Jamie A. Thomas
  • About
  • Portfolio
    • Digital Storytelling
    • Ethnography + Language
  • Teaching
    • AfroLatinx Podcast
    • [ZOMBIES REIMAGINED]
  • Blog
  • Connect With Me

#languagestory blog

Video & perspectives on communication, intercultural learning & the impact of anthropological research.

Zombies = Race, Gender, Politics, and Beyoncé

5/23/2016

0 Comments

 

Lemonade. 

So, on the last day of class this semester, I brought snacks to celebrate with my students. Some chocolate cake, spicy Doritos, and I always like a little bit of lemonade. I figure it couldn't hurt. I set it all on the table at the front of the room, along with a display of books we'd sampled in our syllabus, and some new ones I wanted to encourage students to pick up. 

When it came time to pass around the snacks, my students asked me if had brought the lemonade on purpose. "Uh, no, not really, I just like it." And they were surprised, because all they could think about was Beyoncé's new release. They asked if they could play the album while we circulated thank-you cards to write. "Sure, why not?" 
Alex and Eojin present their TimelineJS of *Engendering Zombie Fiction*, their segment of our exhibit now available online.
Alex and Eojin present their TimelineJS of *Engendering Zombie Fiction*, their segment of our exhibit now available online.
Picture
Samples from our course syllabus: From *The Walking Dead* to *European Thought in the Eighteenth Century*.
Samples from our course syllabus: From *The Walking Dead* to *European Thought in the Eighteenth Century*.
The single Hold Up begins playing across our projector screen, and I begin thinking about how themes in the song relate to key aspects of our seminar on Languages of Fear, Racism, and Zombies. This semester, we had spent time interrogating the reasons for our fears of writing, of others, and of being controlled by "The Man." So some of the words coming out of Beyoncé's mouth were not so far off from conversations we'd had throughout the semester about the concomitant role of discourse in controlling bodies and perpetuating fear of the Other. But my students were already aware of this. After all, two had incorporated discussion of Beyoncé into their final project as part of [ZOMBIES REIMAGINED], our collaborative digital exhibit. This blog post introduces our exhibit and explains how we pulled it all together.​

Read More
0 Comments

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Part 1

2/20/2016

0 Comments

 
By Jamie A. Thomas
Chalkboard from my seminar course on February 17, 2016.
Brainstorming in my seminar course, *Languages of Fear, Racism, and Zombies* (Spring 2016) on February 17.
"There was, however, a savage wildness that could only impress us with forebodings respecting Mr. Farewell and his party, of whom we were in search, which led us to apprehend that they had all fallen by the savage hands of the tribes who might occasionally visit the coast." - Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa: Descriptive of the Zoolus, Their Manners, and Customs, Vol. 1 (1836, p. 10)

"Scary Sh*t."

In the seminar course I'm teaching this semester, we'll be attending a movie theater showing of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) next week. This in mind, my goal has been to prepare my students for a critical examination of the film by studying concurrent 19th century discourse. Jane Austen's novel was originally published in 1813, the same time in which European colonial expansion was underway, slavery in the U.S. (and Americas) was reaching its zenith, and modern linguistics and anthropology were also taking shape. Other texts from this historical period include Nathaniel Isaacs' Travels and Adventures in Eastern Africa, Vol. 1 (1836), famous for its (now debunked) descriptions of King Shaka Zulu, as well as Solomon Northrup's (1853) autobiographical account (now feature film) Twelve Years a Slave, and Charles Darwin's Descent of Man ​(1871).

As I critically examine key examples of thought and discourse from this period together with my students, we are additionally drawing crucial connections to the rise of the 
zombie in U.S. American popular culture. This week, we examined excerpts from each of Isaacs' and Darwin's popular pieces. This was for my ongoing Spring 2016 course, Languages of Fear, Racism, and Zombies. In class, I guided students in using critical discourse analysis to examine these important texts.

Read More
0 Comments

Putting the 'Soul' in Sustainable Community

1/7/2016

2 Comments

 
By Sophia Zaia, Tinuke Akintayo, & Lekey Leidecker

Watch the Video.

Serenity House Language Story #languagestory

"Once you step just a layer below the skin, what you end up with is a nervous system. Black people have nervous systems. So do White people.
​It's amazing how similar we are on that level!" - O, community leader

One of the Poorest Ghettos in Philadelphia.

Listen to the wind chimes, and you can hear the peaceful wavelength of this community. This video is about Serenity House, a North Philadelphia community center, and home for homeless youth and recovering substance abusers. The residential center is operated by Arch Street United Methodist Church. We interviewed O, a resident and caretaker of Serenity House since 2010. She talked with us about the mission of Serenity House and her work creating a calm and peaceful environment in a neighborhood which has been described as “one of the poorest ghettos in Philadelphia.” Spending time at the hospitality home operated by Serenity House, we experienced a beautiful and welcoming community environment.
Picture
Sophia talks with community leader, O (left), on site at Serenity House.

Read More
2 Comments

Insults Hurled on a Philadelphia Train.

12/22/2015

0 Comments

 
by Jamie A. Thomas

Standing Room Only.

