A City of Culture - Kolkata

Kolkata, a city in West Bengal, nicknamed as the 'Culture capital of India’ is a place where art, architecture and culture flourishes immensely. It is one of the most elegant places in India where all things get along well.

The choice I made is because it is most famous for its architectural heritages. As a former capital of India this city is also credited with the title "The city of joy”. The architectural master pieces of Kolkata include the Victoria memorial, which is one of the finest art museums. This is about 184 ft tall and constructed in 64 acres of land. The museum houses picturesque masterpieces of art above the north porch that epitomizes prudence, learning and motherhood. 

Victoria memorial, Kolkata

The significance of this architectural building is that this was constructed for young writers to engage in writing about culture.  This ginormous site is also known as ‘Mahakaran’. This sumptuous white marble Victoria memorial is a copy of the Taj Mahal, opened in 1911 surrounded by serene ponds on the sides situated on the banks of the Hooghly River as the showpiece of the British Empire portraying the culture.

The other major attraction in Kolkata is the Howrah Bridge. This long unwinding bridge which is placed above the Hooghly River is a famous symbol of Kolkata. The illuminated picture of this Howrah Bridge at night is such a visual treat.

 Howrah Bridge, Kolkata

In the book “Lonely Planet the Cities Book: a Journey through the Best Cities in the World” by Trent Holden, Anna Metcalfe says “Kolkata is a land of poets and artists, with penchant for arts and culture and a level of intellectual vitality”  which certainly describes Kolkata’s rich cultural and architectural heritage in a few sentences. 

The specialty of this bridge is that it has no pillars for its support but it is hung by steel wires. Essentially, it does not have any intermediate supports in between. It is supported on 2 pillars at each end. It was the first of its kind in India so it was special. It even has a high utility value since it connects to the suburban areas.

The culture in Kolkata is fresh and special. Apart from architectural towers like the memorials, museums, marble palace, the dance and festivals is one which put forward a fresh look to Kolkata. The traditional festivals include Durga puja, which is celebrated all over. 

Durga puja festival, Kolkata

Durga puja is a festival which is a special occasion that occurs in this city. This festival epitomizes the victory of good over evil. 

This is celebrated in a big level in Kolkata. The dance forms of Kolkata are also very unique. Dandiya, kathak, odissi, manipuri and some other dance forms are also famous in Kolkata.

As a cultural capital of India, Kolkata stands unique in art, architecture and tradition. That is the reason why I chose this as a city of culture.

Ethnographic Methods - Reading response (Week 8)

In this reading, Ethnographic Methods by Anderson, he has presented a very detailed brief on what is ethnography, what are the different ethnographic methods, what are the problems faced in doing an ethnographic research. 

Ethnography is essentially writing of culture. It is the process where members of one culture observe and participate in the culture of another. The four necessary topics that Anderson talks about in this are Participant observation, Membership, Reflexivity and answering questions of what and how the process takes place.

In Member understanding which is a theoretical concept according to Anderson he divides it into two things. The modern and structuralist that are the expression of universals, Postmodern and Post structuralist which gives importance to the social practices that gives meanings to the foundations. Essentially the structuralist thought is to discover underlying foundations and the post structuralist thought is exploring the member knowledge of the foundation. 

The member knowledge is understanding the intersection of how, which signifies the practices and Why which signifies the demand justification. The participant observation is the engine for ethnographic research as pointed out by Anderson. He presents examples from four people Tutt, Mayer Antonio, Moser and David Ryfe. The five ethnographic methods that he discusses are the ethnographic problems, the membership, gaining access, field work and making sense of it all. 

As far as I understood,  Ethnography doesn't have any shortcuts, its a long unwinding process, in which there is a key framework and a specific structure in which the research must be carried out.

(Anderson, James (2012) Media Research Methods. London: Sage, pp351-373)

Soho road - Multicultural mirror of Brum (A field trip record)

Asked a question on cultural space, “Soho road” is a place in Birmingham that immediately popped up to my mind. Being a multicultural city, Birmingham brings people from diversified cultures and traditions under the same roof. Soho road begins in the fringes of Lozells neighborhood and heads into Handsworth. It consists of a mosque, Gurudhwara, church, a Buddhist temple, Victorian buildings and so many Asian shops. The place is completely transformed into a shopper’s stop, where you can get anything Indian. Photographer Liz Hingley spent about 18 months in Soho road capturing the seconds of life in Soho. St Mary's Convent is one of the oldest religious communities in Soho set up in 1841. 

