I'll start with the question "what does 'communication' mean to you". Communication is an extremely varied and broad category that I think can best be summarized as an exchange of ideas. I am using "ideas" here very loosely: I am including factual information, opinions and beliefs, emotional states of being, and perceptions. These ideas can be exchanged between two or more individuals in an almost infinite number of ways: spoken words, tone of voice, facial expression and body language, written language, actions, and even silence.
To address the question "what do you expect to learn from this pod-casting project", I think the key term to define is "learn". If "learn" is taken to mean "acquire information previously unknown", then I expect to learn a little bit about the history of natto and possible a fact or two about Japanese tea ceremonies, along with how to say terms relevant to these topics in Japanese. If, however, "learn" is taken to mean "realize something either unknown or not seen in this context", then I may learn something new about filming a group project or about Japanese restaurants in New York (nothing against Japanese restaurants--I just don't go out to almost any restaurants in the US).
Nice post! What do you mean when you say exchange of ideas and communication can be accomplished by silence though?
ReplyDeleteSilence is actually a powerful communication tool, though I think it is under-recognized. There are numerous manifestations of silence as a communication form, so I'll just cite a few examples.
Delete1. Giving a family member (often a spouse) or friend "the silent treatment" (refusing to speak with the other person, and coldly turning away if the person attempts to speak to you) conveys that someone is very angry and/or offended with something the other person did.
2. Generally speaking, silence signals consent, so if one person makes a statement and everyone else is silent, it is assumed that everyone else more-or-less agrees with the statement. For example, if someone tells a racist or sexist joke and no one objects, everyone's silence is taken as agreement with the racist or sexist underpinnings of the joke.
3. There is the whole large concept of silence as a verb, "to silence someone". This is done to minorities by the majority (actually the correct term would be hegemony, but more people are familiar with "majority"). Silencing can be done on a large group-wide scale or on a small individual-person scale, but it always involves those with power refusing to allow those without power to have a voice. One of the main ways this is accomplished is again through silence: the hegemonic group simply ignores all complaints about a problem that the marginalized group makes. One of the main things this silencing communicates is to reinforce who has power and demonstrate how they can use that power.
4. This is relatively rare, but silence can also be used as a form of protest. Probably the best-known example of this now is the Day of Silence, generally held in April on college and high school campuses across America, to commemorate how the LGBT group is regularly silenced by mainstream society. In this case, participants frequently wear black and maybe a commemorative ribbon and refuse to speak all day until some designated time in the evening (at which point the group holds an informal celebration).
I'm sure there are other ways silence is used, but I think these cover some of the basics.
This was a very thoughtful post, and your project sounds like it will be really fun (and tasty!). In response to the comment above re: silence as a form of communication. This post seems to define communication as anything that can get a message across, so depending on the context, silence/absence of answer can have a whole slew of meanings...
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you, that's what I was getting at.
Delete