This week, we were given a required topic to blog about in regards to our past discussions of Obasan by Joy Kogawa. The topic was to respond to our experiences at the Kogawa Fonds. Although we were given one topic to talk about, students in our class chose to approach the topic in various ways. Many decided to focus on the plethora of documents and drafts, and how these allowed them to confirm the stories in Obasan, and how it helped further their understanding of memory. Amanda states that “these documents helped [her] to comprehend how Kogawa’s perception of memory is by collecting materials”. She also adds that “these materials would not only contribute to public memory but they also help support Kogawa’s book and help her narrate a story with the influence from her personal experiences”. In further regards to the substantiating of these memories, Kate states that these fonds “give tangible evidence of truth. Memory becomes graspable in documents, letters and drafts”. Agreeing, Brenna discusses how “seeing the amount of research and effort Kogawa had put into this novel made [her] respect her much more”. She continues on with the the credibility conversation, saying that “having the opportunity to see the historical documents [Joy] used to write the novel gave [her] a higher sense of credibility to the experiences that the characters in the book experienced”.

Others focused on the difficulties and struggles that Joy Kogawa faced during the publishing process; particularly touching on the subject of silence. Anna brings up how many were uncomfortable with the story of re-telling, especially with the character of Aunt Emily. While looking through publisher’s criticisms, she notes that “one reviewer is especially critical of the character of Aunt Emily. At one point he says, ‘[Emily] is for me the least real & convincing character in the story. Even her name bothers me’”. Anthony adds on to this, saying “publishers seemed to be hesitant to be at the forefront of a notion of reconciliation for those affected by the internment”. Even the Prime Minister had “the belief that the book [was] light reading. This speaks to how the Japanese internment had not been addressed or given much serious thought”. Alexa also builds on this idea, stating that “the fonds shine light on victim silencing at an institutional level, and Kogawa took extra measures to ensure that her story could be heard across the nation”. She also comments on the fan letters Kogawa receives, and how by “[writing] about the impact Kogawa’s writings had on them, it is clear that there are citizens who are curious to hear her melodic stories and experiences of trauma”.

Many people in our class come from countries other than Canada and had no knowledge of the Japanese Internment, like Silvana. She explains how she knew nothing about the Japanese-Canadian’s suffering prior to reading Obasan, but “after visiting the RBSC and exploring through some of Joy Kogawa’s archives [she] felt connected to her writer persona at an angle much different than the novel provided”. She also explains how this allowed her to also appreciator Kogawa’s “role not only as a writer but as a literary activist”–a term I found especially interesting as I had never heard Kogawa being referred to as that, but is a perfect title for her with the impact Obasan has had.

Through there being a set topic, as class blogger for this week I was allowed to see the many approaches my peers took and the many patterns that came as a result. Many chose to focus on how the Fonds allowed them to better understand the Japanese-Canadian’s stories of suffering. However, majority decided to discuss the publishers criticism letters, and rejection letters, furthering the conversation on the theme of silence. Overall, it seemed like the visit to the Kogawa Fonds was beneficial to everyone, allowing us all to see the hard work and intricacy that went into publishing the book we had been discussing for many classes, and also the importance of publishing it. By writing Obasan, Joy Kogawa allows us to read about the (mostly silent) sufferings of the Japanese-Canadians and better understand the unfamiliar history of Canada.

Works Cited:

Amanda Baker https://blogs.ubc.ca/amandasblog/
Alexa Fordy https://blogs.ubc.ca/alexafordyblog/
Anna Giesting https://blogs.ubc.ca/annagiestingastublog/
Anthony Maag https://blogs.ubc.ca/anthonym/
Brenna Williams https://blogs.ubc.ca/brennasblog/
Kate Pasula https://blogs.ubc.ca/katepasula/
Silvana Martinez Zapata https://blogs.ubc.ca/silvanamastu/on-obasan/

Concluding our seventh week of university we have explored a variety of topics and texts in our ASTU class. For this date, most students decided to write their blogs on themes inspired on our first literary work to be discussed, Marjane Satrapi’s graphic narrative Persepolis. While some students’ interest was sparked by the comic genre’s form and characteristics (Melody, Lukas, Anna Huynh), others were very intrigued by this introduction to Iranian and Islamic culture and the portrayal Satrapi provides in her narrative, resulting in engaging reflections. (Kate, Leah, Daanish, Nejmo). I consider the general opinions to be very interesting, as it was also fascinating to me encountering a text that carries on such a sincere portrayal of a culture, a historical time, and a childhood through a genre that used to be underestimated by the academy.

