Tags: knowledge, race/ethnicity, war/military, collective memory, culture, museums, sites of memory, symbolic power, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 4:20 Access: The Daily Show Summary: In this clip Jon Stewart notes that next year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War and takes the opportunity to respond to an educational video produced by the Sons of Confederate Vets, which appears to celebrate the South's secessionist history. Stewart is joined by "senior Black correspondant" Larry Wilmore and the duo level a satirical critique against those who celebrate this history, arguing that celebrating secession is akin to celebrating slavery. It's not the case that slavery is only discussed in politically correct accounts of the American Civil War, Wilmore explains, slavery is in fact explicitly mentioned in actual succession documents. In my view, the clip would work well in a class grappling with the sociology of collective memory and can be used to help demonstrate why sociologists analyze museums and other projects of commemoration. The video lays bare the fact that interpretations of historical events are always political projects. They are, in a sense, more about symbolic power in the present than the accuracy of events in the past. Thanks to Sociological Images for suggesting the clip. Submitted By: Lester Andrist
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Tags: historical sociology, nationalism, race/ethnicity, war/military, 21 to 60 mins Year: 1989 Length: 27:38 Access: clip 1; clip 2 Summary: I find that when teaching nationalism, it is sometimes necessary to begin by making a case for why nationalism is an important phenomenon for sociologists to study. There is a tendency among my students to regard the nation and its nationalism as timeless and therefore unremarkable, but the power of nationalism is due in large measure to its ability to evade scrutiny. To make my case, I begin by showing a short clip from the 1989 movie "Glory," which stars Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington. The movie tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War, one of the first units to be made up entirely of African Americans. The clip I show is of the film's climactic scene, which depicts the 54th's perilous assault on Fort Wagner. An inspirational score plays in the background and is only broken by the percussion of cannon fire as the soldiers bravely march on the fort. The odds, however, were stacked against the 54th and we learn in the epilogue of the film that they never succeeded in taking the fort. Following the clip, I encourage students to contemplate their own nationalism and the fact that the filmmakers counted on it when depicting the assault on Fort Wagner as the emotional climax of the film. Using the clip, one can further draw students into a discussion about the way nationalism intersects with race, as when a nation is imagined along racial lines or even when soldiers set aside racial differences for the greater purpose of a nationalist struggle. While the sociological concepts in the clip may need to be spelled out for students by a well prepared instructor, the emotional tone of the clip is excellent for making otherwise disengaged students sit up and join the discussion. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: crime/law/deviance, gender, organizations/occupations/work, violence, war/military, masculinity, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 4:57 Access: YouTube Summary: In this interrogation tape, Spc. Adam Winfield tells an Army investigator about a series of premeditated murders of innocent Afghan civilians by fellow platoon members. Speaking of the “ringleader” of the misconduct, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, Winfield says, “He likes to kill things. He is pretty much evil incarnate.” While Winfield attributes “evil” to Gibbs’ predilection for killing and violence, Cynthia Enloe’s essay “Wielding Masculinity Inside Abu Ghraib” offers an alternative explanation. Contrary to arguments about a few “bad” (or “evil”) apples, Enloe points to the systematic masculinized culture of the US military. This culture (characterized by violence, assumptions around American/Western superiority, and the subjugation of femininity) goes unaccounted for in most military scandal investigations. Enloe argues men and women are pressured to endorse and participate in this culture of masculinity. Responding to how Gibbs might have reacted to Winfield’s refusal to take part in the killing, Winfield says, “I think -- one, he wouldn't have kept me in the loop on things and, if they had thought I had ratted, they would have come after me.” After the killing Winfield said Gibbs told him “he was part of the group.” The investigator asks, “Did he ever hold against you that you killed a man?” Winfield replies, “No, he told me I was a made man after that.” Coupled with Enloe's essay, this clip is useful for showing students how organizations are gendered, and the ways in which patriarchy functions as a system (and is not the product of "a few bad apples"). Submitted By: Valerie Chepp Tags: goffman, theory, war/military, identity, institutionalization, resocialization, total institution, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1987 Length: 4:27 Access: YouTube Summary: This clip is from Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" and depicts the recruits' first encounter with their drill sergeant. Here, through a series of debasements, the recruits' past identities are further eroded, and the recruits are told what is expected of them as they are resocialized into their new roles. At about 2:18 the drill sergeant ups the ante with homophobic and racist language, so instructors may want to stop the clip at this point. The clip is useful as a demonstration of Erving Goffman's concept of the total institution, and in particular, as a way of illustrating the way inmates undergo resocialization. Note that this clip can be successfully used in tandem with two additional clips. The first short clip, which is also from "Full Metal Jacket" (here), depicts Marine recruits getting their heads shaved as a symbolic act meant to strip them of their former identities. The second short clip, from "The Shawshank Redemption" (here), depicts the concept of institutionalization, when a prison inmate reacts violently after learning he has been approved for release by the parole board. Submitted By: James Noon Tags: goffman, theory, war/military, identity, institutionalization, total institution, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1987 Length: 1:32 Access: YouTube Summary: This clip is the opening sequence to Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." The clip depicts Marine recruits at Parris Island, SC, getting their heads shaved and works well as a demonstration of Erving Goffman's concept of the total institution. Students can be asked to explain the purpose behind the head shaving act, which I see as both a means of making the recruits physically identical and as a symbolic act that strips them of their former identities. Note that this clip can be successfully used in tandem with two additional clips. The first short clip, which is also from "Full Metal Jacket" (here), depicts the drill sergeant further debasing soldiers, and the second short clip, from "The Shawshank Redemption" (here), depicts the concept of institutionalization, when a prison inmate reacts violently after learning he has been approved for release by the parole board. Submitted By: James Noon Tags: gender, nationalism, violence, war/military, masculinity, rape, war rape, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2007 Length: 3:01 Access: YouTube Summary: This clip features testimony from the Vietnam Veterans Against the War's Winter Soldier Hearing. The clip was taken from "Vietnam: American Holocaust." (See the whole 81 minute feature at LinuxBeach.org). The testimony offered in this clip from soldiers of the Vietnam War is useful for promoting discussion about men perpetrating sexual violence against women during times of war. I frame the clip, not as a psychological phenomenon, but as a sociological one, where women are raped because they signify the nation. Testimonies in the clip recount instances of American soldiers raping Vietnamese women, and in this way the clip counters the nationalist myth that American soldiers have not raped women during times of war. A related clip on The Sociological Cinema (here) comes out of the ongoing conflict in Libya and features footage of a Libyan woman, who was forcibly removed from a Tripoli hotel after she attempted to report her rape by soldiers. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: gender, intersectionality, nationalism, prejudice/discrimination, race/ethnicity, social mvmts/social change/resistance, war/military, employment discrimination, racism, representation, sexism, wwII, women's labor force participation, 21 to 60 mins Year: 1988 Length: 54:00; 1:56 Access: no online access; Vimeo preview Summary: This film was first broadcast as an episode of the television program "The American Experience" on Nov. 1, 1988. The film explores the large scale entrance of American women into the paid labor force during World War II in order to fill positions abandoned by American men fighting abroad. The film documents the experiences of women on the American home front during the war. These women talk about empowerment through greater earning power, but also through challenging dominant ideas about the division between masculinity and femininity. The empowerment thesis is challenged by the fact that once the war was over and the soldiers returned home, women were largely asked to leave their jobs and assume their prewar status as homemakers. The film would work well in a class on the sociology of gender, especially as a means of stimulating discussion about the theoretical notion of intersectionality. Gender, race, and nationalism vividly intersect throughout the film. Submitted By: Lester Andrist |
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