Robert’s blog post, “Second ASTU Post”, was a really interesting read as he compared the narratives of two individuals who both shared the experience of living through a revolution. Robert compared and contrasted Marjane Satrapi’s experience in Persepolis, with his friend’s experience of the Ukrainian revolution in 2013. I think paralleling both stories is an effective way to apply and expand the knowledge that we have attained about the Iranian revolution by relating it to a more familiar source (in this case, a friend). Although Robert explained that the two narratives differ drastically in terms of each individual’s attitudes and encounters with both revolutions, I can imagine it allowed him to more easily relate to this concept of national uprising and turmoil that may be foreign to most young Canadians. Robert also addressed a thought provoking question asking whether the fundamental core of revolutions remain the same even though individuals experiences vary. I agree with Robert when he referred to the Iranian and Ukrainian revolutions and said that, “its motives were similar but its effects are far different”. I believe that even though every revolution reaches different outcomes due to endless sociological, political, geographic, economic, and of course historic contributing factors, the similar aspects tend to be the desire and occurrence of a massive change due to a large amount of social discontentment and the extensive impact that it then has on thousands of people.

Our focus on memory and storytelling this year in ASTU applies perfectly with this concept of exposing ourselves to various different narratives and trying to make connections between them. Doing so can allow us to develop a more globalized and unbiased outlook on differing individual and collective experiences that we may come across in both our academic and personal lives. I hope you all get a chance to read Robert’s post!

-Harnoor Sidhu