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| Woodstock: When graffiti artists make political statements |
Graffiti has become a relevant but also a controversial
method in negotiating memories of a community.
In Woodstock, Langa, Muizenberg, and other areas, graffiti is used not only to beautify walls but to make
political statements of the times.
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Langa: Graffiti artist displaying the name of community proudly The mural captures the Muizenberg vibe. |
‘Space, Place and Doodling’
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| Woodstock: Artist's interpretation of the changes in the community |
Timeline:
Students will be given three weeks to submit.
Submission date:
14 November 2017
1
Choose one particular community
2
Keywords/phrases to guide your essay: gentrification, delineating urban territory,
inner-city spaces, memory and space
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| Woodstock: When funky and trendy = gentrification |
3
It will be beneficial to find graffiti artists
who reside in the area they work – they have an in-depth understanding of the
changing minds of its residents.
4
Rubric will guide your writing.
Learning Outcomes:
1
The scope of this research will reveal that information
will come from a wide variety of sources. Journals, books, blogs and youtube
are just a few that will need to be investigated by the student.
2
It will be necessary to interview graffiti
artists, residents of the neighbourhood, find credible literature (books, journal articles, etc)
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| It is best to interview artists who have knowledge of the community. |
3
Think of different ways of searching for
information, trying to cross-pollinate disciplines in the hope of finding
fresh, interesting views that can illuminate the topic.
Dispositions:
1
Students must realise that scanning one book
will not be enough. They need to throw
their intellectual net further afield.
To help them in finding information,
the lecturer will provide some titles:
Imagining The City (S. Field, R.
Meyer and F Swanson)
Negotiating the Past (S. Nuttal
and C. Coetzee)
Rap Music and Street
Consciousness (C. Keyes)
Prophets of the Hood (I Perry)
These titles will give them
a foothold in the hip-hop movement which graffiti is an element of.
2
Be flexible in mind when interviewing graffiti
artists and residents. Remember that as
an interviewer, navigating memory and bias is a crucial part that at times will
not be dependable. Therefore, it is
essential that they interview residents from different backgrounds and
different graffiti artists whose aims and objectives may differ.
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| Find artist and residents with different views to enhance essay Location: Woodstock |
3
Students should not be afraid to delve into
other disciplines. The essay allows for
this. Sociology, psychology,
linguistics, fine arts are but a few divergent components that can help the
student find serendipitous information
that can thread the essay together.
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| Graffiti is there to make you think. Ensure that your essay is thought provoking Location: Woodstock  |
