For my research I consulted three pieces of literature written by Deborah Tannen.  The last is her book entitled You Just Don’t Understand. In this piece I read segments throughout the work and all of chapter six, entitled Community and Contest: Styles in Conflict.  The book deals with the fundamental differences in men’s and women’s discourse practices, while chapter six focuses-in on the idea that, “Girls’ and boys’ different ways of trying to influence each other’s behavior reflect—and create-different social structures” (Tannen 1990:156).  To further explain, I first wish to state how men and women define their worlds differently and then I wish to note the fundamental language used to create these worlds.

The most straight-forward way of defining men’s and women’s discourse practices is back in chapter one—Different Words, Different Worlds.  Here, she states that many men engage in the world through the idea that individuals live in a hierarchical social order: “In this world, conversations are negotiations in which people try to achieve and maintain the upper hand if they can… Life, then, is a contest, a struggle to preserve independence and avoid failure” (Tannen 1990:24-25).  She then defines the woman’s world as a place where, “an individual [lives] in a network of connections…  Though there are hierarchies in this world too, they are hierarchies more of friendship than of power and accomplishment” (Tannen 1990:25).

Now, with these two worlds defined, I return to chapter six.  In this chapter, she focuses specifically on the idea that the ways in which men and women approach arguments differ due to their view of how the world works.  Tannen (1990:152) points specifically to childhood-development of conversational skills as the reason these fundamental differences occur.  She notes (1990:155) that boys often give one-another commands while girls develop, “creative ways of keeping the girls [in their group] equal in status”.  She illustrates this point by giving examples of discourse styles in different age-groups of children.  In the two case studies mentioned “… girls tended to make proposals for action by saying words like ‘Let’s,’ whereas boys often gave commands” (Tannen 1990: 152-153).  Further examples of phrases that could be found in both groups of boys are: “Gimme your…”, “Lie down”, and “Give me that”.  Further examples of what the girls could be found saying are: “Let’s go…”, “Let’s sit…”, “We gonna…”, and “We could” (Tannen 1990: 153).  It is important note that the forms of dialogue found in the girls’ speech are, “… attempts to influence what the others do without telling them what to do.  At the same time, they reinforce the identities of the girls as members of a community” (Tannen 1990:154). Tannen also notes (1990:154) that children are as much “…influenced by their parents styles just as adults are influenced by what they learned as children” (Tannen 1990:154).  To explain this chicken-or-the-egg paradox Tannen notes a study where it was found that “fathers issue more commands to their children than mothers do, and they issue more commands to their sons than to their daughters” (Tannen 1990: 154).

The next points address how the differences in men and women’s dialogue influence and construct each group’s social structures:

“Giving orders and getting others to follow them was the way that certain boys got to be and stay leaders.  A command, by definition, distinguishes the speaker from the addressee and frames him as having more power.  In contrast, the girls’ groups were organized in an egalitarian way… all participate jointly in decision making with minimal negotiation of status.” (Tannen 1990:156)

Tannen further notes girls, though they may not give direct orders, still typically have someone whose suggestions are taken most often (Tannen 1990: 157).  Later, she notes the importance of popularity games in girls’ play that show the importance of status.  In the game of four-square, girls will practice the art of being “nice-mean” to one another; where the object is to get someone out who is not a friend so that a friend can now play the game (Tannen 1990:171).  By doing this, girls can be nice without really being mean: “Getting people out was mean, but it wasn’t really mean if it was done for the purpose of being nice to someone else—getting a friend in” (Tannen 1990: 171). In further explanation of boys’ dialogue, Tannen states (1990:157) that boys typically didn’t give a reason for their demands at all because this reinforces an “order as moves in a contest”.

In conclusion, I wish to clearly make note of the fundamental differences in discourse practices between men and women in relation to childhood learning, in relation to interaction with other children and adult interaction: “…boys and girls are learning to handle complexity in different arenas—boys in terms of complex rules and activities, girls in terms of complex networks of relationships, and ways of using language to mediate those relationships” (Tannen 1990:181).

