Post Modernism in Pop Culture and the Simpsons

Post Modernism in Pop Culture and the Simpsons Attempts to define post-modernism can come in many different forms as different people have different ideas as to what exactly the term means. This being said, most people who take part in the debate over modernism and postmodernism share a consensus that postmodernism might be many things, but it certainly is linked with the growth of popular culture in the late twentieth century in the West. In other words, postmodernism can be seen as a new historical moment, a new sensibility, or a new cultural style, but popular culture can be referenced as the site on which these changes can be most easily found. Postmodernism is a perspective which tends to reject many of the accepted values of modernism. It involves a reinterpretation of gender roles and the differenced traditionally applied to them. It takes a more global perspective in its view of ethnic and national distinctions, and rejects stereotypes of all kinds. At the same time, it embraces the notion of nostalgia in art (film, telev ision, advertising) and uses multiple referencing (among other strategies) to communicate on a variety of symbolic levels. This essay will research the nature of postmodernism and apply it to a body of film, television, or advertising material. It should the focus on a single example and analyze it as typical of postmodern artistic form. From this essay it will be clear that postmodernism represents a blurring of the boundaries between levels of culture, and The Simpsons is a typical example of postmodernist artistic form. It was the late 1950s and early 1960s that the movement that we now come to know as postmodernism began to emerge. In the words of Susan Sontag, a critic of American culture, it came with the emergence of a â€Å"new sensibility†, and this involves a blurring of the distinction between â€Å"high† and â€Å"low† culture. Anyway, the distinction becomes less meaningful. The post-modern new sensibility did not follow along the same lines as the cultural elitism of modernism. Although modernism seems to have an important place in popular culture, it is marked by a significant suspicion of all things popular. It was those items that were associated with elite culture that were accepted under modernism. Culture was that which would be readily accepted into a museum, it was that which had a homologous relationship with the elitism that is inherent in class society. What this means is that the drive towards post modernism in the late 1950s and 1960s was associated with the growing attack on the elitism of modernism. The emergence of postmodernism signaled a refusal of â€Å"the great divide†¦ a discourse which insists on the categorical distinction between high art and mass culture,† moreover, â€Å"to a large extent, it is by the distance we have traveled from this great divide between mass culture and modernism that we can measure our own c ultural post modernity.† A good early example of the new wave of post-modern popular culture can be seen in the American and British pop art movement of the 1950s and 1960s as it rejected the division between high culture and popular culture. This can be said to be â€Å"postmodernisms first cultural flowering.† One of pop arts first prominent theorist, Lawrence Alloway explains that â€Å"the area of contact was mass produced urban culture: movies, advertising, science fiction, pop music. We felt none of the dislike of commercial culture standard among intellectuals, but accepted it as a fact, discussed it in detail, and consumed it enthusiastically.† This acceptance of the new movement of postmodernism allowed people to treat popular culture in the realm of serious art, and not a second tier of culture. When seen from this perspective, postmodernism first came out of a refusal by the different generations to abide by the categorical certainties of high modernism. It came to be thought of as taboo to continue to maintain an absolute distinction between high and popular culture. This was very evident in the way that art and popular music merged. A good example of this can be seen in the way Peter Blake designed the front cover of the Beatles Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and the way Andy Warhol designed the cover of the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. By the middle of the 1980s, the post-modern new sensibility had become deeply engrained into popular culture, and for some, a reason to despair. The postmodern condition is one that is marked by a crisis in the position of knowledge in Western societies. This served to give intellectuals less eminence as the â€Å"academy† continually lost its credibility. Iain Chambers argues this point from a different perspective. He says the debate over postmodernism can in part be understood as â€Å"the symptom of the disruptive ingression of popular culture, its aesthetics and intimate possibilities, into a previously privileged domain. Theory and academic discourses are confronted by the wider, unsystemized, popular networks of cultural production and knowledge. The intellectuals privilege to explain and distribute knowledge is threatened.