Hello Readers,

This week as the final class blogger I had the opportunity to read the blogs of all my classmates. The blogs this week had a particular focus on the film that was most recently analyzed in class American Sniper. The class looked at American Sniper from many different points of view with topics like grievability, media representation, and the Iraq war being a few of the most prominent. These points of view created a large conversation within the class about the best way to view films like American Sniper and how we should remember events like the Iraq War.

Many of the bloggers in our class to a critical view of the film analyzing how it contributes to contemporary racism and islamophobia. This opinion is seen in blogs by Lisa, Wamaitha, and Irene they all see American Sniper as supporting the mentality that the Americans are the good guys and the Iraqis are inferior. The bloggers describe this relationship as the “us vs them” mentality. All three bloggers relate how this idea has furthered problems in modern society Lisa focuses on how this “us vs them” mentality has caused Americans to “villainize” another culture, and see themselves as the saviours of the world. All three bloggers see the us vs them mentality as very concerning as it can help to fuel Islamophobia, and spreads an inherently flawed narrative that undermines the humanity of the Iraqis. The concept that one side is good and the other side is evil takes away from any unified collective in society and works to undermine unity.

Other bloggers like Ayse, Victoria, and Julia focused American Sniper and the concept of precariousness of life outlined by Butler. Victoria and Julia both looked at how the Iraqi lives in American Sniper were precarious in a time of conflict. Julia took a greater focus on how ordinary people tried to live normal lives while war rages around them and how this combined with the American point of view created a shared precariousness. Victoria saw the film as only the American lives as being precarious, and sees the movie as making the Iraqi lives much less precarious. Ayse also analyzes precariousness in her blog, but takes a unique point of view and analyzes Turkish losses in conflict. Ayse looks at how the state reacts to losses, and questions whether the Turkish government sees precariousness in life or if they believe that soldiers’ lives are expendable. Looking at precarity is important as it can bring people together under the united idea that all lives are precarious, but this is only possible if we see other lives as lives at all.

This idea of whether a life is a life, and is a life grievable is analyzed closely by a few members of the class this week. Codi, Beril, and Devon both looked at how American Sniper portrays the lives of the Iraqis, and how it dehumanizes them in comparison to the lives of the Americans. Both bloggers looked at how Chris Kyle dehumanizes the Iraqis through his titling them as savages along with Chris Kyle’s opinion that he would’ve killed more Iraqis to protect his men. Codi and Devon propose that this kind of mentality causes the Iraqi lives to become less grievable. They point out that this is especially true as compared to the American lives lost as they are given full background stories, and they have personalities that are relatable and it is possible to sympathize with them. Codi outlines in particular the scene with the Iraqi boy and the grenade. She argues that in this scene we as viewers don’t grieve the boy, but instead feel pain for Chris Kyle and the emotional trauma he faces. The idea of who is grievable is an important question to ask particularly in a class labelled as Global Citizens as if we are all global citizens then is every life as important as the other or is there a line separating who we grieve and who we do not?

Many of the students in the class used all of the skills we have learned throughout the year to better analyze American Sniper through many points of view. Lily and Kasper note how they now view media like American Sniper from a different point of view, and how they now analyze it to see the narrative. This year has taught us all many important themes, and we as scholars should take this learning to analyze the world around us so that we can better understand the themes that are unfolding around us in modern society. From looking at all of the blogs it is clear that all of the bloggers are now exploring many new themes, and are now relating these themes to the broader world.

Hello readers,

Lately in ASTU we have been studying the works of Juliana Spahr, as well as the general medium of poetry in connection to other fields of study. I myself, am a big fan of poetry, so I was very interested in the content of the blogs this week. Most bloggers decided to focus on poetry related topics that ranged from the effects that poetry has on a large scale, such as war efforts, or on a small scale, such as a tool for self expression or discovery.

Poetry has gained the negative reputation in many high schools as being restrictive and pedantic, resulting in many students aversion to the genre as a whole. This opinion is seen in both Codi’s and Evan’s blogs as they were not the biggest fans of poetry before a recent change in opinion. Codi described her previous experiences with poetry “mundane” while Evan disliked how “systematic” the genre was until they both were able to look past the structures and understand how poetry can take various forms and hold great meaning. On the opposite end of the spectrum however, Jordan expressed in her blog her appreciation of poetry and the wonders and complexities that it holds.