Reference

Tannen, Deborah

1990       You Just Don’t Understand. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc.

To me, the problem is that children often fail to understand the difference between a hero and an idol.  The terms might as well be interchangeable to the majority of elementary students who find that the grown-ups they worship are unable to do any wrong.  Heck, adults often fail to see the difference between a hero and an idol as well!  However, in this instance, I think mothers and fathers are far more frustrated that this icon—someone who is so pervasive in the minds of children—allowed himself the right to take his marriage vows in vain.  Wood’s actions let down a whole bunch of people who believed in the image he allowed to be portrayed. So little of his personal life was known before the scandal; his image was his career.    With this being said, I wish to focus on the fact that no one is perfect.  I apply this point to one of the truest senses of a hero that I know—Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.    This man did many wonderful things for our nation and yet he had flaws as well; he committed adultery.  Do Dr. King’s adulterous actions make his contributions to America any less great?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  He’s proof that perfection is an unrealistic ideal; that greatness doesn’t mean you can do no wrong.  I believe a true hero is someone who understands his or her flaws and constantly tries to improve his or herself, for we are all capable of falling below the expectations of others and ourselves.  The trick is that we try to overcome these obstacles and become better people.  I hope that Tiger over comes his behavior and proves to everyone the reason why he should be a hero to his nation and to the world.

Why did the other group projects fail? I feel the main reason was inexperience in dealing with group work. College group-work isn’t anything like high school group-work. College group-work means that the group plans and organizes itself with little to no input from the professor or teacher. Group members must learn how to work with one-another and find a common-ground when it comes to the expectations that should be met by each group member. Working in groups must be taught in college because you will have to do it in the real world, in the world beyond academia. Therefore, it is good to be exposed to these irritations.  So, here are some of the problems and lessons I learned written out so that I may reflect upon them.  I hope that others can read this and take away some knowledge to make their own group-work experiences more productive.  At the very least I hope that if someone is struggling with their own college group-work experience that my words help to give them peace of mind. You are not alone!

Problem one, group members have to agree on what needs to get done. Things got to get done on time; the professor doesn’t care that your group can’t agree on a time to meet on outside of class. That’s your problem. I learned that a shared vision is required to unify ideas. As long as a vision is shared things flow more smoothly within the group. Not having a shared vision brings the project to a stand-still; unless individuals bring it upon themselves to make their own vision happen. This is what occurred in my Language and Culture class. All three of us were so excited over the topic we would be researching together but our vision never really united.  The group project’s failure happened because we didn’t give ourselves enough time to work on the project outside of class as a group. Our schedules were set—our periods of free time did not meet up—leaving us little time to devote for meeting-up.  Now we each have a separate version of the project; these versions must somehow be united for our presentation in happens in about a week!

Problem number two, college group projects are hard because the group is being graded. Expectations influence the group’s mentality. People have their expectations of what is expected. This means it’s easy to step on other people’s feelings. If someone doesn’t feel that you’re living up to his expectations then your grade can suffer. In my Environmental Anthropology class we were asked to grade out group members—to gauge their performance out of 50 points. There were five areas to grade on and 10 points for each area. The grading is supposed to make sure everyone is doing their fair share of the group-work but in practice what one person sees as taking on her fair share another will see her performance as not good enough. While the grading does make participation in class work more abundant (not many people skip this class for fear of their group member’s wrath), I feel that my grade in the class would be higher if the evaluation of my performance was coming from the professor and not my group members. This is mainly because my group member’s expectations may be a lot higher than the expectations of my professor. I have the potential to impact the grade of each of my group members and therefore I can understand if they are far more willing to cut me down if they feel I’ve not done enough.

