I am extremely sorry for being so late this week. I just returned a few hours ago after attending med school interviews in Toronto and Oakland, California (also why I missed the class the on Thursday).

I really loved the comics this week! Especially the little comic strips. I think comics are an excellent way to highlight and incite debates over a wide spectrum of issues: nationalism, feminism, popular culture, politics, etc. They have often served as a forum for biting political and social satire and driver for changes in social roles and landscape. One reason why comic books are such a popular medium for communication political and social ideas is their wide scale consumption among every section of the society – the poor, the middle class, the rich and the powerful. Another reason for their popularity is that they made weighty topics such as politics both palpable and compelling.

I enjoyed reading The Eternonaut. Oesterheld uses the comic series to engage the Southern population with the ongoing events in global politics. It’s interesting to read about the Cold War from the perspective of Latin Americans who find themselves helpless as the threat of global warfare and destruction looms over their heads. I found it especially interesting that the characters describe US’s nuclear testing in the Pacific as a “hobby”. This series was published over the years 1957-1959. But 50+ years later, nothing much seems to have changed about the US and their meddling with other sovereign countries’ issues.

That said, I definitely enjoyed Mafalda comic strips more! If I ever find myself reading a newspaper on the skytrain or the bus, the comic strips are the first thing I read myself. Some of the Mafalda strips were hilarious. But then everything is a lot funnier when read from the perspective of a little child, I guess. My favourites were Mafalda’s call for ‘world peace’ from her chair, Susanita and Mafalda pretending to be ladies like their mothers, Mafalda’s dad buying her chocolate but still ending up disappointing her and her making fun of soap operas. Many of them are very thought provoking and help you see political situations from the perspective of third-parties. Others highlight the everyday Latin American/Argentinian culture – i.e. women seem to be preoccupied with meaningless discussions during the days, possibly about TV shows; or the soap operas/telenovelas being overly dramatic (almost comically dramatic) while making barely any logical sense. They get the point across succinctly, effectively and in a much fun-ner/engaging way than historical books, and that’s amazing!

The article about media fascination with Jennifer Lopez’s butt was interesting, thought-provoking and just as relevant today as it was in 2002. I have heard and read extensively on social media regarding exoticization/fetishization, even objectification of ethnic (nonwhite) bodies, however, none of them do the job of explaining the problematic nature of this phenomena, as well as Mary Beltran does.

The author talks about how Jennifer Lopez essentially used her butt to stay relevant, market herself in US, and create a niche for herself in the still white-dominated industry. Crossover success is defined as someone from as the process of becoming popular with a new audience. Many stars from different ethnicities have tried to crossover into mainstream Hollywood, however, their success has been largely determined by how closely they were able to embody “the ideals of whiteness”. Their appearance (skin colour, facial features, body type – in other words perceived ethnicity) determined what roles they will get in films – the “star-making” protagonist or stereotyped/ethnically centred roles. In cases where the available Latina actresses did not conform to the white standards of beauty, white actors (eg. West Side Story) portrayed these Latina roles.

What this leads to is: other races must mold themselves to gain acceptance in the Western society. That doesn’t sound too unfair. But, the same isn’t true the other way around – White actors/actresses don’t necessarily have to change/mold themselves gain acceptance within other ethnic demographics. This creates a dominant culture/subservient culture dynamic. Given such “conditional acceptance” environment, it’s not hard to imagine why Lopez decided to use her curves for publicity during the “crossover” stage. You do what you gotta do to thrive. The alternative, most likely, would’ve been slowly fading away from public eye; ‘she came, she saw, she didn’t conquer’.

Beltran asks whether commodification of nonwhite images in media is a process of losing or gaining power and agency. I can’t understand how can someone possibly gain power through this exoticization process. Like surely, it creates a platform for ethnic minorities in US and gives them voice, but of what use is that platform anymore when you can only employ it to further perpetuate and confirm pre-held stereotypical notions of your ethnicity? If anything, it further aggravates the situation and reinforces racism.

