For the past week we have been focusing during class on the graphic novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Persepolis is a graphical autobiography of the author, who experienced the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war as a child in the 1970s and 1980s. It is told in the beatiful black and white graphical language of a comic strip where simple pictures communicate strong feelings, much better than words could. I found it to be a fascinating account of a life under the theocracy in Iran by a girl attempting to come of age. This story reveals aspects to the culture and lives of those people that a former presidential candidate had jokingly suggested we bomb out of existence. People who have absolutely nothing to say about the rule of their country and are also under siege from their own government and traditions.

My knowledge of Iranian history dates back to the Academy Award winning Argo and that is pretty much it. I was happy to be able to learn more about the Iranian Islamic Revolution without it being portrayed by Western Mass Media. This was so helpful to understand the problem in Iran, and from the point of view of a little girl, it makes it even better. How deceitful can be some things, and it makes it more of an innocent view.

However, the word Ayatollah is never mentioned, not once. As neither is the word Islam. But if I recall correctly from the movie Argo, Iran experienced an Islamic revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. So this is like “My life in Russia from 1940-1955” without talking about Stalin or the Communist Party. Moreover, if we think about it, although she is being respectful to others, she never mentions Allah. Even if it is the arabic word for God, she shows a lack of faith for such. I believe this to be a big source of her lack of understanding towards the government.

Nevertheless, it is clear that her memoir opened my eyes, even if I believe that the story is a little bit biased and does not represent a true struggle from the lower classes and those who were affected by the Islamic Revolution. This memoir impacted me because it makes me understand and value the freedom of speech we posses the ability to represent our views without them being repressed.

I also enjoyed the way in which she uses pictures. It allows us to view how she internalizes on such topics that are pressing matters against her. This allows us to see what is happening outside but also internalizes as a kid.

Watching recently “Don’t Tell My Mother I’m In Iran” by Diego Buñuel from the National Geographic, I am able to see that even if Iran is hard to get into, the Western ideas of how society functions in that country are pretty much false by now. This is clear by especially pointing out that all religious minorities must have representation in Iranian Congress. This makes me believe that the depiction of Iran in Persepolis only aids and fuels the taboo topic of Iran when really International Relations broke away from the abuse of American and UK corporations.

So in conclusion, even if I did enjoy the read, Persepolis portays Iran how we want to see it and not how it really is.

If you are interested in further watching the show from National Geographic follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZagUbgJDW0

Coming from Mexico, I am familiar with aboriginal indigenous culture within a society so understanding the way in which a More Economically Developed Country (In this case Canada) treats and interacts with a culture that is present yet strong within most Canadians. During Jumpstart we were explained that the buildings names were considered disrespectful towards the Musqueam people which is why with the support of First Nations students they named the new buildings in an accurate way that actually had a meaning, unlike Nootka (which apparently means “Go around” and that is what the aboriginal people were trying to tell the first explores of Vancouver). This made me think about how society has changed from 40 years to now. A point in life in which some people decided that the names of residential buildings of UBC would be called after the different First Nations groups that lived around the area of British Columbia to having special meetings with Musqueam leaders in order to create an appropriate name and symbol for the new buildings.

Talking about the TRC with my peers from the debate club, I can vividly remember how they felt that what the government is doing in order to be forgiven is not enough and all they are trying to do is eliminate any type of liability. At that moment I agreed with what they were saying. However, I could never be so wrong.

After visiting the Belkin Art Gallery I directed myself to the intriguing pictures of children like drawings from recovering survivors of Residential Schools through Art Therapy.  The only time I remember my skin shivering from toes to head as much as when I was in there is when I saw the video of John F. Kennedy’s 3 year old son, saluting the casket of his dead father. The emotions I felt were incredibly powerful and overwhelming. The fact that such thing is done to honor and reconciliate a past that is often neglected and forgotten in other cultures is truly remarkable looking at it from a foreigners perspective. The remembrance of our seeds, ancestors or just the people who lived where we are standing hundreds of years ago allows us to understand the way societies used to interact and how they do now.

People cannot stress enough how little the Canadian government is doing to apologize. What people fail to acknowledge is that what the canadian people have done to support these First Nations groups is on a huge scale magnificent. An invisible community support that makes all this happen. The fact that people go to the Belkin Art Gallery, or that they participate in the Walk clearly demonstrates that if it wasn’t for the people in Vancouver, or Canada as a whole, this activities and events would not be ocurring in the first place.

In a constantly globalizing world, people fail to recognize past cultures and the way it influences their presence. Mexicans, for example, are taught about the indigenous abuse as something that was normal and correct often leading to a lack of knowledge of truly indigenous culture. This is the most marginalized group in our society, and something like this needs to change.

I’m proud to see that because of the TRC, people acknowledge a sad past for which they are willing to apologize for.

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