† Another cultural theorist, Angela McRobbie agrees with this as she sees it as â€Å"the coming into being of those whose voices were historically drowned out by the (modernist) metanarratives of mastery, which were in turn both patriarchal and imperialist.† She put forth the argument that postmodernism has enfranchised a new sect of intellectuals who speak from the margins from a perspective of difference, including ethnic, class, gender and sexual preference differences. These are the people whom she refers to as â€Å"the new generation of intellectuals.† A similar point is made by Kobena Mercer as she sees postmodernism as partially an unacknowledged response to the emerging identities and voices of those people who have emerged from the margins, and this opens a new way of seeing and understanding. Hyperrealism can be said to be a component of postmodernism. In the sphere of the hyperreal, the real and the imaginary continually come into contact with each other. Simulations begin to be experienced as something that is more real than real itself. The evidence in favor of this argument can be seen throughout our Western society. For example, we live in a society where people write letters to the characters they see on television, asking them out on dates, and offering them places to live. This can be called the dissolution of television into life, or the dissolution of life into television. It was said by John Fiske that postmodern media does not, like it once did, â€Å"provide secondary representations of reality: they affect and produce the reality that they mediate.† Additionally, Fiske argues that those events in our lives that ‘matter must be synonymous with media events. The arrest of O.J. Simpson was a good example of this. As the news of his story unfolded, people in the area rushed to his house so that they could be part of the news cycle. They wanted to be indistinguishably live people and media people. This is an attribute of the postmodern era. These people were aware that the media was not merely reporting of circulating the news, they were creating it. Therefore, if people wanted to be part of the news of this event, it was not sufficient to be there on the scene, to actually be part of this event, they had to be on television. This is a testament to the fact that in the hyperreal world of the postmodern, the distinction between a real event and its media representation loses its distinction. Frederic James who is an American critic of culture as is well versed in postmodernism argues that it is a culture of pastiche. To him, postmodern culture is â€Å"a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles, to speak through masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum.† Postmodernism is a culture that is put together from many different places it can be said to be â€Å"a culture of quotations.† Our cultural production is the consequence of other cultural production. â€Å"Postmodern cultural texts do not just quote other cultures, other historical moments, they randomly cannibalize them to the point where any sense of critical or historical distance ceases to exist there is only pastiche.† This trend of the pastiche is noticeable in both the body of film and television. It can be seen in the ‘nostalgia film that is evident in both television and film. Some movies that would fall into this category of the postmodern nostalgia film would be Back to the Future as it seeks to recreate the atmosphere and stylistic peculiarities of America in the 1950s. Other films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Robin Hood and Lord of the Rings act in a similar way as they induce a sense of narrative certainties of the past. In this way, â€Å"the nostalgia film either recaptures and represents certain styles of viewing the past.† These films seek to make cultural myths and stereotypes about the past. They offer â€Å"false realism: films about other films, representations of other representations.† As this study of postmodernism in popular culture progresses, it is useful to apply it to a single example, and then analyze it as typical of postmodernist artistic form. The Simpsons is a spectacularly popular show of the lat two decades and it represented the first prime time animated series since the Flintstones. Since its inception, this show has emerged as a cultural phenomenon. It is because of this immense success that The Simpsons represents a worthy object of study for cultural critics. There is no doubt that this television series can be placed in the category of the postmodern. All of the rhetorical devices that are synonymous with postmodern theory are present in The Simpsons: pastiche, quotation, intertextuality and reflexivity. The Simpsons, because of the way