Reading: Barker [Politics]

Tony Bennett's call for cultural studies to engage more productively in cultural policy formation and implementation is spot on when looking at practical ways a seminarian can apply her/his knowledge learning in cultural studies to an applicable theology in the real world. It continues the discussion of the praxis model of contextual theology that we have read in Bevans.

Jim Wallis visit to Fuller a few weeks ago again comes into the conversation [mentioned in the same blog post linked above]. His current platform discusses how the silent majority of religious Americans who don't feel represented by the religious right's agenda can first take comfort in their sheer numbers and then take action in their communities to fight poverty, clean up the environment and eradicate disease. Moving from theory into practice. I like where this discussion and textbooks are finally leading to. Some action instead of heady theory.

Reading: Barker [Youth]

When I think of the youth scene, two things come to mind immediately. First, the social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace that the youth culture is drawn to for community both inside and outside their current personal relationship structures. Why are youth attracted to online communities in the massive numbers they are? Is there a emotional, relational or spiritual void that these sites feed towards youth that the church can/should tab into? The second phenomenon in youth culture today is text messaging. Texting has immersed itself into the youth culture so much that schools have been forced to bad cell phone use on school grounds.

The study of resistance within cultural studies brings to mind the 'punk' movement, as Barker mentions within Chapter 13. But there is a resistance within the punk counterculture called the straight edge punks that stand up against punk ideals. A resistance against a resistance, if you will.

And I will. Straight edge punks resist against many of the cultural ideals within the hardcore punk subculture whose adherents abstain from alcohol, smoking, and other recreational drug use. The letter "X" is the most prevalent symbol of straight edge. Commonly it is worn as a marking, symbol or tattoo on the back of one or both hands, though it can be displayed on other body parts as well. Although a definitive subculture apart from the punk scene, the punk scene shares music as the dominant media source for tenets of the straightedge subculture.

Reading: Barker [Space]

Space. Not the final frontier. But space and place within cities in particular is what Barker explores in Chapter 12. It cannot be denied the emergence of global cities have reorganized the world economy. And within the past few years, we have seen the world economy leave the falling US dollar in the dust.

Trends of postmodern urbanization are discussed in detail. Upon reflection, one can see that the urban landscape has changed into a corporate economy where employment has driven the suburban neighborhood and subsequent daily commute as a reality of city development and a continued reliance upon the capitalistic machine.

Reading: Barker [Media]

Barker claims in his 2003 volume of Cultural Studies that, "no other medium can match television for the volume of popular cultural texts it produces and the sheer size of its audiences." Perhaps Barker didn't own his own Apple computer and had a dial-up internet connection when he first published his text at the turn of the century, but a little less than a decade after Barker was typing his original manuscript on his Commodore 64, the internet that Al Gore invented is now the cultural medium of choice that drives popular culture.

From MySpace to Facebook, YouTube to IMDb, Google to Yahoo!, the World Wide Web is the medium the current information age and popular culture as a whole has turned to for the majority of their entertainment. I'm sure Barker's next edition will remove this chapter completely and replace it with musings about how the internet is now the most important cultural medium, but until then, there are three reasons that I will use to prove my point.

First, the recent Writer's Strike. The WGA holding out for a new contract demanding higher returns on DVD sales & gross sales were significant, but not as much as their demands for a percentage of internet viewing, distribution and advertising sales. People watch television shows online now more than ever, so much that to combat Tivo and DVR nearly every network [except, of course, a predictably slow CBS] has their shows and content available for viewing on the internet minutes after airing [an example of a video from SNL is embedded at the bottom of this post].

Admittedly, cable and satellite providers are more infused than ever into households across the globe... but online communities like MySpace and Facebook are where young people spend the majority of their social networking browsing for countless hours each day. YouTube can spark overnight pop culture sensations with uploaded videos ranging from both the extremely talented to the lowly pathetic. And "google" is now a word in the dictionary.

Finally, the world is now wireless. Technology is driving down the information superhighway faster than tech companies can produce new toys for consumer demand. More of my friends watch the seemingly quarterly Apple keynote address that Steve Jobs gives online than I know watched the SuperBowl. We are living in a digital world. I just hope the Master Control Program from TRON never becomes a reality.

Response: Chris' Blog [Week 5]

We are supposed to disagree with at least 3 posts according to the syllabus for MP520. A difficult task since we are all reading the same material and listening to the same class lectures. That, coupled with the fact that most students blogs just summarize each reading or lecture and raise a few questions without giving any opinions of there own... people are sticking close to the vest. Hey, I'm not sayin' people aren't being truthful, but I'd just like to see a provocateur bust one lose here or there. I'm just sayin'...