Kaspar, Eun Ho, and Julia made the connection between the poetry that we have been introduced to in class and the poetry found in various cultures around the world. Eun Ho relates the poems that we have studied to the works of Shakespeare and notices how the poems have “immortalized” pieces of the past and as long as they are read, the past is alive. Julia takes a similar stance while regarding the “universality” of the work of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam, and how it remains “relevant” after centuries across cultural and lingual barriers. Kaspar writes about his experiences with Chinese poetry and discusses how poetry is used across cultures as a form of expression and is “a key to personal understanding”.

Some bloggers took a more zoomed out view on poetry and explored its political effects, in connection to the works that we have studied in class. Oliver examined the history behind two polarizing poems depicting war, and the effects that they would each have on moral and war efforts. He noted that poetry can “evoke feelings of hope or helplessness” and can be used to form a certain mentality or opinion on a war. Irene looked at how poetry can be used to help spread knowledge and understanding of a particular event cross-culturally. Lisa looked at the political conversation surrounding the publication of poetry from Guantanamo Bay and how it can be “detrimental” to the institution.

The blogs this week were mostly about poetry with the exception of Devons and Berils blogs which focused on broader topics. Beril mentioned poetry, but was more focused on her personal experience with precarity. I was intrigued by her comparison of sports teams and armies and supported her questioning of the idea of nationality and other socially constructed groups of belonging. Devon explored a charity video starring Ed Sheeran that has gained a lot of criticism for creating a demeaning narrative of poor countries. He noted that this genre can be associated with “poverty porn” and contributes to an overall negative view of the places portrayed.

This weeks blog posts were filled with insightful commentaries on topics and issues that we have discussed in class. They explored the various uses and opinions of poetry, precarity as well as the impacts of certain genres.

Wamaitha

Hi everybody:

This week I’m one of the class blogger, thus it is my honor to read and reflect on my classmates’ blog entries. With the beginning of the poetry section of course, the genre of poetry became what most focused on, with some exceptions commentating on current events or relating personal experiences with course materials.

It seems apparent that, almost as an consensus, everyone in class now have a renewed understanding to the poetic format. Most of my peers mentioned that before their recent re-introduction to poetry, the genre was seen as boring, dry, and was understood as almost a robotic format focusing on structure. As Evan mentioned in his blog “The Art of Poetry”. During his experience learning about poetry prior to the ASTU class, the poems were taught in an almost mathematical fashion. The emphasis on the structure of the poems was an obstacle for his enjoyment of poetry, but the more recent focus on the content with the structure put in context was extremely helpful in allowing Even to enjoy the poems more. Despite the majority of the class’s somewhat unsatisfactory experiences with poetry in high school, Jordan was an exception. In her blog, she was able to decode a poem with her skill from composing poems, every stanza was carefully analyzed line by line, demonstrating a passion for poetry. She also mentioned in her blog that she is current writing poems during her free time.

With the renewed understanding on poetry, poetry is seem by many of the class as an highly effective and powerful media in rising social awareness, and in preserving memory and history. As many of my classmates mentioned, poetry is a powerful tool in conveying sentiments and emotions. Irene examined what such power of poetry did in a poem, and found it highly effective in communicating to the masses and reinforcing the sense of common precarity. Oliver on the other hand found such powerfulness in conveying emotion can be damaging to morale during wartime, reaching the conclusion that, it is sensible and excusable to censor some poems during times of war. Some other like Eun Ho and Kasper focused on the poem’s ability to enable learning and preserving of history, with Eun Ho focusing on the immortalization of events from history in poems and Kasper focusing the connection provided by poems between the personal and the collective.

Other then poetry, some other topics was written on as well this week. Devon discussed the Ed Sheeran shown to the class by Professor Luger, his tended to find the western portrayal of poverty in developing countries problematic, although he also admitted that videos such as Ed Sheeran’s success in providing immediate material support. Beril connected our classroom learning to current real world events, she reflected on a recent conversation between she and her boyfriend regarding the war in Syria, and was able to ask the question of “Who do we grief”, and criticize the sport game like perception of war. Ayse connected one of her personal experiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009 and in 2016, she particularly mentioned the intentionally unfixed war torn buildings and their purpose of remembrance.

In general, most of my classmates focused on the recently renewed experience on poetry, and analyzed its function and ability. Some other was able to connect our classroom learning to real world problem or personal experience, helping themselves and I see the topics from a different lens and perspective.