Persepolis is not my first comic ever read, but this piece of work can be taken as a turning point, for it opened my eyes to graphic narrative genre. As Anna Huynh puts it, these are “more than just drawings”, for they have the power of depicting actions that would otherwise be described in a significant amount of words. Anna quotes a 2016 interview to Satrapi where she says, “comics are really connected to fine arts(…) you write with your drawing”. Huynh also reflects on the drawing technique used by Satrapi in Persepolis, and even compares a sample page of the book with a page from Archie Comics’ Spiderman (2005). To her perspective, the simplistic drawings used in Persepolis allow the reader to focus on the essence of the narrative, and this is a distinction between Satrapi’s memoir and a fantastic comic book, for graphics are a very effective tool for stories, but their visual delivery must not distract from its intent.

Melody was also very interested in Satrapi’s overall comic techniques, and shows great appreciation for this genre as she argues that comics can even be “superior to other forms of art”. I agree with her in the sense that it is a very powerful genre, and there is lots of merit in carrying out such exemplary as is Persepolis, especially given the difficult themes it involves. However, I am often more driven by words as I can hear them sound in my head as I read them (my personal experience). I think it is admirable to transform experiences of public and private trauma into visual image, and Melody agrees with comics’ “therapeutic strategy” through “filtered images” that enable the ease of hard topics.

Furthermore, Satrapi’s work has ignited more than just appreciation for the graphic narrative genre, for her story as such has also unraveled very personal accounts on behalf of many students. Daanish is particularly impressed with the way Satrapi portrays religion and class throughout Persepolis, as it is relatable with his personal experience in Pakistan, a theocratic republic of polarized yet confused political ideals. Not only has his family lived in the country whilst unstable political changes, but he also feels connected to Marji’s character as they both grew up in privileged conditions relative to their context. People even “spoke in English instead of Urdu”, in his neighborhood and many people had a maid, (two factors similar to Marji’s case in Iran). On the other hand, Leah could not relate personally to Satrapi’s narrative, but she did relate with the topic of islamophobia that supplements Satrapi’s intent behind the story’s publication via her uncle’s experience being a Muslim in the United States, for instance in cases like immigration complications related to discrimination.

Finally, there are cases like Kate’s, whom was first introduced to the idea of “Iran” when we started reading the book for class. Having no personal relation to the background context nor the genre, the story sparked her interest as something bright new. She is very intrigued about the way Satrapi has broken boundaries between media-related knowledge and a personal account on the private life of an Iranian girl. Objects like the veil, an image western audience associates directly with Islam, are taken out of the traditional frame to challenge the western readers, encouraging them to break assumptions and be open to an intimate Iranian story. This way, the fact that Marji’s family ride a Cadillac is normalized. Kate understands and values Satrapi’s work, praising how narratives like hers “dissipate the ignorance that surrounds her country”.

Like Kate, I have no personal connection with Iranian or Islamic culture, but I am a girl who grew up in a country that has lived in armed conflict for more than 50 years, and I am incredibly lucky to have a safe and comfortable life based on my parent’s hard work. Persepolis has made me aware that our collective history must always be acknowledged, and that our personal narratives matter when it comes to breaking down stereotypes. This narrative has also opened my eyes towards so many different topics, from growing up, politics, Islam, memory, and even feminism. I admire how Satrapi has created a timeless story, breaking all sort of traditional paradigms, and opening my mind to topics and previously remote to me, such as communism and comics. Reading my classmates’ blogs has been a very interesting experience as well, as I am conscious on how other people my age with totally different backgrounds interpret this “story of a childhood” and the idea of it being portrayed through a comic form.