Last week I disagreed with what Aaron said, so one disagreement is down. Here goes #2. We'll see who #2 works for... Chris posted last week about how Barker believes we are defined by our culture and he feels that strategic essentialism can be valuable "for the improvement of the human condition" (Barker 2003, 244). Chris lamented that "progress in this direction seems unlikely if we are to take Barker seriously in that no one truly knows the essential nature of the human. Who is to define what improvement is?"

I think we can define what improvement to the human condition is by looking at the social injustice around the world and calculating whether or not it is increasing of decreasing. Currently, injustice in the form of war, famine, disease, and oppression happen daily. Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, AIDS, and civil wars clearly show that the human condition isn't perfect. But if one looks back on only the 20th Century, one would see enormous strides in the civil rights movement, womens suffrage, and the fall of communism... all which would point towards the improvement of the human condition. As I have already mentioned, there are still atrocities that occur every day worldwide. That being said, if we are to be defined by our culture, from a historical perspective, we have made progress.

Reading: Barker [Sex]

Sex. Now we're talking. Ah, but it's the feminism kind and not the "naughty" kind... you dirty dog, you. I've already wrote a bit about gender inclusive language in response to Harmony's post a couple of weeks back, but the subject bears repeating.

If within cultural studies, sex and gender are held to be social constructions intrinsically implicated in matters of representation, then it is possible the same gender exclusive language within many Christian church denominations have formed their beliefs from matters of culture rather than of of nature.

My beef with churches that exclude women from positions of leadership based on gender comes down to the simple concept of 'calling'. How can one person judge the call of a woman into ministry as not as authentic as the call of a man? Due to Scripture? But then one could also argue that that specific Scripture was meant for a specific context of who it was written for.

Basically, bottom line is that I admit I am a finite being that has limited capacity to judge another and their call into ministry. In other words, I got your back, women. You go, girl...s!

Reading: Barker [Race]

It is interesting when looking at the history of race and ethnicity how the different simple definitions of terms can range so broadly. Moving from Darwinism's concept of race referring to the alleged biological and physical characteristics, to the argument that ethnicity, race and nationality are contingent cultural categories rather than universal biological 'facts'.


Regardless of where and how it is formed, speaking as an American, a culture of racism is very much still active in today's American culture. With Barack Obama running for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 Presidential Election, America will be tested at the polls.

As Syon Bhanot so eloquently wrote over a year ago about Obama's campaign, "It is easy to think that we live in a society without race, where hands the colors of the rainbow join to sing, dance, and play. But this is not the case. America still has a dirty little secret – an enduring culture of racism that looms large in every aspect of national policy, from mandatory minimums in drug cases to a foreign policy that devalues the life of people based on their melanin count. And the only way we are going to move past this is by breaking the silence and talking about race openly and honestly, something that is often suggested but rarely done. As Martin Luther King, who would have been 78 years old last week, said many years ago, 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.'"

Reading: Barker [Identity]

It seems to me that ones identity is formed by a self-realization in subjectivity. I guess you have to make a term for everything, but "subjectivity" is a term that seems to be a waste of space since one can find their identity in their talents, community, or actions. A soldier returning from war may not view themselves as a "hero" per say, but to many that is exactly what they are. The individual may not experience themselves this way, but the reality is that from an outside perspective is objective rather than subjective.

So maybe it is a matter of perspective rather than experience. Either way, personally I have found my identity within myself. One of my favorite lyrics is by Sting, who sings, "Be yourself, no matter what they say." Whoever yourself may be, and however you find yourself, be true to yourself. Unless you'd rather live a lie. In that case, you are just a tool. The truth hurts.

Reading: Barker [Postmodernism]

We live in a postmodern world. Models continually are born out of this current age of information and knowledge, just as postmodernism emerged from modernity. With so many avenues of media coming in, the individual in today's society can easily forever become lost in an endless sea of aesthetic commercial culture, devoid of meaning behind a collage of symbols.

The danger is that faith and belief in something greater can fall to the wayside of interaction. One of the easiest examples we see is in the newer adolescent and teenage generations growing up who would rather play video games all day then play outside and... BAM! We now have fat kids [not] running around.

Reading: Barker [New World]

It's ironic that on a day where the US Government cut interest rates 75 points that we come to the chapter in Barker about capitalism and the rise of the western economy. With our country headed towards a likely recession [thanks to the Bush administrations overall fiscal irresponsibility], we are reminded of a post-industrial society that lead to shifts in the economy and culture towards postmodern consumption and accelerated globalization. Todays move by the US Federal Reserve was the largest single cut since August 1982.

