Priya Adhikari
Diego Balce
Nicola Cox
Ina de Weerdt
Jacqueline Desantis
Peijia Ding
Mariana Drok
Raphael Gamo
Nicolo Jimenez
Carolina Judkowicz
Taylor Khatkar
Jennifer Lai
Rachel Lam
Kristen Lew
Kendall Manifould
Imaan Punja
Ken Sakamoto
Sania Shoaib
Isabelle Semmelhack
Tzur Shupack
Kaveel Singh
Sam Tuck
Dione Yeung
Kristen Ylo
Kihan Yoon-Henderson
ASTU 100A Class Blog G03 (2015-2016)
Hi Diego! I am a little confused by your most recent post. You begin your post by identifying the theme of tradition in the graphic narrative Persepolis. You then go on to say “There is a great influx of people who are slowly changing the flow of social norms, from controversial movements such as the gay rights movement, to more subtle but noticeable changes within photo sharing”. At this point you seem to be drawing a parallel between members of your society, in the West, and Marjane Satrapi and members of her society. Then suddenly you propose that the emerging field of professional Internet gamming is a comparable movement of social change, which should be recognized by us as readers. I am curious how this emerging field is an active movement against social orders in a comparable way to Satrapi’s active participation in social change through attending protests, acting in defiance throughout her personal life, and of course by writing this graphic narrative. If you could include some examples of individuals acting to change the social perception of athleticism or of what is considered to be legitimate occupations, I could better see the connection you have tried to make in your post. Alternatively focusing and elaborating on the briefly mentioned Gay Rights Movement, may have been more appropriate for your argument and also more effective, because it is relevant, relatable, and extremely important in Western society today.
Thanks for reading!
Isabelle
If the hyperlink did not work the post I’m referring to above can be found at: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ramenislove/
Raphael,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your first blog entry of the semester. I thought that you expressed your idea of what constitutes a “global citizen” very clearly and succinctly. I couldn’t agree more. Probably the reason why I enjoyed reading your post so much is because I found that it resonated with me. Seeing that you experience the same internal conflict when asked “where are you from?” validates my own confusion in a way (I am Canadian but was born and grew up in the US. This is my first time living in Canada).
You stated “…global citizenship is the privilege to learn and interact with people from all over the world, to discover issues and solutions, and to just in general communicate on a scale larger than your immediate locale.” My question to you is, do you think that the idea of global citizenship is attainable? In other words, how would you know when you have obtained global citizenship? Is it something people achieve according to their circumstance (like you going to an international school in Indonesia where there were so many different ethnicities) or does it have more to do with how people individually communicate and act with other people, even if they live in the same town with the same people all their lives?
I would like to know your thoughts on the matter.
-Kendall Manifould
Hey Sam!
I noticed in your last class blog post (which I thoroughly enjoyed by the way) that you mentioned Anne Michaels’ novel Fugitive Pieces, which we obviously both read as we were in the same AP English class last year. Funnily enough, I read your post just after finishing my latest blog post, in which I also compare Fugitive Pieces and Persepolis.
What struck me is that what you wrote in your blog post directly contradicts what I wrote in mine. You note that while the books circle the same themes in their content, their forms differ greatly in that Satrapi uses the abstract form of the comic book whereas Michaels’ uses the much less abstract form of prose. In my blog however, I make the point of saying that even though Michaels uses the written word to describe Jakob’s experience, the abstractness and highly stylized quality of her diction (Fugitive Pieces is almost as stylized as poetry, wouldn’t you agree?) make it not unlike Persepolis. Both Satrapi and Michaels use unconventionally abstract forms to depict great trauma, and perhaps this is why their work resinates so deeply with the reader. Anyways, feel free to read my post for a more elaborate description of this idea and let me know what you think. I have to apologize in advance though (and this apology extends to all of my dear ASTU classmates who have had to put up with my lengthy posts) that it is long!
Hey Peija!
I found your most recent blog post on trauma really interesting, and a great opportunity to extend our class conversation on trauma and how it is portrayed in Persepolis. I’d like of focus especially on your and Isabelle’s experiences watching animals be killed. That you both equated these experiences to the death and killing that Marji experienced is a point from where, in my opinion, there are two directions to take. Some may argue that animal killing is a far cry from the horror of experiencing human death, while others will argue that it is just traumatic. I’m not here to argue a specific side, but what I find most intriguing about this situations is that is all comes down to value judgements. Different values, a result of our personal and cultural experiences, inform our beliefs, and subsequently, how we approach situations and new information. This is another way to explain Isabelle’s preference for a more realistic image, and your appreciation for Satrapi’s simplistic portrayal—this just demonstrates differing values for various modes of sharing knowledge. I feel that this idea also provokes new insights on Persepolis’ approach to trauma. We can see the development of Marji’s values and beliefs on trauma as she grows up. Intially, traumatic situations are more glorified, because they allow for the creation of a hero; as the traumatic situations become more personal, Marji begins to be sickened by death. To me, this develops the idea of a sliding scale of understanding trauma: as you mention, “someone who actually witnessed a traumatic incident in person would not view it the same as a person who say, viewed trauma through TV”. I would argue that the farther removed we are from trauma, the less it hurts us: the less personal our values and beliefs are, the easier it is to make decisions based less on humanity and on other factors. This may seem obvious, but it is not something to take lightly—there are dangerous repercussions. It is easier for politicians to declare war, for example, because they themselves will likely not be fighting. It’s something to keep in mind!
Kristen
Hello Kendal! 🙂
I thought your response was really good because I can definitely see how different perspectives and values come into play in how we approach things. I especially want to comment on your last few phrases, with how the less we are related/connected personally to a trauma, the ‘easier’ it seems to make decisions about it. And that is definitely true because I feel like those who are making decisions (about something involving trauma or death), because they aren’t in any form truly involved (whether it be emotionally, physically, mentally etc.), they have really no barriers preventing them from making such decisions. In relation to the witnessing animal killing thing, this really reminds me of when people protest for animal rights and they purchase animal products from the grocery store. Some people believe that it’s really cruel to kill (or is it really witness) an animal for food but they don’t mind eating animal products when it comes in the form of a slab of meat. That is quite ironic, because it the witnessing portion of the act that adds a deeper, darker element to the reality of the meat industry. But again, like you said, it is that changed perspective that could change so much about how we view and understand knowledge and experiences, such as trauma.
OOPS I meant hello Kristen! 😀 (brain plop)
Hey Kaveel!
I really enjoyed your most recent post, Graphic Memoirs: The Effectiveness of Storytelling. Specifically, how you compared “Persepolis” to “The Glass Castle!” I have also read the memoir by Jeanette Walls. I would like to note how I agree with you and Kendall at how the abrupt ending was confusing but in my opinion, that is what makes a good writing piece. It allows the reader to interpret the ending in their own way. I believe both authors have done an amazing job at writing about their life. I agree with how there was no clear plot in “Persepolis” although I feel like being it a memoir, a non fiction, it is okay to have no plot. It makes memoirs so much more unique, despite the plot-less writing, the author is still able to attract the reader. I as well would want to read the second half of Satrapi’s story!