Links: https://blogs.ubc.ca/annahuynh/ https://blogs.ubc.ca/melosastu100blog/ https://blogs.ubc.ca/daanishsayani/2017/10/12/blog-2-on-islamization-and-internal-contradictions/ https://blogs.ubc.ca/leahtaylor/ https://blogs.ubc.ca/katepasula/

For the past week in our ASTU class, we have been reading on ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi. We learned that this graphic narrative is not your ordinary comic book you pick out from the stores. As a class, we discovered a deeper meaning and explored the ideologies in this book. This week, most of our classmates decided to blog about ‘Persepolis’ and have expressed their own point of view. Some of our classmates focused on the graphic narrative but some others explored the meaning of wearing a veil, others compared themselves and relate their childhood to Marji’s.

It is interesting to see how memoir is represented as a comic book. As a comic reader, we tend to believe that comics are light-hearted and for a young generation. However, ‘Persepolis’ is not only a comic book to read but also informs others about the history of Iran. The graphic genre presents itself with short and brief sentences, pointed out by Melody, which are very straightforward and provided a cliff-hanging emotion. We do not know what is going to happen next and we are on the edge of our seats. We could also consider that the short blunt sentences is due to the fact Marji is a child. Children are commonly brutally honest and consider only their point of view.

The veil in ‘Persepolis’ is an important symbol for Marji. As a little girl, after the revolution, she did not have any choice to wear a headscarf and she despised wearing it. The veil does create a form of identity for yourself but also forms another identity from the observer side. Interestingly, Amanda explored the motivation behind wearing a veil. The article that she read, presents the veil as a religious symbol as they feel excluded in our society. Perhaps the ladies that wear the veil as a shield from society.

At times, war is a difficult subject to approach. There are so many angles to look at war and perspectives to explain a war. But in any situation, the person who lives through war has the hardest life. They must see a lot of violent events but try to continue to live their lives.  Most of us in the class would not be able to relate to Marji’s experience. But we all had life changing moments such as starting university. We decided for a change and we adapted to the new environment. Nonetheless, we cannot imagine Marji’s violent and oppressed life. As Daniela compares herself to Marji’s childhood, she believes that her survival instincts would kick in. After all, it would be hard to imagine it if we never lived through it. Marji’s story shows us that we can live our daily lives even with war by her side. It’s important to represent living a more positive life in a war zone.

I find it fascinating how everyone feels affected by reading ‘Persepolis’ either on an emotional level or even on a visual level. The simple graphic novel has conveyed numerous messages and we all received and reflected on them.

Amanda Baker : https://blogs.ubc.ca/amandasblog/

Daniela Reis Harary :https://blogs.ubc.ca/danielaastu/

Melody Yu :https://blogs.ubc.ca/melosastu100blog/

I have read over the writings of my peers this week, most of which surround the graphic narrative, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, of which we have been studying recently in class. The book puts you in the mind of Marji, a young girl growing up Iran throughout the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. It is a very captivating story, as well as a beautifully drawn one.
Many of my classmates chose to delve into the artistic aspects of the narrative, analyzing its illustrations and their significance to the greater themes. Persepolis is driven by its drawings; they’re basically the most important storytelling technique in the book. Satrapi is able to set a scene in a beautiful manor while still maintaining such simplicity. The elegance at which she does so is very impressive.
Lukas’s blog this week (https://blogs.ubc.ca/lukasblog/) brought up the role of the color scheme in conveying themes and ideas. He argued that this helped convey various juxtapositions, such as the “stark contrast between the east and the west” that was perceived to exist. The simplicity of using only two colors allows for very clear lines to be drawn between things. He discussed how Satrapi often uses black to represent power and white to represent peace and happiness. Through this, we can see how she can convey large themes and ideas without needing much dialogue. There are countless panels in the book that are very simple yet abstract, teaching the reader a lot about the situation but I think this is really cool and highlights her ability to be abstract with the storytelling but stick to very accessible methods.
Melody discussed on her blog (https://blogs.ubc.ca/melosastu100blog/) several concepts I found very interesting. She mentions how the cartoonish nature of the drawings makes them better for younger audiences or those with histories of trauma. Many of the events Satrapi discusses are very brutal and could be extremely triggering if someone has violence in their history. Instead of seeing real pictures of stabbings and torture, readers get what one could call an abridged version of that. While this may not seem to be that big of a deal, I think that it actually is extremely important, because it allows many more people to access this book. If what Satrapi writes about can impact at least one of those additional people significantly, than that is something of note.
I will wrap up soon, I just want to reference one last blog to highlight the power of the illustrations in this book. Anthony (https://blogs.ubc.ca/anthonym/) wrote of what he calls the grey parts of the book. I feel like I can’t put it in better words than him so here is a bit of what he wrote.
“Very rarely does an issue have exclusively only two possibilities, thus the black and white way of division has another component. There is grey. I believe that Persepolis is shown in black and white because through the text the audience can understand the grey. The grey can be seen in the faltering opinions and feelings of Marji or in the people of Iran.”
I think I will leave it on that note. Persepolis changed what it meant to be a “comic book” and has defined the genre of graphic narratives. People always say that a picture can show a thousand words, and I know it sounds pretty corny, but I kind of think it’s true here.

