SOCY 15 – Reading Log, Module 1
Name:
For this week’s reading log, you will focus on Stuart Hall’s The West and The Rest. Read the section at hand, then respond to the questions on the worksheet.
Strategies for reading:
Skim the text first, make a list of headings, italicized or bolded words, and images.
Read the introduction and the conclusion to get a sense of the main argument. The conclusion is where the author tells us what they did throughout their piece and why it matters.
Now, start reading again from the beginning. As you read each section, underline key ideas and concepts and write/type definitions, key points, and questions in the margins or on paper as you go. This text also has sections called ‘Summary’ throughout; read these!
As you finish reading each section (page numbers noted here), return to this worksheet and answer the set of questions.
Reminder: DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. If you use more than three consecutive words from Hall, make sure to put it in quotation marks and provide an in-text citation: (Hall, Page Number). Try your hand at putting these ideas in our own words ☺
Section 1- Where and What is the West – 141-146
What does Hall mean when he says the West is not a geographical concept? What is his argument (i.e what is he trying to show us/prove to us in this chapter)?
Discuss 2 out of the 4 points Hall makes about how the concept or the idea of the West functions. Can you put this process in your own words? What are the effects of this concept/idea? Why does this matter? Can you provide an example?
How and why is the rise of the West a global story? Why is “difference” important to this process? Find an important quote and unpack it to help answer this question.
Hall says that the idea of the “West and the Rest” relies on simplification. How and why is simplification important?
Section 2 – Europe Breaks Out – 146-154
What were the historical circumstances and processes in which the idea of the West emerged?
What were some of the main results of this “age of exploration” for world society?
How did the eras of exploration and conquest contribute to the development of the idea of “the West”?
Section 3 – Discourse and Power – 155-160
This is the most complicated part of this reading! You will (and I always have to) read it multiple times to try to make sense of it.
Can you try to describe the concept of discourse in your own words?
Palestinians example: What does this example show us about the relationship between discourse and power?
Hall provides the example of the encounter between “the West and the New World”. How does he use this example to show that discourses are not innocent?
Representing the Other (160-177)
Read the beginning of this section and Orientalism section, pages 160-161, then pick one of the section headings* that interests you, and provide a short summary of this section.
*Section Options: 1) The “Archive” (includes short sub-sections Classical knowledge, Religious Sources Mythology, etc). 2) “Regime of Truth”, 3) Idealization, 4) Sexual Fantasy or 5) Misrecognizing Difference
Read Summary: Stereotypes, Dualism, and “Splitting” (170-171), then pick one of the section headings* that interests you, and answer the following questions:
How does Hall define stereotypes, and how is splitting or dualism a component of these stereotypes? Make sure to provide an example of this splitting operates in a stereotype from the section you choose.
Section options 1) Are They “True Men”? ; 2) “Noble” versus “Ignoble Savages” ; 3) The History of “Rude” and “Refined” Nations.
