Imperial Persuaders

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Laura under Literature

Interesting book I could take a look at.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Imperial-Persuaders-British-Advertising-Imperialism-x/dp/0719063795/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=F8MJCGXFD0S714WDB4SY

Urban Population of Sub Saharan Africa

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Laura under Literature

Screen Shot 2017-04-18 at 9.38.02

http://data.worldbank.org/share/widget?indicators=SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS&locations=ZG

Colonial Mentality

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Laura under Literature

Colonial mentality is a phenomenon where the individual or community unconsciously submits to the roles offered by the outside authorities. It is a form of internalised racial oppression. Visual culture is one medium trough which roles and identities are imposed on the suppressed people. Though colonialism might be over officially still the visual culture, especially the stereotypes that came with colonialism and slavery, still echo on the minds of both parties are determine how the oppressed groups see themselves.

The following article had a good definition of colonial mentality.

http://scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1846&context=theses

Colonialism in a nut shell

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Laura under Literature

Brief history and definition of colonialism.

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Colonialism

This is what I got out of it:

Historically colonialism refers to invasion and political rule over a territory by a metropolitan state. In the course of colonialism indigenous populations are ruled over or displaced. Often the colonisers have a sense of superiority over the colonised which is used to justify their ordained mandate to rule.

Colonialism as a phenomenon reaches trough out the history and over the globe. However, mostly the decolonisation discourse refers to the European overseas colonialism over territories in Africa, Asia and the Americas during fifteenth to nineteenth centuries and its legacies.

I assume this is all general knowledge and I need not to make reference.

I wonder if it I can talk in first persona here (see the underlined). Mostly I see research text written in passive voice. I just can’t make my topic to fit that convention.

Colonial heritage is the aspects of culture that have influenced the parties involved in colonisation. The influence of colonisation reaches both the colonised and the coloniser and to some extend the world at large. In this study I examine whether the colonialism has had an effect on myself as a descendant of the colonisers (as a European) and as an outsider (as a Finn) and if I have unconsciously contributed to maintenance of the inherited colonial attitudes trough my work.

Or should I put it to passive. It sounds so funny.

…This study examines whether the colonialism has had an effect on the author as a descendant of the colonisers (as a European) and as an outsider (as a Finn) and whether she has unconsciously contributed to maintenance of the inherited colonial attitudes trough her work.

Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Laura under Literature

Wikipedia sited Roger Tinor’s preface to Jürgen Osterhammel‘s Colonialism: A Theoretical Overview:

“Colonialism is a relationship between an indigenous (or forcibly imported) majority and a minority of foreign invaders. The fundamental decisions affecting the lives of the colonized people are made and implemented by the colonial rulers in pursuit of interests that are often defined in a distant metropolis. Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonized population, the colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule.”

This seems like a very interesting book. I wonder how deep I should go to studying colonialism. I mean I don’t have all that much time to go side trails…

Oh well, If I do decide to read the book it’s available here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9781558763401

I somehow like that sentence: “Rejecting cultural compromises with the colonized population, the colonizers are convinced of their own superiority and their ordained mandate to rule.” Actually I find this attitude even amongst westerners visiting Africa. They have in the back of their minds that they are somehow superior. This is even highlighted when people embark on so called short term aid work excursions.

Coming to think of it, I myself have fallen to this pit many times. I do see my morals for example sometimes superior without taking into consideration the local culture. I have been a fierce advocate for children’s rights in regards of banning physical punishments in school. But have I really taken the culture into consideration. Maybe my culture is not correct. Maybe children would benefit from different kind of upbringing. This would be hard for me to admit because of the culture I am surrounded with and it would take considerable convincing to change my mind. Still at least I acknowledge the possibility. And as long as I’m not african, how could I claim to know better? This does not mean I would not have the right to race awareness about things I find damaging in the culture, as long as I do it with respect acknowledging the equality of cultural practises.

Audiences and Markets: Ethnicity/Race

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Laura under Literature

https://books.google.fi/books?id=ITEvMOEEPS8C&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=portraying+ethnicity+in+graphic+design&source=bl&ots=AE7TR49Roo&sig=SzMwhHN35fApZAgMP2ErD6Hu9KM&hl=fi&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOlr71-tzSAhVFXiwKHTQ8BWcQ6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=portraying%20ethnicity&f=false

Graphic Design as Communication

Malcolm Barnard

Routledge, 4.7.2013 – 208 sivua

pages 85-92

Audiences and Markets: Ethnicity/Race

Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu – Oma

MEDIAPOLIS lainakirjat – laina-aika 28 vrk

(Hylly: 75.1 BARNARD, Malcolm)

The whiteness of graphic design

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Laura under Literature

WHY IS DESIGN WHITE

This article is old. I wonder if I could find something about the current situation.

http://www.aiga.org/why-is-graphic-design-93-percent-white-diversity

DATA USA

This data os only about USA

Screen Shot 2017-03-17 at 8.27.16.png

Source: Data USA

https://datausa.io/profile/cip/500409/

AIGA DESIGN CENSUS

The AIGA Design Census from 2016 is international. Dezeen reports about it:

“A survey of design industry demographics has found that almost three quarters of designers are white.

The 2016 Design Census revealed that 73 per cent of those surveyed identified as white, nine per cent were Hispanic, eight per cent were Asian, and three per cent were black.

The survey was undertaken by US professional organisation AIGA and tech giant Google, with the aim of highlighting the lack of diversity across the range of design disciplines.

The team polled 9,602 designers internationally, asking questions on topics including race, gender, salary, job satisfaction, as well as how much caffeine and candy they consume.”

It could be argued that some designers from developing countries could not access the census due to poor internet connections. Also I could not find how many countries were involved in the census. I would imagine that USA was better represented than other countries.

I am beginning to doubt wether graphic design really is white. Maybe the more influential international design might be so but there might be huge numbers of grass root designers from different ethnicities who have not been reached by this poll. I therefore don’t really know what to think.

https://www.dezeen.com/2017/01/31/design-industry-73-per-cent-white-lacks-diversity-finds-aiga-census-survey/

http://designcensus.org/#!/

Skin Deep

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Laura under Literature

Skin deep. Ehto: Richardson, Elaine, Print, 00328510, March/April 1999, Vol. 53, Numero 2 pages 187-189

“Race relations can be such a touchy subject that it often seems best avoided altogether, with work tailored to keep race from being an issue. But don’t be fooled: Not thinking about race is frequently where trouble begins; race permeates everything in some fashion. The key for designers is to keep their minds aware and to look closely at all the work they create.” p189

On the Persistence of Memory: The Legacy of Visual African-American Stereotypes

Posted on March 12, 2017 by Laura under Literature

“Being unaware of the history of racial stereotyping is not virtuous. If students behave only as they are programmed, without conceptions of alternative expressive modes, then their education is morally deficient.” page 326

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.savonia.fi/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b9e0594b-9f41-40a4-8148-b6d3331a27c1%40sessionmgr4007&vid=1&hid=4204

Studies in Art Education A Journal of Issues and Research 2007. 48(3). 323-328 Richard Siegesmund University of Georgia