This is a new series I'll be blogging about. In my final semester at Brooklyn College, I took a course in the American Studies department called "Performance in America" out of fascination and as a way to maintain a full-time student status (Even though I only needed two credits to graduate). At the beginning of each class, we were given about 5-10 minutes (depending on the professor present; it was jointly taught) to write freely about the topic being covered for the day, generally a "keyword" and the cases involved with it. I kept most of mine and figured, eh, why not document them on here? And so, let's begin!
Freewrite #1. January 29th, 2014
Keywords: "America", "Culture"
One thing that intrigued me in Keywords... (our textbook for the course) was that it's not a dictionary but an exploration of how the definitions came to be. In the introduction, it is important to note that there are many other terms that will be brought in but not explored deeply. In American, I thought it was interesting how the term "America" is defined as a culture and as a geographic term. It reminds me of something my Sociology professor asked, which was "What the hell makes us 'American'?" And here, it is seen how complicated it gets. The same goes for "culture", which is seen as a historical point and a lifestyle choice. It's how, as an Irish person, I'm expected to be a heavy drinker (which I'm not) because of cultural stigma versus knowing folklore, like selkies or the history of the Troubles. I will admit it was a little difficult to understand "culture" compared to "America" due to the broadness of how America was explored.
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