On Monday Sept 19 @ noon your first blog posts are due. The assignment sheet sets out my expectations in detail, and please read those detailed expectations. This week, for your first post, I’ll give you the topic, so you can focus on the work of writing:
- choose one of the four texts we’ll be reading Sept 20-22 (Frank, Equiano, Malala, or Menchu).
- Do some research about the book (remember to keep track of your tabs / texts so that you can link to or cite them), on whatever aspect you find most interesting. For example, you might be interested in the historical context, or information about its reception, publication history, or marketing, or controversies about the book, or whatever.
- Write a 300-500 word post that summarizes (and links to/cites) that information, and then builds on that information to raise interpretive questions you might like to take up about the text itself. By “interpretive questions,” I mean, not information questions (why did this happen, or who is this person), but questions that could initiate discussion or analysis.
- As part of your post, think about how you’ll convey the importance of what you’re talking about: what makes this particular topic compelling to us, as scholar-readers? (That helps move your post out of the personal into the public & research realm.)
Remember to read 5-6 posts by your classmates & post your comments on this blog post by 9:30 am Tuesday.
It’s a good idea to write your posts in Word and save them; in case something goes wrong on WordPress, you have a copy (you can and should also click “save draft” when you are creating your post in WordPress. To insert links, highlight the text you want to link, and click on the tool button that looks that a piece of chain-link. A window will come up and you paste the URL into it.
Let me also reinforce a few expectations about the blogs:
- This is research, not a personal, blog. It’s where you’ll take up an observation and develop it into a point of interpretation. That development happens through your use of evidence-based observations that you explain (and thus isn’t a series of unsupported generalizations about “things” or “people” or other anecdotal remarks).
- Each post should have: a specific premise (I’m going to talk about this thing in order to…, though you don’t need to use that phrase), links, and specific examples. It should not just point things out or summarize others’ ideas, but make a new contribution to the conversation. We will better understand something (an idea, a text, etc.) because you’ve shared your interpretation with us.
- A+ blog posts actively connect to scholarly and popular conversations, incorporating scholarship (readings from class or others they find on their own) to develop their own contributions to those conversations. And of course they acknowledge and provide links to and/or citations for the sources they have drawn upon.
The blogs are a great way to get comfortable writing in public, thinking about ideas in new ways, and connecting our class and the “real world” in really productive ways. So have some fun!
One notable pattern in the posts that I chose to read was that everyone decided to analyze either Menchu’s or Malala’s autobiography – myself included. This interests me, because Equiano’s and Frank’s stories are equally noteworthy to the other two. However, based on my own experiences, what I notice about Menchu’s and Malala’s stories is that they tackle societal issues that are:
a) More current (e.g. women’s rights and education), and
b) Less discussed in Western schools (e.g. the Guatemalan war and the Taliban).
On the other hand, Equiano’s and Frank’s stories discuss slavery and WWII, which are two of the most frequently taught-about historical issues. This makes me wonder whether continuous teaching of certain course material is beneficial in the long run, or if learning and relearning certain historical facts normalizes the importance of said issues and increases student apathy towards them. In other words, when the initial surprise of an issue or event wears off due to continued discussion, is it possible and/or appropriate for people to forget about its gravity/importance? To clarify, I’m not saying that we’ve all forgotten about the tragedies of slavery and WWII – I am merely stating and questioning an observation.
All of the posts I read seemed pretty well researched! A lot of people wrote about ideas, concept, and controversies I didn’t think about and probably never would have. I found they posts about the actually book itself (for example the translation, the type of text, etc.), instead of it’s theme, character, or historical setting, especially interesting. Before college I wouldn’t have considered those things to hold much weight. Now I am realizing that there is a lot more to a book, then just it’s words and ideas.
When reading various posts, I noticed not only a difference in how people addressed the content, but also a difference in how they approached writing a “scholarly” blog, a very foreign concept for many of us. The structures of different pieces varied greatly, each complimenting something different. Some posts felt argumentative whilst others felt more ambiguous and open ended. The trick I suppose is to find the right balance of structure and new ideas, something I found we all (myself especially) could use a hand in. Over all however I was very impressed with the ideas addressed and approaches taken in these posts. I found the most interesting post investigated a common theme between two of the pieces we looked at.
