/1023

Holmes, David G. (2007) The Civil Rights Movement According to Crash: Complicating the Pedagogy of Integration. In College English 69 (4), 314-320.

Jodhka, Surinder S. (2001) Introduction. Surinder S Jodhka (Ed). In Community and Identities: Contemporary Discourses on Culture and Politics in India. New Delhi: Sage.

Middleton, Joyce Irene. (2007) Talking about Race and Whiteness in Crash. In College English 69 (4), 321- 334.

Nancy, Jean-Luc. (1991). The Inoperative Community. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press,

Nisbet, R. (1967). Sociological Traditions. London: Heinemann.

Prendergast, Catherine. (2007). Asians: The present Absence in Crash. In College English 69 (4), 347-348.

Upadhya, Carol. (2001). The Concept of Community in Indian Social Sciences: An Anthropological Perspectives. In Surinder S Jodhka (Ed), Community and Identities: Contemporary Discourses on Culture and Politics in India New Delhi: Sage.