Though I may not be able to control the schedule of my other group members or deal with their level of expectation of me. I have learned that I should try to only devote one class a semester to group work. That way I can better deal with the time constraints (other’s as well as my own) that are a part of the group-work experience. I don’t know if group projects will be easier in the future. I hope I can take the positive group experiences I learned in my Business English class and apply this knowledge to future endeavors. I know that I’m still uncomfortable asking for help from my classmates; currently I need to find the courage to ask just one fellow member of my Business English class to write a letter of recommendation for me. I don’t know why but the idea of asking frightens me. I don’t think it has anything to do with being afraid of being told no. I feel it may have more to do with the idea of being judged; or maybe it’s the fact that the person who I ask will not take it seriously. I have a fear of being judged. I like to be seen as smart and as a worthwhile person to get to know. I remember an instance in my Environmental Anthropology class were I called myself retarded. I said it jokingly. I’ve said it hundreds of times in the past to my closest friends and it doesn’t even faze them. It’s not that they think I’m retarded, or even slow. I guess it’s easy to forget that words have connotations and that different groups value those connotations differently. When I’ve said this to my friends they see the word as meaning that I did something ridiculous and silly. When I said it to my fellow group members, they jumped all over me; saying that it was inappropriate that I should call myself this. They saw the word as negative; that I was calling myself dumb. I became so embarrassed that I really didn’t talk for the rest of the class period. I think it even made me self-conscious of my actions for the rest of the day! I’m sensitive. I’m easily affected by other’s actions. I will probably never be totally comfortable working in groups in a classroom setting as it will require me to get over my sensitive nature. However, I become less sensitive the better I get to know a person’s mannerisms and attitude. I feel that working in a group with people I know is not a problem for me. I spent four years in a high school band. I spent three years working in small steel drum bands; most of the time, I worked with the same people. For me, three-fourths of the challenge when doing group work is simply understanding how to interact with everyone else.

“… some metaphoric words and expressions are novel, made up for the occasion, but more are calcified in the language.  They are simple the way we think it is natural to express ideas.  We don’t think of them as metaphors… More often than not, we use expressions without thinking about their metaphoric implications.  But that doesn’t mean those implications are not influencing us”.

Take a moment to consider how we phrase things, how we express an idea to emphasize it.  Tannen has noticed that American culture, in general, has an obsession with war metaphors, which means we are a society that is obsessed with the concept of pitting one side against the other.  She notes that we have a tendency to pick, “more aggressive strategies even if they get less favorable results.  It’s as if we value a fight for its own sake, not for its effectiveness in resolving disputes”.  She gives several examples from newspapers and other forms of print media that emphasize this idea; such metaphorical words as showdown and battle are often used to express the polarity between ideas.

I could go on and on with examples of how Tannen relates metaphors to the ideology behind American culture but the most important point has to be the social implications—in particular, that our society is losing its sense of community due to the Argument Culture—that come with the usage of war metaphors for all aspects of society.  She notes that the media’s attempt at engaging their audience by drawing on their sense of drama is, “Far from encouraging us to feel connected to the subject, it encourages us to feel critical, superior—and, as a result, distanced.  The cumulative effect is that citizens feel more and more cut off from the people in public life they read about.”

I find this fascinating because I feel that the facts that Deborah Tannen presents are directly relatable to how people view the youth of our society in relation to politics.  For generations now, Americans have been exposed to the argument culture and the results can be seen that the war metaphors in politics have distanced us from picking a side.  As Deborah Tannen states: “The argument culture is both a product of and a contributor  to this alienation, separating people, disconnecting them from each other  and from those who are or might have been their leaders”.

It does not get easier after your first year at college.  From freshman to sophomore and from sophomore to junior my work-load has steadily increased.  I’m constantly expected to handle a larger work load each new semester–and I got to tell you, it’s a trying experience.  I’m already feeling over whelmed by the prospect of this semester’s end.  My bad habits seem to only be magnifying the complexities of college.  Mind you, I’m not trying to complain.  I knew when I chose to go to college it wasn’t going to be a cake-walk.  Even knowing this, it’s beyond disconcerting to feel like you’re drowning–unable to break the surface in an ever mounting sea of school work–and you’re not even sure what it is you want to do with your degree.