it uses reflexivity and intertextuality in particular is a great example of the postmodern at work. All elements of this show are related to a network of intertextual references to popular texts of other. In particular there are four ways in which The Simpsons uses intertextuality in recurrent forms. Firstly, there are single elements in the show that carry many intertextual references. A good example of this is the fact that the name of the town that The Simpsons live in is called Springfield. This is significant because it is the same name as the town that the vintage television show Father Knows Best was set in. This might be a rather obvious reference to the nostalgic, but there are much more subtle references in the show that make it surely a postmodern creation. For example, the curator of Springfields museum is named after a couple of dormitories at Harvard University. Also they build on nostalgic phrases on the past, â€Å"two cars in every garage, and three eyes on every fish.† In this way The Simpsons can be said to be a collection of quotations. Many of the scenes from The Simpsons are also taken from other movies or television shows. There is that episode that includes â€Å"22 Short Films about Springfield,† and this in particular serves as a parody of Pulp Fiction, another important creation in the postmodern milieu. In fact, there are whole episodes of The Simpsons that are entire parodies of other shows. For example, the episode â€Å"Bart of Darkness† is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock, and there are even echoes of Jimmy Stewart in â€Å"Itchy and Scratchy Land.† Additionally, the show is one that heavily displays internal references. This builds on the fact that each episode is at its outset freestanding. Even though the main characters do not evolve, they posses a memory of past episodes and the supporting characters do change. The Simpsons can also be said to be postmodern because of the way that it is an example of reflexive television, one in which the text is a reference to its condition of consumption and production. This can be seen in four ways. First, The Simpsons can be seen to be reflexive from an examination of the opening credits where the family rushes home to crowd the couch and watch television. This highlights the fact that the show is about the process of watching television, and television consumption is a necessary component of family life. The Simpsons also possesses a commentary on the star system. In one way, the show contains a television universe where television stars are created. One such example is Krusty the Clown whose purpose is to fulfill the ongoing process of consumption and merchandizing. In another way, real stars make cameo appearances on the show giving their voices characters that either represent themselves of other figures. The show can even serve as a parody of the a nimation industry within the animation industry. There is an episode where the ratings of the new â€Å"Itchy Scratchy Poochie Show† has poor ratings. This episode is interesting because it highlights a caricature of a market research process which utilizes the pulse meter for assessing how new characters are received when they are seen by the audiences for the first time. This is a great example of how The Simpsons is reflexive television. The Simpsons can even refer to what has been dubbed postmodern hyperconscious. It is a type of commentary on the role that they play in popular culture. An example of this comes when Homer is enjoying a night out and Apu ask Homer if he is on television as he looks familiar. Homer says, â€Å"sorry buddy, you got me confused with Fred Flintstone.† This is reflexive in that it shows that the series creators are aware of the links between their show and their predecessors. These are just some of the many examples that make The Simpsons a great example of postmodern culture, although their use of these rhetorical devices is systematic. What is the reason for this shows particular approach, meaning that unlike the other cartoons on television, The Simpsons is very unique? This is because the show is not intended to attract the same audiences as other cartoons, it provide a social commentary and is thus attractive to the sophisticated public. The Simpsons actually works in an interesting way as its form serves to encourage the consumption of popular culture. The show uses postmodern strategies to make political and social commentary in a way that is non partisan and in a way that is appealing to the masses. The creators of the show clearly do not want to create divisions among its audiences. In this paper it has been shown that attempts to define postmodernism can be a difficult task, but there are simple ways to explain it. One thing for sure though is that postmodernism is linked with the growth of popular culture in the late twentieth century in the West. Postmodernism is a perspective which tends to reject many of the accepted values of