Picture
"That's why I'm voting for Trump, send all ya'll motherf***ers back on the banana boat."
Picture
By the time the train finally arrived, the platform was already crowded because of delays on the Market-Frankford line. We all piled onto a train just as packed. I quickly checked my phone. It was 12:40pm, standing room only. I had to reach over someone's head with my left hand to grab hold of the nearest handrail, and steady myself before the train took off again.

As the doors to the SEPTA train closed, I found myself face-to-face with another passenger, and was quickly reminded of my many times riding insanely packed subway lines underneath the vast expanse of Mexico City years ago. Millions of people circulate through the Distrito Federal everyday, and at the time, I became one of them, living in Mexico's largest urban center for more than a year during my fieldwork. The city's peak-time trains and buses were always a miasma of bodies, with more passengers than I could ever count, more stories than I could ever hope to know. But during each ride, I'd find myself face-to-face with someone new, avoiding their gaze while monitoring my personal space. I wondered where they were going, or what they did for a living, what part of the country their extended family was from. Sometimes we might share the occasional word or two, a brief exchange of greetings or "Pase", "¿Quiéres sentar?", "Gracias."

So when I got on the Philly subway earlier today, after passing by the ticket booth with my $2.25 in exact change, it all somehow felt familiar. And even though I could see the nearest oncoming train car was totally full, the thought never occurred to me that I should pass up the train for an emptier, more breathable ride. I waded through the train's crowded entryway, as did two or three or four others behind me, and then the doors unceremoniously closed.

Read More
0 Comments

Community-Based Learning.

12/14/2015

0 Comments

 
By Jamie A. Thomas
Picture
Center City, Philadelphia: Introducing new authors for #LanguageStory blog, from my Fall 2015 introductory course in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology at Swarthmore College.

#LanguageStory as Critical & Creative Pedagogy.

I've learned so much from working with video from my fieldwork, and deliberately formulating it for a public audience, that I've begun to incorporate it into my teaching. This semester, my students have been engaging the Philadelphia community to learn more about how signs, symbols, and communication connect our everyday lives. Students in my introductory course in sociolinguistics at Swarthmore College come from all over the country, and from other institutions in the area, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Our theme has been linguistic landscapes, the physical and imagined dimensions of language use that intersect with and govern our daily practices. In class, we've discussed the linguistic landscape of digital speech communities within Twitter and Yik Yak. We've also touched upon the very real ways in which we use words and multiple ways of speaking to connect in the classroom, in our homes, and in other settings, such as restaurants, libraries, coffeeshops, and Quaker meetings. 

Using our discussions as a foundation, I've guided students in my introductory course in sociolinguistics in methods in qualitative interviewing, field research, and visual anthropology, to enable them to conduct interviews and work collaboratively to compose videos on their original research. Their semester-long research culminated in new short videos for the #LanguageStory project, and exemplify another key component I value in research: Openness and adaptability. For many of these students, this was their first experience in soliciting interviews out in the field, and putting together a cohesive visual + digital story to detail their insights.

Introducing New Authors to the Blog.

In the next few posts for the blog, I'll be featuring the collaborative written and visual composition of student teams from my class. I'm so very proud of their efforts. Their deeply reflective videos explore multiple, intersectional aspects of life in the Philadelphia area, and offer critical insights on:
  • Gentrification & the Gayborhood
  • Knitting as a community practice
  • Communication in Quaker Meetings
  • The role of mural arts in generating community
  • Change in North Philadelphia
  • Coffeeshop atmosphere
  • Asianness and Chinese Cuisine

What I love most about these videos is how they illustrate the strong observational skills these students have developed over the semester, and are the shared vision of between 2 and 3 student researchers. I look forward to sharing their work here, and to the conversations and discussion I hope their work will generate. These discussions will carry the hallmark of #LanguageStory's purpose as a visual + digital project deeply rooted in engaged research, and the power and significance of language, from the learner's point of view.

Help Us Share #LanguageStory!

We invite you to share with us in these visual + digital stories, and to spread the word about how fascinating life in Philadelphia is. Use the hashtag to join the conversation here on the blog, on Twitter, or Instagram.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Main Author

    Jamie A. Thomas is a sociocultural linguist and digital media producer. Her forthcoming book Zombies Speak Swahili is all about the undead, videogames, and why language and communication matter. She teaches at Santa Monica College.

    Archives

    September 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

    Categories

    All
    Afterlife
    Art
    Beginnings
    Bilingualism
    Body
    Borderlands
    Cinema
    Collaboration
    Colloquial Speech
    Communication
    Communicative Competence
    Context
    Creation
    Cuba
    Cultural Exchange
    Digital Humanities
    Diversity
    Election 2016
    Emoji
    Engaged Research
    Gender
    Gentrification
    Hashtag
    Ideology
    Idioms
    In-N-Out
    Intercultural Learning
    Interpersonal Communication
    Intersectionality
    Linguistic Inequality
    Local
    Mexico
    Modality
    Museums
    Participation
    Philadelphia
    Project Goals
    Public Ethnography
    Public Memory
    Race
    Saturday Night Live
    Semiotics
    Sexuality
    Sign Language
    Speech Community
    Stereotypes
    Storytelling
    Study Abroad
    Video
    Women
    Zombies

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly