Reflective Blog Entry 1

 One stereotype that I have long had about the British and British culture is their aversion to dental hygiene and naturally skewed teeth. Its nothing born out of malice, at least from my perspective, but rather a difference I have long since attributed to genetic predisposition. I have never taken the time to research whether this is true and have only relied on photographs I have seen of members of the House of Windsor, who notoriously (the queen mother) have had visually flawed teeth. Or children within the family (the children of William and Kate) who are known to have required braces from a young age in order to achieve proper tooth alignment. I also remember a Simpsons gag where Lisa Simpson had looked in a book containing British smiles of increasingly worse and worse facial and dental alignment. So this stereotype was first introduced to me by personal conclusions drawn by observations of a family that is known for being the premier and most representative family in British society. These conclusions have now since been reinforced and perpetuated by popular media used to poke fun at that specific population. Let's look at a picture book: The Big Book of British Smiles : r/TheSimpsons            Another major stereotype I have held about British people is the prevalence of accents so thick that speech becomes impossible to interpret to an average listener. Having grown up watching many British television programs and films, I have had issue with understanding the speech patterns of British people on multiple occasions to the point of requiring subtitles to decipher what was being said. This stereotype was once again reinforced in popular media I consumed. What I find interesting is that occasionally this stereotype would even be reinforced by popular British media. An example I find particularly entertaining is David Bradley's hilariously indecipherable monologue from the 2007 British action film "Hot Fuzz" that famously required two interpreters (an interpreter for the interpreter) to fully understand. 





A stereotype that the British probably (and righteously) have for Americans is our lack of consideration regarding volume and personal space. This is something I have encountered on this trip as members of the group have repeatedly fallen short of achieving a level of piece in relation to their surrounding. Attached is a photo I took from the Dublin Castle courtyard where I could hear members of our group from across the lawn despite being separated by vegetation and a great distance (but dont tell them I said that). 


 

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Reflective Blog Entry 2

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One of the many contested items within the British Museum that can be found on permanent display in the 'Enlightenment Room' is the Early shield from New South Wales, Australia. Estimated to have originated around the late 18th to early 19th century from the coastal regions north of New South Wales, this aboriginal artifact has naturally become subject to much controversy after being removed from it's original location. This is often the case for any artifact that gets relocated from it's original location to a museum often associated with the travesty of colonization. It is possible that the shield was made prior to the 18th century, however, we only have information of it's existence back to the 1700s during Captain Cook's visit to Botany Bay. It was likely removed from Australia during this period where colonial governors would routinely send native artifacts from the southern continent to the United Kingdom. There is little record on the history of this shie...
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