modernism. It involves a reinterpretation of gender roles and the differenced traditionally applied to them. It takes a more global perspective in its view of ethnic and national distinctions, and rejects stereotypes of all kinds. At the same time, it embraces the notion of nostalgia in art (film, television, advertising) and uses multiple referencing (among other strategies) to communicate on a variety of symbolic levels. It was then shown that The Simpsons is a perfect example of postmodern pop culture as it is nostalgic and reflexive, and also uses rhetorical devices which are common in postmodernism. From this essay it is clear th at postmodernism represents a blurring of the boundaries between levels of culture, and The Simpsons is a typical example of postmodernist artistic form. Works Cited Cantor, Paul A. â€Å"In Praise of Television: The Greatest TV Show Ever.† American Enterprise vol. 8, no. 5 (Sept-Oct. 199): 34-38. Elm, Joanna. â€Å"Are the Simpsons Americas TV Family of the ‘90s?† TV Guide v.38 no. 11 (March 17, 1990): 7-8. Fiske, John. Media Matters: Everyday Culture and Political Change. University of Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. Huyssen, Andreas. After the great divide: modernism, mass culture, postmodernism. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986. McRobbie, Angela. Postmodernism and popular culture. New York: Routledge, 1994. Sontag, Susan. Against interpretation, and other essays. New York: Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1966. Storey, John. â€Å"Postmodernism in Popular Culture,† In Stuart Sim, The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Heart Of Darkness :: essays research papers

The infinite battle between good and evil can destroy, refine, or rebuild the human soul by means of choice. However, good is stronger than evil and someday, the power of good will dominate. In the novel Heart of Darkness, Conrad illustrates pure evil and its capability to consume one’s soul. The title Heart of Darkness symbolizes the true evil in man, the improper use of knowledge and the downfall of civilization. “I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but by all stars! These were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men—men, I tell you.'; (Conrad, 81). Violence, greed and passionate desires are elements that help unleash the evil that lurks in man, which symbolizes the Heart of Darkness. The character change of Kurtz is an example of this evil. Kurtz is first describe as “a very remarkable person'; by the accountant. "Mr. Kurtz was at present in charge of a trading post, a very important one, in the ivory-country,… Sends in as much ivory as all the others put together." (Conrad, 84) However, when Kurtz experience power, greed overcomes him and he uses his intelligence and violence to accomplish his passionate desire. “ He is an emissary of pity and science and progress; and devil knows what else.'; (Conrad, 92). It is believed that there is evil in everyone and it can be triggered by mere stupidity of man. The evil in Kurtz is unleashed because he choose his deep desires for ivory and did not look ahead in the future of what will become of him. Consequently, his soul is consumed for eternal damnation. "The improper use of knowledge is another example that symbolizes the Heart of Darkness. One of Kurtz’s advantages is his deep voice and his ability to speak. That man could talk. He electrified large meetings. He had faith-don’t you see? –he had the faith. He could get himself to believe anything-anything. He would have been a splendid leader of an extreme party." (Conrad, 151) Kurtz used his knowledge about the weather and his power of speech to manipulate the natives into believing that he was a god. "He was not afraid of the natives; they would not stir till Mr. Kurtz gave the word. His ascendancy was extraordinary. The camps of these people surrounded the place, and the chiefs came everyday and they would crawl… ‘I don’t want to know anything of the ceremonies used when approaching Mr.

My grandfather

Few events impact the lives of humans as war.   The United States found itself in many wars during the twentieth century, in every corner of the world.   The common trait throughout all these wars was that they were fought by young men, many of whom had little political education or any idea why they were fighting.   My grandfather, Francisco Martin, was one of these young men, as he fought in the Korean War.   Through the violence and the confusion, he survived to create a family and life of peace, though the memories of the war always stayed with him. My grandfather was born in Puerto Rico in 1930, and was still a young man when the Korean War broke out.   As a twenty-year-old college student at the University of Puerto Rico, Francisco knew very little about Korea, save for what he learned in history class.   After World War II, in a 1945 agreement reached by the allies at the Potsdam Conference, Korea was divided along the 38th Parallel into North and South Korea.   