Jennifer
Hey Dione!
When I read your blog entry “We are all Brain Washed!!! Are we…?” I was really intrigued when you explained what information the government gives access to its citizens in China. I enjoyed how you had a altered outlook on Shazad’s essay and realized how the government is “shaping the way we think without us being conscious of it”. The comparison to Shazad’s essay and your personal encounters was effectively portrayed in your blog post. How you were restricted to events that were happening in your own country really sounds so different to the way I was raised on in Vancouver (which made it super captivating to read your post). You state that your “school strictly are told that they are not allowed to teach anything about ‘TianAnMen incident’” because the government does not want to give you access to that information even through social media! The fact that this is happening in schools around China made me super engaged with this topic. I would really love to hear more about government in China and the differences it has with Canada’s government. I’m glad you decided to write about this because it is really interesting to see what your life was like in China before you came to UBC. Lastly, you raised a great question about you many think how all the information we perceive might actually be carefully chosen out by the government. This really makes me ponder the matter and was a great way to end your blog post. Great post once again!
Imaan
Hey Nicola,
I really enjoyed reading your last blog post, “Examining Social Connection in Persepolis: The Story of a Return”! I have not read /Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return/, but after reading your blog post, I definitely plan to! I enjoyed your analysis on Marji as an adolescent struggling to find her identity in a foreign setting. (I really liked how you brought in the term “anomie” from our Sociology 100 class; it offered another way for me to better understand the term in a different context.) Also, how you mentioned that this has relevance to us, coming into our first year of university, it validates my uncertainty during this tumultuous time. However, one thing I would challenge from your blog post, if I’m understanding you correctly, is that Marji is incapable of developing meaningful relationships in Vienna. I agree with your statement: “[Marji] doesn’t have the social ties which inform behaviour, she has no structure to fall back on, and she feels a profound sense of unbelonging. These lead to her not knowing what her path should be, or what is expected of her, or even what is right and wrong.” However, that does not mean that she is incapable of ever developing meaningful social connections again. Yes, probably no one in Vienna understands what she’s been through, but I challenge that meaningful social connections need to be formed on the basis of similar circumstance or upbringing. In my group of diverse friends, often there are times where I do not understand their cultural or religious standards, but that does not mean that our friendships and social connections are any less meaningful. Do you agree?
-Kendall Manifould
Hey Kristen Ylo!
I read your most recent blog post “Persepolis, Germany and Canada?!” and I thought you made very interesting connections. It did not cross my mind that Anne Frank, Marjane Satrapi, and Craig Kielburger are very similar figures. I personally have always been very interested in Anne Frank’s diary and the holocaust. I would have to agree with you how she is like Marji in a way, I see them as both very strong and independent women.
In Grade 7, I had also went to We Day and found Craig Kielburger very inspirational. I would say he is a symbol of hope for the children who are less fortunate. I agree when you stated that it as interesting to see Craig being able to stand up for what he believed in. I think he is an amazing figure to prove to people that we all have a voice and we can make a difference. In a way, all three were able to get their voices heard which I believe is incredible. Again, I really enjoyed how you made these connections that I had not though about!
Hey Isabelle!
I was really excited to read your blog post this week since I too struggled with some of the ways Sacco portrays women in the book. I always try to read with the author’s objective in mind because I find that it helps me get more out of the text but in a lot of instances in the book, like the examples you included in your blog post, I found myself confused. The difference in language used to address men and women in the book that you pointed out really doesn’t make sense to me, in that I don’t see any objective the author could have in using language besides being misogynistic. I found it troubling how the men in the book are given humanity by being portrayed as silly or emotional but the women are given humanity by being portrayed as materialistic and one dimensional. I saw this in the chapter you pointed out “Silly Girls”. I agree that the language he uses is demeaning and treats their materialism differently than how he usually treats the male characters materialism. I agree with what you said in class that it doesn’t undermine the entire integrity of the book but it is definitely something to consider since Sacco is inserting himself into these peoples’ narratives by using the language he does. It’s easy to brush it off as a subtly of his writing style but as you point out in your post language has been used in the past to “reinforce or perpetuate power structures”. Thanks for the awesome post, it really helped me sum up my own ideas on the issue and I really like the critical approach you took!
Hey Sania,
I am so glad you mentioned about the styles of Sacco and Satrapi as we discussed it in our group activity today.I completely agree with you about the difference in portrayal of violence by Sacco and Satrapi because of the difference in the perspective of Sacco (adult perspective) and Satrapi( child’s perspective).I also liked how you described the distinction between the drawing styles of both the authors so precisely as they play a major role in portraying the violence and it’s intensity.Sacco’s approach in showing the violence was more realistic and as you mentioned ‘unfiltered’ whereas Satrapi drew a line and choose not to portray the ‘extreme’ conditions. But I also believe that somewhere Sacco too became hesitant in portraying violence when the situation became too traumatic. For example – we talked about it in our group, how Sacco did not depict the violence that was practiced on children clearly because that was too sensitive and harsh for him to do that. I just want to know if you think that Satrapi and Sacco did have any other similarity in their styles?
Hi Priya!
I read your most recent blog post “Breaking The Stereotype” and I thought your comparison between Joe Sacco’s and Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel was nicely portrayed. You emphasized that the women characters in both graphic memoirs are associated to this “usual stereotype”. I enjoyed that you contradicted this stereotype and gave your own interpretation about how you believed women are perceived. By identifying that women are in fact “not mysterious, veiled, victims of male oppression but instead strong-minded, independent, fearless, opinionated and unyielding with their own desires, wants and perspectives” was a very strong thought. This part of your blog was written very effectively because your own opinion gave me an incite to what you think about women stereotypes. As well, I like how you illustrated that the independent women have their own individual opinions even though they were many restrictions to achieve their desires. Thus breaking the stereotype of the women from Bosnia and Iran. Additionally, you also touched on how Marjane was an insider in her story, whereas Sacco was on outsider. I think you could have many gone into more depth about this topic in your blog post because it is a very interesting comparison. However, overall I really enjoyed reading your blog post!
-Imaan
Hi Imaan!
I am glad that you enjoyed reading my blog and thank you for appreciating it. I agree with you that Marjane Satrapi being an ‘insider’ in her story whereas Sacco being an ‘outsider’ in his story is a very captivating topic. I did not extend my discussion on this topic because my main theme of this blog was how Sacco and Satrapi broke the ‘stereotype’ of women through their graphic narratives. I mentioned the ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ to just give readers the idea about the difference in their graphic narrative but yet they share a common ground when it comes to breaking the stereotype. Thank you so much for your advice. I might talk about the ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ perspective of the Satrapi’s and Sacco’s graphic narratives in my future blogs.
Cheers!
