CULTURAL INSIGHT ASSIGNMENT - RELIGION, ENG LIT
Assignment--Cultural Insight Assignment (CIA)
Cultural Insight Assignment (CIA)
Throughout the semester, you will be required to submit one (1) CIA. In this post, you must explore the culture of the literature/author assigned for that week. You have been assigned to complete CIAs throughout the semester based on the literature on the week you have been assigned. I've chosen topics for one of your weeks. For example, if John and Jane complete a Biography post on Fenton Johnson, no one else can chose that topic/author (Fenton/Biography) combination for that week. (See the syllabus and the Learning Modules for those assignments.)
Requirements
Each CIA is required to be posted in the Discussion Section in Desire 2 Learn.
Each post must contain a controlling sentence.
Each post must contain a concluding sentence.
Each post must contain at least two direct quotes from scholarly secondary sources in MLA format. (You will NOT receive credit for direct quotes from sites such as Sparknotes.com, endnotes.com, Wikipedia and unreliable websites.)
You must include the bibliographic citations of the scholarly sources at the post in MLA format.
Each post must be written in Standard English. Each post should be grammatically correct.
You may only choose to focus on the works from this class. In other words, you may not choose a work that is not on the syllabus.
Topics: Identity, Historical Context, Biography of the Author, Gender, Sexuality, Religion, Major Movements, Customs/Rituals.
Each topic can explored in a variety of ways. This is a list of possible ways to explore the topics, but the list is not exhaustive. Therefore, you may choose to explore the topic in a different manner.
Identity- What issues of hybridity of identity used in the text? (Example-What does it mean to be African-American?) How do the characters identify themselves?
Historical Context of the literature-In what year was the piece of literature written? Describe the country/city/state/region during this period. What issues could have influenced the literature?
Biography of the author-Where was the author born? Who are his/her parents? Where did he/she attend school? What were his/her major influences? What influenced his/her writing? What events shaped his/her life? Is he/she living or deceased?
Gender-Describe the issues of gender in the text. Who carries the dominant characteristics in the literature?
Sexuality-How is sexuality discussed in the literature? Does the author explore it? What message does the author provide to the reader?
Religion of the characters-What is the dominant religion in the literature? What are its major tenants? Does it shape the literature? The characters?
Major Movements-Explore the historical, literary, political, economic associated with the time period of the author or the literature.
Customs/Rituals-What customs and/or rituals are explored in the literature/cultural? What are the origins of the custom or the ritual?
CIA Example-
Historical Context of the Literature
America's sixties will be remembered for its significant social and political changing events - the age of Space, the disastrous Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War. The sixties were considered a decade of upheaval and change, a time of war, rebellion, and fear. President Kennedy, newly appointed 35th United States President, presented a new agenda promising justice and equality to all United States citizens. His ideals included the concept of a Camelot - an age of positivity and hopefulness, social and political change towards a new frontier, "The Golden Age." In reality, it was a period when the United States would began to unravel, a time when the African Americans would collectively fight for what the Declaration of Independence promised all men, equality. (The Sixties)
For the African American it became a year of reform, the radical sixties. The focus was on Black power - the Civil Rights Movement evolves. It was in 1960 that Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat sparking a major busboycott. In 1961, the Freedom riders risked life and limb to fight and bring about changes in segregation on interstate transportation. In addition, 1962, the University of Mississippi receives its first Black student, James Meredith bringing integration to public higher learning institutions. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. began a series of nonviolent protests that were met with tremendous violence and horrific, forceful opposition. His speech "I Have a Dream" completes a huge demonstration in Washington D.C. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was implemented to end racial segregation by ruling discrimination unlawful. In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, the United States Congress passed the Voting Rights Act and in 1967, Thurgood Marshall is appointed as a Supreme Court Justice, the first African American to be honored in such a prestigious position. These actions give credence to the great sacrifices of our African American ancestors who paved the way for political and social rebellion that facilitated change (They Risked Their Lives).