It was an early indicator of what would become the Cold War, as the communist Soviet Union would occupy North Korea and South Korea would be occupied by the democratic U.S. forces. However, only five short years later, on June 25, 1950, North Korean communist forces launched a massive surprise attack on South Korea quickly overrunning the capital.   U.S. Intervention was ordered on June 27 by President Harry S. Truman on the same day the U.N. invoked military sanctions against North Korea.[1]   As a citizen of Puerto Rico, my grandfather was also a citizen of the United States, and his dual citizenship in each country would prove desirable to the armed forces, as well as his college experience.   Less than a year later, young Francisco would put his studies on the shelf when his country called. As a student at the University of Puerto Rico, my grandfather had some experience in the R.O.T.C., and he could also speak Spanish and English, so his qualifications for the military were more than adequate for what the military needed and he was inducted on October 5, 1951.   For young Pvt. Martin, adjusting to life in the military was no easy task: â€Å"It was difficult.   The transition from being a University student, to being a trainee preparing to go to war was not easy.   It was a drastic change in mentality and attitudes. After all, it was sort of ‘brain storming’ in order to prepare the soldier to go to possible ‘combat areas’ as was called.†[2]   After four months of basic training in San Juan and Salinas, Puerto Rico, Pvt. Martin found out that he would be going to South Korea, which came as no big surprise.   However, finally hearing about his destination filled him with fear and trepidation, and he worried about what would come next.   While his commanding officers repeated that it was their duty to serve and go to Korea, this did little to quell his fears. My grandfather’s unit left Puerto Rico in April of 1952; at the time he was twenty-one years old and celebrated his twenty-second birthday on the way past Honolulu, Hawaii.   He describes the long journey by boat to South Korea as being difficult, uncomfortable, and lacking enough fresh water for the troops.   â€Å"We showered with salt water†¦ It was awful†¦ We spent approximately one month on board. We passed Hawaii and reached Japan; it was civilization at last!†[3]   The experience of Japan after the long journey was a welcome relief.   In particular, Tokyo proved to be an eye-opening experience for the young Puerto Rican American soldier, and made life off the ship that much more enjoyable:   â€Å"Nice food, big city†¦Ã‚   No more rotten eggs for breakfast as in the ship. No more seawater for bathing.   No more nasty odors and boring hours.†[4]   After being initially assigned by to be a translator because of his ability to speak Spanish and English, he was slowly beginning to adjust to life in the army, of course helped by being in the big, fast city of Tokyo.   However, before too long, he and his unit were finally shipped to South Korea to continue their duty and fight the communists of the North. My grandfather left Tokyo by train, leaving behind the many creature comforts of life in the big city, such as hot food and comfortable beds.   Back on the old, uncomfortable train he was forced to sleep on the floor with the rest of the men, or on the hard, wooden seats.   The only food they had for the trip was canned rations of spaghetti and meatballs, and once again life in the military seemed harsh and monotonous.   After the long train ride and a short ferry ride, they were finally on the mainland of Asia and in South Korea. When arriving in Pusan in the summer of 1952, it became immediately clear to all the soldiers that they were in a war zone: â€Å"On our arrival to Pusan, we could here the guns from far away.†[5]   There was no mistaking that there lives were now at stake, and the uncomfortable boats and the trip to South Korea did not look so bad. My grandfather remembers vividly his early days in South Korea: â€Å"I was assigned to the Second Division.   This army division arrived to Korea in 1950.   In 1951, the 9th Infantry regiment played an important role in the offense and defense in Korea.   I was there.†[6]   He recalls the large military presence and the continuous movement of trucks, tanks, and troops coming and going. He also remembers the differences in the attitudes of the soldiers, which depended highly on which direction they were heading: â€Å"Soldiers were leaving Korea and heading to Tokyo in their way back home (from U.S.A Puerto Rico, Colombia, and other countries in South America).   We (the incoming troops) were sad.   But they (the ones leaving) were very, very happy; it is understandable that after fourteen months in the combat zone.