I too, noticed that many people posted about Malala and Menchu. However, Gurveer’s blog and idea particularly intrigued me. It was the comparison between the Taliban’s protest to education as it was seen as a form of westernization and Menchu’s father’s wish for his children to not attend school as he viewed it as assimilation. Therefore, displaying the amount of control over education and how it can affect culture. So how can the Taliban’s and Menchu’s father’s (the oppressor and the oppressed-although no relationship between the two) opinion result in the same outcome-no education? Of course Menchu’s father’s reasoning is understandable and he educates his children in other ways, but how can a form of education be reached where culture and information combine respectfully, a point Gurveer touches upon. In Selena’s blog she talks about how the story of Anne Frank was altered to appeal to a western audience, so how can education-a supposed western characteristic- be ‘edited’ to fit the needs of whichever culture or society. As well, to make it fit in a way that a child can go to a school and not feel threatened. Education is not solely ‘for the west’ and should have variety and be open to criticism. There is no “one way” to teach or to learn. However, education should NOT be condemned to “one right answer” or allowing only certain stories to be told, like in Guatemala at the time of Menchu’s youth or to be completely forbidden as by the Taliban.
I thought many of the posts brought out questions that I had never even thought of when reading the different texts. It required me to think in a deeper level, which pushed me to understand the readings better. My answer to a question on one of the few posts I commented on is attached below.
THE TALIBAN AND MALALA’S STORY – Eva Ruiz
Your question, ‘how can we evaluate her story’s effect?’ is insightful. I looked into it and what I found was surprising. A year after Malala published her book, Pakistan celebrated an ‘Anti-Malala Day’!
More information on that can be found on: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/24815/pakistan-celebrates-anti-malala-day/
Though I was shocked, I still managed to make sense of the hatred Pakistanis, had for Malala. Her book stirred up the world and put Pakistan, specifically Pakistan’s religion (Islam) and governance, in a negative light, thus putting her own country against her. Some Pakistanis believe Malala betrayed her country and ‘joined forces with the West’. I believe ‘joining forces with the West’ was Malala’s only option for her voice to be heard. Though Malala has created a movement world-wide, most argue that the least amount of change has occurred in her own country due to the bitterness officials have towards her.
After reading my classmates blogs I realized many of us examined the impact of a life narrative. For example they raised questions about the ability of life narratives to influence the general population. I believe that discussions about these exerts proves that life narratives can evoke conversation about the lives which the describe. Although I would argue that life narratives increase conversation about the issues they expose; Andrew Willson asks an important point when commenting “who [is] the target audience of ‘I am Malala’”. As Andrew Wilson points out ‘I am Malala” has become a best seller in the west, but in Pakistan it has been banned. Therefore, if the target audience was to inspire other school aged girls in Pakistan her life narrative would not have the influence in which she hoped.
Two interesting perspectives that I read on my classmates’ blogs on the authenticity of Anne Frank’s diary were the conflicting views of Sam and Selena.
While Selena mentioned that the way Anne Frank’s diary was not only edited and altered but also adapted into many other forms, such as film and theatre, with many liberties, serves to question us on how authentic something such as diary could be. Specifically, she states that “When such a raw form of documentation, such as a diary, can be transformed and projected to us in such deceptive ways, we should really start to question all information that is displayed to us through literature, productions or any type of media.”
Conversely, Sam argues that with each new level of mediation when Anne’s diary is adapted into a play, theatre, etc., the identity of Anne evolves along with it. However, rather than this being an absolutely negative effect, Sam suggests that this helps us better understand the historical, cultural, and societal context when these changes were made. To quote Sam, “Knowing that the original publishers of Het Achterhuis edited portions of it because they felt that Anne was too open regrading[sic] her sexuality (Stichting) can allow us scholars to understand aspects of the culture in which it was published in, and the purpose for which it was published.”
After reading some of the blogs, I realized that most people noticed similar things. For instance, those who researched more on Anne Frank’s diary would explain her background and her family since that was what the diary entries revolved around. Similarly, in Malala’s story, the parts about the importance of her family was also emphasized. In both I am Malala and The Diary of Anne Frank, the protagonist are both young adult females who are forced to act more mature than their age.
