Culture and Ethnography in Akeelah and the Bee

                                                          

Culture is the factor influencing the lives of a group of people in a certain setting. While the people may be very different and hold differing views, as a whole group they are defined by their environment. Culture is heavily influenced by the socioeconomic status of the group. Socioeconomic status is measured by annual income, occupation and the amount of education a person possesses. (Snowman, et al p.152)

In her book, The Light in Their Eyes, Sonia Nieto defines culture as
the ever-changing values, traditions, social and political
relationships, and worldview created, shared, and
transformed by a group of people bound together by a
combination of factors that include a common history,
geographic location, language, social class and religion.
(Nieto, 2010, p.78)

With this definition in mind, we can see how Akeelah, the main protagonist in the movie is influenced by her culture and then how she and the people around her begin to change their views and the culture of the neighborhood changes, too.

In the beginning of the movie, Akeelah knows she does not fit in with her surroundings. She is a smart girl in a neighborhood that does not respect intelligence or education. A smart girl who does well in school is called names such as "brainiac" and is bullied by the older girls who want her to do their homework for them. In order to fit in, Akeelah must play the game; she must act as if she doesn't care about her education, speak like the rest of the neighborhood and act like the rest of the neighborhood by not doing her homework and skipping school.

Akeelah's own family is a micro-environment reflecting the values of the surrounding environment. Her father is dead, having been shot on his way home from work one day six years prior, her mother is tired and overwhelmed with working a low paying job to support her family. Akeelah's oldest brother is the only child who was raised with two parents, when times were better. He graduated from high school, joined the United States Marines and has plans to attend college and become a pilot. Akeelah's sister is an unwed mother; we can assume she dropped out of school to care for her infant although that is not specifically addressed in the movie. Akeelah's other brother is getting caught up in the gang culture in the neighborhood, has no plans to finish school and feels oppressed by the "whites."

When we first meet another pivotal character in the movie, Dr. Larabee, Akeelah is skipping class
and getting beaten by two older girls who were trying to coerce her into doing their assignments for them. Dr. Larabee is on sabbatical from his university teaching post but is a bit reluctant to tutor Akeelah just as Akeelah is reluctant to study and compete in the spelling bee. One of the first challenges to Akeelah's culture comes when she arrives at Dr. Larabee's house. Despite the fact that Larabee lives in the same neighborhood as Akeelah, he has a different culture which is that of an educated, highly respected university professor. It does not take her long to learn that certain types of speech are used in certain environments. This initial lesson serves her well when she meets other students at the district spelling bee who are from upper middle class neighborhoods. Akeelah displays the typical social characteristics of a middle school student in that 1) "The development of interpersonal reasoning leads to greater understanding of the feelings of others." And, 2) "The desire to conform reaches a peak during the middle school years." (Snowman, 2012, p.91) We see this develop as she interacts with other students competing in the spelling bee, particularly Dylan. She reaches out to Dylan and brings him a soda as a friendly gesture even though Dylan is prohibited by his father from socializing with Akeelah before the national spelling bee. She needs to conform to the standards of her own neighborhood and also to the expected standards of the students competing in the spelling bee. Initially, her friends at school, reject her as she goes through the changes but eventually, they come around, particularly her best friend, Georgia. When Akeelah appears on Georgia's doorstep and tells her that if she wants to be a flight attendant Georgia must first fly on a plane. The next day, before the plane has left the ground in Los Angeles, Georgia has changed her career goal from flight attendant to pilot, realizing that she will have to attend college and flight training to achieve that new goal. Culture is not static, it is ever-changing as Nieto stated and in this instance, the culture of Georgia's "world" has changed.

Other examples of the changes in the culture of the neighborhood are the gang leader telling Akeelah's brother to help her study her words and the "deal" he makes with Akeelah before he drives away. He mentioned that he had seen her on TV and knew she was trying to win a contest. He reflects on how he wrote the winning poem in his class in elementary school. When Akeelah validates his accomplishment by asking to read it, he tells her she can read it "after you win the contest." In that, even the gang leader shows new respect for education.

By the time Akeelah departs for Washington, DC to participate in the national spelling bee, many people have helped her study the 5000 words in the boxes that Dr. Larabee gave her. The culture of the neighborhood has changed just a bit. People respect education, they are hoping Akeelah will win, they are proud of her accomplishments and they are all slightly more interested in bettering themselves. They are still the same people with the same culture but it is a new reflection on the values and traditions they hold.

References

Nieto, S. (2010). The light in their eyes: Creating multicultural learning communities. (10th Anniversary ed). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Snowman, J., McCown, R., & Biehler, R. (2012). Psychology applied to teaching. (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.