Introduction
Thea: Hi! My name is Thea, and I’m a sophomore at Kenyon.
Afomia: Hello! My name is Afomia, and I’m a junior at Kenyon.
Elliott: Hi! I’m Elliott, and I’m a senior at Kenyon.
Gage: Hey! I’m Gage, and I’m a sophomore at Kenyon.
Thea: We’re students in Professor Villegas’ Cultural Foundations of Politics course.
Afomia: This sociological course is designed to investigate symbolic features of politics like “Real Americans,” “the left”, and “the right” and identify how they are embedded in culture. We are also going to explore these symbolic features and structures and their relationship with the several political events, like electoral competition, collective action, and even waging or ending wars.
Thea: Specifically, we’ve been looking at tools such as performance and iconicity to find meaning from political events and phenomena.
Elliott: Exactly, we are really trying to use the tools that we have worked with so far in this course to understand some of the most recent political events.
Afomia: Hello! My name is Afomia, and I’m a junior at Kenyon.
Elliott: Hi! I’m Elliott, and I’m a senior at Kenyon.
Gage: Hey! I’m Gage, and I’m a sophomore at Kenyon.
Thea: We’re students in Professor Villegas’ Cultural Foundations of Politics course.
Afomia: This sociological course is designed to investigate symbolic features of politics like “Real Americans,” “the left”, and “the right” and identify how they are embedded in culture. We are also going to explore these symbolic features and structures and their relationship with the several political events, like electoral competition, collective action, and even waging or ending wars.
Thea: Specifically, we’ve been looking at tools such as performance and iconicity to find meaning from political events and phenomena.
Elliott: Exactly, we are really trying to use the tools that we have worked with so far in this course to understand some of the most recent political events.
Gage: Yeah, and we’re really excited to look at certain political actors and how they’ve been responding to the global pandemic, also known as COVID-19.
Thea: Specifically, we’ll be focusing on actors such as President Trump, Governor Cuomo, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden along with many others who have stepped up to the plate to respond to the crisis here in the US.
Afomia: We’re even doing our research from our own homes in an effort to practice “social distancing” which may become a lot more normalized after this pandemic. Although we aren’t able to speak with one another in person, this format can hopefully be a productive way of analyzing such a complex political phenomenon.
Gage: As part of our work from home, we will be doing critical analyses of some of the texts for the course, such as pieces written by Mast, Hariman and Lucaites, and Schwartz.
Elliott: We’ll be analyzing how politicians are using performative tools to gain followers/increase approval ratings or support for their campaigns while taking away support from other politicians by portraying them as counterdemocratic.
Thea: We might even look at how these situations could affect the upcoming presidential election, which I know many people are concerned about.
Afomia: Yes, I’ve been hearing many things in the media! Hopefully, we can pick up some stuff to talk about later on. Speaking of new topics, we will soon be learning about the role of iconicity in the political arena, which we can apply this knowledge and these tools to gain a more thick description of how politicians have responded to COVID-19, and even apply it to our own lives during this “quarantine” period.
Elliott: We know that COVID-19 is a pandemic that affects everyone and is something that has been politicized as a result. There is a lot of subject matter involved, as updates are being released by the day. We are all prepared to use the cultural-sociological tools that we have and are continuing to learn in class about this political phenomenon. In doing so, we will all hopefully better understand the cultural dynamics of American politics!
Thea: We’ll talk to you soon :)
Thea: Specifically, we’ll be focusing on actors such as President Trump, Governor Cuomo, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden along with many others who have stepped up to the plate to respond to the crisis here in the US.
Afomia: We’re even doing our research from our own homes in an effort to practice “social distancing” which may become a lot more normalized after this pandemic. Although we aren’t able to speak with one another in person, this format can hopefully be a productive way of analyzing such a complex political phenomenon.
Gage: As part of our work from home, we will be doing critical analyses of some of the texts for the course, such as pieces written by Mast, Hariman and Lucaites, and Schwartz.
Elliott: We’ll be analyzing how politicians are using performative tools to gain followers/increase approval ratings or support for their campaigns while taking away support from other politicians by portraying them as counterdemocratic.
Thea: We might even look at how these situations could affect the upcoming presidential election, which I know many people are concerned about.
Afomia: Yes, I’ve been hearing many things in the media! Hopefully, we can pick up some stuff to talk about later on. Speaking of new topics, we will soon be learning about the role of iconicity in the political arena, which we can apply this knowledge and these tools to gain a more thick description of how politicians have responded to COVID-19, and even apply it to our own lives during this “quarantine” period.
Elliott: We know that COVID-19 is a pandemic that affects everyone and is something that has been politicized as a result. There is a lot of subject matter involved, as updates are being released by the day. We are all prepared to use the cultural-sociological tools that we have and are continuing to learn in class about this political phenomenon. In doing so, we will all hopefully better understand the cultural dynamics of American politics!
Thea: We’ll talk to you soon :)
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