Kwezi’s point on whether I am Malala is an autobiography or a memoir reminded me of the thin difference between the two. This has made me realize the importance of the different text types and how they can impact the narratives. Furthermore, it also can affect the way the narrative is viewed by the audience.
Similarly, I noticed that Natasha made a similar point I made about Anne Frank’s diary being translated and thus, leading to a high possibility of some parts being lost in translation. Those who read it in the original German would have a slight difference in understanding compared to those who read it in another language.
When reading the various blog posts, I was able to understand to a deeper degree the importance of a life narrative in society and how they primarily play a role in the development of society. Despite a vast majority of the blogs favouring the texts of Malala and Menchu, I additionally saw compelling pieces about the life narratives of Frank and Equiano. All four texts showcased the turmoil these individuals or those they were speaking about endured at different points in history. However, a common thread that aligned these texts was the perseverance displayed as time progressed as well as the optomistic outlook. Overall, the blogs were quite compelling and educating as each person portrayed a different perspective on the excerpts.
One interesting thread common between various blog posts, including Nicole and Yaoyao’s responses, touch on the subject of the age of the authors, in this case Malala and Anne Frank, and how they respond to each of their respective social conflicts. Society is run by the voices of adults, yet both Malala and Frank’s works expose a sense of understanding beyond their years, and void of prejudice. This brings to question, what similarities do these girls share that adults lack? Do their narratives seem unbiased because they are both young and have not yet determined a solid perspective on their respective political situations? Or is credit given to their education system providing them resources, such as books and novels, which broaden their knowledge of conflict? Both girls approach difficult and confusing societal repressions with a curiosity to learn the cause. This makes me wonder if the current education system keeps young children too sheltered from global issues, with the belief that they are too young to approach these topics with anything but fright. Perhaps a greater exposure of social and political at the younger grades will allow children to grow with an awareness of the world, inspiring different approaches to conflict resolution.
In response to Eva Ruiz’s post:
You discussed how the Taliban promises to “restore peace and security” yet follows the Sharia Islamic Law, which oppresses women–not true “peace and security” in the eyes of those who believe in universal human rights. Your point puts into question what is more important to a religious individual: the higher calling of the religion, or personal natural rights? Both, of which, are a conflict of interests in the case of women under the Sharia.
It seems that the Sharia women may not be aware of this injustice because they were indoctrinated to believe it as a part of life. Thus, Malala’s words must not only reach the ears of those who can help the cause, but also the mistreated themselves. Only then, would a social revolution occur. Yet the Sharia women are just an extreme example. I see this same issue in gender inequality around the world; numerous women don’t see how they may be subtly mistreated by men, yet they accept it as a part of life. On a personal level, I see this amongst people my age and in college. For example, a girl may choose to not think about her true opinion and rather just agree with a guy, which prescribes the guy a subconscious impression that he’s superior. When this occurrence repeats, the guy may subconsciously develop a sense that all females are submissive. However, the situation where the oppressed allow the oppression occurs on a much larger scale, as a result of historical and cultural practices or values that just haven’t been questioned.
This also connects to Alex Rodrique’s post, because she talked about how Menchu’s story reveals more implicit instances of injustice. She mentions how women are, in theory, “equal” to men, but in practice, still “less than.” Even with awareness, there is a constant struggle for the oppressed to have their voice heard, especially when the majority depicts their voice as invalid. We see how social change requires change in intention and mindset with these cases.
Many of the blogs conveyed that in order to understand the true story or the nature of the event, it is important to look past what is naively presented to the audience. Often we don’t consider that what is claimed to be a true story may have been manipulated so as to appeal to the market or a certain type of audience. When Anne Frank?s Diary was published the name of her original diary was changed, and as it gained popularity the story was slightly changed when it was adopted into a movie in 1959. In Selena Truong’s blog she references to an idea which raises the question that: How much of the true story is really true?
It was very interesting reading through everyones blogs and seeing how they chose to approach the prompt. Reading the blogs made me think about points from each text I never would have thought of on my own, and now I have a greater understanding for the texts. I noticed many blogs focused on how the readings have raised controversy of wether the texts are actually true stories as they have been altered over time.