†[7]   Pvt. Martin prepared himself for the idea of spending the next fourteen in the combat zone, but failed to realize at first that the main feelings would be of alienation. After going through the long journey to get to South Korea, my grandfather found himself deep in a learning experience upon arrival, with little companionship from any fellow Spanish-speaking soldiers: â€Å"I went through a learning period.   Everything was new for me; nobody spoke Spanish. It was a harsh process of adaptation because everything was uncertain.†[8]   In addition to the hard adjustment of life in a combat zone, he was also met with repeated stories of the violence that took place not far from his post, which filled him with even more anxiety: â€Å"I was fearful after listening to all the stories of the battles, the misery, and violence.   Everybody around me was very pessimistic.   I was sure that I was not going to make it.†[9] The young soldier would hear stories of the biggest battles while in South Korea, including â€Å"Bloody Ridge,† which was the name given to the twelve-day siege waged by the men of the 9th Infantry regiment against a communist held hill in the fall of 1952.   Because of security reasons, the military publication Stars and Stripes would not disclose the exact location of the bloody battle, and soldiers in my grandfather’s regiment were left to wonder just how far away the violence raged. He would even hear stories about his fellow Puerto Rican soldiers fighting and dying in the battle of Kelly Hill, which also occurred in the fall of 1952, making him realizing the deadly cost of the war: â€Å"The Puerto Rican regiment (the 65th infantry regiment) participated in ‘Kelly Hill Battle’ that happened in the fall of 1952.   Half of the 743 Puerto Rican soldiers that died in the war, died in this battle.†[10]   But, as with so many soldiers and civilians caught in combat zones, it was only the faith in his God that gave him the strength to ignore his fear and do his duty.   My grandfather credits this for returning home and proclaims, â€Å"My faith was the only thing that kept me alive.†[11] As a soldier, Pvt. Martin served in the 9th Infantry regiment for around a year, moving to and from many different locations throughout South Korea.   Despite his close proximity to the frontlines, he was fortunate enough to avoid all major combat events.   Though he knew that his fellow soldiers were fighting and dying, he did his duty as assigned, not matter how fearful he was or how dangerous the duty seemed: â€Å"I did not fight a person-to-person combat or patrols.   But I stood for guard many times.   I remember guarding from 12:00am until 4:00am in a wet, cold and scary dangerous forest. Nights were horrible.   There were constant bombings but we had to get used to them and pray for our lives.† [12] One time on guard duty, he suffered the lowest moment of his time in Korea: â€Å"While supervising guards and moving the soldiers to different posts, one of my legs suffered frostbite.   I was hospitalized for a period of time and received treatment.   Once I was cured, I was sent back to the frontlines.   In that period, I was serving in a technical capacity.   I was part of a special unit called I.R.I.   That unit was in charge of distributing tools and explosives to those soldiers assigned to difficult missions as mine finding.†[13]   Once again, it was his religious faith that helped get him through the most difficult times of the war. Though my grandfather did not experience any serious combat while in South Korea, the threat of combat was always present.   When coupled with the often monotonous life of being a soldier, and the extremely hot and wet summers and extremely frigid winters, the days and nights could drag on and become terribly lonely and fearful times.   The only things that usually made this go away were the letters and news from back home: â€Å"Receiving letters was very important. Receiving mail from the family and friend brought me happiness and strength.†Ã‚   This was especially true of the letters from his young wife:   â€Å"Ana’s letters were well received and expected.   She was very consistent in writing and that helped me a lot.†Ã‚   In addition to letters from loved ones, the soldiers were sometimes offered breaks from constant life on the frontlines. Trips to Japan for rest and recuperation offered soldiers a welcome break from soldier life, and according to my grandfather: â€Å"I spent a week in a city called Sasebo Kokura.   It was nice, good food, movies, and trips to the city, dancing in the fort, rest, and sleep.   But after a period of â€Å"relaxation and distraction† I was sent back to Korea, but this time by plane.†[14] Even away from the war zone, terrible things can occur, and the plane ride back from Japan would stay with my grandfather for the rest of his life:   â€Å"The flight was dangerous, the plane had no seats.   I was standing strapped to the wall.   It was a horrible and traumatic experience.   Today I suffered of ‘flight fear syndrome.’   I still have flashbacks of that moment.