Hello, my fellow classmates!
Over the past month, our ASTU class has been exploring the theme of memory and identity through group discussions about the autobiographical documentary, Stories We Tell directed by Sarah Polley. The documentary explores the concepts of identity in relation to other people and their perceptions of the truth based on memory. I personally thought the documentary was a helpful introduction to literature and memory as it gave me a grasp of what it means to be a Global Citizen.
Self-taken photograph
We were given the task to visit the “Arts of Resistance” exhibition curated by Dr. Laura Osorio Sunnucks. The exhibition was held in the Museum of Anthropology since May 17th, 2018. “Arts of Resistance” focused on the theme of inclusion of native marginalized communities through the artifacts shown in the exhibition. According to Dr. Laura, its purpose was to strategically enhance, develop and expand Latin American objects. She selectively chose artifacts based on their ancestral history, rituals, performances and how they each narrate a story to answer the question, “what is tradition?”.
Within our class blogosphere, I was significantly drawn to a handful of blogs which stood out to me as they each focused on an artifact within the exhibition and incorporated their own interpretations of how it connected to our central theme of “memory” during their visit to the museum. A majority of the blogs I read were heavily focused on the narration of historical stories told by the marginalized communities and political situations faced at the time. For instance; Kriveena questioned the child’s memory of the event as a “version of the truth”. Through her eyes, she was able to see what the child saw and experienced. Interestingly, when I walked past the sketches of memories these children drew of what they experienced, I could instantly relate to what Kriveena said. It’s like the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” because we didn’t have to hear a narration of the story, it was illustrated through the drawing. This brought me back to our discussions about Sarah Polley’s documentary where we wondered how memories were being preserved in cultural artifacts. This made me think, who gets to choose what gets to be remembered and what gets to be forgotten? I would say that this is dependent upon each individual on whether someone is willing and prepared to share their traumatic experiences.
Ideas of differences in story-telling and experiences as an individual or a group were evident in the blog posts I read. Azumi, Kriveena, Venus, and Jodie made comments on the intentions of the artifacts as not only an individual experience but how it was experienced by a group of people. They referred to the “sociological imagination” and “considers the interconnections between the social history and individual biography”. Jodie mentions how having similarities of sharing a traumatic experience between Salvadorians can act as a “source of liberation” knowing they’re not facing it alone. She acknowledges the power history has to “shape our identity, while a common history also creates a building block for relationships to form”. In connection to our modern society, I think it’s especially important to acknowledge the tragic and traumatic experiences that have occurred in the past in order for communities to reconnect and be inclusive of one another.
The reflections translated through the artifacts was an approach which some of the class bloggers used to solidify their anchor. Venus indicates that “The Defence of Maize” reflects “the opportunity given to them on their attitude towards life” as they are able to depict the “political reality of Latin America, such as the experience of people who were escaping during the Salvadorian Civil War”. Focusing on the same installation, Joline recognized that it “reflected on the oppression of indigenous societies and issues of poverty in Mexico….” I thought that noticing these reflections of what was translated brought out Dr. Laura’s intentions of filling in the gaps of ancestral knowledge and colonialism. It brought out the pure version of the cultures because they are profuse with cultural meaning. However, during the Skype call with Dr. Laura in our CAP joint lecture, she raises the question about aesthetic power. Whether or not something was beautiful, how it played a role in impacting people’s interests and how it directed their attention towards certain artifacts. I tied the two concepts of aesthetic power and reflections translated because as viewers of the exhibition, I felt like it was our responsibility to be understanding and open-minded about other people’s cultures, ancestral history and the relationship between art and culture.
To sum it all up, the “Arts of Resistance” exhibition has presented different ways that Latin American communities represent themselves. This related to our discussions in ASTU class about viewing multiple perspectives and how each person told their story either individually or as a collective group. Dr. Laura’s interests when curating artifacts in this exhibition were heritage management, languages that disappeared and how people in the marginalized communities didn’t have a global platform to express their ancestral history.
In class, we often questioned the reliability of these stories as sometimes, there were different versions of the truth. I felt that going to the exhibition broadened my knowledge about the minority populations worldwide and First Nations. Before stepping foot into Canada, I was unaware of the First Nations and didn’t focus on uncovering public issues or acts of resistance as I felt like it wasn’t my primary concern. Being a third-culture student who moved around quite often, it was quite challenging to bury my head deep into understanding the ancestral history and solidifying my political views of each city I inhabited. However, after our discussions and lectures in my CAP classes, I have learned so much about the ancestral history of not only Canada but Latin America as well. It is eye-opening to be able to identify these public issues, listen to other people’s stories of their lives and what they remembered. Now, I understand the importance of making connections between the content I learn in my ASTU, Sociology and Political Science class.
After being the class blogger, it was nice to see my classmates incorporate theories and concepts we have learned from our other classes (ex. Mills’ sociological imagination and Anderson’s imagined communities). I look forward to seeing how each of us grow and develop to becoming and further embracing our identity as a global citizen.