Priya
Hey Kaveel,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog post entitled, “’Multicultural’ Canada: A Product of Organized Forgetting”! With the commemorations on Remembrance Day, I could not think of a better way to segway into our novel Obasan by Joy Kogawa. In relation to national memory and the negation of what is remembered, your question: “Why are some events erased from national memory while others are remembered,” was reminiscent of Marita Sturken’s excerpt we read in our ASTU class not too long ago!
Under the notion of remembering in light of Remembrance Day, I think the way in which we set apart a specific date – every November 11 – once a year to pause and honour our soldiers as a nation speaks volumes to the importance technologies of memory play in memory making and retrieval. From war memorabilia, ceremonies, museums, the poppy, “and the memorial [as] perhaps the most traditional kind of memory object or technology” (Sturken 10), these technologies of memory, “embody and generate memory and are thus implicated in the power dynamics of memory’s production” (10).
Through the negation of memory and forgetting from the perspective of Obasan and the Japanese internment, a multicultural Canada has definitely done a job in suppressing the truths behind its dark side. In an effort to add to this strategic organized forgetting, Sturken calls upon Milan Kundera, who writes, “’Forgetting is a form of death ever present within life… forgetting is also the great problem of politics’… cultures can also participate in a ‘strategic’ forgetting of painful events that may be too dangerous to keep in active memory” (Sturken 7). Similar to your experience, prior to reading Obasan, I had only glanced upon reading about the Japanese injustices! This then yielded a few question that made me ponder as we discussed Kogawa’s novel in class: who gets to choose and rather, has the authority to pick and choose the content we read in our social studies textbooks? Why is there an emphasis on the Chinese head tax and the CPR, residential schools, but little written regarding the Japanese struggles? And lastly, to what extent should the Canadian government be transparent and bring history to its forefront?
You make a great statement towards the latter part of your blog, which I believe is a major turning point in finding the line between forgetting and remembering, suppressing or embracing, and ultimately, how history should be portrayed:
“Next time before we tell everyone how proud we are to be in such a multicultural and
welcoming country, we should think about the past and perhaps it will better explain
how Canada got to become the diverse nation it is today.”
Thanks for a great thought-provoking blog post, Kaveel!
Lest we forget…
Nico
Hi Nico!
I’d like to go back to when you wrote “Interpretative Communities and Technologies of Memory ” as the example of Instagram resonated with me as well! Yes, it is a powerful technology of memory in our contemporary world and I’d like to add to this from a sociological point of view.
I believe it was a couple weeks ago or around the last few days of October that we learned about the Presentation of the Self, the Front and Back Stages, and the concept of Impression Management. In one of our Sociology group discussions (Tuesday after ASTU if anyone else is in our same discussion), Instagram was discussed as a method by which people chose to portray a favoured version of themselves and their lives. Pictures, in our discussion, was argued to be for an aesthetic purpose or to retrieve “many likes” (by posting within a certain time-frame – Devon Coady explained through her example of her family member?) in order to gain a sense of self-confidence.
I found this thought-provoking because media as a technology of memory in this sense reinforces how we remember people the way they want to be remembered. Whether this is through “meme-like” posts or adventure/street/minimalist/fashion photography like you, this Front Stage we possess shapes the way in which we are seen and also influences our interactions within interpretative communities.
Just another perspective to keep in mind, thanks for bringing this example up!
Pictures, in our discussion, were* argued to be
*Kristen Ylo
Hey Nicola!
I thought your post about your initial thoughts on Obasan was really interesting, particularly because I am also totally taken with Joy Kogawa’s writing style. I agree with you that the way that Naomi’s story is woven together through a blend of so many genres in such a poetic way results in the novel having an incredibly powerful emotional impact. The especially figurative, poetic aspects of Kogawa’s prose were the parts that struck me the most, like the quote (which we were discussing in ASTU) near the very end of the novel in Naomi’s address to her mother in which she says: “In the dark Slocan night, the bright light flares in my dreaming. I hear the screams and feel the mountain breaking. Your long black hair falls and falls into the chasm. My legs are sawn in half. ” Even though it is very abstract, I found this imagery to be profoundly disturbing and vivid.
Additionally, like you mention in your blog post, I have also been thinking about the symbolism behind Kogawa’s use of animals throughout Obasan. In fact, it seems that the novel is overflowing with examples of Naomi encountering animals in need. What do you think is the symbolism behind the part in the novel where Naomi witnesses the boys torturing the chicken in the field behind her school? Or the part (I think it is later in the same chapter) in which Naomi hears the kitten helplessly mewing in the outhouse? Or, later in the novel, the part where Naomi adopts the injured frog? I’m not quite sure what I think the symbolism of these animals in distress is, but I think you are on the right track by saying that perhaps Naomi’s observations and encounters with these animals is symbolic of her internalizing the racism in Canadian society. I am not sure if this was Kogawa’s intention at all, but the continual return to injured animal imagery to me has some sort of correlation with the tendency of systemized racism to dehumanize marginalized groups and to use the rhetoric of likening people to animals. Also Naomi’s empathetic relationship to these animals perhaps speaks to her observations of her own family and community being wounded through the internment system. Anyways, let me know what you think!
Hey Taylor!
I found your blog post “Memory, Trauma and History” really interesting! I also read Geoffrey Cubitt’s /History and Memory/ for research purposes. It was intriguing to see how you projected Cubitt’s ideas onto /Obasan/. You referenced Cubitt, saying, “Cubitt does note that memory on its own is never “pure”; there are always other factors involved, including how we identify with ourselves, the generation we belong to, as well as how we choose to interact within society (6). In other words, we, as individuals and groups, must recognize the potential we posses to develop over time.” By referencing Kogawa’s “collage” style of writing in /Obasan/, and how it was not written in chronological order, you effectively prove how memory develops and changes over time due to a variety of circumstances. I would argue, however, that you could take this analysis one step further. I would love to hear your thoughts on how Naomi’s generation has a collective memory that is altogether different than that of her parents’ generation. (Taking into account their age in the 1950s-1960s, and how they interacted in Canadian society once they were reinstated as Canadian citizens.) I look forward to your response!
-Kendall Manifould
Hello Kendall!
Your post regarding “Is ‘Truth’ the Same Thing as ‘The Real Truth’?” is insightful! I found myself pondering over this same question while reading Sacco’s “Safe Area Goražde”. It was interesting to see your observations about the portraits that Sacco uses in an attempt to emphasize the fact that this graphic narrative is the story of the Goraždans’; it is not Sacco’s. Choosing to focus on Rasim served as solid evidence for your argument. It is clear that this is Rasim’s experience and Rasim’s version of “the truth”. Therefore, it cannot be generalized to include all Goraždans. However, I would argue that you could go further with this thought process, extending the idea to include the fact that Sacco chose to emphasize these peoples’ stories. Whether or not this an accurate account of how the Bosnian community chooses to remember these traumatic events is unclear. In other words, would they choose to emphasize the same people or would these choices differ? I would love to hear your thoughts on this aspect of “the real truth”.
— Taylor Khatkar
Hey Kihan!
