This page features various media on a variety of social-political issues (pop culture is social and can be political). The links in the description of each media connect you to information about the title as well as possible curricular tie-ins.
Literature
Science Fiction
Octavia Butler: One of my favorite writings of any genre. Her book “Kindred” is on my all time top 10 books I have ever read list. I recently read “Parable of the Talents”. There is a book before this one called “The Parable of the Sower” that I am reading now. Her books use science fiction as a way to explore issues of gender, socio-economics, race, politics,identity, community, separation and the future.
M.AN.T.I.S tv show: Just came across this show and am watching it now. Had never heard of it before. Unfortunately, HULU is only available in US-my apologies.
History-Historical Biography-Historical Fiction
The Hanging of Angelique: Canada, Slavery and the Burning of Montreal by Afua Cooper: Some of my best literature courses that I have taught and/or attended centered around stunning pieces of historical writing. I know I can get call on the carpet for this but I enjoy history, historical biographies and historical fictions equally. Each adds a different flavor to an event. While living in Montreal, this book, ‘The Hanging of Angelique’ stunned me-in a similar way that the first time I read ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’, ‘The Street’, by Ann Petry, or ‘Beloved’. All of these books made me look up the stories and find out more.
‘The Hanging of Angelique’ made me stop and think about Black people in Canada. I found out about ‘The book of Negroes’ (and read the same-titled book, well, same titled-outside of the United States), the 400 year rich history of Black people in Canada, and other pieces of history I had never heard about (and that’s a whole other story).
Article from 2006 when the book came out in the Globe and Mail...
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In the news
News sources
New America Media: (From their website) “ New America Media is the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. Over 51 million ethnic adults connect to each other, to home countries and to America through 3000+ ethnic media, the fastest growing sector of American journalism.
Founded by the nonprofit Pacific News Service in 1996, NAM is headquartered in California with offices in New York and Washington D.C., and partnerships with journalism schools to grow local associations of ethnic media.
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Different views
Blogs
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Game, simulations and social environments
Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day
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Music
Nomadic Massive (Montreal, Canada): (Directly from the groups website) “Montreal’s own Nomadic Massive has firmly established itself as a group of premier performers and skilled musicians representing an open-minded Hip-Hop which finds its inspiration in the traditions of the past; combining live instrumentation, samples, and a wide array of vocal styles. This multilingual, multicultural, super-group has become synonymous with energetic and crowd-moving live shows. The group has also left its mark internationally; initiating socio-cultural exchanges with like-minded artists. Functioning somewhat as ambassadors, Nomadic continues to redefine what Hip-Hop can achieve on a global level. As the group’s ongoing explorations open up new ways to interpret a musical style that has traditionally been marginalized, the “more” that has always existed in the Hip-Hop movement is revealed in everything that is Nomadic Massive.”
CerAmony : Cree eclectic musical duo who hail from the James Bay region of Canada
Cheri Maracle : Mohawk singer/songwriter from Six Nations
Marc Nadjiwan: Ojibway singer/songwriter
Samian: Algonquin hip-hop artist who is the first to perform in French and Algonquin
Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes: I have just rediscovered this documentary and plan to watch it over the holidays in order to comment on it. Below is a intro to the documentary.
Here is the the doc via google.
Here’s another good video I happened to find while researching this topic: KRS-ONE: Hip Hip: Beyond Entertainment (doc via google)
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Film/docs
Media Education Foundation: (directly from their website): ” Mission: The Media Education Foundation produces and distributes documentary films and other educational resources to inspire critical reflection on the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media.” Here is the their Youtube channel.
CitizenShift (National Film Board of Canada): (directly from website) ” Newly redesigned for 2009, CitizenShift is the National Film Board of Canada’s participatory Web platform exploring today’s crucial issues through films, photography, articles, blogs and podcasts. This social media network is a space to share media, voice opinions and explore unique content from active citizens, independent filmmakers and multimedia artists.
CitizenShift is inspired by Challenge for Change – a 1960s experimental NFB initiative that involved communities in the documentary filmmaking process.
Over forty years later, CitizenShift offers a participatory online platform giving users a forum to share their media, debate the issues and encourage social change.”
National Film Board of Canada: Great resource of films from, about, in relation to Canada.
