The Minstrel Legacy: African American English and the Historical Construction of Black Identities in Entertainment

Linguists have long been aware that the language scripted for ethnic roles in the media has been manipulated for a variety of purposes ranging from the construction of character authenticity to flagrant ridicule. This paper provides a brief overview of the history of African American roles in the entertainment industry from minstrel shows to present-day films. I am particularly interested in looking at the practice of distorting African American English as an historical artifact which is commonplace in the entertainment industry today. Dialogue which is clearly meant as an imitation of African American English still results in the construction of an ethnic stereotype that serves as a reflection of European American attitudes regarding African Americans. As a result, such depictions provide non-Black acculturated people with a perception of Blackness that is founded in inaccuracies and derision but has been portrayed as authentic, leaving Black life open to continual mimicry

Supporting Streams of Changes during Branch Integration

International audienceWhen developing large applications, integrators face the problem of integrating changes between branches or forks. While version control systems provide support for merging changes, this support is mostly text-based, and does not take the program entities into account. Furthermore, there exists no support for assessing which other changes a particular change depends on have to be integrated. Consequently, integrators are left to perform a manual and tedious comparison of the changes within the sequence of their branch and to successfully integrate them. In this paper, we present an approach that analyzes changes within a sequence of changes (stream of changes): such analysis identifies and characterizes dependencies between the changes. The approach identifies changes as autonomous, only used by others, only using other changes, or both. Such a characterization aims at easing the integrator's work. In addition, the approach supports important queries that an integrator otherwise has to perform manually. We applied the approach to a stream of changes representing 5 years of development work on an open- source project and report our experiences

How Much Gender is Too Much Gender?

We live in a world saturated in both racial and gendered divisions. Our focus is on one place where attitudes about these divisions diverge: language. We suspect most everyone would be horrified at the idea of adding race-specific pronouns, honorifics, generic terms, and so on to English. And yet gender-specific terms of the same sort are widely accepted and endorsed. We think this asymmetry cannot withstand scrutiny. We provide three considerations against incorporating additional race-specific terms into English, and argue that these considerations also support eliminating the analogous gender-specific terms. With respect to these parts of speech, English should be no more gender-specific than it already is race-specific

Which Method-Stereotype Changes are Indicators of Code Smells?

A study of how method roles evolve during the lifetime of a software system is presented. Evolution is examined by analyzing when the stereotype of a method changes. Stereotypes provide a high-level categorization of a method\u27s behavior and role, and also provide insight into how a method interacts with its environment and carries out tasks. The study covers 50 open-source systems and 6 closed-source systems. Results show that method behavior with respect to stereotype is highly stable and constant over time. Overall, out of all the history examined, only about 10% of changes to methods result in a change in their stereotype. Examples of methods that change stereotype are further examined. A select number of these types of changes are indicators of code smells

Library Materials For Children

Library materials for children cannot be considered alone, because the term library has long implied more than a collection of books. It is fitting that this topic follows papers discussing goals, facilities, staff, services, and children themselves. A collection of materials is a means, not an end. There is evidence that the isolation of materials from the concept of service is not a new problem. Jesse Shera notes that the development in the nineteenth century of the American public library began with collections of books donated by successful businessmen and philanthropists to uplift the minds of the young. When the Boston Public Library opened its doors in 1854, however, those under eighteen were not admitted. The mere fact that collections of materials for youth existed and had encouraged library development did not mean that children were actually given service. 1 This paper will attempt to raise questions about materials for children in today's public library, their characteristics and availability; and to discuss the relation of materials to other elements of library service.published or submitted for publicatio

The Semiotics of Sexual Identity: Myth vs. History

In this project, I argue that gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) students majoring in liberal arts have a higher likelihood of being out and of feeling confident in their identity and manner of self-expression. On the other hand, GLB students majoring in business-related fields are more likely to either be closeted or to fit a very defined, stereotyped gay identity. I test my hypothesis by conducting a semiotic analysis of sexual identity and by looking to the history of sexual identity categories. I also survey and interview various students, both liberal arts and business majors, to determine their perceptions about sexuality. Semiotics is the study of signs. Signs are the building blocks of communication and include words, body movements, and clothing. We have constructed a web of significance in order to communicate with one and other and to understand the world (Salzman). Semiotics teaches us that the meaning of signs is arbitrary, historical, and contextual. The business world tends to be conservative and by and large run by heterosexual males. I argue that this social group ultimately benefits from the signs that have come to characterize a person as GLB. These signs constrain homosexuals within very limited categories of self-identity and expression and stem from a history of suppression and inferiority. In the context of the business world, and perhaps American society at large, these signs are perceived to be indicative of both a person’s essence and of his/her capabilities. As a result, students at a school with a strong business focus adopt these signs. By doing so, they express themselves in ways that are acceptable to the business world, but not necessarily beneficial to themselves. On the other hand, the more open-minded environment of a liberal arts program nurtures not only a more confident, but also a more varied and diverse group of GLB students