I really enjoyed reading your blog post because I can completely relate to that realization about books being so much more than their finished product. Even though I consider myself someone who reads a lot I still find myself viewing the copy of the book I read as some sort of canonized final narrative. I think we lose a lot of context and value when we see books this way because their is so much value in the thought process that went into the book. I really experienced that feeling when I got to see the different plot ideas scribbled out on pieces of scrap paper and napkins. I think even how you describe a novel as “a material meeting place of reader and author” is true and even beyond that it’s an experience. I find that after exploring Kogawa’s fonds her books feels more alive and more like a dynamic event than a static narrative. Essentially I geeked out just as much as you did but much less eloquently! It was great reading your post!!
Hey Imaan!
I read your post “GENDER INEQUALITY” (http://blogs.ubc.ca/imaanpunjasblog/)
and the question my World Cultures class asked last year, and that I will now ask you is, can we apply cultural relativism to female genital mutilation? As discussed in Sociology cultural relativism holds no specific culture or cultural practice as better or more correct than another but instead focuses on culture within its own historical and social context. Eurocentricism, on the other hand measures all other cultures and cultural practices against the ‘better’ and more correct ones of the West. In class last year we watched a documentary, that I cannot recall the name of at the moment, which explained the thinking behind female genital mutilation, mothers explaining why they did this to their daughters, and how mutilated women felt about their mutilation. Many women explained that it was culturally valuable and that they believed it was right to have been done to them. Other women explained how being mutilated took their sexuality, freedom, autonomy, and humanity. How do you think violent cultural practices, that are considered important to those who preform them can be changed, how can we work to understand them within their cultural context, rather than as acts of pure cruelty.
Hey Jacqueline I really enjoyed reading your blog post titled Who Decides: Issues of Personhood. An insightful point you made was when you said “The way these peoples’ more human side show themselves is often in an American influenced context” when referring to the people interviewed in Gorazde. I had not considered this before, but as you went on I began to see the connections drawn between humanization and American cultural values. This raised the question for me, would a Western audience as easily identify the humanization for Gorazde’s people if they were not depicted as idolizing and desiring American values, and products? You do answer that question normatively when you say, “we should be connecting with peoples culture within its own context instead of relating it to our own”, and calling for the use of a relativist approach to the people interviewed in Sacco’s book. You connect the possibly ethnocentric attitude this book may take, or promote, to Euro-centrism. I would like to expand on this idea, and suggest this may also be an example of ‘Naturalized Assumption’. Today in Gender Race Sexuality and Justice in Pop Culture we discussed naturalized assumptions as particularly harmful because they are associated with essentialism, and perpetuate covert ideologies of what is, and what should be the characteristics of a groups race, sexual orientation, age, sex, gender, religion, ethnicity and so forth. The examples you offered in your blog would support a naturalized assumption that humanity is in part defined by Americanized values. I think this is a wonderful observation you made, and in some ways may be linked to my most recent post as well, as we are both applying ‘uncommon-sense’ to possibly ‘common-sense’ language and ideas, to evaluate what effect may occur as a result.
I look forward to hear more of your insights,
Isabelle
This comment to Jacqueline was posted the week of the 13th but I have no idea where I had posted it so i have reposted it here!
Hey Kaveel!
Your blog post on “‘Multicultural’ Canada: A Product of Organized Forgetting ” was very thought provoking and, in my opinion, a very underrated topic. I agree with you about Canada being too quick to celebrate their diverse population, whilst conditioning the masses to forget how Canada used to treat non-white ethnic groups. But from my perspective, it seems like Canada is trying to celebrate their diversity as proof to the world of their improved international relations, and that they have acknowledged their past mistakes and are working towards improvement.
Someone who has worked to improve themselves as a person typically don’t like being reminded of their previous mistakes because it’s discouraging. However, those mistakes could have also been their source of motivation – acknowledging the weakness in order to understand what and how exactly to improve. Does this also apply to Canada? I’d like to hear more of your thoughts on this topic.
Thank you for the amazing blog, and I hope to hear from you soon!
-Diego
Link to blog post: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ksingh/2015/11/12/multicultural-canada-a-product-of-organized-forgetting/
Hey Diego!
I enjoyed reading your blog post, “The Fond- A Collection of Artifacts!” I like how you incorporated our process of entering Joy Kogawa’s fond. I also found it interesting on the overwhelming amount of objects that are within her fond.
I was fortunate enough to learn about the Japanese-Canadians in History 12 unlike many people. I agree with how the Canadian school system should indeed cover this topic. This highlights at how nations are not always proud of their past and chooses to hide some parts of their “national memory.” I consider the term you mentioned, “forgetting as humiliated silence,” relates back to “national memory.”
I acknowledge that this topic should throughly be discussed because it is something that has helped build Canada into what the nation is today. With that being said, I believe Obasan has helped immensely with this struggle and has many progress in helping in remembering.
Overall, great job on the blog! I was able to relate towards your blog and made me feel like someone understands me!
Jennifer
Hello Nicola!
Your post entitled “Initial Thoughts On Obasan” is inspiring! It is clear that you connected with many aspects of this novel on a deep level. Your argument regarding the emotional attachment that readers feel towards the atrocities experienced by the Japanese-Canadians was well-supported by your emphasis on, as you put it, the “image of animal versus human”. The textual references included in this post correlate to your argument respectively. However, you could extend this idea to include the difference between what Kogawa thinks about the “helpless animal and the human”, as you mentioned, and what the narrator, Naomi Nakane, thinks about this concept. Which account do you believe would be more accurate? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this aspect of Obasan.
— Taylor Khatkar
Link to Nicola’s blog post “Initial Thoughts On Obasan”: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcastu/2015/11/13/initial-thoughts-on-obasan/
Hi Marina!
This week I was the class blogger and I really enjoyed reading your blog post. When I wrote the class blog I focused on how you emphasized that Canada kept the Japanese- Canadians trauma in silence and how the novel is fiction but based on real events. You depicted that archives do not contain an outside analysis and the interpretations gives a person more space for exploration and does not limit their research. This was nicely portrayed as you decided to focus on the difference between public and private archives. As well, you go in depth about how people make a choice to save artifacts but others may just throw them a way. By connecting this to Obasan in an interesting way you clearly portray that Kogawa may have created an archive because she chose to forget some events but may want to remember others. You then describe that the way one’s memories can become a property of society. When you were explaining that the artifacts preserve memories and keep them alive in people’s heart and mind it was a very strong interpretation that made me very engaged. Overall, I thought your perspective on the Kogawa’s archives was very fascinating and was a great read.
-Imaan
Hi Peijia!
I enjoyed reading your post, “Styled Trauma and Connected Memories” as you compared Safe Area Gorzade with Obasan because I was able to relate to your thoughts as well!
Coming into our ASTU class I had no knowledge at all about the Bosnian War and Safe Area Gorazde, through its use of black and white illustrations, was effectively able to inform me of the trauma felt by war victims. To address your questions on the bottom, I personally feel that his use of monochromatic colours was powerful enough, and colour might even take away meaning from “selective scenes” that you mention.