†[15]   However, with his strong faith and fortune to avoid serious combat while there, he avoided many of the pitfalls that claimed other soldiers such as depression, alcoholism, and mental illness. There were also some good times in South Korea, which my grandfather recalled fondly, especially Christmas of 1952.   The Army threw a large Christmas party complete with treats and Christmas dinner:   â€Å"There was ice cream, turkey, fruitcake, juice, and candy†¦ It felt like home.   I went to mass, we received letters, and I even received food from home!   I still remember that day; we had a Christmas tree and everything that goes with it.†Ã‚   [16] What made the holiday even better for the young soldier is that it would not be long that he would be able to leave South Korea.   He recalled: â€Å"By that time, there were three or four more moths to go — we were ready to rotate–other troops would replace us.†[17] However, he still had a few more months to go and realized that anything could happen, as the stories of battles and casualties continued to pour in.   But, he could not get around the fact that he was so close to the end of his time in South Korea.   Around March of 1953, Pvt. Martin received news that his time in Korea was up.   As he lived in a bunker at the time and news was delivered by a messenger, he remembers when a messenger came to his quarters and stated: â€Å"You, F. Martin, are leaving Korea. You are heading to Tokyo (back to Seoul and the Tokyo).  Ã‚   A modern ship will take you back to the U.S specifically to Seattle, Washington.†[18]  Ã‚   And, after fourteen months in the combat zone, his time was up and he could leave with the satisfaction that he served his country and did his duty.  Ã‚   He transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve on June 23, 1953, and finally finished his military service with an honorable discharge on October 6, 1959, after a full eight years in service. After his experience in Korea, my grandfather took with him many lessons learned about life and war.   His view of the war is that there were no clear winners.   Tens of thousands of Americans died, along with countless more Koreans, Chinese, and Russians.   However, he cannot help but feel that some progress was made concerning the state of South Korea:   â€Å"South Korea obviously gained†¦ Today it is a prosperous, well-developed nation, technologically advances and democratic.†[19] But, he also acknowledges that the conflict itself failed to succeed in its greater goals: â€Å"On the other hand, that place is a divided nation! North and South are divided! Families separated! North Korea today is in bad shape; hunger, famine, no democracy at all.†[20]   Though my grandfather did his duty, he does not claim to be a politician or have answers to the most complex political questions facing humanity. He prefers to be a kind, decent man that loves his family and tries to impart his simple wisdom whenever possible.   Though many memories of Korea stay with him, he considers himself fortunate to be able to share his wisdom and experiences with his children and grandchildren, and is proud to be both Puerto Rican, and a citizen of the United States. Bibliography Martin, Francisco. Interview by author.   Written notes.  Location, date month year. [1] Francisco Martin. Interview by author.   Written notes.  Location, date month year. [2] Ibid. [3] Ibid. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] Ibid. [7] Ibid. [8] Ibid. [9] Ibid. [10] Ibid. [11] Ibid. [12] Ibid. [13] Ibid. [14] Ibid. [15] Ibid. [16] Ibid. [17] Ibid. [18] Ibid. [19] Ibid. [20] Ibid.

Is the Kennewick Man a Caucasoid

Was Kennewick Man Caucasoid? Short answer—no, DNA analysis has resoundingly identified the 10,000-year-old skeletal remains as Native American. Long answer: with the recent DNA studies, the classification system that theoretically separated human beings into Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Australoid, and Negroid has been found to be even more error-prone than before. History of the Kennewick Man Caucasoid Controversy Kennewick Man, or more properly, The Ancient One, is the name of a skeleton discovered on a river bank in Washington state back in 1998, long before the ready availability of comparative DNA. The people who found the skeleton at first thought he was a European-American, based on a cursory look at his cranium. But the radiocarbon date put the mans death at between 8,340–9,200 calibrated years before the present (cal BP). By all known scientific understandings, this man could not have been European-American; on the basis of his skull shape he was designated Caucasoid. There are several other ancient skeletons or partial skeletons found in the Americas ranging in age from 8,000-10,000 cal BP, including Spirit Cave and Wizards Beach sites in Nevada; Hourglass Cave and Gordons Creek in Colorado; the Buhl Burial from Idaho; and some others from Texas, California, and Minnesota, in addition to the Kennewick Man