Tag Archives: bearing witness

Voices from the “majority”

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In ASTU class, our studies have primarily focused on minority narratives, such as the Iraq war blogs written by Pax and Riverbend, Persepolis and What is the What. However, for there to be minority narratives, there must be the existence of dominant voices, and I will look at some of the voices from the majority.

At the beginning of this year, YouTube was caught up in the “Draw My Life” video tag. Basically, YouTubers are encouraged to draw and narrate their lives, compile it into a video, and post it for others to see. These videos establish a common ground for YouTube community members to interact and relate better with one another. Since then, many YouTube celebrities have created their own videos, which have been received quite positively by their audience. See below:

The popularity of these “Draw My Life” videos illustrates a couple of things:

  • YouTubers love knowing more about YouTube celebrities
  • Story telling, especially personal story telling, “sells well” aka has great appeal

Taking a step back, we see that what happened on YouTube has also been happening in the “Western” world for a while now. Various celebrities have produced autobiographical films that have hit the big screens. One Direction’s This is Us, Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never and Katy Perry’s Part of Me are just some examples of films, regardless of if they are actually good or not, who can count on having a fairly large viewership.

Both the “Draw My Life” videos and celebrity autobiographical films function similarly in that their fans are able to learn more about their celebrity idols. In terms of “community building”, I think that YouTube is more successful in achieving this, as YouTube celebrities and users have a place to communicate, while viewing celebrity autobiographical films in theatres doesn’t really allow for much interaction. Furthermore, while these videos and films tell the stories of celebrities, I don’t think that they act as mechanisms for “bearing witness”, at least, not in the way we have been studying in class.

The narrative work we have looked at in ASTU class centre around the idea collectively bearing witness to trauma. Although the celebrities may have overcome personal struggles, their autobiographical work is still largely driven by other motives. Asides for building closer connections with their fans, I think that celebrities who choose to share a part of their already privileged lives through the media are driven by the promise of money, and an increase in fame. Quite different from certain minority narratives that try to offer alternative views to the dominant voices.

Of course, it would be a shame to not mention the autobiographical films that do try to bear witness. For example, the film, Gandhi, dramatized the life of Gandhi and depicted the struggles during India’s non-violent independence movement. One of the most memorable moments during the film was the re-enactment of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which served to bear witness to the violence and trauma experienced by civilians during the actual massacre.

Although it is a bit upsetting to know  minority narratives are struggling to get noticed wile that dominant voices in life narratives consist of pop stars on tour, there is also work out, such as the film Gandhi, that are substantial and meaningful.

A comparison between “The Book of Negroes” & “Persepolis”

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Quite a bit of time has passed since I read The Book of Negroes, written by Lawrence Hill, but I was reminded of it while reading Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. Although these books are presented in completely different genres (The Book of Negroes being a historical novel, and Persepolis a graphic narrative), I found myself comparing and drawing connections between the two.

When I first read The Book of Negroes, I immediately found myself intrigued by how the book was written from the perspective of a young girl (who was abducted and sold into the  Atlantic slave trade.) Despite the fact that the story is a work of fiction, The Book of Negroes draws upon a horrific history that can be difficult for some to truly understand. I remember feeling a heavy, disheartening feeling while reading The Book of Negroes, and again while reading Persepolis. The different genres of these two books, told through the perspectives of innocent, yet rapidly growing young girls, allowed the experiences of trauma in everyday life to be more relatable. The usage of vivid and illustrative language in The Book of Negroes, is contrasted by the simple, yet powerful graphic illustrations in Persepolis. Their approaches in conveying trauma and history may have been different, but it allowed me to empathize with the narrator’s predicament, and increase my understanding of global conflicts.

Recently, I read a very interesting blog post called, The Forgotten Minority, written cleverly by Connie Zhou. There, she talks about the conflict of having an Asian-American identity, and how racism is not simply and issue between black and white. Rather, it is an issue of discrimination against all coloured people, some who are more neglected and forgotten about during discussions of racism, than others. In her blog post, Connie writes,

I remember sitting in one of my media classes discussing race; we had spent weeks on how blacks and whites are portrayed in the media. As my professor went on and on, I sat there wondering when she was going to bring up Asians, Hispanics, or Middle Easterners. Finally, as if God had heard my plea, a thankfully inquisitive student in the front raised his hand, “What about Asians?”

There was five minutes left in class, and all she said was, “Well, they tend to be the ‘model minority,’” and carried forth with the discussion on blacks and whites.

And it’s true. Back in elementary and high school, I remember we often talked about the history and racism against black people more than any other minority races. I’m not trying to detract from their significance, or say that they aren’t worth talking about, because they certainly are, considering all the awful things that have happened to them throughout time. However, I think that the education system fails to properly address and educate students about other minority groups, such as Asians and Middle-Easterns. Before entering university, I have to admit that I knew more about the issues of black people, than the history and predicament of Middle-Eastern people, or of my own culture, the Asian race. In my opinion, while The Book of Negroes and Persepolis are two successful and highly praised books, I think that The Book of Negroes is more widely known, partially because talk about history and racism tends to be more about black people. (This is just based on my observations and conversations with family and friends, so let me know if your experience differs.)

Anyways, this is why I am grateful that university has opened me up to reading more about the “forgotten minorities”, and I think that my knowledge and understanding of the Middle East has definitely grown. Thanks ASTU!