Obasan was easily relatable to me as well because I felt that personal connection you felt. This novel had in a way, made me nostalgic about my family reunions in the Philippines. I remember that my aunts, uncles and grandparents keep the most useless of things too. Especially items that allow them to remember our families in Canada and the USA, like photographs of me growing up. I’ve come to understand as I’m writing my own ASTU essay, that we are tied to tangible objects because in some way, they symbolize various memories worth remembering. It represents what’s left of us, or what is there for them when we are absent.
-Kristen Ylo
Hello Kaveel!
I just wanted to start off by saying thank you for putting up photos in your blog. I didn’t come across the “SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS ON A NOVEL IN PROGRESS:” during the fonds field trip, so I would have missed it if it wasn’t for you! Anyways, onto the content of Joy Kogawa’s thoughts… In your blog you referred to her writing on the different languages pertaining to each civilization. I think that writing in different languages, or writing from within a different culture/civilization gives the readers an opportunity to need context. Whenever I’m reading something in another language, I try to take a step back and keep in mind what the expected norms are for that culture. For example: I used to read Brazilian comics growing up. The company has expanded and started making translated English versions of the comics… which ended up completely politically incorrect. When reading in Portuguese, I think in a Brazilian context, and the content is fine. But when I read the exact same comic in English, the content ends up coming across as sexist or just plain inappropriate. I try not to judge other culture’s work through my personal worldview, but I find it impossible sometimes. Have you ever experienced some culture clash due to different language/cultural barriers? I’d love to hear it!
-Carolina
Hey Kaveel!
I really enjoyed your blog last week on the Kogawa fonds—it was a excellent comprehensive description of the ways in which primary sources can really develop that next level of depth into understanding the author’s message and intended impact on their audience. However, I want to question one point you make: you state that Obasan isn’t based on Kogawa’s personal recollection. Kogawa did experience interment, though (see: http://www.joykogawa.ca), so I would argue that Obasan is based on her personal experience. This is not to undermine your emphasis on the power of historical context, though, which actually was what I found to be most compelling about your blog. You present that your experience with the fonds highlighted how Kogawa “obtained authority using historical context”, which brings to my attention the impact of telling a story that is not truly one’s own. As it relates to the other literary works we’ve read, this coincides with Sacco’s point of view, but is nuanced in the fact that Kogawa did experience the general events of Naomi and her family’s internment, but chooses to tell it from a fictional, non-autobiographical perspective. This makes me wonder: what is the impact of the intentional distance Kogawa creates between her experience and the events of the novel? Does this take away or add to the validity of her message?
Keep thinking!
Kristen
Hey Imaan!
I was looking through some blogs to comment on and came across yours from early in November! You talked about the growing issue of gender inequality especially in developing countries and connected it to Persepolis. I noticed you spoke quite a bit to the issue of female genital mutilation and the cultural validity that seems to make it okay. Like yourself, I take the stance that it is a cruel practice that young girls shouldn’t have to endure. I find it interesting however that you juxtapose the genital mutilation practice to the imposition of veils on women in Iran, as portrayed in Persepolis. I feel that they should perhaps be separated in context as one is a ‘barbaric’ (in my opinion!) cultural practice, whereas the other is a state imposition. Do you think that there is perhaps a connection between the cultural practices and the state law? Will the state go to any extent to impose dominant cultural practices on its citizens even if it is ‘barbaric’? Its something I’m curious to explore as we live in society where awareness of gender equality continues to grow!
-Kaveel
Hey Nico!
I really loved your latest post: you bring up a wonderful point as to why Chinese head taxes and Residential Schools are being brought up, but not Japanese Internment. For that, I don’t have an answer to. (Seriously, I spent my whole commute to school thinking about this) I believe that we’d all like to think of Canada as always having been an open-minded, multicultural country. But that is simply not the truth: Canadians and Canadian government have been racist jerks for a long time. I was aware that Japanese Internment was something that had happened in Canadian history, so I waited for it to pop up in my grade 9 Social Studies textbook… and then grade 10… and then grade 11… and then my grade 12 history class textbook. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing about Japanese internment in my BC-curriculum-approved textbooks. I took it upon myself to break the blissful ignorance, and learn about what had been done to Canadians. It’s shameful that we are burying our mistakes, withholding complete closure for the victims of this injustice. I’m hopeful that maybe it’ll change in the future: whether that be in forms of museums, a modified curriculum, etc. This has become part of our cultural memory, and we mustn’t let its impact go by unrecognized.
– Carolina
Hello Kaveel!
Your post entitled “‘Multicultural’ Canada: A Product of Organized Forgetting” is intriguing. I too have found myself thinking about memory in new ways since focusing on this topic in ASTU. The connections that you drew between Remembrance Day and Joy Kogawa’s Obasan shows the importance that national collective memory plays in both this event and the novel respectively. I agree that, as you put it, “we owe a moment of silence to the many displaced Canadians who suffered from racial policies” on Remembrance Day as well. In other words, it was not just the soldiers who were affected by the tragic events associated with war, as is displayed in Obasan. However, I urge you to take this thought process a step further by questioning whether national memory and collective memory are the same thing. Is one groups’ account of events more accurate than another’s? How does the tension between those who created such racially discriminatory acts and those who were victims of it play into one’s national and/or collective memory? I look forward to your response.
—Taylor Khatkar
Link to Kaveel’s blog post “‘Multicultural’ Canada : A Product of Organized Forgetting”: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ksingh/2015/11/12/multicultural-canada-a-product-of-organized-forgetting/
Hey Jennifer!
I just read your most recent blog that was about our recent field-trip to the Kogawa Fonds at RBSC and I must admit, your blog made me think of the archives from a different perspective that I wouldn’t have otherwise grasped. First of all, thank you fore mentioning Isabelle’s comment regarding the future of archives. I would have forgotten that if you hadn’t mentioned it in your blog post and it is definitely an issue that is growing. As scholars we tend to engage in primary research and a huge component of it is interacting with archives, however, what is the future of primary research as digital technology becomes increasingly prevalent? Additionally, thank you for discussing the letters to Kogawa from the elementary school. It definitely is interesting seeing how different age-groups interpret different events! However, this makes me wonder if there is a flaw in our educational system? Taylor mentioned reading Obasan in grade 5 previously but said it had minimal impact compared to reading it today. We are a nation that acknowledges prior historic events both victories and mistakes however I think we need to do a better job at presenting certain events and pieces of literature at more appropriate grades. Thanks for your insightful blog 🙂
-Kaveel
Sorry for bad grammar and spelling! The Class blog doesn’t unfortunately let me edit (or delete!) my post like my personal blog.
