Welcome to my last blog post for ASTU 100!

Getting close to the end of the semester which will also be the end of my first year of university, and the end of the cap program for me. this first year in a personal perspective was challenging, exciting and stressful. In my classes I have made friends who are now a huge part of my life and have met people with different backgrounds and experiences which have taught me so much.

Coming to UBC, I had no idea what to expect and how my year was going to go. I was never one to have an issue with public speaking, so the classroom sizes weren’t what was worrying me, I was mostly scared for the exams because of my personal test anxiety. Now I believe I feel a little more comfortable when it comes to taking them and have also learned to reach out for study help when I need it.

I’d say the biggest thing that stood out to me was how supportive professors and TA’s are. I believe I mentioned this in a previous blog but, in high school I was always told that the main reason university is so different from school is that the professors ae not caring and understanding. My experience in university has been the opposite of that. Majority of my professors working in the cap program are very caring and supportive.

One of the other things that has stood out to me is the unconscious change in my critical thinking skills. I have noticed my improvement in critical thinking and believe I am able to understand things in a broader perspective and understanding.

What are your parting thoughts?

As my last blog post, I would like to thank Professor Luger for creating a welcoming and encouraging environment in the classroom. ASTU 100 was a helpful class and what I liked most about it was the online hybrid options for lectures and class content. As we are in a pandemic, I still don’t feel too comfortable with being around many people in class so having the option to do it from home without losing marks or credits was really helpful for me!

This year in the Globalization, Power and society CAP program I have noticed some of the materials intertwine in between my classes. Last semester my classes for the program were Politics, Sociology, and ASTU. Most of the content in between my politics and sociology courses would somehow correlate and make sense because of the other. This semester my classes are Linguistics, Geography, and continuing ASTU. A lot of the material learned in linguistics is correlated to the material learned in geography. In linguistics, we learn about different languages and how their roots can very much be impacted by culture and history, and in geography, we learn about how countries began developing and how the geographical events are impacted by culture. We learned that because different cultures and land invasions happened, different languages developed differently. The development of languages was also impacted by class systems where certain words are changed to match the phonotactics and geographical needs of the people speaking a language. The intersecting topics help me get a different perspective and understanding of the content and allows me to learn more information.

In my linguistics CAP class, one of the main things I have noticed that correlate to my ASTU class is the subject of language related to culture. In our ASTU class, we have discussed different forms of remembering and the technologies of remembering cultural memory. One of the technologies of memory we discussed was language and how language can be a way of continuing traditions and honoring culture. For example, cultural memory is seen in Indian horse when how he talks about how he doesn’t even understand his native language anymore since after his grandma passed and after being taken to residential schools he didn’t grow up around the language. Other than the trauma and the countless dehumanizing things that happened in residential schools I would say that one of the biggest impactful things of residential schools was that any form of speaking Indigenous languages was prohibited and English was enforced upon students. As mentioned before, language is a way of honoring culture and because of the schools, many Indigenous languages have died and are not spoken anymore.

I think it is very interesting to try to understand certain material while thinking about them from different perspectives as if you were learning it in another class. It helps with critical thinking and gives me a broader perspective on the topics.

Founded in 1931, The Vancouver art Gallery (VAG) sits in the unseated territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Peoples. The gallery honors First Nation people by not only respecting the land it is located on but also paying special attention to Indigenous artists and their accomplishments throughout history. The gallery builds a space where ideas, feelings, and stories can be shared in forms of art exhibits. By doing this, they also offer learning programs that teach and mentor the viewers about ancestors’ traditions and experiences from being first nations. The gallery is a great place to honor and learn about first nations even if you are a tourist, a local citizen, or a student doing research.

The Vancouver art gallery is now located in the space where the provincial courthouse used to be. Its large open squares have been the home for protests and social movements throughout Vancouver history. The Gallery’s director, Kathleen Barthels says to Georgia straight during an interview – “It’s a place where people gather and where democracy comes to life.” The art gallery is located in the heart and center of downtown, inviting people from all areas of the world to walk by and enjoy the scenery.

Being a known area for social movements, the stairs of the gallery now have a large number of dedicatory items in memory of the indigenous people who have died and suffered from residential schools. The recent discovery of more children found dead in abandoned residential schools has shaken the country and caused a series of social movements to honor those who suffered and were affected by the extremity that was residential schools.

The gallery is a center for social movements and it can resurface various kinds of memories to different people. Thinking of different ways a place can affect people, I can’t even imagine the countless amounts of memories the gallery holds. When I first saw the Vancouver Art Gallery, I had just moved into Vancouver and was still exploring the city from a tourist perspective. It was a really fun and different experience. While also being new to Canada, I had no previous knowledge of any of the first nation’s trauma and story. The gallery taught me the history of the land and if I remember correctly that was the first time, I had ever read anything about Indigenous people in Canada.

