Idea for Podcast - The Handshake

Hey Lords!

Lucy here, I did a little brainstorming after our meeting today regarding the idea we had for the podcast, so just to get the ball rolling….

Idea for Podcast - The cultural capital of the handshake 

Source: http://startmike.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/hand_shake.gif

·      My father always used to say you can judge the character of a man by his handshake; if it was weak and limp there left much to be desired, but if he tried to launch you to the moon with his shake, well, there were bigger problems.

·      A handshake can actually indicate quite a lot about a person (just another sign of body language) shown in this news report:

·      Cultural sub groups from cliques in high schools to gangs use this ritual on a daily basis to empower, strengthen communities, engender superiority and exclude.

·      Furthermore nations, religions and ethnic groups display their unique culture through different modes of greetings. (e.g. the iconic Italian ‘kiss on both cheek’)

·      Analysing these social patterns of introduction and greeting could be an interesting and relevant topic for our podcast. This would also be relatively easy to research as subjects for interviews, anecdotes and general content would be readily accessible (as practically everyone from the general public engages in this sort activity everyday).

·      But the good news is that there are so many different angles/places we can take this topic, as there are so many different sub groups out there & countless levels of intimacy in social settings to observe and interview.

·      We could discuss the trends of ‘funny’ handshakes that exist in popular culture (There are so many: the Salmon, the Fresh Prince..)

·      This is a YouTube clip of some boys’ take on a  few of the different handshakes out there:

·      Also, here is a montage of the famous handshake of Troy and Abed from Community (I obviously had to include this:

We could explore the gender/social implications of different greetings in Australia:

·      E.g. Why is it acceptable for most Australian girls to kiss and hug when greeting each other but might be viewed as gay if two boys did the same? Does this indicate a culture of homophobia amongst many Australian men? In Ghana, despite being quite a conservative Christian nation, it is not uncommon to see two male friends walking down the street holding hands (with no homosexual undertones).

·      What about the power relations between the sexes regarding greetings in different social settings (If a man were to meet a woman over social drinks (amongst mutual friends) they might kiss on the cheek, however in a business meeting would only shake hands).

·      We could discuss the different protocols we have within our own friendship circles as university students and those in our other walks of life (e.g. the politics of kisses versus hugs)

Another idea is the awkwardness that occurs with a handshake gone wrong

·      Check this out:

                                           

·      It might also be valuable to interview those that feel uncomfortable with such physical contact (Jaimie you said you were one!) and why.

·      There are also different levels for this awkward physical contact: in social settings, with relatives and with strangers e.g. in job interviews.

·      And here is an article from The Guardian listing the top 10 worst handshakes.

 and here is another written description about bad handshakes.

·      In fact the whole concept of touching a person you’ve never met as an introduction, and then repeatedly again every time you see them from then on gets stranger and stranger the more you think about it…

·      We would need to build on and develop this idea in order to decide whether it has enough substance to flesh out into an entire podcast.

·      A drawback for this topic to be chosen for a podcast is that the subject matter (shaking hands) is so visual. However it could be a fun challenge for us trying to aptly describe all of these situations, and would be even more of a success if we could do it well. If it becomes too hard I’m sure we could always include a few visual aids (either videos or images via another medium) to compliment our podcast.

·      Other questions remain as to the time limit (if there is one?) for our final podcast, how many speakers/interviews/music should be included etc etc….

So what do you guys think??