Jamie A. Thomas
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Teaching
    • AfroLatinx Podcast
    • [ZOMBIES REIMAGINED]
  • Blog
  • Connect With Me

#languagestory blog

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

#MoralityRaceBody Video: How Do We Define the Other?

5/28/2016

0 Comments

 

What is Human? How do we define the Other?

These were questions addressed in our experimental roundtable discussion on April 28, 2016 at Swarthmore College. The event provided an amazing first opportunity to bring together scholars in the Philadelphia area to discuss intersecting themes of morality, race, and the body. The conversation attracted an audience interested in moral emotion, the brain, human classification, urban redevelopment, Vodun, zombies, and the afterlife.

​Part 2 of our discussion (~20 mins, video available below), particularly concerns historical and contemporary imaginings of the body and afterlife through religious and other lenses. We ask: Which bodies, brains, and emotions are considered righteous and human? Who gets to have an afterlife? What happens to the body in the afterlife?

Part 2 of Morality, Race, and the Body: An Interdisciplinary Conversation from Jamie Thomas on Vimeo.


Read More
0 Comments

#MoralityRaceBody: A Public Conversation 4/28

4/26/2016

0 Comments

 

What makes us human? How do we define the Other?

These are questions that fascinate me greatly, particularly because of my own growing interest in zombies, but also because of my obsession with understanding language and discourse as behaviors and practices in societal context.

I'd like to invite you to join me and a panel of 6 others from the Greater Philadelphia area as we discuss these and other queries on humanity in an experimental, interdisciplinary public conversation on Thursday, April 28, 7:30pm at Swarthmore College.

Morality, Race,
​and the Body

A public conversation and soft launch event for
Zombies Reimagined: A Digital Exhibit

Thursday, April 28, 7:30pm in Bond Hall
​Swarthmore College

Come for hors d'oeuvres and stay for conversation!
*Sponsored by the Swarthmore College Department of Linguistics

Picture

Panelists to include:

Emily August
Literature, Stockton University
Bodies in Medical Textbooks

Yvonne Chireau
Religion, Swarthmore College
Vodun, Race, & Control

Christina Jackson
Sociology, Stockton University
Bodies in Protest

Paul Mitchell
Forensic Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
Scientific Racism, Social & Biological Race



Jamie A. Thomas
Linguistics, Swarthmore College
Discourses of Zombies & Afterlives

Krista Thomason
Philosophy, Swarthmore College
​Moral Emotions & Human Rights

Jess Wright
Classics, Princeton University
Medieval Mappings of the Moral Brain

Bringing the Panel Together: <Jess Wright> calls them "Medieval MRIs"

How did this panel come together? Well, about a month ago, I had the tremendous fortune of meeting Classics specialist Jess Wright while visiting Princeton for a workshop. A mutual friend introduced us over mint tea, and the rest was history. Literally. We talked about how people conceptualized other humans in the past, and she began telling me about her research on medieval understandings of the brain. 

Jess described how her work connected to early Christian conceptions of deviance and the Other, and where in the brain and body 4th century Europeans assumed our capacities for love, thought, and evil were stored. These were like "medieval MRIs," she added.

Read More
0 Comments

Somewhere Under the Rainbow

12/18/2015

0 Comments

 
by Rhiannon Smith & Gretchen Trupp
"The ancient battle cry was 'We're Queer and We're Here.'
Now, it's a marketing scheme. It's a place to come and shop."

Watch the Video.

An Exploratory Critique of Philadelphia's Gayborhood.

Picture
Our video project surveys an area of the city of Philadelphia called the Gayborhood, which is located in Washington Square West covering about 9 blocks, and which has rainbow street signs and crosswalks in addition to rainbow flags on many establishments. There are a variety of buildings in the Gayborhood, ranging from subsidized housing to historical bookstores to LGBTQ-specific health clinics to luxury apartments, restaurants, stores, and clubs. While a variety of different people live in the area, its original intended purpose was as an inclusive neighborhood space with a higher queer population* and to offer support and solidarity for these persons. 

Read More
0 Comments

    Main Author

    Jamie A. Thomas is a linguistic anthropologist and digital media producer. Her forthcoming book Zombies Speak Swahili is all about the undead, videogames, and viral Black language. She teaches at Santa Monica College.

    Archives

    January 2022
    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
    Colonialism
    Communication
    Communicative Competence
    Context
    Creation
    Cuba
    Cultural Exchange
    Digital Humanities
    Diversity
    Election 2016
    Emoji
    Engaged Research
    Gender
    Gentrification
    Hashtag
    Ideology
    Idioms
    Inclusion
    In-N-Out
    Intercultural Learning
    Interpersonal Communication
    Intersectionality
    Linguistic Inequality
    Local
    Mexico
    Modality
    Museums
    Participation
    Philadelphia
    Project Goals
    Public Ethnography
    Public Health
    Public Memory
    Race
    Saturday Night Live
    Semiotics
    Sexuality
    Sign Language
    Spanish
    Speech Community
    Stereotypes
    Storytelling
    Study Abroad
    Video
    Women
    Zombies

    RSS Feed

​Thank you for visiting! More project photos and video: https://linktr.ee/jamieisjames​