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Ritual

Rituals can be understood as standardized practices in specific cultures that hold meaning for the people in those cultures. Many people, though, apply the word "ritual" to only religious settings. To me, this limits the usage of the word.

We discussed ritual interactions in COMM 230 when we studied Goffman, and how they're an important part of performing our identities. We also discussed it in COMM 285 from an ethnographic standpoint.

Identity

Representation

I define identity as one's sense of self in relation to others. This can be in the context of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, economic class, country of origin, or arbitrary adjectives that we ascribe to ourselves.

Dehumanization

In the context of this class, representation is how various identities are presented in cultural media and texts. This can be TV shows and movies, or written works of fiction or fantasy. A representation can be authentic or it can be stereotypical or it can be somewhere in between.

Dehumanization is the psychological process through which one group demonizes another group through media representations and language usage. Other terms/phrases used in this context are "othering" and "leaving out of the circle of care."

My definition of identity was formed in COMM 230, especially when it comes to how our identities are performed. We've discussed identity in this class in relation to representation, found in the Durham and Kellner reading.

My first introduction to dehumanization was through othering - we discussed that quite a bit in COMM 230 and 285. The text from our class that really helped me understand the concept was Brene Brown's podcast and its relationship to shame.

As stated before, we talked about representation when discussing Durham and Kellner, but I also remember discussing it in COMM 350 concerning which identities are represented in public or social memory.

Citizen

A citizen is someone that has access to the freedoms and rights of a specific country. To be an active citizen, one must participate in their public by engaging in communal or social issues and educating themselves about those issues.

I think this is the only COMM class I've had where we've really went in depth into what it means to be a citizen. The Astra Taylor documentary did a great job of showing that people can have very different definitions of citizenship.

Rhetoric

Power

Power, in any context, can be boiled down to one's ability to achieve their desired outcome.

This concept was discussed in depth in COMM 220 and 320. In our class, we've been talking about it in the context of Civic Power, which comes through physical force, wealth, state action, social norms, ideas, and number.

Rhetoric is the language used, usually spoken but it can the written, in the context of persuasion or conveying a point. It can be associated with specific topics/theories, such as "feminist rhetoric," or it can simply be purposeful communication.

Culture and Popular Culture

COMM 420 Concept Check

Culture is the system of shared attitudes, beliefs, and practices within a particular group of people. Popular culture refers to those cultural artifacts that are consumed by a mass audience.

Critical Theory

COMM 100 and COMM 210 are the two classes that established my understanding of rhetoric. In our current course material, Burke's "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle and Solomon's "Rhetoric of Dehumanization" contribute to my understanding of rhetoric.

In the context of our class, critical theory is a counter hegemonic lens that we can apply to our readings or situations. It asks us to be more questioning about what is really trying to be communicated by the author/speaker, specifically what their ideology may be.

I remember discussing culture in COMM 220, 230, and 320. We talked about it a little bit in 350. From this class's readings, we went really in depth into culture in the Durham and Kellner article.

We discussed critical theory, specifically CRT in COMM 350 but we've went further in depth in this class with our various readings and videos on CRT.

Ideology

Ideology is what many people consider the "common sense" of a group of people or maybe just an individual. These are underlying beliefs that may not be obvious to a casual viewer. From my experience, I feel like a lot of people equate ideology to political views.

Most often, I see rhetoric utilized when political campaigns are under way. Candidates try to effectively use rhetoric to persuade the people they're trying to reach to vote for them. This can be through speaking to that population's needs and concerns or by presenting their political stance in a well-organized and structured way.

I feel like we've discussed ideology in one way or another in all of my COMM classes, but my first solid understanding of it came in COMM 220 when we discussed Althusser's Ideological State Apparatuses. In this class, we've discussed it in connection to our Durham and Kellner reading.

Anna Sanford

Hegemony

Hegemony can be understood as the process by which one group implicitly dominates another group through their consent. One of our readings broke hegemony up into a three-legged stool of government, economic/material, and cultural, with cultural hegemony being the most changeable.

The definition of hegemony that always sticks in my mind comes from our COMM 100 class textbook "Rhetoric in Civic Life." I find it funny that I remember the definition of hegemony from this book better than I remember the definition of rhetoric. Hegemony was also discussed a lot on COMM 220 and 320.

Capitalism

Capitalism is the economic and political structure that the U.S. currently operates under. Under this structure, trade and business are regulated by private owners rather than the government.

We talked about capitalism a lot during our discussion of Durham and Kellner. It informs our views of consumerism, the "society of spectacle," and where the economic part of capitalism intersect with the political and social parts of capitalism.

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