Category Archives: cultural identity

Academia, arrogance, audience, cultural awareness, cultural capital, cultural diversity, cultural identity, culture, diversity, Ethnography, folkloristics, Francophones, geek culture, glocal, groupthink, hegemony, intellectuals, mass media, personal, personal life, Places, popular culture, ramblings, rants, relativism, social networks, sociocentrism, télévision, U.S. exceptionalism, U.S. media

Cultural References and Mass Media

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An effect of my not having a television is that I occasionally miss “references to popular culture.” Continue reading Cultural References and Mass Media →

Beer, Communities, craft beer, cultural identity, individualism, networking, podcasts, social networks, United States

Self-Help and Sociology

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On a recent episode of his video podcast, ze frank made some parallels between “changing your life” and “being perceived by others”: the show with zefrank: most popular.

To me, ze’s ideas connect the sociological perspective on “labeling” (especially in Howie Becker‘s approach) with the notion of “networking for social mobility” in the context of “self-help” or “self-improvement” (typical of U.S.-style Calvinism).

What struck me is that these ideas are quite related to what I perceive to be at stake in much craft beer culture, especially in terms of cultural and social identity.

cultural identity, culture, Francophonie, media, Québec

The Vitality of Quebec Culture

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[Kept this one in my draft list for about a month. But thinking of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and other issues pushes me to post it as is. To be continued…]
This is something of a follow-up on my CriticalWorld post on Quebec’s music industry.
Was reading a gushing piece on Pierre-Karl Péladeau and Julie Snyder's media convergence success story to link from my blog entry on Quebec music scenes and the CRTC. That piece was written by Globe and Mail journalist Konrad Yakabuski whose perspective on Quebec's “cultural industries,” though very business-oriented, seems rather insightful. A few months after that Péladeau/Snyder piece, Yakabuski wrote an article about the success story revolving around Quebec movie Seducing Doctor Lewis (original title: La Grande séduction). That movie is actually one of my favourite examples of what Quebec culture “is all about” these days. Not only did I really enjoy that movie, but the fact that it has won several awards implies something more than local appeal. To me, it’s a good example of something clearly Québécois, yet rather easily exportable.

Obviously, my perspective isn’t so much about the economy of it. Like music, “culture” is not a commodity.  But business-minded journalists and myself, a French-speaking Québécois and ethnographer, may share some ideas about the situation.
Quick notes:

  • Quebec is a relatively small society (by population) but is quite active in many domains, especially the part of arts and entertainment that is known as “culture”
  • Despite political incentives to say otherwise, we’re pretty secure about our culture.
  • Quebec culture is rather inward-looking and even clique-like. But the effects of this are not all bad.
  • While there might only be twenty-six “media personalities” in Quebec (a made-up number, for effect), they’re basically everywhere and constitute a very special group. The very fact that Quebec has something of a “star system” is itself fascinating. It’s not so much the case in Switzerland (which has about the same population as Quebec).
  • Montreal has a long-lasting rivalry with Quebec City but it’s not on the minds of Montrealers on a daily basis (the way it might be for some people in the capital). And Toronto’s rivalry with Montreal is not so much of a two-way street.
  • Quebec culture in general remains quite distinct from other North American cultures but it’s also much less dependent on France than it once was.
  • Cultural diversity in Quebec is much more significant than “the numbers” might imply. It signifies more in part because cultural identity has been the subject of much dialogue, debate, and discussion for at least the past 36 years.
  • This weekend is both Saint-Jean weekend and Grand Prix weekend. Woohoo!
Beer, Canada, craft beer, craft beer culture, cultural capital, cultural identity, homebrewing, social capital, social networks, stereotypes, United States

Brewing Cultures: Craft Beer and Cultural Identity in North America (Draft)

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Here's the draft of my presentation for a food and society conference at Boston University this past Thursday.

Brewing Cultures: Craft Beer and Cultural Identity in North America (draft)
And associated slides.

A blog version should follow. Comments are deeply appreciated!

Alcohol, Beer, cultural identity, moral enterpreneurs, nationalism, United States

Beer and "Ethnicity"

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[Ugh! I lost a first version of this post because of Blogger maintenance… Now I know why people complain…]

The very first comment on my young blog is an extensive excerpt from Bob Skilnik's book on beer history. Thanks!
The relationship between beer and "ethnicity" is really a fascinating issue. Some say that the movement leading to the federal prohibition was related to anti-German sentiment. Others associate it more closely with the growth in the political influence of some woman groups. The events were probably a combination of both and other causes. Similarly, the MADD lobby group probably had a large part to play in rising the drinking age to 21.

All of these seem to relate to what Ruth C. Engs calls Clean Living Movements. Engs also has interesting articles available on health, alcohol, and social issues. For instance, binge drinking is a major problem on some US campuses and seems to be linked to a negative attitude toward alcohol.

One concept that I'd like to explore a bit more is that of "moral entrepreneurs" who seem to be at the center of those movements and are trying to get ahead politically. The first exposure I got to the concept was in Mezz Mezzrow's Really the Blues. In that book (on Jazz musicians in the US between the two World Wars), moral entrepreneurs are associated to the change in legal status for cannabis in 1937. A Wikipedia article on cannabis associates the criminalisation of the herb to both DuPont's interest in plastic and to anti-Mexican sentiment (with the word "marihuana" resonating with that sentiment). No idea how accurate this explanation really is (it's always safer to take things with a grain of salt) but the associate with xenophobia is illuminating.

Not that the US are the only place where sentiments against foreigners
are brought forth. In fact, many parts of the world deal with issues of
xenophobia, especially where the notion of a "nation-state" is still
believed to mean something. What's interesting about the situation in
the US is the fact that xenophobia seems to be so intimately linked
with political, legal, and social issues. In a "country of immigrants"
which recognizes itself as such, the situation is quite striking.