The least good that could come out of this EW photoshoot was decentralization of eurocentric beauty standards. However, it failed to achieve that too. JLo still went on to achieve the slender white-female body, shrink her butt and sport dirty blonde hair. Had she succeeded in changing perceptions (like Beltran claims on page 12), there wouldn’t have been the need to conform…

This was quite an interesting and informative reading. Canclini talks about hybridization as a socio- and anthropological concept and describes it as a phenomenon in where “discrete structures or practices, previously existing in separate form, are combined to generate new structures, objects and practices”. He insists that we need to focus not on the study of hybridity itself but the processes of hybridization. Hybridization occurs in an unplanned manner through migration, tourism, exchange of ideas through media, but foremostly, it emerges from “individual and collective creativity”. For example, a painter becomes a designer to fit in with new conditions of production, or rural migrants adapt and learn new skills (farmers become shopkeepers or construction workers) to work in the city. Hybridization opens up doors to the possibility of modifying culture and politics rather than boxing cultures and identities into neat labels.

We exist in the age of globalization where we are constantly exposed to and mingling with foreign cultures and belief systems. For example, indigenous people of Mexico mestizo-ized with white colonizers, the mestizos themselves chicano-ized by traveling to US, manyreshaped their habits based on mass media, others acquired higher education and used it to enrich their traditional inheritance with resources and assets from foreign countries. Thus, studying the processes of hybridization allows us to refrain from neglecting any people or cultures that diverge from the predefined fixed set of characteristics. It helps avoid tendencies towards segregation (which almost never works well if you think about it, for example, racially segregated neighborhoods in UK or USA (Chicago etc) have much higher rates of violence and have higher rates of poverty). I found this one sentence really interesting, “We can choose to live in a state of war or in a state of hybridization”. Thus, we can either accept that hybridization is inevitable and mold ourselves to it, or we can choose to fight an un-winnable battle against it. Canclini definitely sees hybridization and globalization as an inevitable but also positive concept, however, at the same time, he is cautious as to not paint an overly optimistic picture

Canclini definitely sees hybridization and globalization as an inevitable but also positive concept, however, at the same time, he is cautious as to not paint an overly optimistic picture. He acknowledges that sometimes hybridization can indeed be destructive and it comes with its own sets of limitations. Hybridization does not always “integrate, producing mestizaje” it also “segregates, producing new inequalities”. Corporations as well as the rich and powerful first-world countries (such as USA) exploit ethnic groups through globalization via appropriation, commercialization of their practices, exploitation of labor, etc.

But it is interesting to note that living in a multicultural country such as Canada, we like to claim that Canada is a cultural mosaic and not a “melting pot”, but is it really? Over time, has any group of immigrants been able to remain “pure and untouched”? To some extent, none of us have been able to remain immune to the influences of hybridization. We are intrigued by foreign cultures, we “exoticize” them, accept them, try to incorporate them, however we do not accept them indiscriminately. In the words of Ribeiro, some people think: “I’ll listen to their music, but they’re not marrying my daughter”. Thus, while hybrization does bring with it benefits, as we are able to enjoy the best of ALL WORLDS, it isn’t all amazing as the societies still remain stratified. Even in mixing, there is always a winner and a loser: we are led to believe we are all equals, but some are more equal than others.

I really, really enjoyed the reading Futbol this week! I felt that’s what I had in mind I would learn about when I signed up for this course, so it felt good we finally were ready to learn about football and telenovela culture.

I had read and heard numerous time that football is akin to “religion” in Brazil, but I feel I had still underestimated how magnanimously important the sport is for Brazilians. Brazilians compare the loss at the 1950 World Cup (the Maracanazo) to the bombing of Hiroshima. The event is touted as the single worst national tragedy in Brazil’s sovereign history. The reason Brazilians were and still are so deeply affected by the loss is not only because of the passion they have for football, but also because a loss was projected by the media as unthinkable, the impossible. Newspapers, politicians, and radios had already hailed the Brazilian players the new world champions. Additionally, there were no televisions, therefore, most of the Brazilians had paid to watch the team play live, and thus watched the heartbreaking goal scored by Gigghia right in front of their eyes too. It was an image that never faded away from their memories. What made the loss worse was that rather than brushing off the defeat as a freak result, the Brazilians accepted it as something they “deserved”, that the “Brazilians were a naturally defeated people”. The loss reinforced a sense of inferiority and shame.

