I’d like to note I have not received my books in the mail yet so I am unable to complete this portion as of now.

Please check back on June 3. I would love to hear your feed back once I have had an opportunity to read The Truth About Stories. THANK YOU!

Explain why the notion that cultures can be distinguished as either “oral culture” or written culture” is a mistaken understanding as to how culture works, according to Chamberlin and your reading of Courtney MacNeil’s article ‘Orality’.

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The connection of oral culture and written culture is closely wound, while simultaneously being separate. That being said – we must not make the mistake of believing that it is an either or relationship. I think this mistake should not be made for one specific reason; evolution. Both Chamerblin & MacNeil touch on the effect of technology. Various forms (computers, tv, telephones, cameras) are reinventing what literacy and orality is by expanding the definition. While in many cultures, oraliy is the dominant art form – it is not the only form of expression. Efforts to separate speech from orality provides a more attractive alternative: that orality is not the opposition of writing, but rather the catalyst of communication more generally, which is part both writing and speech.

Today the way we communicate is not strictly speech or through written word, the various forms listed as well as media outlets. Orality is the worlds global village of modern media – therefore we must recognize all of the mediums diverse functions serve the practical purpose of knowledge exchange (MacNeil, 2003).  The global arena for this is made possible through both the media and the technology used in our day to day lives. Chamberlain expands on this idea and (2013) explains that “computers oscillation between reader and write, which reintroduces the oscillation between literate and oral coordinates that stands at the center of classical western literature”.

Both of these examples highlight why saying a culture is either ‘oral’ or ‘written’ is too narrow. Especially with the expanding and evolving scope. That being said, understanding that they are not the same, but they are connected, they support each other is important. This has never been more evident than with computers and how their presence encourages fusion within the pluralistic realm of the global village. In terms of distinguishing a culture specifically on their oral or written habits is also a narrow view. Not only is there more to a culture than that, but as I have expressed so much in this post, these two are really interconnected. It is hard for one to exist without the other, therefore it would not be prudent to pick one or the other to evaluate,

Works Cited

Chamberlin, Edward. “Interview with J. Edward Chamberlin”. Writer’s Café.  Web April 04 2013.

MacNeil, Courtney. “The Chicago School of Media Theory Theorizing Media since 2003.” The Chicago School of Media Theory RSS. N.p., 2003. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

TEDxTalks. “Creating Critical Thinkers through Media Literacy: Andrea Quijada at TEDxABQED.” YouTube. YouTube, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

TEDxTalks. “Creating Critical Thinkers through Media Literacy: Andrea Quijada at TEDxABQED.” YouTube. YouTube, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.

Welcome to English 470! I am pleased to be in the class with you and look forward to growing my understanding of Canada and our history. Although this is not a required class for me, I chose it because I have an interest in history and connecting how things (in this case Canada) came to be what they are today. This class will use literature along with active participation to help grow our knowledge of Canada and the voices and stories that brought us to where we are today. We will look at who told stories and the impact of those stories. Over the course of this semester I hope to gain a broader view of the country I call home. I want to see past the ‘Canadianisms’ we are known for and hear a more diverse set of voices, because that’s what Canada is to me – diverse.

In our modern day and age stories are not told like they used to be. Fewer people, especially youth, are picking up books. Instead, they are turning to media outlets (social media, websites, commercials, shows and movies) to hear stories. Our countries narrative is largely controlled by commercials. Last year I took a class on Canadian studies. During my semester in the class I discovered that Canada has a very narrow image that it displays to the rest of the world, we are partly responsible for the stereotypes me receive. We, as a country may not create them, but we certainly encourage them. The first point I would like to illustrate is our obsession with fitting the mold. For example our focus on winter. Yes, we do get winter, and yes in parts of the country it is quite harsh, but the majority of the country is quite average, yet we only focus on one season. This not only encourages the idea that we live in an igloo but it ignores a majority of our experiences. A prime example of this is a commercial recently release by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) for the Rio summer Olympics.The second example of this is Molsons tag line ‘I am Canadian’. The entire campaign is based off of Canadian stereotypes, the advertisements basically say, if you do not experience these things you are not a true Canadian. 

SOURCES:

Russell1935. “The Three Best Molson Canadian Commercials.” YouTube. YouTube, 25 Apr. 2009. Web. 17 May 2016.

“Team Canada – Ice in Our Veins.” YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2016.