ULibraries Research Guides: LEAP: Issues of Life & Death + War & Peace: Community & Group Identity w/ Art

Start Here

Objectives

1. Students will learn about community/group identity and how it is constructed, expressed and valued.

2. Students will engage with curated popular & scholarly sources on the arts.

3. Students will learn how to research a community/group identity via the arts scholarship.

Introduction

texts and image from:
Wien, J. M. (2016). Rockwell Kent and Edward Hopper. Magazine Antiques, 183(1), 180–189. KEY TERMS: LONELINESS OR ISOLATION

Tsai, Addie. (2016). Hybrid texts, assembled bodies: Michel Gondry's merging of camera and dancer in "Let Forever Be". The International Journal of Screendance, 6, 17. -check out the video here, it's great -dale KEY TERMS: DREAMS OR ASPIRATIONS

Note: there's no great consensus among sociology scholars on 'community' but I really liked the structure of this one.

...we propose that community can be defined as a group of people

Who have a sense of common purpose(s) and/or interest(s) for which they assume mutual responsibility,

Who acknowledge their interconnectedness,

Who respect the individual differences among members,

Who commit themselves to the well-being of each other and the integrity and well-being of the group.

Wood, G. S., Jr., & Judikis, J. C. (2002). Conversations on community theory.

West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press (page 12).

There are groups of friends, communities, associations, clubs, fans, philosophies, personas, styles & fashions (for sure), cliques, etc. etc. whose 'members' share things in common -and we identify with them. What communities, groups, etc. do you identify with? What makes you feel like you belong? What do you and others have in common, what do you value? What's important, what matters?

David Bowie on Art

Definitions of community (see right-side bar) come out of sociology, so let's include a sociology database, too, for good measure.
Sociological Abstracts (my top fav!)

THEN ON TO THE ARTS...

Art Full Text Scholarship and news on the arts with a focus on what matters now. Try some wildcard searches or throw in your own identity-related keywords: gangsta, pokemon, chicana all came up with results! (Art Index Retrospective goes all the way back to 1929)

Library Catalog -great for all types of media review

Pop Culture Collection
Film & Television Literature Index
Underground & Independent Comics
Music Database
Vogue Archive (yes, that Vogue)
Oxford Art Online names/descriptions of artists, movements, eras, etc. -great!
Luke the Librarian's Art Guides
Art Databases

Erika Church's quick guide to well-curated art-related sites on the web

https://www.artforum.com/

http://www.getty.edu/resources/

https://www.artnews.com/

https://hyperallergic.com/
http://www.woostercollective.com/

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/

https://news.artnet.com/

https://contemporaryartdaily.com/

https://hifructose.com/

random question for you: why does a search in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for "Monster" turn up such different results than an open web search for "Monster"?

policy from the U.S. and other countries

Searching the open web for resources.

Many worldwide governments would like you to know what they're working on related to policy as they're actively working on sustainability problems (maybe poverty, communications, health, pollution, etc.). Companies and engineers will look for large or small jobs by searching for these and then offer solutions on a wide scale from very small to country wide.
Search for "your technology" and RFP (or "request for proposals") on the open web for more.
Note: it may help to search for a specific country/government/company if you want to narrow down the search.

___________________________________________________________________________
Searching governments for resources.

Many governments also are legally obligated to put their policies (and policy considerations) online for the world to see -like the United States. Some typical starting places are:

USA.gov (first place to visit -contains everything below)

Department of Energy
Environmental Protection Agency
National Nanotechnology Initiative
Department of Transportation
Bureau of Reclamation -primarily about water, but take a look for your specific tech too.

OR
Search for "your technology" and "government policy" on the open web for governments outside the U.S.
Search for "your technology" and a specific state/nation for a more focused search (California has a ton, for example)

___________________________________________________________________________
Global resources.
Other online groups at an international level working on sustainability and policy research:

The World Bank

The United Nations

___________________________________________________________________________
Very local resources.
Other online groups at an international level working on sustainability and policy research:

SLC Green (local policy)

Also note that since states are responsible for enforcing EPA standards, most cities/states will have some sort of environmental/sustainability office (hopefully online). For example, here is the one for Utah: http://www.deq.utah.gov/

video of the week

Part of automobile safety is the technology and design that go into a vehicle, but another part is the government policy on what is acceptable in a country. For example, seat belts, air bags, strategic frame reinforcements, etc. were around long before they were required in new cars in the U.S. -and they're still not universally required in other countries:

Example of current models sold under the safety policies of different countries:
"2015 Nissan Tsuru vs. 2016 Nissan Versa." [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85OysZ_4lp0.

And the video below is and example of a current model vs. a much older one:
"IIHS 50th anniversary crash test." [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHp1GAFQzto.