This week of blog posts consisted of our primary focus in class which is the topic of the graphic novel Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi. The themes of these posts expanded from talking about the veil, and coming to an understanding of what they represent, all the way to discussing the importance of graphic narratives as a genre. Each of the student’s posts were both enlightening and eye-opening. I was able to gain an inside view of my classmate’s perspectives of their thoughts that they have when engaging with this particular text.

Before diving into Persepolis, as a class we were given articles by different women about the veil in which we were exposed to varying perspectives of their reasons for choosing to wear or not wear the veil. Amanda has shed some light on this particular topic in her blog post titled Wearing the veil as a form of identity. Amanda shares some insight on the identity that the veil creates. Amanda writes, “However, after reading multiple articles written by women who have a close relationship with the veil, I learned that the the veil can also act as a form of identity.” Through exposure of different women’s perspective Amanda was able to acknowledge the other, less known side of the reasonings of wearing the veil. She mentions as well that this information was new to her. The presence of loud media makes it is easy to come to the conclusion that women are forced to wear the veil and are therefore being oppressed. However, Amanda along with myself, have come to learn that this is just one side of the story.

Alternatively Leah decided to use Persepolis as a stimulus for her blog post but chooses to focus more on the perception of Muslims. Leah beautifully interwove a personal story of her Uncle Bobak who was born in Iran and lived there at the same age as Marji. She went on mentioning how Persepolis has sparked a yearning to get to know more about her Uncle and his experiences. Leah shared, “Because his situation is not unique and millions of non-white Americans, Canadians, and people all over the world are discriminated against and stereotyped as being terrorists”. Leah expresses the current situation in our modern society and how the media in, predominantly, western countries assume that people who are Muslim must be terrorists. As a way of moving forward from this, Leah suggests that people educate themselves about different cultures and engage with narratives, such as Persepolis, to have a more open-minded and worldly view.

Some of the class has already read Persepolis either for pleasure or in their past classes. Julian reflects on his previous experience of reading Persepolis and how reading it a second time has completely changed how he views the graphic narrative. Julian even brings in a quote from one of his book reports, when he was 9, expressing that there were some interesting points however he was not happy with the pacing. Through his experiences like tutoring Syrian refugee children and hearing their stories has helped Julian gain a newfound appreciation for Persepolis. On a different note, Melody chose to discuss the graphic novel as a genre. She shares how taken aback she was when she came to learn that we were going to be reading a comic, and after all aren’t comics for kids? However, her perspective on the genre has changed completely, “Since reading ‘Persepolis’, I have come to realise the power of graphic narratives and animation.”  With the addition of pictures of panels taken from the graphic narrative, Melody makes her argument of how the simplicity of the icons work in conjunction with the text to convey the trauma that Marji faced.

It is quite obvious after reading my classmate’s blog posts that Persepolis has had a profound impact on us as a whole. Not only that, but this graphic narrative has opened our eyes to the potential that the genre of graphic narratives have to offer. Satrapi through her simplistic yet expressionistic depictions of Marji’s childhood in Iran during and after the Islamic Revolution are striking while engaging. These elements work symbiotically to convey the story Satrapi is trying to share and has most definitely achieved this in our class.

This week’s blog posts covered the full breadth of our first month in ASTU. Many of our classmates focused on our exploration of genres and academic writing, while many chose to comment specifically on Kate Douglas’ article on selfies and witnessing. Some chose to reach further back and focus on our joint lecture and the discussion of memory and history. All of the posts were insightful, but the discussions that I was especially interested in were those that surrounded Douglas’ article, one of the more loaded topics that we have looked at so far.