Hi everybody,

Over the last couple of weeks, the ASTU class has taken a major course shift and we have been analysing and reviewing poetry. We have looked at poetry as a literary genre and analysed its significant contribution to the topics in line with the previous material that we have been engaging with. Poems by Wisława Szymborska, John McCrae, Randall Jarrell and most importantly – This Connection of Everyone With Lungs – by Juliana Spahr. This particular set of poems talks about the world after 9/11. What makes this all the more challenging is that, these particular poems come under the subgenre of ‘language poetry’ in comparison to the common ‘lyric poetry’. It is conceptual poetry that emphasis not the semantic, but the material aspects of language. For most of us, if not all, this was an unheard of topic and hence, there were different ways the class reacted and felt about this form of poetry.

The class had mixed emotions when it comes to the political and sentimental aspects of the poems. Oliver, for example, talks about the two contrasting war poems by John McCrae (In Flanders Fields) and Randall Jarrell (The Ball Turret Gunner) and how these poems were censored during the wars of the 20th century in order to protect countries’ morale as these poems had the power to alter people’s feelings and to boycott their support of the wars as it contained the actual gory details of reality. But McCrae’s poem glorifies the efforts during war and hence, became a statutory reading for every Remembrance Day while Jarrell’s poem was dismissed as neglecting the positive efforts of the soldiers and therefore, was not as famous/celebrated like McCrae’s poem albeit, they were written about the same topic. Oliver uses this comparison to justify the political and national impact that poetry can have. Lisa writes along the same lines, stating that “Poems from Guantanamo” edited by Marc Falkhoff, is a book that not takes out, but rather adds politicised context to poetry and that the poems written by the prisoners not only are a means of communication, but also have major broader political implications.

Other students like Codi and Evan, took a different viewpoint towards reflecting on the poems. They reviewed how their traditional understanding of poems being structured and mundane had changed with the knowledge and understanding of these recent poems. They understood the impact of poetry as a wider genre and its direct effect on our relationships and responsibilities as a society as it highlights and brings awareness of the connection that we possess and how our every action can create a difference in the world.

All in all, it was indeed helpful that the class took these various stances instead of a common one, as it brought out the ability to look at poetry and its meaning through multiple lenses and connect and reflect on the importance that it has in society today.

For the past two weeks, our ASTU class has been focusing on the literary genre of poetry. We have looked at a variety of poems and analyzed their underlying political sentiments. Recently we have focused on the post 9/11 poetry by Juliana Spahr in her book, This Connection of Everyone with Lungs. Her unique approach to poetry has proven both a challenge and a source of intrigue for our class. In general, our class has mixed emotions towards the genre of poetry. Some appreciate poetry, while others find it confusing and redundant. Regardless of personal preferences, the class has shown to be very engaged with poetry and its connection to broader political contexts.

Jordan’s blog post is a key example of a student having an appreciating poetry. She introduces the reader to the multitude and complexity of poetic structures, that goes beyond the lyric structure which is what the class is most familiar with. She explains her belief that a distaste for poetry is the result of how literature is taught in schools. She then goes on to comment about how poetry is a greater part of our lives than we may suspect; an example of this is the vocabulary in Shakespeare’s poetry that has now become common in the English language. Jordan’s comment on the prevalence of poetry in our lives parallels Eun Ho’s blog where he discusses how the poem In Flanders Fields has contributed to broader Canadian culture. He highlights how the popularity of the poem led Canadian’s to wear the poppy on November 11^th, and how this poem has become immortalized in Canadian society.

Other students commented on how our class discussions on poetry have led them to change their perspective on the genre. Codi comments on how her previous interactions with poetry have been confusing and meaningless, which led to an overall distaste for the genre. This perspective changed after analyzing the contemporary work of Juliana Spahr. This renewed appreciation for poetry has also been documented in Julia’s blog about her realization of her interest in a book of poetry by Omar Khayam.

Many students connected the poetry we have been discussing in class to their own experiences with poetry outside of class. Kaspar discusses how he learned about Chinese poetry and how it was seen as an important medium to understand history. He relates this to seeing Spahr and Szymborska’s response to 9/11 as a “time capsule” to understand the event. Irene’s blog furthers this idea of poetry as a way of obtaining knowledge because she states how she knew little about 9/11 and that this poetry serves as a way to spread this history.

