on the floor

[chrryblssmninja]

Anthro 136I Archaeology and the Media
some info on my professor for that class
This course focuses on the use of digital media to create narratives about the practice and the products of archaeology. The Fall 2009 version will focus on the public presentation of alternative views of history. The ultimate aim of the course is to enable students to create their own digital narratives (videos) from their own research as a collaborative project. Through the course, students build a critical awareness of the way in which digital media are used by archaeologists, journalists, TV producers, film producers, and many others to express in a linear narrative format how archaeologists and others construct knowledge about the past.
The format of the class is the MACTiA model of technical training and guidance in which a priority is given to well-researched content. Formal instruction will focus on how various formats of film (including YouTube), TV, blogs, and games and genres such as 'fact-presentation', 'fake movies', 'remixes', 'reality TV', and 'digital storytelling' present different narratives. Some of the narratives claim to be the 'facts', others are explicitly satire about archaeology and history. We will examine the impact of these narratives in terms of an understanding of the past by different audiences. During studio sessions, students will put these discussions into practice. They will be guided through the introductory stages of the digital authoring process, receiving an introduction to video photography and non-linear video editing (using iMovie). The final assignment is the collaborative production of a short digital narrative to be presented to an audience at the end of the semester.


Anthro 169B Research Theory and Methods in Cultural and Social Anthropology
This course is an introduction to research problems and research design techniques. Each participant will plan and conduct independent research of particular interest to her or himself. Weekly seminars will discuss the pragmatics, ethics, and philosophy of field research. The once-weekly sessions are divided between lecture and in-class workshops on research design and problem-solving. Lecture and section attendance is required for this course.

In preparation for the class, participants should begin to think through possible research projects. Ideal projects are first of all, feasible given the time you have: a semester. They address situations and problems that are interesting and important and that can be studied locally. Over the past two years, research sites and problems for this course have included topics as diverse as the practices remaking status and personal identity among Filipino migrants who take nursing positions to migrate to the United States; the forms of food discipline and body discipline undertaken by children training in ballet and how these help rethink current debates on eating disorders; the provision of food advice to Berkeley's homeless population and what this reveals about the organization of support services and their relation to different forms of power; the relationships formed among the aged in institutions supporting them; and the study of how American military personnel make the transition back to civilian life, and what this reveals about military service as a form of labor and about the organization of labor today more generally.
WHAT AM I GOING TO STUDY? OH DEAR OH DEAR


Introduction to Pre-modern Japanese literature (4 units)
waitlist position: 1
website
online
have print versions but they might not be the same translations
it says for the book that's selections from Genji and Heike, but I have the Tale of the Heike full by the same translator

Beginning Modern Dance Technique - 2 units
number 13 now on waitlist
This course introduces students to the elementary principles, concepts and practices found within contemporary/modern dance. The course will immerse students in an engaging, challenging and kinesthetic dance experience that will focus on improving flexibility, strength, alignment, coordination, and muscular endurance. Students will also be exposed to: basic musical structures, phrasing of dance sequences, and modes of improvisation. The primary goal of this course is to expose students to dance as art form and to inspire future study of dance.
This is the first level of modern dance technique taught in a four-level sequence. Attendance is required. There is an audition on the first day of class. No special preparation is required for the audition. Footless tights, leotards, or fitted gym clothes are suggested attire.
oh shoot I was worrying about having to buy footless tights
but now I remember that my ballet tights can roll up and be footless
but I'll want to wash my feet afterward or something



Right now, I'm 34 pages into the English translation of Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System, by Robert Saviano. I've talked about the author (still under government protection), the Camorra issue and the buzz around this book's film adaptation several times here. But the book is really, really good so far. It starts out with an explanation of the Naples port system, and goes into the start of the author's experience as a worker. The start of the book hooks you right away:

The container swayed as the crane hoisted it onto the ship. The spreader, which hooks the container to the crane, was unable to control its movement, so it seemed to float in the air. The hatches, which had been improperly closed, suddenly sprang open, and dozens of bodies started raining down. They looked like mannequins. But when they hit the ground, their heads split open, as if their skulls were real. And they were. Men, women, even a few children, came tumbling out of the container. All dead. Frozen, stacked one on top of another, packed like sardines. These were the Chinese who never die. The eternal ones, who trade identity papers among themselves. So this is where they'd ended up, the bodies that in the wildest fantasies might have been cooked in Chinese restaurants, buried in fields beside factories, or tossed into the mouth of Vesuvius. Here they were. Spilling from the container by the dozen, their names scribbled on tags and tied with string around their necks. They'd all put aside money so they could be buried in China, back in their hometowns, a percentage withheld from their salaries to guarantee their return voyage once they were dead. A space in a container and a hole in some strip of Chinese soil. The port crane operator covered his face with his hands as he told me about it, eyeing me through his fingers. As if the mask of his hands might give him the courage to speak. He'd seen the bodies fall, but there'd been no need to sound the alarm. He merely lowered the container to the ground, and dozens of people appeared out of nowhere to put everyone back inside and hose down the remains. That's how it went. He still couldn't believe it and hoped he was hallucinating, due to too much overtime. Then he closed his fingers, completely covering his eyes. He kept on whimpering, but I couldn't understand what he was saying.
There are more parts like this that made me want to cry.

There's also some practical advice in the book: "The Minotaur explained that the best technique when driving is to keep the pistol between your thighs. Putting it on the dashboard slows you down - you lose too much time grabbing it."

I'll probably finish the book very soon. I hope a local library acquires a copy of the movie adaptation's DVD.

Comments

[vulcangela.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a VERY good book! The descriptions are so eerie and powerful, and the disregard for the dead portrayed there is such a culture shock! I am intrigued.
If you like these kinds of books, I recommend you read Marrakech by George Orwell.

And I've always had this secret fascination with anything to do with organized crime. I am obssessed with Mario Puzo's The Godfather and similar things.

Your classes sound really interesting, especially Archaeology and the Media.

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

it's really good, and the translation seems to let the original author's voice through quite well.
thanks for the rec!


yeah, I like a lot of crime movies. The majority of the output by two favorite directors at the moment, Jean-Pierre Melville and Johnnie To, focus on crime and gangster stories in their respective neighborhoods; around a time-frozen Paris' Montmartre and La Pigalle (please correct me if I'm wrong) for Melville, and a stylized modern version of Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui for To. I also really like film noir films.

I am interested in crime novels and books, though I read less of them than other things. But I do pay attention when crime sagas get on the news. That's how I first heard about the Camorra and Naples' problems.


thanks!

[blumenfeuer.livejournal.com]

that book's on my ~reading list~

[chrryblssmninja.livejournal.com]

I think you'll like it - it transitions seamlessly from personal stories to explanations of the system that extends through Naples to Italy, the rest of Europe, and China.