Liz Hingley quotes his Soho road photographs as “the photographs show the reality and intensity of different lifestyles and the beauty religion brings to everyday inner city life”. As I went to Soho, the place painted before me a completely different picture than what I thought it would offer. There is a different mix of people and a scenic setup structured in Soho road. It was just more than a shopping centre. 

I did a documentary on Soho road, essentially logging my journey through this multicultural mirror of Birmingham. It presents the views and opinions of different people in Soho whom I met, and covers the multicultural aspect of Soho to its best. The link to the documentary can be seen below. I first talked to an Asian bridal jewelry shop owner at Soho. In my opinion the people who have lived in the place for about years now and who have experienced what Soho it had to offer them can spell out the beauty in it. I then walked through the streets of Soho, among the flutter of pigeons a peaceful yet buzzing place in Handsworth. Restaurants, fast food centers form the most of Soho, which provides a great deal of Asian, Caribbean, Chinese cuisines.

On my way, I stopped near the famous Gurudhwara of Soho road. As I neared it I could hear chants and prayers. There was a distinct music been played at the Gurudhwara which I suppose is Sikh religious song? In the Gurudhwara I was surrounded by people of different age groups. I saw people from 5 to 50 years at the Gurudhwara. I could easily guess from the look of Gurudwara, its familiarity among the Sikh people. It was built in late 1970’s. There were five main halls and three darbar halls in it.

As a person in the Gurudhwara explained to me, this Gurudhwara was about four storey’s high and has about 100 rooms for those who want to stay in the Gurudhwara overnight and complete their prayers. The visits to it must be registered in advance. As a sacred place head coverings are required for both male and female who enter the Gurudhwara. This place also offers free vegetarian meals 24 hours a day, known as Langar. He explains that it was started to reinforce the ‘belief in equality’. It seems that the club premises belonged to the polish community at first. More number of buildings in Soho road is acquired by this Gurudhwara to provide educational facilities like schools, nurseries. 

The history of Soho shows it as a much different place than now. The Soho story unwinds as fine red brick seat built by the local government in 1877. The first building added to Soho is a library which is now also popularly known as Soho library built in early 1880’s. It is astonishing to see the difference between today’s Soho and early Soho. There are a lot of buildings built adjacently, there are lots and lots of shops and the sparking fact of it is pictured now as a Shopper’s paradise lately. As we walk through the pavements one can see the three things that strikes your mind in Soho are the Gurudhwara, Church and the South and City University. There are places in Soho named as ‘Gateway to India’. It can be clearly called as the ‘junction of diverse faith’. 

Having talked about all these historical landmarks like the Gurudwara, church and the college, people on the roads of Soho are dressed in frilled lehangas, brightly colored dresses, blinging jewels all around and the taste and feel of all different cultures in Birmingham. The cuisines and the shopping exclusives stand as the one important mark for many to know about Soho road. Even though there are many more unknown hidden historical facts about the culture of Soho, people bring out and portray their own culture in the streets of Soho.  

It was a very good experience in visiting Soho and getting to know about the cultural importance of such a place in Birmingham. As a cultural space it provides ‘Sweetness and light’ to everyone and also brings everyone together in one culture and creates a sense of oneness to ‘do away with the classes’ (Arnold, 1896) as discussed in the theory of Mathew Arnold. As presented by Barthes Soho road connotes a varied picture to everyone. The clothes worn by people, the language spoken in a different dialect connotes the sense of diverged cultures converging under one roof.

I read a journal article concerning with the multicultural aspect, ‘Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology’, Multicultural experience, Idea receptiveness and creativity. This says that “experience in a single culture may limit creativity; multicultural experiences may foster creative expansion of ideas.”  Everything in Soho road looks creative and artistic. The multicultural aspect may be the one reason as suggested by the article which embraces the beauty of Soho.

Overall, it was a great experience for me to learn and understand different cultures in this field trip.

Bibliographies:

- Arnold, Matthew (1869) ‘Culture and Anarchy’ Oxford: OUP Oxford

-‘Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology’, Multicultural experience, Idea receptiveness and creativity 2010-Leung-(723-741)
-Anderson, James (2012) Media Research Methods. London: Sage, pp351-373

Have a listen to the documentary! 

