Textual Poaching

For this assignment I wanted to make a statement that I felt actually represented my culture accurately. I don't feel more defined by one culture than the other so I decided to use various texts from the cultures that have most affected me and to remix them by mixing them together. The purpose is to show that I am am where my cultures intersect. I chose six cultures: Italian, Danish, British, Washingtonian, Mormon, and my more immediate family.

I selected the Danish and British cultures because those are my dominant genealogical cultures. Most of my ancestors are from one of those two countries. To represent the Danish side there is an image of Copenhagen, a vintage map of Denmark, and the Danish flag. My British heritage has probably had a greater influence on me because as a teenager I was a complete anglophile and a lot of it has shaped me. So to represent England there is the flag, a picture of London from the first half of the 20th century, and an older picture of the London bridge.

I'm not Italian, but the Italian culture has had a huge impact on my life in the last six years. As a freshman at BYU I began taking Italian classes, as a junior I spent a semester on study abroad in Tuscany, and then I served my mission. The art, language, and people have change me. I represented that change through the inclusion of Italian art and sculpture, a vintage postcard, and a hand gesture.

To represent my culture as a Mormon I chose to include the image of the temple, BYU academy, and the pioneers crossing the plains. All of those things have made me who I am and are the reason I am here. To represent myself as a Washingtonian the whole collage is in the shape of Washington and there is a vintage postcard of Mt. Rainier. To represent my family culture there re old pictures of my grandma and grandpa, my great-grandma (she's my namesake), The Beatles, and Singin' in the Rain. All of these things are very important to my family and play into who we are.

As a teacher I have a difficult time seeing how this assignment would play into the classroom (sorry for the honesty). I feel that many students may not have the resources or skills to complete this assignment. I'm a fairly privileged college student and I felt that my resources weren't adequate. I suppose with some extra instruction and the use of school technology students could make this work, but I don't know if it would be worth the time. However, I think it could be a useful assignment to make students think critically about how media presents its message. In remixing a text they have to understand what the text is saying and how to manipulate that to present a new message. For example, I think students could remix a painting or movie about a text we are reading to show their own reaction to a text. I think of all the Romantic paintings done to illustrate John Keats' poetry and how they could be remixed to be more modern.