I’ve tried my hardest to find a path to my future career that will leave me content for the rest of life.  I understand that people usually trade careers many times throughout their lives now.  I think, the fact that there is a lack of certainty when it comes to your future job now might be the very reason I chose anthropology as my major. I’m not being taught pacific skills that are only applicable to one trade.  The skills I’m honing are good for a variety of careers.  I’m perfecting my group skills, my analytical skills, my writing skills, my comprehension skills.   Heck, I think one of the most remarkable skills of an anthropologist are their ability to place themselves in another person’s shoes.  In this globalized world, how is this skill not applicable to every facet of human existence?  Everything I’ve learned has taught me about the mechanics of human beings and I love to soak up the information like a sponge. However, the ambiguity is also reason why I’m having such a crisis of conscience.  I’m following this wonderful major in which I’m allowed to choose almost any area to study (as long as it applies to humanity) that the sheer lack of a focus point is becoming disconcerting.   I basically stumbled across this major when I was going to Hillsborough Community College in my attempt to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.  I can vividly remember declaring my major in transfer student orientation and thinking it’ll be cool to study human culture. Then, there is the even more disconcerting fact that, though my major is applicable outside of academics most people give blank faces when they hear the word anthropology.  So, if I’m not careful in choosing my studies I’ll end up having a useless degree because people won’t understand how my degree can benefit their company.

Despite the negatives, I believe I chose my major carefully; I understood that this might be one of the hardships I would have to endure.   I do not think I foresaw that the college workload would be such a daunting task; in fact, it has become so daunting that it’s affecting my strength of will to even continue to go to college.  I know I did not foresee this.  I have lost sight of my goal and how I wish to attain it.  I know what I want to do to try to fix what I’ve lost but that implies that I first survive this semester.  After this semester, I plan on trying to double major in marketing.  I hope that is gives me a new focus that I can more easily obtain.  I wish to focus on beginning a career in this field and then eventually getting a master’s in cultural anthropology.  I have no idea what I want to do my dissertation on though; but this isn’t important at this point in time.  I got to get a Bachelor’s before I can even worry about a Master’s. I hope that after this semester I have the chance to rearrange the priorities in my life to help redistribute the mounting pressure that is my school load.  I think doing this will help to remind me of the importance of why I’m in college in the first place.

The problem arises when writing is introduced.  The argument goes that using “bad grammar” is slovenly; that one uses good grammar to show their mastery of the English language and therefore prove you know what you’re talking about.  In today’s world, this idea is true.  A written work is going to be taken far more seriously if it’s written in Standard English than if it’s written in Ebonics, but this doesn’t mean that people who speak Ebonics are wrong to do so.  More importantly, writing in non-standard form becomes especially important when wishing to show a personal voice in your work. This can easily be seen in non-fiction dialogue.  Think about Mark Twain; his work is full of Ebonic dialogue.  Then there’s the novel How to Kill a Mockingbird, where the narrator (a young southern girl) uses non-standard speech all the time.  Examples of non-standard speech in contemporary novels can be found constantly.  In fact, the next time you pick up a novel just take a moment to find where and why the author is using non-standard English because it’s most assuredly there—I promise!  Even in the academic world there is use of non-standard English.  The best examples of this have to be seen in my ethnographic novels where language-use is the main topic (in works such as Norma Mendoza-Denton’s Homegirls and Aaron Fox’s Real Country).  In such works, there are examples of non-standard dialogue given with Standard English used to narrate the work.