Overall, the class shows how even though we value and interpret poetry differently, it ultimately provides an alternative way to understanding history as well as how our society is shaped. Personally, I believe that poetry is a form of expression that can be used as a political device to make people feel a certain way about a certain situation. I really enjoyed reading the blog posts and I look forward to having more discussions about poetry in class.

Dear readers,

Recently we have visited the Amazonia exhibition at the Museum of Anthropology here in UBC. The exhibition features artworks, handicrafts, tools and related government statistics. The exhibition explores the indigenous cultures as well as the environmental degradation around the Amazon region.

One of the major themes of the exhibition is the indigenous culture in the Amazon. As native tribes are forced to move away or abandon their homeland due to the extraction of natural resources as well as land development projects, native culture is being severely threatened. Regarding on this issue, Beril explores the topic of indigenous cultural conservation and acknowledges respect between people with different cultural backgrounds as the foundation of cultural conservation. She uses the “Kitxoko Clay Dolls” artifact to suggest the idea of crafting as a way to “affirm their (native’s) identity and resilience”. Similar to Beril’s idea, Codi suggests that the Kamëntsà Headdress is a  symbol of the “resilience and unwavering commitment to their cultural values.” She discusses the destructive force of modernity in terms of the dying indigenous cultures in which the modern political power structure is used as the major driving force of destruction. There is no doubt that governments and corporations have been exploiting the natural resources for the sake of economic interest, however the Amazonia natives have shown us a whole new approach to the human-nature relationship.

Lilly draws attention to the way natives respect the environment in which the environment should be able to “live and thrive” and to realize the environment as a component in our lives that should be respected rather than a commodity for us to buy and sell. While Julia ties in with Lilly’s idea, suggesting the maintaining of “a balanced co-existence with nature” as the ideal human-nature relationship that we all should learn from. Perhaps in this hyper-materialistic era, the first step in saving the environment, is rebuild our relationship with the nature, educate the society with the concept of “Co-existence” while giving up on unrealistic production and economic goals. Ayse takes a very unique approach in connecting our standard of beauty to our health. She acknowledges that one way of improving one’s mental well-being is through the gaining of self-confidence through improving ones appearance while suggesting that perhaps health and beauty should considered the same thing since the unrealistic modern beauty standard often disregard one’s physical and mental well-being.

Another major theme of the exhibition is the issue of environment degradation and social justice among the natives. As shown in the exhibition, we can see that in order to generating more energy and producing more raw material, dams were built and trees were cut down. Jordan’s blog post features the destructive act from the Brazilian government while she sheds light onto environmental issues such as the Dakota Access Pipeline etc. Such examples have allowed us as readers to reflect upon our consumption pattern and to realize the mutual respect to the environment is the key to sustainability.

The Amazonia Exhibition has demonstrated different aspects of the natives’ life and there is definitely a lot that we can  learn from. The situation of Amazon is not simply a social problem in which livelihood and culture are on the edge of being destroyed, it is a warning sign for the rest of the world to reflect on our way of life especially the way we handle different culture and the way we treat the environment. Perhaps the question is not about finding a solution to  the problems in the Amazon, but rather what can we learn from the natives in creating a sustainable future.

To end my blog post I would like to thank everyone for your unique and insightful blog post, reading the collective effort of you all is definitely a valuable learning opportunity for me.

As a class, we surprisingly had a lot of diversity in the objects we gravitated towards when approaching this blog assignment. As a result, each blog post ended up being completely unique and as a collective the blogs were incredibly informative. Many people clearly spent a long time researching outside of the museum exhibit because the Amazonia moved them to search for more information and stay educated about the social, political, and economic issues facing the aboriginal people of the Amazon.

Each article managed to tie the issues facing the Amazon and its peoples in interesting ways to outside issues, providing us with evidence of how the issues of the Amazon are not isolated, but are spread out throughout the world of Aboriginal peoples as well as in some ways their colonizers. Eun Ho and Beril both point to how the struggles that the Aboriginal peoples of the Amazon face are quite similar to those which local First Nation groups face in British Columbia. Beril draws attention to how “The Amazonian indigenous were forced to leave their lands after the white settlers just like the indigenous people in Vancouver”, While Eun Ho draws connections between the Ashanika and local Canadian groups in that “they were confronted with atrocities. Including problematic practices that still continue today, like mining and agroindustry.” By Identifying these struggles as similar, we can trace these similarities back to the Settler Colonial vs Indigenous power relations which have existed for the past 500 years, and as Eun Ho points out, “continue today”.

