Heading into WMST488A on the first day of class was rather daunting. This is my capstone class in working toward a certificate in Women’s Studies. Although I have taken multiple classes about Feminism and issues that are generally dealt with in Women’s Studies, this one stood out as something that was going to make me reach outside of my distinguished knowledge about Feminism and gender studies and look at different, yet similar issues, in a new and developmental way. Although I found myself with a level of hesitation, my hesitation was not pessimistically approached. I cannot wait to begin this journey into new knowledge(s).
When asked to define reenactment before coming to our first class, I could not seem to identify it outside of the ‘typical’ meaning. By typical, I mean groups that I found when you type in reenactment on google: renaissance groups, civil war groups, medieval times groups, and those of the similar genre. It was then that I went to the computer and dictionary to figure out where else I could place this word in my schema. It was there that I found more meaning to this multidimensional term. Reenactments show people what things were like back……….WHENEVER. You can bring any piece of history to life for an audience or for participants. There are no guidelines to your identification with reenactment; the most noted ones are those “communities of practice”, but there is no limit to finding reenactments in your own every day life.
A few reenactments I have come in connect with in the past few weeks are: Freedom Writers the movie, Asheville, N.C., “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom, the Hall of Mammals, and “The Last Time I Wore A Dress” by Daphne Scholinski. I also enjoyed MJ’s example of the model houses her family has been visiting, that really made sense to me. Freedom Writers reenacted a culture that illuminated the fear that lives within inner city adolescents. When glancing at these communities through an external lens, you see anger, rage, hostility, and arrogance. But through this type of reenactment, which has become popular in our media, you can see this population’s true color. They are scared and screaming for attention. These teenagers are begging for a light at the end of the tunnel. This movie gave a declaration of triumph to a group of individuals who are equivocally looked upon with gazes of brutality and fear.
I traveled to N.C. and stayed in a town named Asheville. It is known as the “home of the hippies” in America. There are restaurants and signs throughout the downtown area that make you feel like you are in another time period. I do believe people can presently claim that identity and it would be “real” (in opposition to impersonating), but I also believe that hippies do have some relation to a past decade. As we learned in class, there are a lot of intensive definitions of hippies that could fit under the same extensive definition. It is with that understanding, I realize my discretions are subjective and have a lot of room for deviation.
Have you ever read “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom? I did not get around to reading it until a few weeks ago. Books about religious endeavors or the power of belief do not usually intrigue me. This book provided for me fruitful entertainment. Albom constantly went back to recreate previous times in his main character’s family history to paint a portrait of something that came together in the end. The book stressed an emphasis on faith, especially in times of adversity and suffering. He recreated a story for the reader that allowed each participant to come away with at least one lesson. No matter what your background, identity, or religious faith, Albom found a way to your heart. The way he did this was through personal reenactments.
My last example is the book “The Last Time I Wore A Dress” by Daphne Scholinski. This book is a memoir about a “bad girl” who grew up in the early 1980’s and did what was necessary for her to survive. She was turned over to mental institutions at a young age because doctors believed that her boyishness was a curable manifestation of her personal (which, as we know, were political) problems. As Daphne concurrently goes through her childhood and development in the mental institution, the reader can feel a sense of release. Throughout the book I felt that Daphne was courageously showing how reenacting your childhood could be a form of therapeutic familiarity with her recurring present emotions.
On a lighter note, the Wall of Mammals was really cool. I got the chance to go on Saturday and there were a ton of people visiting the National Museum of Natural History. I knew that all mammals had hair and females were able to breast-feed, but the ear bone part was new to me. According to evolution, those animals are a huge part of our past, and it was fun to read all the blurbs about our ancestors and be right there in the action.
So far this semester, we have gone over a few terms that I would like to remember in the future, so I plan to joint them down in this blog, because it seems more permanent to me than my notebook. Boundary objects are terms that mean something different to different people in different areas and situations. Just like I described hippies earlier, and we talked about feminism in class, these terms can have different intensive definitions but all fall under the same extensive one. To branch off of that concept, we must look at things as being robust. We are taught that there are only 5 senses, but in essence, there is a sensorium. Our sensorium includes “sensation, perception, and interpretation of information about the world by senses, perceptual systems and minds” (wikipedia).
After one of our classes, I wanted to look up more about Identity Politics. It is described as “political action to advance the interests of members of a group because of a real or supposed shared identity or characteristic (such as race or gender), usually in response to the perception that certain human rights have been denied to them” (wikipedia). I was not completely familiar with this term, but after reading more about it, I can absolutely say that I hope it will become part of my future vernacular.
…..More to come.