In my Business Writing class, one of the main examples used to illustrate an author mixing languages was an English children’s novel with Spanish words thrown in.  Although, I cannot be 100 percent sure for the reason why the author decided to do this, I can imagine that the child would have no problem with understanding a few words of Spanish.  Children’s works are written with the child learning to read in mind.  So, there would be context clues—and more importantly pictures—for the child to pick up on the meaning of the word he or she does not know.  I would also say that this book was written with the intention for children in Elementary schools that have bilingual programs.  That this book was written with the intention to help expose a child to a new language.

So, this example of a children’s novel shows that Standard English can be broken even in a children’s work.  The reason why it can be done is because of a child’s capacity to learn.  Furthermore, all of us understand the fluidity of language.  Look back at the history of the English language as it has evolved through written works.  Look at the English of Shakespeare, and then Poe, and then look at works written in the last decade.  They are all English and every English speaker has the ability to understand these works.  It is this, the human capacity to learn language, which allows an author to give shape to his or her work.

Here is one last gem to chew on.  Consider how the internet is blurring the distinction between standard and non-standard writing.  With services such chat rooms and instant messaging people can now use written language to communicate as if they were standing right in-front of one another.  This has caused a new non-standard form of English (as well as French and other foreign languages) that is strictly written based.

One way that this movie is relatable to anthropology is through analogy of our military using anthropologists in Iraq in the same way that the military uses the avatars in the movie (Anthropologists in the Military – A First-Hand Account by Jeff Bristol, David Price: Hollywood’s Human Terrain Avatars).  Honestly, the idea of misusing anthropologists can be carried even further than through the military.  The movie can be seen as a huge allegory showing the imperialistic past of western culture (Avatar: Evaluating the themes).   The oil companies have done the same thing in the Amazon to learn how to quail the indigenous peoples—the oil companies send anthropologists to learn how the indigenous think and what they want so they can get the oil.

The second, and most important, way that these two are relatable is the use of anthropological knowledge to improve the authenticity of the movie.  Cameron, who is a stickler for details, went in-depth in developing the culture and language of the indigenous peoples of Pandora.  In the article I read the author goes so far as to compare film makers to anthropologists.  For authenticity requires an in-depth knowledge of the basic details of a particular culture. Cameron had linguistic anthropologists to identify key sounds, foreign to western culture, of other languages were then incorporated in to a brand new language for the Na’vi to speak.  He used cultural anthropologists to replicate known tribal rituals into the Na’vi rituals.

One final note, something many people do not consider when watching such science fiction as Star Wars and Star Trek—or even Stargate—is if we have no knowledge of something then we cannot create something based off of that knowledge.  In other words, if we have no knowledge of an alien culture we cannot create an alien culture.  All any of these shows are doing is recreating known cultural behavior in a different way so that it can be seen as alien.  This too is a type of anthropology—the research of human culture.

My high standards have been groomed through overcoming past hardships and exceeding even my own expectations.  I ended up having to repeat my first grade year of elementary school because I wasn’t showing the proper progress to move on to the next grade level.  I battled with learning how to read and write all the way up to the end of my third grade; then we moved to Florida.  It was then that my family and I discovered my learning disorder, that I have dyslexia.   By the sixth grade, I had a complete turn-around when I scored eleventh grade reading level and I was in all advanced classes.  Once in high school, I continued to excel in advanced classes eventually taking AP Composition and AP Literature.  Now in college, I hold myself to the same standards I have long since developed.  I enjoy performing above standard.  I want to stand out and be more than a mediocre student.  It tears me up when I have to let my standards fall.

When I have had to face the reality that I’m not going to succeed in pulling off the perfect grade, the trick has always been to remind myself that I cannot hold myself to unreasonable goals. Even the best and brightest of individuals will have hard times with which they must deal.  I must always remember to balance setting realistic goals and to always strive to do better and meet higher standards in the future.  Priority number one is completing the assignment to the best of my ability, in a timely and efficient manner.  Most importantly, even if I cannot complete the assignment on time, I must remember that I didn’t lose the war, only the battle—I can still achieve everything I’ve set out to do.  Never give up!  Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again.  If you are currently feeling as though you’re about to break down from all the weight being piled upon your shoulders, bear in mind that you are not alone.  Try to weigh the importance of all the jobs you’ve been given in your life.  Don’t let any one aspect of your life overwhelm all others to the point where you cannot function.  Never forget to remind yourself of your goals and why they’re important.