Douglas’ argument was, even for most of the class, fairly shocking. After all, we have also been raised with certain cultural norms and concepts of what is and is not appropriate in specific contexts. This is very apparent in the fact that not everyone was convinced by Douglas’ essay. Some felt, to quote Thursday’s class discussion, that Douglas had given the individuals taking ‘inappropriate’ selfies “too much credit.” Several people build on this point in their blog posts. Esther’s post, for example, centers on the idea that traditional witnessing rituals serve individual purposes that cannot be replaced. She argues that, because of the fact that individuals cannot experience the specific horrific events firsthand, witnessing rituals are built around the idea of empathy and are “intended as a means for us to understand.” This point, I believe, can be extended to the idea that it is the ritual itself and not the concept of ritual that is important. If this is so, can selfies truly serve the role of witnessing? Alexa’s post builds on this, and ultimately argues that they cannot. Citing an essay by media scholar Yasmin Ibrahim, Alexa argues that selfies do not match the context of witnessing sites, and create a ‘duality’ by exclaiming that “I’m alive where others have been sacrificed.”

However, there are contrary perspectives offered in a number of blog posts. One I find particularly interesting is Amanda’s, in which she offers her perspective as someone who is half-Thai and half-Canadian. Amanda describes how, in Thailand, attitudes towards selfies at memorial sites are completely different, and that they are even encouraged. She argues that this is due to varying social norms, and that cultural background does in fact influence the rituals and expectations we attach to memorial sites. Anthony’s blog post complements this, not expressing complete agreement with Douglas’ argument, but nonetheless stating that “our judgement or disapproval must not draw a line in the sand, never to be crossed.” Anthony’s post argues for a sense of cultural malleability and the idea that new trends need to be contemplated more carefully and not simply cast as intrinsically good or bad.

I think all of the aforementioned blog posts bring up some fantastic points and ask great questions: do rituals serve specific, lasting objectives? Are these rituals universal? Are certain practices simply incompatible with certain contexts? Personally I find the answers to be multidimensional. I definitely think Amanda’s example of Thai cultural differences regarding selfies makes a strong case against the universality of rituals. At the same time, I do think that witnessing rituals should be treated individually according to purposes and principles, rather than as broad cultural phenomena that must necessarily change over time. Most importantly, however, I think it is imperative to think about these questions and participate in academic discussion (a recurring theme in our ASTU class), rather than leaving them to be answered automatically. I definitely value Douglas’ essay for doing just that.

What Anna H. said about globalization and its contribution to the scholarly conversation was interesting to me. Indeed, with globalization, it is easier for scholars of different culture backgrounds to communicate. These are also the people who may speak more than one language, and potentially have access to additional sources of knowledge and conversations from their cultural background. This would broaden the “pool of knowledge”.

I am reminded of content learnt in Anthropology about cultures often carry a wealth of knowledge in their language and traditions. Having developed along separate paths for centuries, different cultures may have become “specialized” in different ways. For example, only after interacting with the Polynesians did Captain James Cook realise their incredible knowledge about sea navigation, which far exceeded the Europeans. Or the medicinal knowledge of many indigenous tribes. Likewise, with globalization, I think that it would be beneficial and time-efficient for scholars from of different cultures to share and combine knowledge. Nevertheless, I think that it is still essential for cultures to continue progressing in their own ways to prevent their individual knowledge development from reaching a plateau.

However, I have some doubts. Since English is currently considered the leading language in academia and most academic articles are published in English, the pool of academic journals scholars search from may still be rather “closed”. Yet, it may be the case that the scholars do contribute knowledge from their different backgrounds, and the use of English is only the means to present and share the knowledge.

The past month of university and more specifically, CAP Global Citizens, has not only taught us how to understand knowledge presented in an academic genre, but the means of expressing our own ideas.  After reading the posts of all of my classmates, the feelings for many topics that resonate appear to overlap.  Although bloggers diverged when addressing personal connections to topics such as genre, Kate Douglas’ essay, and memory, they all seem to formulate this basic understanding of what it means to be, and act as a scholar.

