Hello ASTU 100 Friends!

Hopefully everyone had a restful Easter long weekend especially with the amazing weather we’ve been having in Metro Vancouver recently! I had the pleasure of reading over the individual blogs and as enlightening as it was to read the blogs, it was certainly bittersweet considering these are our last blog posts! Class will be over in two weeks!

To begin with, in Diego’s Blog, he chose to summarize his experiences of ASTU 100 notably discovering the use of the ‘discursive I’, a scholarly feature that allowed him to better express his ideas when writing. In Mariana’s Blog, she too summarized her experience taking ASTU 100 and how the readings and discussions broadened her mind. Mariana concluded her post by speaking to the issue of stereotypes and false representations, predominantly instigated by the post-9/11 fear culture experienced my many. Mariana states that “[the] small box of the stereotypes people tend to put themselves in does not only make their lives more dull, but also prevents them from the boundless opportunities the diverse world can offer.”

In Imaan’s Blog, she also chose to summarize her experience in the course focusing on the key themes of ‘trauma’ and ‘memory’. Imaan comprehensively connected these themes to the various texts we read and analyzed throughout the academic year however she especially focused on on the term ‘trauma narratives’ and how her understanding of the term evolved based on the different texts we read.

In Peijia’s Blog,  she wrote about her overall experience taking ASTU 100 and the wealth of skills she was able to take away from the course, notably understanding how to read and break down scholarly works. She focused her blog on Global Citizenship and how our CAP stream gave her a new ‘lens’ to analyze different types of issues such as waste problems as described in her blog.

In Nico’s Blog, he spoke about the rewarding experience of being being surrounded with “brilliant minds and passionate global citizens on a daily basis” and how that has changed the way in which he see’s the world. Nico intelligently reviewed some of the prominent terms we’ve looked at both in ASTU and the Global Citizens stream as a whole and connected them to contemporary events such as the recent and truly tragic bombings at Brussels which he discusses in his blog.

Finally, In Carolina’s Blog, she chose to adopt a rather interesting re-occurrence from some of the texts we have read, letters! In her open letter to Dr. Luger, Carolina expresses her gratitude to Dr. Luger for forcing her to read (I am too!) and for all the skills she’s thought us throughout the term. Carolina also goes on to convey her experience in the CAP Program and how its been a journey of growth for her discussing how she found her ‘niche’ in our overwhelmingly large campus.

All in all, it was definitely uplifting reading all the blog entries however I certainly felt melancholy after remembering this would be the last of the blogs that I would read! It made me happy to read that I wasn’t the only one who is proud of my decision to have been a Global Citizen. I wasn’t much of an English fan leaving high school but ASTU and CAP as a whole has given me an appreciation for literature and scholarly works.

Thanks Dr. Luger for your continued support in helping us become ‘Junior Scholars’ and making class enjoyable! And finally, thank you to my fellow Global Citizens for being the awesome individuals you are and contributing all your experience and ideas in our discussions to allow for a truly wonderful experience!

Hope to see everyone around and have an amazing summer!

Best Regards,

Kaveel Singh

Hi Friends!

I couldn’t have chosen a better week to be class blogger! I really enjoyed reading through the blog posts you have all posted this week and I must commend all of you for writing such captivating insights. I must admit however that I didn’t read some like Nicola’s blog because she mentioned she was blogging about the second half of Persepolis which I eventually plan on reading.

After reading the class blogs I noticed a common theme used amongst many of the blogs and It was a theme that particularly interested me; The use of Simplicity and/or Minimalism to portray Trauma, especially pertaining to French-Iranian Author Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir Persepolis . It was interesting reading about the contrasting opinions all the class bloggers held and  their choices of literature to compare Persepolis to.

To begin with in Kihan’s Blog, she compares the portrayal of Satrapi’s trauma to that of Anne Michaels in her novel Fugitive Pieces. Kihan contrasts the two pieces of literature and analyzes the effectiveness of the portrayals of trauma. In comparison to Satrapi’s graphic memoir, Michaels uses a novel to share her story and uses words to powerfully share her adversities. Kihan argues that despite both works being abstract in their roots, they are still able to effectively portray trauma.

In Sam’s Blog, he chooses to, similarly to both Kihan , compare Persepolis to a work of literature. Sam chose to analyze Art Speigelman’s Graphic Maus II. Sam spoke to how the Trauma was conveyed differently because of issues of authority. Sam argues that Speigelman doesn’t have the authority to make a testimony to convey his Trauma as he is portraying Trauma that his father went through, not him. Additionally, Sam chooses to speak about the use of minimalism in the books and the use of ‘black and white’ graphics; He mentions ‘the minimalist expression of violence and [Satrapi’s] experience of that violence is powerful in the way that it forces the reader to imagine, and therefore understand her experience and the normalcy of violence in Iran’.

In Taylor’s Blog, she compared Persepolis to The Breadwinner, by Deborah Ellis. Taylor found Satrapi’s use of of simplicity to illustrate Trauma to be ‘extremely effective’. However after reading Sam’s blog which brings about the issues of authority, I begin to question how am I supposed to believe the ‘Trauma’ portrayed by a Canadian woman writing in the perspective of a adolescent Afghani female?

In Kendall’s Blog, she continues to speak upon the issue of authority to convey ones trauma. Kendall goes on to mention some critiques of Satrapi’s Persepolis such as the fact that Satrapi wrote the book as an adult. Kendall ultimately argues that Satrapi holds full authority and that what makes her portrayals of trauma more effective is her acknowledgements of her flaws throughout the book.

In Rachel’s Blog, she speaks to Sam’s and Taylor’s points on the use of Simplicity and Minimalism in Persepolis. She argues that the simplicity allows us to focus on the main ideas – Violence. She states that the use of Black and White is almost to portray the seriousness of the graphic. What I found interesting in Rachel’s blog was her observation of the chapter title names in Persepolis; She noticed that normal ‘common objects’ associated to everyday life are made symbols of a painful childhood that Satrapi has to go through.

Finally, in Peija’s Blog, she extends the topic of simplicity using her own real life examples. She proposes that simplicity is a portrayal of being ‘unable to comprehend’. She speaks about how even though Satrapi has authority and can remember witnessing many events growing up, she still chooses to portray it simply in her graphic.

All in all, I really enjoyed summarizing the above blogs and extending the conversation on the topic of the use of Simplicty/ Minimalism and Authority to portray Trauma. I have to agree that the use of simplicity and minimalism is what makes the portrayals of Trauma so much more effective. I also strongly agree with many bloggers that the issue of authority is a big one and that establishing authority is important if you want to be able to convey all adversities and Traumas to an audience. I look forward to further enquiring into the issue of authority in our ASTU Class with our upcoming literature pieces.

I hope you enjoyed reading my class blog review today and if you want to continue reading about my insights visit my blog!

Until next time

-Kaveel Singh