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| | | -- By OliviaMartinez - 16 Apr 2021 | |
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< | This line, repeated throughout the semester, has stuck with me as I consider my theory of social action and my practice. I want to use this essay to think more about what this means and the implications. | >
> | This line, repeated throughout the semester, has stuck with me as I consider my theory of social action. This is key to making things happen in society using words. | | |
Story Telling | |
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< | My favorite book is Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurtson. In this “autoethnographical collection of folklore”, one of the first recognized collections of Black American folklore, Hurston documents and preserves eternally the oral histories, the traditions, the dialect, the songs, and the lifestyle of Black communities in Eatonville, Florida and New Orleans, Louisiana. This work, during my first year of college led me to an interest in how and why stories are told. From this, I learned (1) Oral story telling is an important tradition, and it keeps more than just the story alive (2) Writing stories down is a way to prevent their erasure. But this changes something about the stories permanently. (3) Stories are a method of survival, used to communicate things that can not be written or spoken in few words. | >
> | My favorite book is Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurtson. In this “autoethnographical collection of folklore”, one of the first recognized collections of Black American folktales, Hurston documents and preserves the oral histories, the traditions, the dialect, the songs, and the lifestyle of Black communities in Eatonville, Florida and New Orleans, Louisiana, in writing. In my first year of college, this collection led me to an interest in how and why stories are told. From this, I learned (1) Oral story telling is an important tradition, and it keeps more than just the story alive (2) Writing stories down is a way to prevent their erasure, but this changes something about the stories permanently. (3) Stories are a method of survival, used to communicate things that can not be written or spoken without illustration. | | | | |
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< | Using the power of oral production and auditory consumption, via storytelling or spoken word or podcasts, change can be made. Humans can close their eyes to something they don’t want to see, but they cannot close their ears to what they don’t want to hear. Oral storytelling not only recreates the plot, but allows the listener to make it their own. I’ve read many books that, when remade into movies, I’m deeply disappointed by the person casted for a certain character’s role. After seeing the actor, I can’t disassociate their image from that character. But hearing or reading a story, they can be whoever I imagine. Hearing brings freedom, where seeing brings constraints. | >
> | Using the power of oral production and auditory consumption, change can be made. Humans can close their eyes to something they don’t want to see, but they cannot close their ears to what they don’t want to hear. Oral storytelling not only recreates the plot, but allows the listener to make it their own. I’ve seen many movies inspired by books, by which I’m deeply disappointed in the casting for a certain character’s role. After seeing the actor, I can’t disassociate their image from that character, who could have stayed in my imagination as whatever I wanted them to be. Hearing brings freedom, where seeing brings constraints. | | | | |
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< | The Jersey Devil and Harriet Tubman
Growing up in South Jersey, I heard so many stories about the Jersey Devil -- Mother Leed’s 13th child, born with a tail and wings. When my family moved to the pine barrens, I was terrified that this creature would come and eat me. I have a vague memory of putting on my rosary beads before bed and saying a prayer that the Jersey Devil would not come to visit. Then, one day, I decided to look up the story for myself. Somehow, in my searching through pictures and different reiterations of this story, it became less scary. Nothing said it wasn’t real, but I finally had a real image. I believed what I saw. | | | | |
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< | The 2019 movie Harriet, was beautiful in countless ways. Harriet Tubman was a small woman who many, likely, would not find intimidating. “Moses”, alternatively, was a force of power, infamous among slave owners and slave catchers, praised by abolitionists and heard by enslaved individuals. By word of mouth, enslaved individuals heard of Tubman and, by her songs they knew she had arrived and whether or not it was safe to begin their journeys. Songs and folklore, oral methods of communication, words to be heard, were crucial forms of communication for enslaved persons, constantly under surveillance and in danger. I can’t begin to imagine what they imagined when they heard Tubman sing. | >
> | Words Defeat Monsters and Words Grow Heroes
Growing up in South Jersey, I was terrified of the Jersey Devil, a creature I had only heard of from other people. One day, I decided to look up the monster for myself. Somehow, in my searching through pictures and different reiterations of this story, it became less scary. I believed what I saw, and the Jersey Devil became merely an evil, winged horse-like creature, instead of the many things it was in my imagination. To my ears the Jersey Devil was limitless, to my eyes he was merely another creature. | | | | |
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< | From these two things, I draw the conclusion that consumption of information via auditory channels is a powerful thing. I feared the stories I heard of the Jersey Devil, but once I saw what the Internet had to say, I no longer had to pray for my safety from the creature. Enslaved Blacks, never having seen freedom in America, imagined and trusted the person behind the songs they heard and what lied ahead. | >