We see this relationship presented in Jordan’s blog posting. She draws our attention towards the Kayapo people. This indigenous group rose to the spotlight following plans presented by the Brazilian government to construct a dam in their area of the Amazon, which would effectively have destroyed the land which they relied on to sustain themselves, pushing them off their land. Their call for international support actually won out in the late 1980s and the dam’s construction was dropped. However, another dam (Belo Monte dam) was put forwards and has actually begun to be constructed, and will be finished sometime next year. Jordan’s post shows us that the settler-colonial relationship with indigenous populations is still one of disregard in terms of culture and people in the name of exploiting the environment. Jordan brilliantly ties in how this relationship is playing itself out in Canada and the United States as well, she points to the Dakota Access Pipeline and the corresponding Standing Rock Protests. She argues that “Both the pipeline and the dam destroy some of the last traditionally indigenous people’s land in the world.” Both provide examples of how western ideals of progress through resource extraction and high levels of consumption are often conducted in disregard of the effects they will have on indigenous peoples and their cultures. Neither the Belo Monte dam, nor the Dakota Access Pipeline went unprotested, showing that although both were unsuccessful in fully stopping either construction project, there remains a high level of Aboriginal activism and tight nit communities which will keep on fighting.

Indigenous groups have had to find ways to maintain their culture by incorporating their own cultural practices into that they were forcibly being assimilated into. Codi identifies that “There was a consistent trend, as with nearly every indigenous culture, of controlling powers forcibly seizing and “governing” land and peoples”, and this relationship played out not just over taking native land s and turning them into settler lands, but also with the culture the people practiced. Codi wrote about the Kamëntsà Headdress, which the museum wrote was part of a Catholic ritual. She drew our attention to how this headdress and its accompanying ceremony were possibly a way of maintaining their cultural practices under the watchful gaze of the Catholic missionaries which introduced Catholicism to the Kamëntsà people. First, the ceremony and headdress predate Catholicism in the Kamëntsà community, and secondly the ceremony did not worship a divine being, it was a ritual which instead “thanks Mother Nature for all that she has provided”. This is opposed to traditional Catholicism where one would not see worshipping of nature in such a manner. This is one example of how native peoples incorporated their cultural practices into the culture they were being assimilated into.

Part of the colonizer- colonized relationship is that it is assumed that the colonizer has nothing to learn from the colonized. Ayse however points out how Western standards of beauty have much to learn from those of Shipibo people. They believe that beauty and health are tied together. Ayse shows how this concept also plays out in our own culture “Getting a haircut, doing makeup, getting tattoos and dying our hair are examples of how we change our appearance for our mental health” However, they hold that “Beauty and health are one and the same thing. Both are likely to be obtained and maintained by the morals of a good life” (Amazonia exhibit text). With all the issues regarding beauty standards and self-esteem now in our culture, this concept seems like it could greatly benefit our collective mental health.

            There is much we can learn from the aboriginal peoples of the Amazon. Their struggles against the continued colonizing powers that be is not isolated in jungles of South America but is a reality for indigenous peoples around the world, including those close to home. Reading these blogs and seeing the research that went into the posts and the compassion and empathy they present personally makes me feel hopeful, and I hope this translates into broader education on the issue as well as political action and appropriate social and policy changes.

One of the major themes presented across the Amazonia posts was that of environmental depletion and how certain capitalist and imperialist powers are to blame. Many people observed a direct contrast between the ways in which the land is viewed by native people to how it is viewed by outside powers concerned only with resource extraction. Irene calls attention to the large amounts of oil damage and deforestation that have become a reality inflicted by a rise of corporatism and industrialization[1]. In addition, Simon looks specifically at the negative environmental impact of rubber industrialization on the Amazon[2].

Lily addresses a similar idea in her blog, but goes further to call into question whether nature possesses innate rights that are not being upheld through the current subjugation of the natural environment[3]. Does nature have the right to not be exploited? Many of the indigenous Amazonian populations held this perception of nature as something with which to co-exist rather than to utilize. The depletion of the rainforest really took off following the rise of capitalism and presents a stark contrast to the way of life of the indigenous populations.

