Respond paper to “From Zoot Suits to Hip Hop”
I found the research paper
“From Zoot Suits To Hip Hop” difficult to follow and comprehend because there
were so many words referring to different cultural background, language and
music which threw me off the track of the main point.
Luis Alvarez continuously
refers to Chicana/o and Latina/o. For example, Alvarez writes “This article
traces cultural exchanges between Chicana/o and Latina/o…” (1).The distinguished
between Chicana and Latina
is a challenge for me. I have asked people from Mexico
about the differences and their respond was they are the same whom are from Mexico and
speak Spanish. I personally researched more about them and I realized that
Chicana refers to people from Mexico
and Latina refers to people from South America. The other factor made understanding the
“From Zoot Suits To Hip Hop” difficult was references to the variety of cultural
background. Alvarez states “Among the most available strategies for thousands
of…” (5). Alvarez repeatedly used the Mexican- American, African- American and
Asian- American through out his research paper. Alvarez also mentions the
Japanese- American and Filipino- American. When I came across these cultural
backgrounds, the only word I realized reading or remembering was the American.
So I needed to reread it few more times. I am familiar with these cultures;
however, reading them in an advanced written research paper and as a second
language speaker, is challenging to follow the passage. Alvarez also talks
about different kinds of music for instance, Jazz, Hip Hop and Zoot Suits. I
personally don’t listen to these kinds of music and don’t understand their
concepts. As Alvarez explains how the music played in different cultures at
different times, it didn’t obtain my attention and interest to grasp the
history Alvarez was explaining. There is no doubt that the research Alvarez
done is extraordinary, but I have my own challenge to encounter while I was
reading it. I believe the language barrier has the most impact and also being
not completely familiar with the history of language, culture and music.
Great post here which resembles a "difficulty paper" and really exposes the difficulty of reading about a topic when you have very little prior experience on the topic. Well done. When you have very little prior experience with the subject matter that you are reading about there is an added layer of difficulty which requires you to work very hard just to gain a basic level of understanding. Of course, college reading is not supposed to be easy and the topics are not going to be necessarily familiar—hence the point of going to college. However, you don't want to give up on unfamiliar topics because in doing so you give up on learning something new, so I like how you are struggling here to connect, which is why this writing is so important. When you encounter a difficult text like this, try to zero in on one passage that you can connect with and work from that point to make meaning of the text. If there is one point that you can critically examine, you will surely broaden your understanding of the whole piece. Also, you mention that this music is not what you listen to...what do you listen to? What do you know about the history of this music?
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