The word, “hood,” is derived from the word “neighborhood” and has increasingly come to assume different meanings in modern-day contexts. No matter where you look to in mass media, from Urban Dictionary (a crowdsourced online English language dictionary for slang words and phrases) to hip-hop music and movies, the hood is always described as “a place where plenty of shit goes down like gangbangin, drug dealin, killin, a place where you wouldnt want to be,” as explained by Urban Dictionary user, Adept, on April 1st, 2005. This one example brings into context the wider sentiment that the outside world feels when the word, hood, is brought up; one of negative connotation. When we characterize a certain region that people live in like this, we often fail to take into account how stereotypes are often falsely perpetuated among these individuals, especially younger children that grow up in the new age where everyone has access to mass and social media. By seeing such negatives forms and uses of where they live in examples of movies, music videos, etc, particularly young African American children are placed in a sense of “normalcy,” where they feel that this is the way they must live; continuing the cycle of gang violence and poverty that preceded them.   

This topic, in particular, was of much interest to me. it is intriguing to see how mass media perceives the hood and other young African American kids, like myself, that live in it. As I browse mass media, the internet, and social media I see a common theme among ideals of the hood. They always epitomize it as violent, full of drugs, murder, and obtaining money in illegal ways. As a result of this, and given the opportunity to explore a changing and intriguing story, I chose something that I see all the time online. I can also relate to it because I see a part of my African American culture in them. With this paper, I can really understand how the internet and the spread of information on it can impact how people in the hood live and grow up into the stereotypes placed on them. 

Throughout the narrative medicine course, we have been exposed to a plethora of texts revolving around a central theme of understanding the underserved and people less fortunate than you. My topic takes these ideals into account by referencing outside perceptions of the ghetto and using different sources to show how these ideals can negatively influence stereotypes, and keep kids born into this system and lifestyle locked into what the hood is defined as. 

In “Constructing Normalcy” by Leonard J Davis, the concept of being in the “norm” is brought up. This ideology considers and conceives what the “average” should be and states that all people should seek this “normalcy.” Davis argues that the social concept of normalcy can have negative implications in modern-day contexts. When we take into conext normalcy as its own concept, this may create the problem we see today in perceptions of people with disease and illness. The problem then doesn’t become the person with the disability, but the way that society has constructed normalcy to create and perpetuate the problem. Davis first published his article on Constructing Normalcy in 1995, so it is a pretty dated source. Nonetheless, it is still a great and prevalent source present-day. The concepts of norms and living in the norms constructed by society rings true to this day. In comparison to my work, by emphasizig the norms associated with the hood and bringing in general examples that Davis addresses, my paper can blend well with the outside evidence.