The same colonial and imperialist powers that are to blame for much of the environmental impact in the Amazon have had direct and negative implications on the preservation and existence of indigenous cultures as well. On possibly the most basic level, environmental depletion that is severe enough can drive out whole communities from their native land or even begin to kill many off. Beril cites the indigenous population decline from the industrialization of farming and fishing as well as the mass migration that came from an attempt to distance themselves from the white settlers as a major detriment to native groups in that area[4]. She also calls upon an equally important, however potentially less easily identifiable aspect of this type of capitalism as she cites a westernized narrative in education as causing discrepancies in native and non-native students’ performance in school.

A suppression of culture as well as natural resources is another prevalent outcome of capitalism and industrialization. Western narratives were and are the ones being preserved and presented. Wamaitha cites the military bases on Yonomami lands and how difficult it is for communities to preserve their cultures while under a direct threat of violence[5]. Dominant capitalist powers often erase indigenous narratives. Both Julia and Evan speak of the importance of preserving culture[6], and Julia draws upon the examples of the museum’s “orphan objects”—artifacts that come without background—as being representative of the ways in which many cultures are being undervalued[7].

These themes are not ones which are exclusive to the Amazon. Industrialization, environmental depletion, and the mistreatment of native populations are seen all around the world. Jordan calls upon the recent conflict over the Dakota access pipeline and the 210 000 gallons of crude oil it leaked, citing a common conflict of capitalist expansionism versus the protection of human and environmental rights[8]. Victoria talks about a theme of environmental importance in Bolivia[9] and Oliver addresses the ways different countries reconcile environmental importance and issues in Canada with the Kinder Morgan pipeline[10].

With these commonalities arises a question of whether there is some aspect of inevitability in many of these themes. Codi addresses this type of idea in her discussion of the “innate morality of humans and the dangers of ongoing power relations”[11]. Are humans predisposed for a search for power in such a way that there will always be a group that controls the cultural narratives? And are we inherently consumers therefore we will always search for the resources to produce copious amounts of goods and products? Whether or not these problems are indicative of broader issues of human nature they are nevertheless important to reconcile in our modernizing world.

[1] Lin, Irene. “Amazonia: The Rights of Nature Exhibit Reflection.” Irenes ASTU Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/irenesastublog/.

[2] Luo, Simon. “Reflection on the Amazonia Exhibit.” Simons Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/simonluojy/.

[3] Flawn, Lilly. “Post #4.” Lillys ASTU Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/lillysastublog/2018/01/18/post-4/.

[4] Gunduz, Beril. “MOA UBC.” Berils Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/berilgunduz/.

[5] Kinuthia, Wamaitha. “Amazonia.” Wamaithas ASTU Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/wamsblog/.

[6] Ruiz, Evan. “Culture- The Fight to Preserve It.” Evans Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/evanruiz/.

[7] Niebles Fernandez, Julia. “Birds of a Feather.” Global Citizens, blogs.ubc.ca/jgc04/.

[8] Corder-Swanson, Jordan. “Amazonia Exhibit.” Jordans ASTU Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/jordancorderswanson/.

[9] Nava, Victoria. “Bolivian Culture Found in the Amazonia Exhibit.” ASTU 100 g04, blogs.ubc.ca/astu100victorianava/.

[10] Ng, Oliver. “Amazonia Exhibition and the Environment.” Olivers Astu Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/ngoliverblog/2018/01/18/amazonia-exhibition-and-the-enviroment/.

[11] Hatfield-Gambino, Codi. “Amazonia: The Kamëntsà Headdress.” Codis Blogtastic Blog, blogs.ubc.ca/codisblogtasticblog/2018/01/18/amazonia-the-kamentsa-headdress/.