Hopefully its not too distracting 🙂
Hi Kaveel,
Like a lot of our other classmates, I found your blog on the “multiculturalism” of Canada particularly thought-provoking. As an international student whose idea of Canada was pretty much what you described, a “nation composed of diverse ethnicities”, our course work on Obasan and of memory and forgetting are particularly relevant. Personally, I think that the phenomenon of organised forgetting is, in its best form, beneficial for the development of anything, whether an individual or a country. The difference between what needs to be forgotten and what needs to be remembered is definitely a fine line, one where I’m not even sure where I should stand on the topic. On one hand, we need to remember events in order to avoid the same mistakes and to commemorate sacrifice, but on the other, looking back unto the past too heavily results in grudges and being unable to move forward. Topics like Remembrance Day versus remembering the Japanese Internment are great examples of how what gets put in the textbook is all based on perspective. The negativity of the internment camps is something Canada wants to forget, but I think it’s good that there are still ways to learn a little about it like we have in ASTU.
I especially want to touch upon the part of your post where you mention that Canadians should think about the past a little more before proudly claiming their multiculturalism. It’s obviously my opinion, but as an international the aspect of diverse cultures is what brought me here and being exposed to issues such as the internment or residential schools don’t do much to dampen that image, because I know that the majority has moved on – relatively – from those problems.
Your blog post contains a lot of the issues that we’ve been talking about in class and it was great to get my mind working.
– Raphael
Kaveel’s post: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ksingh/2015/11/12/multicultural-canada-a-product-of-organized-forgetting/
Hello Priya!
I have no idea if we’re allowed to respond to the class blogger posts, but I’m doing it anyways. I re-read my blog post, and I’ll admit, I totally sound bitter. I didn’t mean to come off as disappointed, but I had come into the fonds expecting something else. I thought it was going to be more of a collection, with physical artifacts. I spent my entire commute to class, daydreaming and looking forward to seeing a tangible representation of Joy Kogawa through personal belongings. I wanted to her typewriter, photos of her in her favourite café she liked to write in, pictures of her with her editor, etc. Apparently, I got way too excited expecting something else, and was mildly upset that I wanted, wasn’t going happen. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the field trip, on the contrary! All of the items surrounding Obasan, I found to be quite interesting. I expressed in that blog that my favourite things I came across were: “a picture of a man wearing a cowboy hat, holding a plate of food (with absolutely no context), and a fan letter from some kid essentially saying: I didn’t like the book, but thanks for writing it anyways.” I really did like the visit, even if the tone of my blog post suggests otherwise!
– Carolina
Hello Rachel,
I was reading your blog about the status of women in the book, Safe Area Gorazde, written by Joe Sacco. While reading your post about how in most social media and a huge part of history that women are being portrayed as weak, naïve, and helpless, I thought it would be interesting to mention the change of trend in the recent social medias and television shows. The most obvious example, would be the change of themes in Disney movies. From the very beginning of Disney movies where there were Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel, who’ve always been portrayed as helpless women who needed a men to fulfill their lives to now, stories about Elsa (from Frozen) and the movie Brave. It is fascinating to see a change in this generation where women’s status have grown so much and I wonder what kids in this generation would grow up to be like! Wonder if there would be way more feminist campaigns going on in the upcoming decades. Thank you Rachel for bringing up this interesting issue, it really got me thinking!
-Dione
link to Rachel’s post: http://blogs.ubc.ca/rachelllamalam/2015/11/12/women-and-war/
Hey Nicola! (http://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcastu/2015/11/26/exploring-joy-kogawas-fond-the-process-of-obasan/)
I really enjoyed reading your post about our visit to the fonds since I had such a similar reaction to the unfinished drafts as you did. I often forget that even iconic books like “Obasan” are made up of a series of drafts that often include plot lines and characters that never make it to the final copy. When you mention a key aspect of the book being about history’s incompleteness and how Kogawa never claims to give a full retelling of Japanese internment I really made the connection between her writing process and her final product. It got me thinking about how no source is really “final” or “complete” especially when it comes to the retelling of history. It really starts bleeding into the conversations we’ve been having in class about collective memory since I’ve begun to realize throughout the course of our class that their really is no official or main recollection of history. Overall, I think this first semester of class has really got me to question what is “real” and “official” and has reminded to question all sources of information. The questions you included in your post I think can be extended even further to questions about official sources of history or any sources we as readers assign authority to since no account is full proof. Thanks for the insight!
Jacqueline
Hey Mariana!
I really enjoyed your latest blog post about our visit to the Kogawa Fonds. Since learning about the complex workings of collective and cultural memory in ASTU this term, I definitely took more away from visiting the Fonds than I would have if I had visited them before this class. Like you say, Kogawa’s personal artifacts are so much more than just the remnants of her own personal life, they help us as a greater society revisit a part of Canadian history that has been silenced, or as you say they “enrich minds of the whole society.” Even though Kogawa’s archive was personal and mainly consisted of artifacts pertaining to her writing process, its preservation still works to spark conversations about Canadian national identity and the memory of internment by allowing the public to see how Kogawa herself came to piece together a story (and memory) of this time of Canadian history. Plus, wasn’t it cool that we actually got to see an archive after learning about them during our ASTU group project through the work of Alieda Assmann?
Here is a link to Mariana’s blog for those who are interested (http://blogs.ubc.ca/iamglobalcitizen/).
– Kihan Yoon-Henderson
Hi Taylor!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your latest blog post entitled, “Kogawa’s Fonds: The Impact of a Story Outline”! After visiting the Rare Books and Special Collection area at UBC on our mini field trip, I can definitely relate to the various points you display throughout your blog. In the case of the amount of effort it took for Joy Kogawa to write Obasan, I too, “cannot picture them writing anything that resembles a terrible first draft [or] visualize the piles and piles of drafts that [she] went through before even sending the novel to an editor.” Through the representation of these artifacts, it proved that authors have their own set of trials and are humans too.
When reading a book, I would normally think of it as a one-way transaction; where I read the book for its face-value, rarely thinking about the author and the vast amount of hours and procedures spent working on their ‘baby’. Now being aware of the extraneous process of writing a novel, I am now able to read literature from a fresh lens of appreciation. It is quite fitting that we are somewhat able to relate to Kogawa, or any author for that manner, with their scrap pieces of paper and drafts upon drafts, especially as we ourselves embark on our young journey of scholarship! As we begin to grow and gain more experience under our belts in the field of academia, it would be fascinating to revisit these thoughts and look back appreciating how far we have all come.
Thank you for such a great insightful blog post, Taylor!
Nico
Hey Raphael,
I really enjoyed reading this post of yours. I thought it was interesting how you claimed that a person can become a global citizen even if the person never left their country, and the important thing to become a global citizen is to have connections with people from a wide variety of people. In this sense, going to an International school like you did is the perfect environment to become a global citizen. I believe this is very true.
I would like to add to this argument, by pointing out the significance of a common language, specifically the use of the English language. Unlike you, I never had the chance to attend an international school. Instead, I went to an all-Japanese school. Despite not having a chance to interact with people from various cultural backgrounds at school, I still consider myself a global citizen today, thanks to my ability to speak English. In this age of the internet, there is nowhere in the world you cannot connect with, as long as you are able to use English. Not to mention, the fact that the majority of the information written on the internet is English. Therefore, I believe language is also a very important component in becoming a global citizen.