materials. All of them, in varying degrees, have traits that are not necessarily what we think of as Native American; some of these, like Kennewick, were at one point tentatively identified as Caucasoid. What is Caucasoid, Anyway? To explain what the term Caucasoid means, well have to go back in time a little—say 150,000 years or so. Somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans—known as Homo sapiens, or, rather,  Early Modern Humans (EMH)—appeared in Africa. Every single human being alive today is descended from this single population. At the time we are speaking, EMH was not the only species occupying the earth. There were at least two other hominin species: Neanderthals, and the Denisovans, first recognized in 2010, and perhaps Flores as well. There is genetic evidence that we interbred with these other species—but that is besides the point.   Isolated Bands and Geographical Variations Scholars theorize that the appearance of racial characteristics—nose shape, skin color, hair and eye color—all of that came after some EMH began to leave Africa and colonize the rest of the planet. As we spread out over the earth, little bands of us became geographically isolated and began to adapt, as humans do, to their surroundings. Little isolated bands, together adapting to their geographic surroundings and in isolation from the rest of the population, began to develop regional patterns of physical appearance, and it is at this point that races, that is, different characteristics, began to be expressed. Changes in skin color, nose shape, limb length, and overall body proportions are thought to have been a reaction to latitudinal differences in temperature, aridity, and amount of solar radiation. It is these characteristics that were used in the late 18th century to identify races. Paleoanthropologists today express these differences as geographical variation. Generally, the four major geographic variations are Mongoloid (generally considered northeastern Asia), Australoid (Australia and perhaps southeast Asia), Caucasoid (western Asia, Europe, and northern Africa), and Negroid or African (sub-Saharan Africa). Bear in mind that these are broad patterns only and that both physical traits and genes vary more within these geographical groups than they do between them. DNA and Kennewick After Kennewick Mans discovery, the skeleton was carefully examined, and, using craniometric studies, the researchers concluded that the characteristics of the cranium matched closest to those populations who make up the Circum-Pacific group, among them Polynesians, the Jomon, modern Ainu and the Moriori of the Chatham Islands. But DNA studies since then have conclusively shown that Kennewick man and the other early skeletal materials from the Americas are in fact Native American. Scholars were able to recover mtDNA, Y chromosome, and genomic DNA from Kennewick Mans skeleton, and his haplogroups are found almost exclusively among Native Aemricans—despite the physical similarities to Ainu, he is significantly closer to other Native Americans than any other group worldwide. Populating the Americas The most recent DNA studies (Rasmussen and colleagues; Raghavan and colleagues) show that the ancestors of modern Native Americans entered the Americas from Siberia via the Bering Land Bridge in a single wave beginning about 23,000 years ago. After they arrived, they spread out and diversified. By Kennewick mans time about 10,000 years later, the Native Americans had already populated the entire North and South American continents and diverged into separate branches. Kennewick man falls into the branch whose descendants spread into Central and South America. So Who is Kennewick Man? Of the five groups who have claimed him as an ancestor and were willing to provide DNA samples for comparison, the Colville tribe of Native Americans in Washington State are the closest. So why does Kennewick Man look Caucasoid? What researchers have found is that human cranial shape only matches DNA results 25 percent of the time and that the broad variability noted in the other patterns—skin color, nose shape, limb length, and overall body proportions—can also be applied to cranial characteristics. Bottom line? Kennewick man was a Native American, descended from Native Americans, ancestral to Native Americans. Sources Meltzer DJ. 2015. Kennewick Man: coming to closure. Antiquity 89(348):1485-1493.Raff JA. 2015. Genome of the Ancient One (a.k.a. Kennewick Man). Human Biology 87(2):132-133.Raghavan M, Steinrà ¼cken M, Harris K, Schiffels S, Rasmussen S, DeGiorgio M, Albrechtsen A, Valdiosera C, à vila-Arcos MC, Malaspinas A-S et al. 2015. Genomic evidence for the Pleistocene and recent population history of Native Americans. Science 349(6250).Rasmussen M, Sikora M, Albrechtsen A, Korneliussen TS, Moreno-Mayar JV, Poznik GD, Zollikofer CPE, Ponce de Leà ³n MS, Allentoft ME, Moltke I et al. 2015. The ancestry and affiliations of Kennewick Man. Nature 523:455.