Individual Medium Post #2

I think that things such as art, music, and literature which we might put together as “cultural productions” are influenced greatly by the eruption of political struggle. Often times, they reflect tensions and struggles faced by certain groups of people in the face of hardship, particularly with capitalism and imperialism. For example, we saw how the Jamaican soundscapes reflected the both the tensions and cooperation between the Chinese immigrants and Jamaican natives. The literature of Chinese in Honolulu, Koreans in Befu, and Okinawans on the battlefront all reflected the hardships or oppression they faced and expressed their desire to adapt or fight back. For myself, things such as art, music, literature, and other cultural productions have shifted my own understanding of belonging and community because I have grown to acquire tastes that are common among people in my community while stile remaining my identity as an Asian American, and I believe that cultural productions have a major influence on the way people think and act.