The art gallery, being one of my first ever places to visit in Vancouver, holds a special place in my memories. We learned in class about cultural memory and about objects of memory. I think that the gallery, by being in the heart of downtown, has become an object of memory to the people who see it often. In my high school years, my friends and I used to walk down to the gallery square after school, get food and hang out for hours. Now when I see the gallery, it reminds me of times from when I first moved, when I was hanging out with friends and having a good time.

On the Art gallery’s website, they have a written statement that says “-The Gallery stands against hatred, discrimination, racism, homophobia, and transphobia.” From my experiences in the gallery, I have never felt like I was disrespected or seen anyone being disrespected. The different types of groups that hang out around the VAG add a welcoming look to the building. There are skateboarders, photographers, art enthusiasts, and food enthusiasts enjoying the nearby restaurants. Moving forward while being an immigrant, I feel that I have to make more effort into learning about my country and I think a good start would be to try to be more involved with the gallery. Even if I’m just going to the exhibits I think art is a great learning form and I think it would be really great for me to visit and learn more about first nations and the country I live in.

I believe that one of the main reasons in which the art gallery has remained so popular is the way they invite children to learning programs to get them engaged at a young age. The gallery’s staff also seems to consistently work to stay up to date with social issues as well as being the home for many protests, so people can feel welcomed and comfortable regardless of their race, gender, and sexuality.

Link to history of protests at the VAG: https://www.insidevancouver.ca/2011/11/03/brief-history-of-protests-at-the-vancouver-art-gallery/

Link to the VAG’s website: https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

Me at the art gallery with one of my childhood friends and family who had come to visit me after moving away.

Me and my friends in grade 8 hanging out at the gallery after School

Happy New Year and welcome back to my blog! I hope everyone had a good time over winter break and enjoyed their covid safe holidays! Over winter break, I was quarantined and had to entertain myself at home, so I took Dr. Luger’s recommendation to start reading the book we would be working with in class, The Best We Could Do.

 The book is about the Vietnam War from a Vietnamese family’s perspective, including the sacrifices, struggles and disappointments endured. The story is a case for a change for understanding the war from a first person’s point of view. Before reading this graphic memoir, I had almost no knowledge of the War and how it was impacting the civilians at the time. The book shifts through timelines from, the war as a present moment, the after war and the family living in the United States and how it impacts her relationship with her parents after she has a child, and the timeline from her mother as a teen.

The way the book describes the events from a personal perspective, it reminds me of the book we read last term, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The book which was about an Afghani man living in America, mentions his feelings and reflections of the 9/11 terrorist attack. He describes his feelings of mourning but also as almost happy that the attack happened so America could be humbled, which is very different from an American’s feelings of grief and shock. The book shows what he was doing at the time of the attack and how that impacted him and his relations with people. It shows from a first person’s perspective of a middle easter man going through airport security after the crash of the towers and how discriminated he is.

Both books show a different story that is not the common narrative about the events. News about historical events usually seems to show how it impacts the country and or the factual evidence of the events, making it non-personal for the reader. In books like these, we feel more empathy for the event and shows me a clear understanding of what happened by looking through someone else’s eyes.

Talking about different perspectives of history, it reminds me of Judith Butler’s text on memory and the different types of remembering. Butler discusses strategic remembering and cultural memory. From my understanding of her readings, she describes strategic remembering as the way we remember historical events, not by personal stories but by the way it was broadcasted on the news or how it is written in textbooks. Cultural memory seems to me to be a way of passing on stories and remembering events through how it affected your culture or community.  Books like The Reluctant Fundamentalist and The Best We Could Do, show a different way of remembering events and shows different narratives from the cultural memory, giving the reader freedom to empathy and emotions.

For my new blog post, I will be discussing Judith Butler and her thoughts of our bodies vulnerability. Butler argues that “the body is a social phenomenon: it is exposed to others, vulnerable by definition” and I will use other passages from her writing to analyse this concept.

This is my understanding and my opinions on the term vulnerable in this context, looking at it as an emotional way. The author describes our body as our responsibility and questions if we are responsible for others or only ourselves. If I had to answer that question, I would say that we are not responsible for others, but we are responsible for our actions that may affect others. I personally strongly believe that showing people gratitude and respect is essential for all sorts of relations I have. Whether it’s a professional, friend or family, showing kindness could be impactful on someone’s day. So, in that sense, we are responsible for the attitude we present ourselves with, but we are not responsible on how others interpret our actions.

Understanding it in a physical context, vulnerability can come, mean and look like different ways. Physical vulnerability depends on the mental situation of the being. The way we feel vulnerable and why can be different for everyone. Thinking about vulnerability in intimate relations, what your partner is comfortable with could be different than what you are comfortable with, but by allowing yourself to be vulnerably open to the togetherness creates a deeper connection of interdependency between two people in a relationship. Talking about vulnerability in terms of physical aggression, we can return to the thought of responsibility for our actions. When choosing to physically hurt somebody, you are putting that person in a vulnerable situation where you are not only responsible for yourself, but for the other you are hurting.

