Community of Scholars
Posted by Lindsay Jagodowski on Thursday, March 31, 2011
Last night I attended a presentation called 'Media, Culture and the Self: Moral and Social Influences in Identityy and Gender Development'. This was presented by David Goodman, Katie Howe and should have included Amy Rusten, but she was unable to attend the session.
The first section lead by David Goodman began with two quotes: "I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful. If not, it can't be helped." Fritz Perls. The other quote by Dostoyevsky stated; We are all responsible for everyone else -- But I am more responsible than all the others. Through this short lecture we looked at how we defined 'the self' and what traits our culture sees as heroic vs. what traits we ourselves see as heroic. Goodman made these deeply philosophical notions accessable through his use of a pop culture interpretation - The Lord of The Rings. We talked about the character Sam as the hero of the story, the character with the moral fortitude and selflessness to help Frodo resist the ring and complete the mission. There is a constant fight between the cultual and comsumerist vison of the self through the eyes of Perls and this 'Sam hero' the desire to be a good person and care for the world around us, even if it as a detriment to ourselves- like the Dostoyevsky view point.
The next session was not as well presented. This section aimed to look at 'The Feminine Mystique" and another text "Constructing the Self" which both talked about consumerism in a post WWII America. Having gone to a women's college, these are topics that were covered in great depth. I think if I had gone into this session without proir knowlege it may have been slightly more interesting, but the presenter barely grazed the top of the issues covered in both books. I would have appreciated if she picked one slice of the issue and went at it with depth rather than giving us a glossed look at information without much substance.
I think my expectations for the session and what I expirienced were two disparate things ... However, I did enjoy the chance to be in a different learning situation with students and presenters from all different departments and levels at Lesley. I wish we had been able to hear the presentation by Amy Rusten as well- perhaps it would have filled in the gaps or made the two presentations more cohesive for me.
The first section lead by David Goodman began with two quotes: "I do my thing and you do your thing. I am not in this world to live up to your expectations, and you are not in this world to live up to mine. You are you, and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful. If not, it can't be helped." Fritz Perls. The other quote by Dostoyevsky stated; We are all responsible for everyone else -- But I am more responsible than all the others. Through this short lecture we looked at how we defined 'the self' and what traits our culture sees as heroic vs. what traits we ourselves see as heroic. Goodman made these deeply philosophical notions accessable through his use of a pop culture interpretation - The Lord of The Rings. We talked about the character Sam as the hero of the story, the character with the moral fortitude and selflessness to help Frodo resist the ring and complete the mission. There is a constant fight between the cultual and comsumerist vison of the self through the eyes of Perls and this 'Sam hero' the desire to be a good person and care for the world around us, even if it as a detriment to ourselves- like the Dostoyevsky view point.
The next session was not as well presented. This section aimed to look at 'The Feminine Mystique" and another text "Constructing the Self" which both talked about consumerism in a post WWII America. Having gone to a women's college, these are topics that were covered in great depth. I think if I had gone into this session without proir knowlege it may have been slightly more interesting, but the presenter barely grazed the top of the issues covered in both books. I would have appreciated if she picked one slice of the issue and went at it with depth rather than giving us a glossed look at information without much substance.
I think my expectations for the session and what I expirienced were two disparate things ... However, I did enjoy the chance to be in a different learning situation with students and presenters from all different departments and levels at Lesley. I wish we had been able to hear the presentation by Amy Rusten as well- perhaps it would have filled in the gaps or made the two presentations more cohesive for me.
