Heading down to the island republic allowed for me to present SA research findings at UWI (University of the West Indies). I was also able to stay with a family that hosted me for the five days that I was visiting for. The family was in the middle of getting things ready to celebrate their religious holiday and I was invited to participate in much of the events.

Yoruba, an Afro-Caribbean religion with roots in African tribal beliefs and influences of Christian practices opened my eyes to entirely new practices and customs. While in Trinidad I was invited to partake in the week-long events of “Festival” (religious observation which takes a full week). Orisha, which is defined as a spirit or deity, make up one component of Yoruba.

For more details on the religious practices of Yoruba please visit the following sites:

http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/yoruba.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_mythology

More importantly, I’m also excited to spend some time reflecting on much of the research that I was doing while in South Africa and to combine this with the presentation that I will be doing at the University of the West Indies on Tuesday. While guest lecturing for the University of Cape Town this summer I was invited to a faculty luncheon with Manuel Castells–a world leader in global technology and communications. This fit perfectly into the research that I was conducting (technology integration within educational settings) and allowed for me to broaden my research to a scope that would allow for me to look at technology as a tool used by the general population. In South Africa the main tool of communicating was cell phones and this truly shocked me. The internet boom has yet to sufficiently hit the country and the people there (due to economic reasons and the mass number of citizens living in townships with little or no electricity. However, cell phones are the norm. This technology also crosses a number or classes and truly works to break down the classism that is still within the social construct of the country.

I digress…Castells was able to open my eyes to this wonderful world of cell phones and to the added objectification of virtual space–this being places where new identities could be created via “Mxit” and other social networking spaces that are electronically hosted (not necessarily by the internet or other well known American outlets: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.). With my upcoming presentation and my continued work on my Ph.D. in Media Studies from UCT I wanted to reflect more on Castells and present here yet another link to some of this man’s fascinating research. By way of my own research I was pointed in the direction of a paper Castells’ (and a few others) had created in 2004. Although dated (I’m writing Nov. 2009) the implications, framework, and overall thesis of the paper remains surprisingly relevant, valid and topical.

Castells uncovers the world of cell phone usage within a global context. He traces how many consumers are eating-up minutes in the US, Europe, Africa, and in Asia. He takes us on a tour of the international airwaves that direct billions of communications daily (dare I say hourly!). For additional reading on Castells’ paper “Social Uses of Wireless Communications: The Mobile Information Society” (2004) can be found at:

http://arnic.info/workshop04/MCS.pdf

This paper (along with many of his sources) will become the lens in which I begin my research–taking Harvard’s technology integration in the classroom and expanding it to the society as a whole.

Trinidad will prove a positive jumping off point to begin articulating my ideas and blending the SA research with ideas of my own having to do with a number of “isms”: Classism, Marxism, Capitalism, Racism, Sexism, etc.

So now I say, Bon Voyage! I will be sure to plug back in while I’m abroad to upload additional narratives and reflections. As always, thank you for taking the time to read the ramblings of an absentminded researcher…

Presentation Date(s):

(Monday, November 16 and Tuesday, November 17, 2009)

Title:

“Women and Media: Gender, Consumerism, & Marketing in the Developing World”

Abstract:

The main trajectory of the presentation will analyze how female image(s) are represented through media in developing nations. Moreover, I will question whether or not the image shares an equal footing with that of power and eroticism. This subject (image) is a physical object or person that is reproduced and in many ways manipulated by the technology which records it. We see these images via adverts, sitcom characters, music videos and women’s roles in film. Through the concept of the female image we can pose several important questions. How does the image work to represent sex/gender/sexuality within the constructs of media and more specifically, branding? How does an image work within our perception of eroticism as a form of power or desire? How is this “power” and its link to the image acting in an idiosyncratic, masochistic, misogynistic, subversive, or erotic way? Within this same vein, are these images omnipresent in the sense that they are re-supplying themselves? Are the images negated in some way? Are there specific emblematic aspects or portions of the images excluded from their “selves”? Is this excision (lack or negation) of the image shoring up a social or cultural order? How can we trace this splitting (and/or blurring) of the bereft image from its whole? Are there images (plenary or refracted) in which “sexuality” is always inscribed on the body, or conversely, are there “desexualized” bodies represented? This presentation will open up questions to wrestle with, particularly concerning the manifestation of “female masculinity,” emasculation/“remasculinization,” and artificiality, all of which enact and inscribe interminably within the female image and her presence in developing nations. By placing a critical lens over adverts and “caricatures” of the female from third-world and developing nations, I will argue that shifts (or in some cases, formalized “loops”) have occurred. These shifts are affecting our interpretation of power and eroticism, as well as how they are represented by the image in various modalities.

