Communications and Media

(here is my essay that was turned in and comments thatare in red color between the essay is the feedback from the professor. i want the writer to follow what the professor said. thank yo so much)

Amongst the huge number of theories and studies stuffing the communication domain, Performance Ethnography and Organizational Theory bear a special importance. Since good communication means that people have a good conduct to coexist, the urge is there to focus on developing the means of good communication, and go through the connections of this communication to form theories that would allow people to better understand themselves as well as the others. Performance Ethnography and Organizational culture theory are two of the theories which have contributed much to the understanding of ethnic groups and indigenous members. In fact, Organizational Culture Theory complements Performance Ethnography in a way that shows how much establishing theories contribute to the constitution of other new and more profound ones. In fact, various aspects of nowadays life namely personal experiences, dramatic fiction and movies production reflect themselves in communication theories. Their Eyes were watching God, a novel by Zora Neale Jurston, shows elements of Organizational culture theory. It shows that the life of a person can be much affected by living in a foreign community where heshe strives to communicate. In a nutshell, going through both theories performance Ethnology and Organizational culture theory through analysis, summarization and application to the novel Their Eyes were watching God as well as the movie Body of Lies, make the reader gain better insight to theories of communication.

In the textbook Communication Theories in Action by Julia T Wood, one should understand a couple of concepts that are highly significant in Performance Ethnography. First, it attempts to understand how symbolic behaviors actually perform and challenge cultural values and personal identities. To understand performance ethnography, we must learn about ethnography, a method of interpreting actions in a manner that generates understanding in the terms of those performing the actions. (Wood, 124) Thus, to understand certain lands rituals, one cannot reside only HYPERLINK httpco101w.col101.mail.live.commailRteFrame_15.1.3059.0405.htmlpfpf l _msocom_3 n _blankDT3 within his or her own values. In fact,heshe must go through the values and rituals of the studied area so that one can understand what they do mean to them. In fact, this means that people of these studied cultures are of primary importance and significance. Briefly, Ethnography is interaction, collaboration.

According to Conquergood, an ethnographer needs to engage in participant-observation. (Wood, 125) Participating in these cultures, and even being an activist in some parts, the ethnographer gains an understanding in much the same way that members of the indigenous groups go through direct experience, and being involved in the life of the group in body as well as mind. Proceeding with the process of observation and gaining a direct experience, through bodily involvement in a social community, an ethnographer engages in an extended process, which consists of near-experience and distance-experience concepts and meanings. Near-experience meanings are those that have significance to members of a particular culture or social community. On the other hand, distance-experience meanings are those that have meaning to people outside of that particular culture or social community. (Wood 126) Ethnographers also tend to engage themselves in the study of personal stories of everyday life rather than dramatic narrations. This is due to the fact that personal narratives entail testimony, which consists of situations and statements based on personal experience. However, ethnographers do not only concentrate on personal narratives, they also focus on cultural practices of groups. Good summary

 In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, in Chapter 19, Janie states Its uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there..Two things everybodys got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin fuh theyselves (Hurston 183). In fact, it is clear that the English dialect of Janie is different from the well-known dialect. Further, Janie clarifies to Phoeby that a person should experience a thing by his flesh and blood i.e. soul as well as mind to know about it and understand it. Such is the core of the ethnographers work, given the fact that a researcher should live the normal life of indigenous people, and even be an activist so that he can engage himself in that other culture as well as take himself out of the sphere of his own culture to understand the cultures and values of others.(Clarify)

Moving from the horizons of the Performance Ethnographer theory, it is time to explore another important theory that complements the latter theory thats Organizational culture theory. Traditionally, studies of organizations have explored lines of authority, channels of communication, productivity, and so forth toward the goal of making organizations work better.. The textbook draws on Greetzs general observations about cultural life, some communication scholars have developed a theory that views organizations as cultures that produced and reproduced through communication activities among members of organizations. (Wood 227)

Greetz perceived culture as systems of shared, or common, meaning. Like standpoint and speech community theorists, Greetz realized that cultures arent homogeneous but composed of different social groups. Good He claimed that cultures are ways of life that are sustained through stories rituals and other symbolic activities.

There are different dimensions of organization to conduct the final building of Organizational theory. One symbolic dimension of organizations is vocabulary. When the language of an ethnic culture expresses their experiences and values, the language of an organization also expresses the norms of the organization. The textbook Communication Theories in Action gives an example of military, relies on verbal and nonverbal communication that continuously acknowledges rank (Yes, sir, salute, chain of command), which reflects the fact that status, respect, and privilege are tied to official rank. (Wood 228)

Moreover, stories are the second dimension of organizations as proven by researchers. Organizational culture theory follows narrative theorys lead in assuming that humans are inveterate storytellers. Within the organizational context, scholars identified three kinds of stories first corporate stories which convey the values, style and history of and organization. They reflect organizations collective vision. Second, there are personal stories through whichmembers of organizations also tell stories about themselves. Such stories are accounts that announce how people see themselves and how they wish to be seen by others. Finally, collegial stories offer an account of other members in the organization. Whether positive or negative, collegial stories assert identities for others in an organization. The textbook stated that they are an informal network, or rumor mill, that teaches new members of an organization how to get along with various other members of the culture. (Wood 229) Rites and Rituals are the third dimension of organizations. They are also symbolic practices that express and reproduce organizational cultures. Rites are dramatic, planned sets of activities that bring together aspects of cultural ideology into a single event. On the other hand, Rituals are forms of communication that occur regularly and that members of an organization perceive as familiar and routine parts of organizational life.

Their Eyes were watching God is a demonstration of how the inability to adopt the same language and speech as well as the failure to get rid of racism has led to the loss of communication. In the first chapter, it is clear through Nannys experience that she has been marginalized because she is black. She has been regarded as a slave and raped by her master. This loss of identity manifested in Nannys person reflect that even in the same society where the experiences of persons differ, and their classes vary, there could be an immense failure in communication. Sometimes the negative results are the better affirmation of the positive of some theory. In this particular stance, speech and experiences are lost between the members of society which has led to its fragmentation. The bottom line is that the basics of the Organizational culture theory and Performance ethnology are lost in the joint community of black and white which led to the normal result of loss of communication. Thus, if such basics are reinforced, it will be a first step to a better communication between races and nations.Show your reader how this connects to your argument.

Body of Lies is a movie that reflects deep communication reslults and conclusions. The movie proceeds as Leonardo DiCaprio moves from the U.S. to live in Iraq so as to perform some speionage missions as a citizen there. He takes his insturctions from Russell Crowe who tends to protect him by highly technological means. He tracks him always through satellites and follows his steps. Leonardo DiCaprio, on the other hand, engages in his life in Iraq, starting to adopt the Arabic tongue, even sympathizing with people there and falling in love with an Arabic woman. Ironically enough, DiCaprio decides, upon his first experience knowledge, to spend the rest of his life in Iraq and neglect the body of lies that has implanted him there. Viewing the movie can actually highlight Perofrmance Ethnography findings that there is an inevitable change occurring to the person who experiences another culture and life.

Communication is an endless area of research and theories. Given the fact that it is the sublime aim of humanity to conduct a better kind of communication between individuals, organizations and even nations, the priority figures itself to be taking theories into the space of application. It is the responsibility of researchers to seek the understanding of other cultures and concepts. Looking into the several ways of speech, language, experiences, and cultures are most important ways of understanding the other so that both expatriates and indigenous people can coexist and lead methods of successful communication.