Archives For author

SecondLife interveiew: France

February 19, 2013 //

For my interview, I got to put my french skills to the test. My interviewee was an interesting man, who was a little skeptical at first, but in the end gave in and talked to me. Since he only spoke french, it was up to me to translate the gist of what the project was about. He complied and I learned about a very interesting man!

Fred057 Ames was his name, and he was originally from France but currently lives in Australia. He is quite the man; he fishes for a living (sea urchins, shrimp, etc.), is his own boss, and has a greenhouse that covers quite a bit of land apparently! Fred is 47 years old, but chooses to look like a little girl for no specific reason. He enjoys visiting discos in SL, and said he is perverted which is why his favorite place to be is sim sex clubs! For some odd reason, he said that he was a little transvestite. To me, that seemed to make an odd image in my mind: a transvestite, manly fisherman…

Fred’s favorite group of people is the Turkish, and a close second is the Swiss. He is from Russian decent, but only speaks french. He really doesn’t like America, and when I asked him why he said he was just “wicked (weird translation) like that”. When it comes to a religion, Fred says he believes in a god, but that he does not belong to one specific religion.

I prompted Fred with one final question: When you think about the rest of the world, (i.e. North America, Europe, Middle East) what are some things that come to mind?

He responded that he LOVES Quebec, and that Venezuela was the first thing to come to mind. I asked him why, and he said it was because that is where his sister lives. He has two siblings: one brother and a sister. He didn’t specify their ages, but since he is in his late 40’s I assumed they were around his age too.

This conversation turned out to be really interesting because of several aspects. The first being that it felt good to let the french just fall into the text. It was somewhat relinquishing to be able to utilize that tool. The second was that he turned out to be very interesting; I have never met a person like him before. Finally, he reaffirmed the worldly view that America is not likable, whether we, as Americans, believe so or not.

Tags culture, France, interview

Categories Uncategorized

Cosmopolitanism: Chapter 7

By Brandon Clarke

February 12, 2013 //

Appiah doesn’t believe cultural imperialism is a problem because these specific cultures will always have a piece of their culture that they will always hold dear and rely on. For instance, the Mexicans have a soap opera type show that all of them know about and believe is a vital piece of their culture. He goes on to say that people in Ghana have even heard of the Mexicans’ soap operas, although it isn’t a piece of the Ghanian culture. Appiah also tells how people in other cultures will resist ideologies placed in their media from western cultures, meaning that someone in China may not exhibit the same sort of respect for their elderlies as Americans do(i.e. sending them to a nursing home when they are too old, which Appiah uses as an example in his text).

Appiah’s use of the phrase “golden rul of cosmopolitanism” refers to the idea that every human does everyday tasks, and therefore no task should be strange or unfamiliar to them. This is an idea for a cosmopolitan, however; a person who considers themselves a cosmopolitan should be understanding and accepting, but also aware that all actions performed in everyday life by any and all cultures should not be considered strange since they are not out of the ordinary in their(the actions) cultural context.

“Cultural purity is an oxymoron” refers to the fact that no one culture is completely unique. He talks about how in every culture there is at least one thing you can find in common with the other, whether that is an item or a type of sport. So, by definition, if a culture were to be pure it would have to be completely uninfluenced by another culture, but as the world is becoming globalized and the people in it are becoming more and more cosmopolitan, each culture is taking strides to be farther away from cultural purity.

Tags cosmopolitanism, globalization, imperialism

Categories Uncategorized

Visual Sweep: Moscow

By Brandon Clarke

February 5, 2013 //

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Moscow%20Island/177/123/22

Moscow in Second Life is really only slightly similar to the Moscow that I have envisioned and seen in the media. There is Russian-styled architecture, but it is nowhere near to scale and isn’t as stereotypically Russian as I hoped. There is a large courtyard in SL Moscow, as well as large conical buildings that resemble some of Russia’s architecture.

There isn’t much to do in this area, besides talk to the people who affiliate with the area. And to be honest, I can’t understand any of them because they all speak Russian and none are willing to attempt English. Being in SL Moscow is really like visiting real life Moscow in the sense that the people are just as stingy and the architecture is the same.

Tags ethnocentrism, Moscow, Russia, secondlife, stereotypes

Categories Field Notes, Virtual vs. Physical Community