Individual Medium post #1

Dating back to the discussion from the first week, we discussed the importance of sounds/soundscape and the effects capitalism had on it. In short, Geoffe introduced the idea of soundscape, originated from his observation of the Chinese-Jamaican society. In his piece, he explained that sound functions as a metonym in Jamaican, or more generally, Caribbean culture. Though the concept originated from actual music/sounds from the area, the concept could be applied to any carrier that manifests as a symbol of their culture. With capitalism, the place where soundscape originates, the “Chiney shop”, became polluted from the thoughts stemming from national affairs and resulting in the separation amongst people of different nationalities.

Moving past the Chiney Shop in Jamaica and into the China-Town in Honolulu. First of all, the initial response from the Chinese declaring that Hawaii is in Asia and thus they must stand with us and defend against the Westerners created a barrier and misunderstanding between the two nations. Combined with Liang’s sights of colonizing and expanding the empire, he brought nationalism into the scope of the soundscape, creating tension. In his view, the Chinese-Hawaiian are similar to soldiers stationed oversea, where they are merely there to keep things at bay. He did not consider the sense of belonging the Chinese-Hawaiian had for Hawaii, as they are more than just Chinese, they could have became the bridge connecting the two nations. Rather, the imperialists thoughts of Liang created tragedy in the Chinatown of Honolulu.