Factors Influencing Perceptual Distance

Previous research shows that social biases, such as pro-White racial bias, can influence a person\u27s decisions and behaviors (Correll et al. 2007; Mekawi & Bresin, 2015). Studies also suggest that social biases may influence basic functions like visual perception (Cesario & Navarrete, 2014); however, few studies have examined the relationship between visual perceptions and threat (Cesario, Placks, Hagiwara, Navarrete, & Higgins, 2010; Todd, Thiem, & Neel, 2016). The current research aims to investigate whether implicit pro-White preference can influence basic functions like visual perception. A secondary aim of this study is to examine the role of threat in this relationship. To test, White male and female participants (N= 29) were asked to complete distance estimates to either a Black or White male experimenter. It was hypothesized that participants would judge the distance to the Black confederate as closer compared to those who estimate the distance to a White confederate. The results marginally supported the idea that participants’ distance judgements were influenced by the experimenter’s race, such that the Black experimenter was viewed as closer when compared to the White experimenter. However, results showed that implicit racial attitudes did not influence distance estimations, but explicit bias did. Fully powered follow-up studies will be conducted to further examine these hypotheses and investigate whether a type one error was present

Mujeres en «The Wire»

In this paper we analyze the representation of women on the popular television show The Wire. We discuss how, while writers attempt to portray race, crime, and inner-city life with sociological accuracy, characterizations of women, and of violence against women, are not especially complex or realistic. In particular, the crime of rape is underrepresented. While the show does feature certain competent, successful professional women, overall the portrayal of underclass women differs significantly from that of underclass men, featuring far fewer sympathetic female characters and demonizing several. In these ways the show succumbs to the sexist, patriarchal norms that characterize much of the representation of women in popular entertainment products. Some posit that this asymmetry of gender representation results from the male-oriented street experience of the show’s male writers.En aquest treball s’analitza la representació de la dona en el popular programa de televisió The Wire (El cable). Discutim com, mentre que els escriptors intenten retratar la raça, el crim i la vida a les ciutats amb precisió sociològica, les caracteritzacions de la dona i de la violència contra la dona no són especialment complexes o realistes. En particular, el delicte de violació està infrarepresentat. Encara que l’espectacle presenta diverses dones competents i amb èxit professional, en general, el retrat de les dones de classe baixa difereix significativament del dels homes de classe baixa. Així, presenta els personatges femenins molt menys solidaris i fins i tot en demonitza uns quants. El programa sucumbeix, doncs, a les normes sexistes i patriarcals que caracteritzen gran part de les representacions de la dona en productes d’entreteniment popular. Alguns postulen que aquesta asimetria de la representació de gènere és el resultat de l’experiència del carrer fonamentalment androcèntrica dels escriptors del programa.En este trabajo se analiza la representación de la mujer en el popular programa de televisión The Wire (El cable). Discutimos cómo, mientras que los escritores intentan retratar la raza, el crimen y la vida en las ciudades con precisión sociológica, las caracterizaciones de la mujer y de la violencia contra la mujer no son especialmente complejas o realistas. En particular, el delito de violación está infrarrepresentado. Aunque el espectáculo presenta a varias mujeres competentes y con éxito profesional, en general, el retrato de las mujeres de clase baja difiere significativamente del de los hombres de clase baja. Así, presenta a los personajes femeninos mucho menos solidarios e incluso demoniza a varios. El programa sucumbe, pues, a las normas sexistas y patriarcales que caracterizan gran parte de las representaciones de la mujer en productos de entretenimiento popular. Algunos postulan que esta asimetría de la representación de género es el resultado de la experiencia de la calle fundamentalmente androcéntrica de los escritores del programa