> | Words have the ability to grow a thing, and images have the ability to shrink it. Harriet Tubman was a small woman, born into slavery, with a debilitating illness. “Moses”, alternatively, was a force of power -- a hero. By word of mouth, enslaved persons heard of Tubman and, by her songs, they knew she had arrived. Oral messages were crucial forms of communication for constantly surveilled enslaved populations. These words, passed between people and sung by Tubman, made her larger than life. | | | | |
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> | When people hear of a person or a thing, their imagination allows it to grow. When people see something, it is limited, now existing within the boundaries of what is before them. The sharing of information via auditory channels can be used to create ideas, to invoke fear or to inspire, while sharing via visual channels may be used to prove, to limit, or to rationalize. Seeing is believing, and hearing is imagining. | | | | |
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< | Seeing is Believing
Humans believe what they see. Seeing is believing, but believing is also seeing. Humans can will into existence what they want to see, and can avoid what they don’t want to see. Humans can close their eyes to scary, disgusting, or disheartening images. Humans can look away from those things which cause discomfort, frustration, and suffering, especially that of others. | | | | |
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< | Police Body Cameras | >
> | Using This To Make Things Happen Using Words
An important part of making things happen with words is to make others understand why the thing matters, and why it should happen. For example, police body cameras made it possible for America to see that George Floyd’s death was a murder. While the words, “I can’t breathe” were powerful, we’ve heard this before without the same effect. However, a full eight minutes of video footage can not be denied. The judge and jury didn’t need to imagine what happened -- they saw. This makes certain movements and changes, where there is visible evidence of the wrong being done, placed directly in front of the eyes of millions of people, easier to catalyze and keep alive than others. | | | | |
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< | Throughout Obama’s presidency, the push for police body cameras took off throughout the country. Since then we’ve continued to see the murders of countless Black and brown people. In the last week alone, the news has shown killings of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo, and the video of US Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario being pepper sprayed and held at gunpoint. The effectiveness of the cameras aside, all of America has now seen what Black people have known for years, and social media has helped to make it so that these videos and images can’t be avoided. People have no choice but to believe what is before them. There’s no question of when and how and why police shoot people. We see the before, the act, and the after. We have no choice but to believe what has been captured on video. I think, in part, that is why the media has been willing to call George Floyd’s death a murder, as opposed to the other jargon used to describe killings by the police. | >
> | Issues Hidden in the Shadows
With issues of little visibility, such as conditions of confinement in prisons or domestic violence or inhabitable apartments, those who do not experience it can close their eyes to these ills, and might not ever see it. These issues are not caught on camera, and often impact people who are already pushed into the dark corners of our society, where we don’t look if we don’t have to. When stories of such issues do emerge as headlines a few days, it almost makes them seem irregular: this is the one story of this happening and that’s why it is broadcasted. Although the image might be horrific, it makes the issue smaller, like seeing the Jersey Devil’s image did for me. Awareness is not enough. The ugly truths need to be there even after a person closes their eyes to the horrors. The marches, the chants, and the constant news coverage still have not let people forget George Floyd. People may close their eyes and look away, but they can not close their ears to the sounds of pain and the sounds of change. They can not close off their imagination to what can come from this. | | | | | | The Role of Storytelling | |
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< | My theory of social action will have to involve storytelling. From what I have learned this year, ranging from the study Afrofuturism to simply attending Zoom school, I know that creating a more just society will require imagination, and auditory mediums are an important way to light the flame that leads to the next great idea. Since humans believe what they see, I will have to show truth in my work, one way or another. Although there’s a lot of talk around reimagining justice, I think the most important part, imagining, is often deemphasized. We must not forget imagining, and the path to that, is hearing. | >
> | With issues of little visibility, such as conditions of confinement in prisons or domestic violence or inhabitable apartments, those who do not experience it can close their eyes to these ills, and might not ever see it. These issues are not caught on camera, and often impact people who are already pushed into the dark corners of our society, where we don’t look if we don’t have to. When stories of such issues do emerge as headlines a few days, it almost makes them seem irregular: this is the one story of this happening and that’s why it is broadcasted. Although the image might be horrific, it makes the issue smaller, like seeing the Jersey Devil’s image did for me. Awareness is not enough. The ugly truths need to be there even after a person closes their eyes to the horrors. The marches, the chants, and the constant news coverage still have not let people forget George Floyd. People may close their eyes and look away, but they can not close their ears to the sounds of pain and the sounds of change. They can not close off their imagination to what can come from this. | | |
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