Many bloggers introduce concepts that dealt with Giltrow’s Introduction to “Academic Writing”.  These concepts, such as genre and the summary were discussed and blogged about not just as facts, but with personal experiences attached.  Kate described how the concept of orchestrating voices gave her appreciation of the control a writer has.  She states “It wasn’t until we reached the idea of orchestrating voices that I really came to understand the imaginative control…”.   A large majority of the bloggers commented on the concept of genre and how it connects to daily life.  Many connected the idea of genre, described by Amanda as “purpose, audience, occasion” to the World War Two video on the Japanese Canadians, as well as Kate Douglas’ essay.   Some, including Lukas, pointed out the difference in approach between high school, and university in respect to genre.  In high school, genre was merely a category for a book, but as we discussed in class, genre follows an individual in daily life.  It can come as a text, a newspaper, or even a selfie.  The methods and techniques learned throughout the past month across all CAP classes have aided with becoming fluent scholarly writers, as some bloggers mentioned.

Memory was a common trend in discussion of the bloggers, especially in relation to some of the topic discussed in class.   Many bloggers, such as Anjali, connected personal experience, and attributed it to the ASTU broad theme of memory vs. history.  Anjali states “A memoir is subjective interpretation of events that the author has experienced”.  The idea of memory connects to that of memorialization, which was heavily discussed amongst the majority of bloggers.  The idea of memory vs. history also connects to other CAP classes, as pointed out by Brenna.   She brings up the film that was watched and analyzed by all CAP Global Citizens students about Japanese Canadians in World War Two.  Shira also commented on this, stating how the history of the film extends to the present, as she experienced “perceived race” upon arrival to Canada, the idea of generalization.  The concept of memory and history connects to all our CAP classes, which acts as a broader academic discussion, and allows for understanding of a particular theme throughout multiple fields.

Kate Douglas’ essay about selfies taken at memorial sites inspired the majority of discussion amongst blogs.  This could be due to the fact that it is relatable to our generation, or possible because it is such a contentious topic.  Many bloggers expressed not only their opinions, but personal experiences pertaining to the matter.  Benny discussed how his visit to a concentration camp and encounter with a selfie taking tourist was quite distasteful.  Controversy aside, Kate Douglas’ essay was not only important in terms of content, but really summed up much of the academic writing techniques discussed previously.   For the majority, this essay was a first look at a university level paper, and how the academic writing genre applied.  The essay demonstrated the concepts discussed in Giltrow’s “Academic Writing: An Introduction”, such as orchestrating voices, the summary, and genre.  In terms of content, the idea of memory versus history was particularly prevalent as the academic discussion revolved around wither or not taking a selfie at a site of a tragedy was disrespectful or not.  The points brought up in the essay, such as second hand witnessing helped to change the opinions, such as Telisa who states “Her article challenged my views and allowed me to see things in a positive light”.   Kate Douglas’ essay encompasses all the concepts taught in ASTU through not only content, but form as well.

The first month really put an emphasis on what it means to be/act as a scholar, but then again, so is the majority of time spent learning at university.  We discussed various academic writing techniques, the idea of memory versus history, genre, and Kate Douglas’ essay on selfies.  Learning these has added into the toolbox that we as students can now use throughout all of our future academic ventures not only in the course of arts studies, but with all courses.

-Julian

Kate: https://blogs.ubc.ca/katepasula/

Lukas: https://blogs.ubc.ca/lukasblog/

Anjali: https://blogs.ubc.ca/abentley

Brenna: https://blogs.ubc.ca/brennasblog/

Shira: https://blogs.ubc.ca/shira/

Benny: https://blogs.ubc.ca/bennyastu/

Telisa: https://blogs.ubc.ca/telisa/

Beautiful post Telisa! You raised several really pertinent points in this post. It’s true that we have all been raised in era with rapid technological advancements, such as Facebook, twitter and instagram. Like you said, I didn’t think too much about selfies and just seemed to be a trend that would eventually be replaced with a new one. Your post made me think, just because everyone is doing something does it make it ok? Since it has become common for people, in particular teens, to take selfies at places of atrocities it in a sense normalises it. It’s interesting that Kate Douglas was able to open your eyes to understanding “dark selfies”. Although I still can’t say that I agree or feel comfortable with that idea but I do feel that I have a much more in-depth understanding of why it has become so common.

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