And on an even sadder note, I'd like to lower the Left Coast Culture flag to half-mast today as actor Heath Ledger was found dead today from an apparent overdose [Ed: as of the writing of this post, an autopsy has not been completed]. It's disappointing to see anyone die young, but Ledger passing away is especially disturbing after seeing his career turn a corner from barely-watchable chick and teen flicks to heady drama and more challenging roles.

Death has been on my mind the past couple of months for a variety of personal reasons. Last night I was watching old clips on YouTube and came across Jimmy V on the ESPY Awards in 1993, speaking just before his death and delivering one of the greatest speeches ever. Cancer is such an ugly disease and he brought much needed attention to the importance of research.

Reading: Barker [Biology]

My favorite quote of the chapter is on page 123 where Barker claims, "Reductionism is a dirty word in cultural studies." Not a well placed F-bomb or ars... but reductionism. Hilarious. I didn't think I'd laugh reading this book. But you got me, Barker. You got me.

Reflecting on biology and evolution is pretty easy this quarter since one of my other classes is exploring the nature of humanity. Joel Green is teaching the class, NS589: The Human Person in New Testament Perspective, and we are focusing on the multivalent witness of the New Testament, understood theologically within its literary and cultural worlds and in relation to contemporary science. By identifying thoughtful ways in which the natural sciences contribute to our theological understanding of the human person, it has been a challenging journey into the study of science and faith. You could say most of the material covered in NS589 is over most of our heads, but studying the physiology of the mind, body and soul is incredibly interesting nonetheless. Personally, I never knew a corpus callosum could be so enthralling.

Reading: Barker [Language]

The relationship between language and culture seems very basic on the surface and how societies communicate and find meaning in things. But when one looks at the social connotations of "dress codes," for example, it is fascinating to break down that what is socially acceptable in one context is completely unacceptable in another. And that meaning is derived from the cultural practices of different sects and subgroups within individual societies. For example, one could blend in as "normal" in suspenders, overalls, and boots in a farming community, while wearing the same clothes in a downtown nightclub just wouldn't fly... and wouldn't get you past the doorman.

Reading: Barker [Ideology]

The definition of culture... you rear your ugly head again. From the Brits Williams, Hogart, and Hall, to the haters in Leavis and Arnold, who attempt to distinguish between the good and the bad, the high and low. High brow, anyone? Sound like "tea time" for cultural snobs to me. Or more like the Fox News of the modern era. By pinning distinctions around a certain opinion of what has aesthetic quality and what does not, the judgments of few become objective cultural criticism for the many.

Of course, if we leave the meaning of culture to the masses, the consumer driven capitalist corporate animal of popular culture emerges, as previously mentioned within this here blog. And in popular culture, Kenny G is considered a jazz great. So it turns out I might be an elitist after all.

Reading: Barker [Problems]

Barker continues in Chapter 2 by exploring the central problems of cultural studies and introducing a "therapeutic redefinition" tactic used to dissolve problems with a "new way of seeing." For example, the potential problems of language can be dissolved by viewing them as "truth[s]," that are, "culturally and historically specific and changeable." An amazing piece of wordplay... but couldn't one use this tactic towards any truth and skew it towards her/his advantage?

That being said, I do agree that studying culture is important. Furthermore, we must embrace our culture and it's idiosyncrasies, in order to be able to engage both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission outlined in the Word of God. So when Barker elaborates that cultural studies engages in the rhetoric of populism, it's an important thought, not only because the populous is who we are called to be disciples to, but it's important to understand the people in an information age that still values a postmodern thought where we both have and require multiple viewpoints or truths by which to interpret a complex heterogeneous human existence.

Basically, we need to listen, interpret, and teach truth in new ways by engaging today's cultural values and lifestyles. Now who's the wordsmith.

Reading: Barker [Intro]

The definition of culture cited in Barker's Cultural Studies: Theory & Practice is "the actual grounded terrain of practices, representations, languages and customs of any specific society." Obviously the central theme of Barker's theory is analyzing culture of the developed world and not one revolved around an agricultural third-world ancient society.

But when thinking about culture and progress and where society has come in comparison to a culture that doesn't know about the concepts of capitalism, feminism and materialism explained here -- it's a wonder how we've come to this point. We've moved past the modern age, through the postmodern age, and into the information age all within the last few centuries.

But have we "developed" all that much in our thinking about epistemology? With the dawning of the new information age that is changing daily in our midst, I believe it's crucial that our generation develop it's own voices of authority to guide us in a time of change & movement towards a smaller world. Furthermore, it's my hope that we as seminarians can develop our own original answers to questions of truth & knowledge and continue our assault on higher learning even further beyond the truth & knowledge regurgitated, copied and reshaped countless times since a true original like that of Augustine. Either that, or we regress into a gifted student ignoring the signs right in front of us. Your choice.