What do you think about this thought? Please let me know.
– Ken
Hi Kendall!
I really enjoyed reading your latest blog post entitled “Joy Kogawa Collection.” To be perfectly honest, I read this a while ago and contemplated on replying to it, but I wanted more class discussion before I did just so. After our last class of ASTU in Term One, Professor Luger pointed out the questions you formulated, and I was brought back to what I wanted to say because I found them to be very thought-provoking.
I think that it is more effective to illustrate the “horrors of the time” through fictional work as opposed to non-fiction novels! There’s something magical about creating a story from scratch, or in Obasan’s case, from personal experience and additional research. I remember when my parents would go out and buy non-fiction books about dinosaurs or the sea or whatever it was they wanted to educate my sisters and I on – and I recall being bored out of my mind trying to read them. I resorted to the Magic Tree House Series (http://www.magictreehouse.com/) because they were fictional characters being teleported back in time to real-life events. These types of fictional works are engaging, so to say, in my opinion because it’s more-so a narrative than simple concrete facts. The beautiful, poetic-like fluidity of the words an author composes make it fascinating and way more interesting than an informative text. And I guess because of this, the representation of such events is enhanced and goes beyond basic knowledge.
Also, for me, fictional novels make me wonder, and Nicola writes in her blog, “A key aspect of the book being complete is, I think, incompleteness.” to help expand onto my own thoughts. I feel like there is so much more hidden about these books, as our classmates’ blogs have relayed about Obasan after visiting the Kogawa Fonds, because it was created through such a simplistic process.
Thanks for your great blog!
-Kristen Ylo
Nicola’s quote: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcastu/2015/11/26/exploring-joy-kogawas-fond-the-process-of-obasan/
Hi Ina,
In light of our recent class where Professor Luger surveyed our class about our thoughts on global citizenship from the beginning of the year and today, I thought I could comment on a portion of your blog post titled “Seeing Through Lenses: Perspective of Being Mixed Race”. The part of your post that I want to address is the topic of global citizenship. The idea of it is obviously key to our CAP course, I mean it’s in the stream name, but trying to easily define it is hard. Ever since our 50 word post on what we thought global citizens were, the class today has shown that we’ve all learned a lot about what it means a global citizen is, that we’ve all grown in our understanding of the nuances of what global citizenship and what it entails. The fact that the term is so open to changing interpretations is a kind of a reflection about how the world itself is changing and how we need to adjust certain aspects in order to best benefit and fit into the social, political and economic climates. I thought I would end by saying that today’s class, while not a full flashback, was nice because we got to hear about how everyone’s first term had altered or strengthened their personal definitions of global citizenship.
– Raphael
(Original Blog Post: http://blogs.ubc.ca/peijiaponders/2015/11/13/trauma-and-memory-through-style-and-connection/)
Hey Peijia!
First off, I’d like to thank you for writing such a very thought provoking post on the topic of trauma with regards to Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde and Satrapi’s Persepolis. Within your blog post, you talk about how the black and white colour scheme plays a role in averting the reader’s attention from the gruesomeness of particular scenes (123) to the “message the image is trying to express.” You then state that if the novel had included actual colours, it would desensitize you from gruesome images if you were exposed to it repetitively throughout the book. I would like to propose a counter-argument to that, using myself as a primary source.
I was exposed to such images at a very young age thanks to certain animated movies and video games. However, despite seeing blood, open flesh wounds, slitting of throats, etc…, I still cringe a lot and refuse to watch whenever operation scenes in medical TV shows such as House and Grey’s Anatomy appear. Even the gruesome images shown in Sacco’s work shied me away from the panel for a few seconds because of how detailed it looked.
I guess the argument I’m trying to convey is that no matter how much disturbing images you see in Sacco’s book, it’s not going to desensitize you to disturbances in real life because the “lens,” so to speak, is inherently different.
Thoughts?
Hello Jennifer,
I just read your last blog post about the veil, I find it to be an interesting topic to talk about. I definitely agree with you that it is unjust to ban the use of niqab, as I believe within a democratic country, all religions are suppose to be receiving the equal amount of freedom. It is unreasonable if one just ban a tradition of a religion.
The example that you mention about the father killing his daughters for not wearing the niqab I find it very mind-blowing and ridiculous. I think the problem does not lie within the veil, but however, is the way how a small part of people perceive it. If anything should be ban, it shouldn’t be the niqab, but instead, the idea that one must wear the niqab. As you talked about, it is a very controversial topic, because no matter the decision of banning or not, it can never satisfy everyone. But one interesting thing that I notice is that as I grew up in an international environment, muslims that live around me are actually not wearing niqabs, the newer generation seems to be less restricted with the muslim rules. (especially the rule that muslims are not allowed to drink). It got me thinking that these kind of changes with the new generation is not only happening within Muslims, but at the same time, all other religions. I wonder if religion would play less and less of a role in the upcoming generations as the effect of globalization of shared common values among the world.
Thankyou for your contribution to the class blog!
-Dione
link to Jennifer’s blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/jlai97/2015/10/14/25/
Hey Dione!
I just came across your last blog post about our most recent field trip to the Kogawa Fonds! Yet again, another blog post has exposed me to an archive that I wouldn’t have otherwise noticed myself!
It is true that we were mostly exposed to a vast amount of letters/ articles to Kogawa that featured positive reception towards Obasan however the article that you decided to talk about seemed to critique the novel instead! Kogawa is featured as a work of Meta-fiction in the document and to be honest its a term that I never really heard of.
After exploring the term, it made me think that Obasan may in fact be a work of Meta-fiction. It definitely poses the questions about the relationship between fiction and reality in addition to using self reflection. I was curious what your position was on the classification of Obasan as a Meta-fiction as you didn’t choose to take a stance on your blog. Regardless, thanks for sharing such an interesting article on your blog 🙂
-Kaveel
Hello Kendall!
I really enjoyed your November 11th blog, especially this line: “However, it is important to note that these are their individual truths, not necessarily the whole “Real Truth”.”
I’d like to focus first on individual vs communal memory. I think what individuals perceive, are their own individual Real Truth. According to what they saw, who they spoke to/what they heard formed their own Real Truth. I completely agree with you that Real Truths are comprised of individual truths. Therefore, if we didn’t have individual truths, there would be no Real Truth at all.
I also want to bring up conflicting/concurring individual memory. Someone who had the exact same experience as someone else might have a different versions of the truth. I know this sounds horrid, but I think that some memories are more valued than others. Take war stories, for example. Depending on which side won, and the victor would write the history books, so events can be portrayed in a certain way. With this in mind it brings up the question: What even is the “Real Truth”? All truths are real, but basing a story/fact on only one truth isn’t representative. In order to combat conflicting memories, I think a possible solution is to create a collage of all of memories to produce a more accurate, “real” truth.