Judith butler when talking about vulnerability, she also explains how someone’s vulnerability is not reduced by injury and how “there are no invulnerable bodies.” This passage from her writing makes me think about fear and how fear also makes us vulnerable. In previous classes, we have discussed the culture of fear and how that affects society. We talked about 9/11 and the way society remembers it because of how vulnerable America was during and after the attack. The attack was responsible for thousands of lives and caused so much sadness for the nation. The group responsible for the attack, was also the ones responsible for the lives lost and that goes back to the question of who we are responsible for with our actions.

In a nation attack what would be the people’s response? It depends on who is interpreting it. Butler says, “Interpretation does not emerge as the spontaneous act of a single mind, but as a consequence of a certain field of intelligibility that helps to form and frame our responsiveness.” The quote to me means that from previous experiences and memories, certain things impact us differently, just how we are each vulnerable by different things. The cultural memory of the attack, as we mentioned in class, is based on the main narrative of the event and how most people remember it by.

As a summary of this post, I discussed how vulnerable our bodies can be due to physical and emotional reasons, I also discussed the topic of responsibility and how we are not responsible for others feelings but we are responsible for the way we treat others, and I discussed the 9/11 terrorist attack and how the people responsible for it are also responsible for the vulnerability America was left

For today’s blog post, I will be discussing the metaphor “orchestrating voices” used by Giltrow. I will also be explaining why citations are so important in academic work.

To understand the metaphor used by Giltrow, we need to break down certain meanings and analyze how they relate to the topic. Giltrow uses the metaphor “orchestrating voices”, but what does he mean by orchestrating? According to the Cambridge dictionary, orchestrating means “to organize something complicated […] especially in order to get an advantage for yourself.” With that definition, when talking about a citation we can translate that to using someone else’s work as evidence for your own. So, we can see that when giltrow uses the term voices in his metaphor, he means voices as someone else’s work which is being used for the writer’s advantage.

In class we were taught how to cite the author properly to practice academic honesty when doing academic work. But why is academic honesty so important? From the CAP workshop on academic honesty, we learned that it is crucial to cite our sources for others’ ideas in your research. I also know that it is important because of the impact your research or writing could have in a community. We were taught the different ways we could be caught up in academic dishonesty and the consequences that we could end up with.

In previous lectures we learned how citing sources is critical in academic work, not only for backing up your arguments, but to also open a discussion of your own opinions and show your own understanding of the work. An example of academic work is a summary, where you must give the author credit, show your own understanding, and state your opinions on the text. We previously did summaries about the introduction of Tangled Memories which was written by the Communication scholar Marita Sturken. As we practiced writing summaries for class, I was able to further understand the importance of citations for my work. Which when relating back to my first post, one major difference that I have noticed between university and high school, is that it is way more common to use in text citations rather than having a works cited list. As previously mentioned in my first blog post, crediting other’s work has become an automatic habit of mine because in high school my teachers always made us practice it. I personally enjoy the in text citing since it allows us to give our writing context and meaning while “orchestrating voices.”

Throughout your whole high school career, teachers will tell you that university professors are not going to care about you and that you are going to have to learn things by yourself. So far, that’s a lie. During my first couple of weeks in university, my professors have been incredibly welcoming and supportive. Most professors know and understand that the workload difference between high school and university is massive. It seems to me that they try to make it so we can adapt to the changes easily and comfortably.

High school is very helpful in preparing you for university. It shows you different learning techniques, writing techniques and studying techniques so you can learn what works best for you. From my experience, the most important thing I learned and practiced throughout high school was how to properly cite sources and not plagiarise. Academic honesty is a huge contributing factor in academic writing. Since teachers were very strict about plagiarism and cheating on assignments, it’s now a habit for me to always credit other’s work.

The one big difference that I have noticed is the amount of freedom you have in assignments. In high school, the assignment’s rubric was descriptive and specific about what you had to do and how to do it. In university, you can choose how you want to write assignments and use the best learning techniques that work for you. Although the freedom you have is enjoyable, you do have to make sure to stay on task and up to date with your work since you don’t have a teacher reminding you what to do all the time.  The strictness in the assignments made them not enjoyable and tedious to do but also made them easier. Having the outline and rubric for the assignment felt limiting but also assuring. Maybe it’s just because I am a first-year and I am excited to be in university, but my assignments have been interesting to do.

In high school, you must take required classes about subjects you’re not really interested in. For example, why would you want to take a science class when you want to learn more about English and poetry? You don’t, but you must do it to get enough credits to graduate. In university, there’s the freedom to choose your classes and learn what you want knowing that it will help you in the future. It is a choice to be here which makes learning fun and exciting.