In Sam Matura’s blog he raises interesting points about Anne Frank’s diary and how the text is altered with every language translation, format changed, and individuals involved. He also wrote that if Anne’s diary is viewed as a collective life narrative rather than solely her life narrative, then with each change that is made it is helping provide a better understanding of the text.
The blogs that I chose to read were all very interesting and detailed. I noticed that people interpreted the task in different ways – some were more research based in the sense that they described what happened in the text they were researching and others were more analytical and explored ideas further. I also noticed that a few mentioned the idea of globalization and that ideas are spreading across the world quickly and are being adopted by many cultures this influencing. The idea of what gets lost in translation is still a key feature for me and i feel like it came up in some people writing as well.
Each blog made some unique points that force us to examine life narratives more critically. An aspect that I find intriguing is that Rigoberta Menchu and her challenges are not as widely recognized by Western society, a fact that Merial mentioned earlier. I find it interesting how in Western society, we tend not to hear about many of the conflicts happening in third world countries. We hear about the Taliban because terrorism has affected developed societies, and we hear about slavery because America was involved in the slave trade, and we hear about World War II because it affected Canada in very specific and monumental ways, but we do not hear about many issues occurring in South America and Africa that are affecting states independently. The pattern that emerges from these observations is that mainstream media is only interested in the events that are negatively influencing our country in obvious and direct ways. Terrorism attacks in Paris force Canadians to assess the prevalence of terrorism in the world and the risk that this prevalence poses for Canada, and the Syrian refugee crisis must be reported because Canada is expected to assist these individuals. But our ignorance allows us to turn our heads to the Sudanese refugees and the repression of the Eritrean people. These challenges influence our world, as we are a globalized community, but media is very particular about which stories remain at the forefront of ours mind, ultimately breeding ignorance and insensitivity within Canada.
Eva Ruiz
My Comments
Selena
Your blog was very enlightening for me because I was completely unaware of the possible reasons Anne Frank became so popular in America. I had previously asked the question “why did it become so popular?” but would not have guessed it was because it aligned with American ideas. I was also unaware that they changed the title to try to portray her as more of a kid. These facts seem very strange to me because I would not have thought that our society would have shifted through the diaries of millions of suffering and only chosen the one that best fit them. This in a way seems wrong to me.
You question at the end “can authenticity truly exist past the process of editing?” really intrigued me and lead me off on a whole tangent of thought. In the end it can be argued either way, you just have to keep in mind what you view as authentic and what is not.
Victor,
Your blog took a different approach than the others I read in that they focused mainly on what we already know. When you reflected on how it was strange to look at the world through, the maybe not so popular narrator for a life narrative, a thirteen year old. I also found this strange, for though Anne did reflect on the world around her it was mainly about her world and what mattered to her her. She focused more time in her diary on her classmates than on how the Jews were being oppressed. This also lead me to the question on why this life narrative became so popular, but I am still unsure as the the answer.
Elena
Your blog really helped me understand the reading by Merchu because I was previously, I had been unaware of the civil war in Guatemala. This gave me a deeper understanding about the events that were described in the book and even the reason for the book, after learning about the horrors. I loved how you connected Menchu and Malala because when I was reading I also found that there were very similar. Finally, I thought your point on how countries or groups of people need these types of life narratives to be published because they give a voice to their people and create a bigger understanding of the issue for everyone else worldwide.
Karyn
While I was reading your blog i was able to get a deeper understanding of what happened to Anne Frank during her life in both the sections we read and the ones we did not. I liked your argument that because she had such a good relationship with her diary that she was able to pour more emotion into the diary, therefore making it have a deeper emotional impact on the audience. I also found the fact that this diary had been circulated so widely in a variety of languages very fascinating. It showed that this historical event enthralled many not just the ones who were involved in the war.
Andrew
I enjoyed your blog much to the fact that I wrote about Malala as well. However, in your blog you did an excellent job pulling quotes from the book and being able to focus your attention strictly on how & why she was shot, and even how it impacted her society as well as our society. Your question at the end was very thought inspiring to me as I had not thought of it previously and lead me to believe that her book was not a call to action necessarily for her people, but people across the world to come and assist.