Dear Readers,

The novel Obasan, by Joy Kogawa, captures the memory and historical accounts of Japanese Internment in Canada in early 1942. Through the life and memories of Naomi, the main character, we are exposed to the brutal realities of the life of Japanese-Canadians following the bombing of Pearl Harbour. After visiting the Rare Books and Special Collections library, many of us were faced with the surprising rejection of Obasan. As a piece of genuine historical remembrances, one would think there would be little room to reject such a novel. Lilly Flawn discusses the rejection of such an important component of Canadian literature, but as a result, it makes Joy Kogawa’s efforts even more respectable and admirable. She also considers the conveyance of memory, and how through the requested alteration of Obasan, Joy’s personal accounts could be distorted. Lilly asks, “…do these modifications in her story redefine how her memory is conveyed?”. This suggests that editing and adjustments carried out by someone other than the author herself would create a “false” or inauthentic memorable account. Lilly uses the example of Aunt Emily’s letters, and the reviewers’ suggestion to modify them. I believe this would be a form of falsification; if the novel is deemed a memoir, the memories conveyed in the book should remain original and authentic, despite the editor’s request to do otherwise. Ayse Kabaca also discussed the rejection of the book, claiming that “she wrote the book for a specific audience and not only for the sake of literary purposes… it has the purpose of educating Canadians about a specific event, the Japanese internment.” This suggests that Joy Kogawa was not aiming for her chance at fame, but rather to expose the grim reality of Japanese internment, and share her personal experiences as a child. This novel is in attempt to capture and express the frightful phenomenon, not to write a literary piece of art. This is aided by the fact that Joy Kogawa was first published as a poet, but in pursuit of exposing the history of Japanese internment and the millions that suffered, she tried her hand at writing a novel.

Lisa Basil examines how Obasan captures the racist realities of Canada as a “historical issue rather than a pervasive and modern one”, and how this could allow one to easily detach themselves from the historical claims due to its lack of “modern” relevance. Meaning, because Japanese internment no longer applies, one may deem it unnecessary to establish an attachment to it. Lisa discusses the natural human tendency to assume we have better morality than we realistically do, and if placed in Canada during a time of heightened prejudice, we too would play the part and ostricize the Japanese-Canadians. Without accepting the reality of Japanese internment and being empathetic toward the Japanese-Canadians, we are unable to understand the depth of what they experienced.

Overall, visiting the RBSC Library exposed us to Joy Kogawa’s true difficulties in producing and publishing Obasan. We were able to more personally understand her work, her edits, her critiques, and more specifically, her pain. It allowed us to understand the depth of Joy Kogawa’s experiences and the challenging process of remembering.

Hello Astu Class,
Since our last blog, we focused on Obasan which is a novel by the Japanese-Canadian author Joy Kogawa. We talked about how Obasan is a record of historical trauma. Joy Kogawa combines the literary form and historical form to tell a really tristful story about a historical scene. In our Astu Class, we all went to the RBSC library on the 31 st October and everyone wrote about this field trip on their blogs. I really enjoyed reading all the blogs because they were reflecting different ideas that unite together about the book.

Jordan and Wamaitha both talks about the Fan letter genre. Jordan compares her personal experience about sending tweets to celebrities, artists etc with social media with Joy Kogawa’s well-written fan mails.She realizes that she doesn’t put that much effort to what she wrote on the social media as she does for letters. Wamaitha and her both mention the rapid change in communication.
Lilly explains how she was surprised by all the rejection letters. Also, she talks about how she is amazed to see the amount of work Joy Kogawa did to write the book just like Julia. Julia also explains how she felt before seeing all the work that Kogawa was done before writing by the sentence ” I always imagined a sort of magic pen that authors used, that made words glide and assemble perfectly in a paper” which I personally loved.

Kaspar talks about ” How Obasan is not a story about an individual but rather than the collective memory of a generation”. He says this after seeing all the documents which were written by different people to the government about the Japanese Canadians leaving the country by force.
Ayşe and Oliver were really interested in the rejection letters which came to Joy Kogawa. Oliver thinks how powerful Joy Kogawa is because she continues despite all the bad comments. Ayşe justifies the book by saying ” Creating perfect characters and a storyline is not the purpose of the writer. She wants to write about the internment, not about Naomi”. I made a connection between Kaspar mentioning Obasan is not being an individual memory with this sentences.

Personally, I was too, really interested in the rejection letters as well. It was really shocking how the publishers didn’t understand what she was trying to do and the way she combines literature with a historical trauma to educate people was the thing that made her a really famous writer.

Eun Ho talks about how he was interested how Kogawa chooses her title for the book. He says that the title ” The colors of the rain” interested him the most. I found really interesting how he thinks what the title means. As the class blogger, I’m encouraging you to go and check it out 🙂

The main thing that approximately everyone talked about was the rejection letters of Joy Kogawa and how she worked really hard to write the book. I loved everyone’s blog and had a great time reading each of it.Thank you so much for the beautiful work! Have a great week everyone.