-Carolina
Hey Jennifer,
I saw your blog post about the Kogawa fonds where you mentioned the letters from the elementary school students and it tangentially reminded me of the socialisation through education which we kind of discussed in our last class of sociology. When we talk about the effects of socialisation it’s usually with a negative impression of how people are led to believe the same things, and to think in the same ways. What I thought about was the fact that children were thinking about the meaning of the novel in different ways, and how they weren’t yet displaying the effects of standardised thinking. To be honest it’s basically a given that they weren’t able to critically analyse the novel, but it is interesting still to see how values of an individual become prominent outside of educational settings through familial socialisation. I’m not particularly sure that my idea really does relate to the angle of the letters that you were writing about, however I think it’s cool that the ideas that we have learned so far in CAP can be applied in different ways to such a wide range of topics.
– Raphael
Jennifer’s post: http://blogs.ubc.ca/jlai97/2015/11/24/33/
Key Kristen Ylo!
After reading your latest blog post entitled, “Stories are so much more valuable than you think,” I definitely walked away with a new perspective in regards to the process of writing literature and my own family history! In commenting on Taylor’s blog post the other day, I feel like you reinforce and further this notion of the amount of effort is really put into writing a piece of literature. Simply put, “the research, the dedication, the blood and tears, authors put into novels such as Joy Kogawa and her Obasan. The Fonds have shown us this side of the work, and it really is amazing to discover”.
On another note, the latter part of your blog also caught my attention! As we viewed the Kogawa Fonds as a class and saw history unfold through various technologies of memory, I never really thought to put my own family history in retrospect. Having been born here (certainly you can relate too!), I remember my parents constantly showing me various photographs, books, and more of the like concerning our family history; telling me the stories associated it them in hopes of keeping our memory alive even to this day. In being Filipino and having the honor of going ‘back home’ the importance of telling your story to multiple generations has hit me. Just seeing the expressions on my parents’ face as they walk through the halls of their elementary school or recounting stories of my great-grandparents reinforces the necessity of remembering both the good and bad. Prior to reading you blog, I had never situated myself in terms of my own family history!
Thank you for such a great insightful blog post, Kristen!
Nico
Key Kristen Ylo!
After reading your latest blog post entitled, “Stories are so much more valuable than you think,” I definitely walked away with a new perspective in regards to the process of writing literature and my own family history! In commenting on Taylor’s blog post the other day, I feel like you reinforce and further this notion of the amount of effort is really put into writing a piece of literature. Simply put, “the research, the dedication, the blood and tears, authors put into novels such as Joy Kogawa and her Obasan. The Fonds have shown us this side of the work, and it really is amazing to discover”.
On another note, the latter part of your blog also caught my attention! As we viewed the Kogawa Fonds as a class and saw history unfold through various technologies of memory, I never really thought to put my own family history in retrospect. Having been born here (certainly you can relate too!), I remember my parents constantly showing me various photographs, books, and more of the like concerning our family history; telling me the stories associated it them in hopes of keeping our memory alive even to this day. In being Filipino and having the honor of going ‘back home’ the importance of telling your story to multiple generations has hit me. Just seeing the expressions on my parents’ face as they walk through the halls of their elementary school or recounting stories of my great-grandparents reinforces the necessity of remembering both the good and bad. Prior to reading you blog, I had never situated myself in terms of my own family history!
Thank you for such a great insightful blog post, Kristen!
Nico
Hi Kendall!
I just read your post on implications of Sacco’s organizational structure in Safe Area Goražde. I really appreciate your perspective on the real truth and how you highlighted the way that Sacco portrays individual stories throughout the novel. It’s interesting to contemplate what the “real truth” is in any situation. I agree with your statement that Sacco’s intent is to try to uncover the “real truth”, but I would argue that such a thing does not exist in the way we want it to. There is no singular truth, but only the differing accounts of many. These are all “real truths” in themselves—for every account, both first-hand and beyond, demonstrates a unique perspective on the historical chain of events. Even a purely fact-based eyewitness account may not include the nuances that a second hand account may develop. In my opinion, a real, singular truth does not exist, only the many stories of others. These are all relevant in approaching and learning about an experience in history.
Thanks for your insight!
Kristen
Hey Sam!
I really enjoyed reading your post because our minds seem to be in the same place! Your application of Butler to Spahr’s poems using language analysis interested me a ton because I find I usually don’t notice the subtleties of language when thinking about larger themes. Your analysis of her use of yous/you is interesting because you’re right in stating that it both individualizes and contextualizes everyone. The idea that you can both be recognized as an individual and still exist connected to people through your humanity is difficult because it brings up questions about where the line is. In class we’ve discussed the implications how Butler’s advocacy for recognizing the inherent connection of everyone can become appropriative. I think your analysis of her language can be further to this question because Spahr’s language demonstrates that a balance between understanding and individuality can be struck in the real world. Thanks for the awesome post!
Jacqueline DeSantis
Hey Raphael!
I really enjoyed reading your blog on Spahr and the theme of connectivity. While I agree with you that the question of “how connected are we really” is quite difficult to answer, especially since the boundaries tend to fluctuate with the developments of social media, I believe that we’re definitely connected. Or at least, that feeling connection is definitely a lot stronger than before. With the evolution of the internet and social media, becoming a “secondary-witness” has become easier than before. Viewing multiple world events with a simple ‘swipe,’ narrowing down your search with a hashtag, and even keeping in touch with people around the world with a single app. People are sharing things online as well: interests, hobbies, what they like to eat, recently watched movies. In this sense, we could say it’s actually easier to relate to other social groups because people ‘share’ things on a regular basis. Want to initiate a conversation with someone you’re interested in, but don’t know what to talk about? A quick look into their Facebook profile would be a good place to start when looking for a topic.
Thoughts?
-Diego
Hello Kendall!
I agree with the points you brought up about the Morey article that we analyzed in class, and I thought your question about the publication process is definitely something that can be further discussed. I actually thought it was really quite ingenious of him to connect the external publishing process to the overall economic processes that all publishing literature works go through because I felt like it allowed an opportunity for someone else to investigate this niche. It was also a connection that I wouldn’t have thought to make (because it was so out of the blue)! Anyways, my interpretation of this brief, random idea that Morey introduced – or “naive exoticism” in relation to the publishing process were 1. literature from Western countries get more coverage in the global publishing realm 2. the way in which Western literature depicts “exotic” countries or cultures is naive in the sense that they have little genuine or accurate information about them, yet they still have an automatic sense of credibility due to the fact they are produced in a Western location. To further expand what I mean by #2, I got the sense that perhaps Western literature is able to incorporate certain stereotypes and assumptions about a strange, exotic culture so that it becomes something (liable, worthwhile, significant?) to study. I believe these two points could be related to his grand idea of world literature, because like you said, Morey urges us to remain critical of world literature and how it depicts cultures and narratives. But again, I thought this small point you noticed was really unusual yet kind of powerful (for me at least) and I just wanted to share my thoughts on it!
– Peijia Ding