 Bio:

Vincent Porfirio is currently acting Assistant Dean of Students at The Sage Colleges in New York, USA. He attended the University at Albany for an English Honors degree and a Masters degree in English and Film. He then went on to spend the last four years teaching English 101 and English 220 at The Sage Colleges. While working at Sage he received a second Masters degree in English Education. He is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with the Sage Graduate School  and a Ph.D. in Film and Media Studies with the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Vincent is the recipient of the Presidential Award for Undergraduate Research, a Broughton Fellow, Albert N. Husted Fellow, and more recently a Harvard Research Fellow who completed extensive work in South Africa. Vincent’s research has focused on branding and marketing, technology integration, and gender and identity. Vincent currently resides in Albany, New York.

Photo:

When working in rural and suburban schools in New York, and even white schools in South Africa, it became clear that the schools that are functioning the best (albeit, they have there problems) are those with smaller classrooms, higher teacher to student ratios, extracurricular funding, and maintained facilities. You may be saying “dah!” but I was shocked to be exposed to schools in South Africa that were running great and putting on huge play productions while a school down the street couldn’t even afford enough desks for students. Or, here in the US we have schools with classrooms that are overcrowded, lack trained staff to teach our youth, and seniors who cannot read or write, while other public schools are doing amazing things and functioning well above the national average. I speak with parents who openly proclaim that public schools here in Albany, NY are not suited for their children and that private schools are the only way for their learners to receive a proper education. Or that certain districts are better then others so a move will be necessary when their child reaches middle school/high school. How did this happen? How have we gotten to this point? When did we begin failing our students, our teachers, our communities? And how did the gap between public educational institutions shift to the point were we can not possibly begin to bridge them? These problems are unacceptable in developing nations like South Africa but are easily dismissed by so many due to political climate, healthcare issues, and a number of different factors; yet here in our own backyard nationally it makes me ill to think that we have schools in America (one of the richest most advanced nations in the world) that would make parents in South Africa cringe…

I will be heading back to Clarksdale in January, as well as a number of other schools in Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi. Here I will be able to engage with seasoned educators and administrators as well as the fresh faced corp. members who are working with Teach for America. My aim is to better understand the challenges these institutions face. What we need to do is look at each area separately to determine what areas are strong and, conversely, which areas need renovation. This is unfortunately a long process that requires not only time but energy! However, by working and learning with those from diverse regions and areas we can begin to heal the problems within our national education system(s) and those abroad. I am annoyingly optimistic that we can progressively and positively change our broken system and provide an education for the 21^st century global citizen that is each of our students. This will not happen overnight or within the next year, this will take a commitment to excellence that will champion our more recent commitment to mediocracy.

This article was passed on to me by Tim Sun, a fellow participant on the Harvard trip who worked with me in Cape Town.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/world/africa/20safrica.html?_r=3&hp

I found the article to be very accurate in depicting what many of the students who reside in townships (black housing settlements) face when trying to get an education and pass matric (senior year of high school).

Through her summer training Tara was able to connect with a number of other educators from around our nation and has been successful in creating a web of contacts near the Gulf.

With my research focus primarily dealing with developing societies and cultures this area of the United States seemed a perfect match for me to continue making contacts and collect quantitative and (more likely) qualitative data through interactions and interviews. I am excited to see how students engage with educational practices and settings and more specifically, technology within the classroom. While doing research in South Africa I was under the impression that technology integration would deal with things like laptops, projectors, smart-boards, computer labs, online resources, printers, copiers, televisions, radios, and a number of other 21st century teaching modalities. And although many of the “white” districts were able to provide these resources, the majority were lucky to even produce pens, paper and often times desks and electricity.

I look forward to heading south and getting a better perspective on our education system outside of New York State.

For additional information regarding Teach for America please click here:

http://www.teachforamerica.org/

For additional information about The University of the West Indies or the Centre for Gender and Development Studies click here:

http://sta.uwi.edu/admissions/programmes/centre.asp

I will be sure to keep the blog updated with information as it comes in and will post any pre-departure details and reflections as well.

Foremost, I need to thank a number of entities that aided me in my fellowship. Special thanks to the following individuals:

The Sage Colleges and President Susan Scrimshaw and Dean Trish Cellemme

The University at Albany Alumni Association

Albert N. Husted Fellowship

Peter Fenton and Duncan Duffett

With special thanks and appreciation to

Harvard University: Center for International Development

Castells was ranked as the fifth most cited social sciences scholar and the foremost cited communications scholar in the world. His research and publications are on the cutting-edge of the digital and technological realms and he has become the figurehead for international research.

Further information can be found at Castells’ website: http://www.manuelcastells.info/en/index.htm

Micro-farming also allows for the community to come together and for people in townships to work together and create a sense of responsibility and fraternity amongst those who decide to farm the land. With so many going hungry here it is refreshing to see people teaching others and aiding in reducing the dependency on purchasing vegetables via a grocery store.