related article links:

David Price: Hollywood’s Human Terrain Avatars

Avatar: The White Hero (re)Born

Avatar: Multi Billion Dollar Colonialism, Occupation, and Oppression Dialogues in 3D

There is more to talk about concerning this topic than I can cover in just one post.  Right now, I will talk about the story’s main themes concerning colonialism and ecology.

To truly understand the colonialism theory one has to go back to the beginning of European mercantilism.  This period began when the European countries began the process of exploring the foreign seas.  In actuality, this was an arms race between the European nations for foreign spices and other materialistic goods.  The competition between one-another drove their technology—specifically weapons and armor–to new heights faster than any other area in the world.  Soon after the Europeans had conquered their own seas they began the outward process of colonization in the New World and Asia.  Native American exploitation is best known.  Few people consider the fact that the Opium Wars of China are due to Western demand for fine foreign goods; a demand so high that merchants where trading opium for silks and fine china.  The Western world has a long history of exploiting peoples who sit on resources considered valuable to the westerner: land, oil, minerals, and water are just a few examples.  Consider the developing world and its problems.  Consider the true source of their misfortune.  Is it the fact that they aren’t as technologically advanced the makes them so much worse off.  Consider instead that it is the Western world’s greed that has caused them such trouble; good the phrase: development of the underdeveloped.  In the movie Avatar, the western merchants are symbolized by our species invading the world of Pandora; humans coming for our precious fuel source, “Unobtonium”, to a world where its people live in perfect harmony with the land around them.  It doesn’t matter that someone else already holds claim to the land; the people are dumb “blue monkeys”.  What right do we have to even touch this Planet’s resources in the first place?  All the land belongs to the Na’vi and should be treated as such; and yet we believe we can walk into the place and take what we need.  I find the fact that the story line is so simplistic refreshing.  Oftentimes, a good allegory is just a simple is a story where the message is universal and applicable to many events.

This story isn’t just a message concerning colonialism but also an ecological message dealing with the naturalist myth (Pouchepadass 1995: 2060) and the concept of primitive people.  The myth basically lays out the concept that there is truly no such thing as untouched jungle:  “… the societies which lived in and from the forest when the Europeans arrived were not isolated communities preserved from all outside influence from the beginnings of History” (Pouchepadass 1995: 2060).  This movie takes the concept of an untouched people to new heights.  The Na’vi had never known another race of similar intelligence before humans came to their world (as far as we know).  They are portrayed has a hunter gatherer tribal unite.  In which they do not agriculturally work the land but gather its resources and hunt its prey.  They are portrayed as primitives that get exploited because they do not have the technology to combat the outsider’s technology.   I think this view-point screws the facts; one must first consider how to define primitive.  The only way I can think of to define this world is in terms of relativity to another.  In this case, to be primitive is to be less technologically advanced than another.  The problem with this definition is that the Na’vi do not consider themselves to be primitive.  In fact, they call Jack Sully primitive or “like a baby” for not understanding how to live in the environment.  To them, to be primitive is a totally different concept than to us.  They are able to interact with their environment of a very advanced level; they tap into it by a means we do not even fully understand.  A point that Dr. Grace Augustine continually reminds us of as she talks about the trees, animals, and people of past and present being connected by a chemical-electrical network.

References:
For much of this piece I consulted much of my own memory in past classes concerning Globalism and the Environment.  Please feel free to correct me if you notice any wrong facts.   I am only an amateur on topics such as this and very capable of making mistakes.

WORKS:

Pouchepadass, Jacques
1995 Colonialism and Environment in India: Comparative Perspective. Economic and Political Weekly 30(33):2059-2067.