David Parker and Paul Long - The mistakes of the past

       
           In this reading David Parker and Paul Long talk about the urban decline and rebirth of Birmingham after post-war. He mentions about how the importance given to culture of Birmingham has been destroyed because of the so called urban imaginary. He exemplifies how "Buildings are imagined through words and images before they are constructed in bricks and mortar." This reading depicts  the changes the city has undergone till today. This shows how their has been a significant amount of transformation like new shopping malls, roundabouts and underpasses that has played a role in distorting the beauty of culture in the city.

         Kevin Lynch terms this crucial element of urban imaginary as the 'image of the city'. Personal hopes that are invested in are often thwarted by the ambitions of architects and urban planners. The Urban Task Force observed, 'the successful urban regeneration was design-led'. He describes about how Birmingham has become industrialized surrounded by 'sprawling motorways, bisected by canals and punctuated by modern shopping centers', which make Birmingham seem like a concrete maze. These things after the post-war has erased the memories of Victorian slums from both reality and memory. These has destroyed skylines in the city and anything that can be closely oriented with the image of the city and subordinated style to efficiency.

              After a series of downfalls, the New Birmingham plans reflected a general intellectual shift away from the heroic modernism to a post pragmatic and piecemeal approach. This renovation, attracted many building a new image, or symbolic economy. Now after the rebirth Birmingham has become a 'creative and learning quarter'. The idea of Selfridges, one of Birmingham's iconic buildings, was a design by Gordon Selfridge who sought to combine 'shopping with entertainment'.

               

What is the cultural significance of Vlogging community?

      

       Vlogging is one popular form well-known among the YouTube community. By combining the grassroots of blogging with richness of expression, these video blogs are known as vlogs. This widespread popularity of video clips has evolved into something called ‘clip culture’. Many vloggers get paid for recording these vlogs and posting it on YouTube. With this research I will try to find out the impact of vlogging on popular culture.

       The research methodology I am going to use for this is Virtual ethnography. I will try to connect and engage in these communities to find out its impact on popular culture. As it is a growing community it has become a ‘way of life’ for many as mentioned by Raymond Williams. The focus groups here are the certain vloggers and the viewers. I will also find out the behavior and attitude of people posting videos and the impact of these on the audience.

       The main theory I am going to utilize in this is with a post-modern approach, ‘Hyper-realism’ suggested by theorists like Baulliard, where these YouTubers create vlogs talking to their audience and with a daily dosage of this, they portray a sense of Utopia even to the viewers by making them feel everything is perfect and entertaining them. It is also an edited version of a person’s life which makes it a hyper-real concept. These videos are updated frequently so that they retain their subscribers. The other theory I would relate to this vlogging community is by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer who describe it with the term ‘Culture Industry’ where popular culture is completely related to standardized cultural goods. They tend to manipulate the society and also put them in passivity. The people are all kept under the mirage that they are being offered what they want, but then we generally don't quite feel that we are influenced by the power in some or the other way. This can be explained as how YouTuber’s vlogs are all the same and in a while, they get command over us and influence us in some or the other way.

      This can also be argued with the support of the theory by Mathew Arnold that says how people of different classes have different interests and thoughts.

      Charlie McDonnell owns a channel named charlieissocoollike, one of the most subscribed in United Kingdom, with about 1.9 million subscribers as of now. By investigating and using all these in my research I will find out in what way this has an impact on popular culture.

Bibliographies:

-Arnold, Mathew (1869) Culture and Anarchy in Storey (2007) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture. A Reader. London. Pearson

-Williams, Raymond (1961) ‘The Analysis of Culture’ in Storey (2007) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: a Reader. London: Pearson.

-Virtual Ethnography (2000) by Dr Christine M. Hine, Sage

-Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media, Carrie James

-Storey, John (2007) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture; London; Pearson

-YouTube For Dummies By Sahlin, Chris Botello

-Youth Culture and Net Culture: Online Social Practices edited by Elza Dunkels, Gun-Marie

Wide Awake - Katy Perry

Wide Awake a song by Katy Perry on her album 'Teenage Dreams' is one of the good examples to define connotations and denotations. The lyrics of this song contains many connotations and can be defined in either way.

Sign:

"I was born again, out of the lions den
Don't have to pretend and its too late"

Denotation:

She has had a rebirth, and has come out from a lion's den.

Connotation:

1) She has come out and had a rebirth from what had been haunting her for years. She had some hard times in her life and has had the courage to come out of it. The lion's den acts as a signifier her for the haunted place which has been signified here.

2) Other connotations that prevails along with this song is that, Katy had been on drugs for so many years and now she has come out of her addiction over it and signifies being on drugs as entering lion's den.