The following are my blog comments on the indicated people’s blogs (also posted on their blogs):
Paige Furlan
I agree with Otto, Anne Frank’s father, that as long as the people are getting educated and learning of the terror of the holocaust and all they suffered, having so many in the family die in the concentration camps. It is great that the story is getting out to the world and teaching the humanity now, of the deeds we are capable of, and to not let it happen again by learning about it.
“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” ― Edmund Burke
I agree that it is enough, but I also hope that the feelings and emotions, the conviction, put into Anne Franks, well-kept diary, are not misrepresented and misworded. In a sense it a misconduct to academic integrity, to have Anne Franks words not written the way she intended.
Kwezi
I can see how “I am Malala” can be an autobiography and a memoir.
An autobiography is about a person’s life and the chronological order. This does not have to be a person’s entire life, from birth to death. A person’s life can be the moment in time that was most significant or most painful or most happy. It depends on how you describe a person’s life. Do we describe it as, how long they are breathing and their heart beat is going? In other words, their life span, or do we describe it as the event that had the most impact on themselves and/or the world?
A memoir is known to key in on one part of a person’s life. Or it could be the person entire life if you think as that part, that aspect, as being the persons being and life. But I think a memoir is more emotionally and sentimental. As opposed to an autobiography which is more focused on order than details and emotions.
“Memoir is a window into a life” – William Zinsser
I would classify “I am Malala” as a memoir, because of the emotionally and intense element to it.
Nicole Quan
Many children face the horrors, sorrows, and tremendous overwhelming emotions, that stir inside of them when having to face war. They are in surrounded in a world made cruel, but like Malala and Anne Frank, they can pass on their burdens and suffering to the world, so we can know and educate ourselves to make it so others do not have the same life. But those who have suffered that life, are acknowledged in history by the historians who uncovered the atrocities done to them and acknowledged themselves in the pieces of their writing that they have left behind or have sent our way, still in the midst of torture.
They hold identities that none could without having their experiences and that will help the future generations of humanity to see their suffering, and to not repeat it, but to learn from it.
“lovers age. Children die. Kingdoms rise and fall, and we go on” – Leigh Bardugo
Alex Chow
Version A, version B, and version C are all a portray of Anne Frank.
Although version A would be seen to be the most faithful to Anne Frank’s true emotions, because it was her first and also the only one not critiqued, I think all three have a part to tell of Anne Frank’s story.
Version A had the most emotion and the rawest Anne Frank wrote into it, giving us her thoughts on her journey as a Jewish girl in Germany played out, but also it should a person. It was not written or made for showcasing the harsh and cruelties place upon her and her family but rather her feelings about her family’s situation. It also showed her true side, her childish side, something I think everyone has; being a child at heart.
Version B may be her critiqued version of A, which took out the essence of what A was, but it was the version she made to be the showcase. It was this one that she wanted to the world to read, she put time and effort into the way she wanted it to come off as. The part she wanted the world to focus on. It is possible that she did not want her release to be about just her, maybe she did not want to seem self-absorbed? Maybe she rather cut out her emotional entries, so to pull focus to the bigger situation?
Version C, her father’s contemplation of his daughter’s diary. Although on a scholarly level, it would be misconduct to distort another’s work and change it to fit your thoughts about it, but as the father, he must have known. In this case, I do not see it as misconduct, but a father trying to show the world all the parts of his daughter’s life and showing it the way he knew she experienced it.
Anna Colpitts
After I, myself, read Menchu’s and Malala’s life narratives, I realized how much impact a blog, novel, or any writing platform can do. When I think of a blog, I usually think of average people posting their daily lives of opportunities that many others do not have. The life narratives of today are shortened and circulated through social medias sites like Twitter and Facebook.
People now use their ‘short’ blogging as a way to entertain and to put on our own little mini performances. As Bo Burnham said: “social media, it’s just the market’s answer to a generation that demanded to perform.”
But these platforms can also be used to bring attention to the sorrow and struggles of people like Menchu and Malala. It can be forgotten how useful blogging and novels can be to those oppressed when we have regular access to it and use it for our ‘performances.’
It is important “to raise attention to the unknown suffering of a collective community,” as Anna Colpitts said above, but if there is already suffering going on what is the need for fabrication. You truly suffer and have sorrow in your communities so why add lies to something is the truth? Is it because they have grown accustomed to their suffering that it does not seem enough to raise attention? What is the reason?