According to Anderson and Stewart, "Political struggle and freedom stimulate cultural creativity in the arts and humanities" (302). Based on reviews of African American artistic and literary production, there was "increase during and following major political triumphs in civil rights struggles." (Anderson, 302) Because of this information, writers compare the Civil Rights Movement and its aftereffects to the Harlem Renaissance period. "Some humanist scholars refer the decades to the Black Arts Movement." (Anderson, 302) Though Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and the 1960s and 1970s Black Arts Movement differ considerably, these eras did share a profound production of Black creativity. African Americans sought to disprove the myth that they were untalented or not as talented as Whites were. This was a movement of exoneration as racial stereotypes were targeted for correction or destruction. Apart from Marcus Garvey supporters, The Black bourgeoisies made up a large percent of the Harlem Renaissance where Blacks mostly observed not participated.
Out of the socio-political struggles for change, The Black Arts Movement (BAM) emerged. Developed to answer the cry for economic fair play and educational opportunities. Black Arts and literary works were inspired and produced because of the Movement. Divided into two significant concepts, 1) integration fusion 2) separatism or Black Nationalism and culture uniqueness, both were considered to be solutions to the racial issues during this period. BAM also brought about a renewed interest in Africa. Richard Wright used "Black Power" as a political phrase describing the emergence of independent African nations during the middle 1950s. "The Black Power and Black Arts movements were the foundations of Black Studies programs and departments and ushered in an era when African American intellectuals would assume authority for the interpretation of Black cultural and historical experience" (Anderson, 303). The social and economic structure was significantly transformed, bringing about great changes for the African Americans. Changes that can be contributed directly to the Black Power and Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights movement.
Larry Neal's 1968 essay entitled, The Black Arts Movement, declared Black Arts the "aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept" (The Western Journal). The Black Arts Movement also changed traditional language, new terminology and phrases comprised of many African languages along with distinctive use of "Black English." The term "Black Power" originated in 1966 with "Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee civil rights workers Stokely Carmichael and Willie Ricks" (The Western Journal). The term became associated with a "militant advocacy of armed self-defense, separation from "racist American domination," and pride in and assertion of the goodness and beauty of Blackness" (The Western Journal).
Black Aesthetics has focused on social and political justice. The Harlem Renaissance was a tool for opposition to the status quo and a voice against racism that helped to set the mold for evaluating and reflecting the Black experience.
History reveals that this experience was highly social and political and that the character of the Black experience included concerns with ideologies that perpetuate one form of social or political power over another. The historical framework, during this era augmented by the writings of Leroi Jones (1963), Larry Neal (1965, 1968), Addison Gayle (1971), Maulana Karenga (1988), and the works of Brooks (1968, 1994), that could be helpful in understanding that social process and experiences influence the production and reproduction of aesthetic, cultural, and philosophical material (Hall, 54).
During this period, Addison Gayle and Stephen Henderson, "academic critics, focused on defining and refining Black aesthetic of cultural workers, such as Larry Neal and Hoyt Fuller as well as , poets such as Amiri Baraka, and Carolyn Rodgers" (Anderson, 304). According to Baraka, "The Black Aesthetic is the result of Afro-American desire for self-determination and nationhood that resurfaced in the form of artistic expression in the 1960s" (Urban Dictionary). Baraka feels the Black Aesthetic is corrective assistance to black people, pulling them out of the contamination of American traditional conventions. Consequently, various creative works of outstanding arts and literature were developed during this period. For its intents and purposes, these collective events, and the pioneers, helped bring about reflection and respect for the African American. America realized that African Americans were not the stereotypical, unintelligent, unattractive people the White society had long propagated.According to Stewart and Anderson, "...there has always been an aesthetic quality to committed struggle for right and justice" (Anderson, 304).
Works Cited
Anderson, Talmadge and Stewart, James. "Introduction to African American Studies." 2007.
Baltimore, MD. Print.
Gourley, Catherine. "They Risked Their Lives To Fight Injustice." Writing 26.5 (2004): 4-9.
Literary Reference Center. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
Hall, Van Anthoney. "Black Aesthetics, Art And Social Justice." Journal of Intercultural
Disciplines 11. (2013): 51-57. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
The Sixties. Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 2009. Web. 2 Mar. 2016.
HYPERLINK "https://ezproxy.clayton.edu:2048/login?url=https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=95694&xtid=47588&loid=141153" https://ezproxy.clayton.edu:2048/login?url=https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=95694&xtid=47588&loid=141153
The Western Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2014 193
Urban Dictionary, HYPERLINK "https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Black+Aesthetic"https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Black+Aesthetic