But putting aside the heartbreak of the general populace, the three players to suffered the most in the event’s aftermath were Barbosa (the goalkeeper), Bigode and Juvenal, coincidentally, all of them black. Therefore, the event reignited theories that “Brazil’s racial mixture was the cause of a national lack of character”. I really empathized with these three players while reading the text. The entire blame for the defeat fell on Barbosa, who was never allowed to forget 1950. He was labeled as “the man that made all of Brazil cry”. I cannot fathom how difficult and heartbreaking it must’ve felt to be made to feel the cause for millions of heartbreaks. Despite being voted as the best goalkeeper during the 1950 World Cup, he was shunned by his colleagues and called bad luck. Zizinho, another member of the 1950 Brazilian squad, described how adversely the event affected Barbosa, Bigode, and Juvenal. Bigode didn’t leave his house and Juvenal left Rio for good. It’s even sadder to realize that much of the reason why the blame fell completely on their shoulders was because of their skin colour, and not so much their football. It’s also interesting how, even though Zizinho says he moved past the event, he still has drawings of football systems lying around in his house. None of the players, even half a century later, were ever able to really put the fateful match behind.

Also, it was really interesting to find that Aldyr, the man who designed Brazil’s characteristic yellow football uniform after the 1950 World Cup, actually supports Uruguay, the team that caused the need for his design in the first place. Not only this, but Aldyr doesn’t particularly take much pride in his creation. I mean, sure he grew up on the Brazil/Uruguay border, and that explains his love for Uruguay, however, he literally is the designer of the most recognizable and famous jersey in sports!! Forget gloating, he doesn’t even take any pride in it?!

Finally, it was interesting to read what Gigghia, the guy who scored that fateful goal, had to say about the event. He is the poorest of all the surviving 1950 veterans, quite an irony. As much as I right now sympathize with the Brazilians, he deserved better treatment from the Uruguay government. He doesn’t feel much guilt for scoring the goal, but that’s hard to believe. That single goal he scored thrashed millions’ of people’s hopes, morales and self-esteems. He literally is the cause of Brazil’s Hiroshima. The worst part though is that the team that won that day, Uruguay, no longer remembers the much about the event, “In Uruguay, [they] lived the moment. Now it’s over.” But 5 years later, in Brazil, they “feel it in their hearts every day”. Actually, in hindsight, it was overall a very fun sad read and Barbosa deserved more love. I think I got too into it …

It was also very interesting to read about the Telenovelas produced in Latin America. Telenovelas are different from American soap operas in that while soap operas are driven by money and sex, telenovelas revolve around more family-oriented concepts, i.e. falling in ove, marrying and having children. It reveals a lot about the culture of Latin America, and what they value the most in life. Unlike soap operas, telenovelas also have a beginning, a development and an end, “because its goal is to “solve” life and provide it with a happy ending”. Ortega discusses Venezuela’s “Por estas calles” at length as an example of a modern telenovela and its theme, structure and characters and genres. The show was so interwoven with the national/political events in Venezuela, that it never enjoyed the same success in other countries that imported it. It was “too foreign” for them, highlighting how telenovelas are usually centred around contemporary political, affective and social issues.

In his article, Ortiz focusses on the concept of transculturation in the context of Cuba’s political, economic and social history.

Cuban history is a history of ‘intermeshed transculturations’. All immigrants that arrived in Cuba were of diverse origins – Spaniards, Africans (Senegal, Guinea, Congo, Mozambique – each with from own cultures and social groups), Indians from the mainland, Mongolians, French, North Americans, Jews, etc – each torn and uprooted from their own cultures and native lands and transplanted to a New World, where everything, from nature, to people to customs, were new and where they had to readjust themselves to a ‘new syncretism of cultures’. Ortiz describes how almost every race/culture of origin paid a price for immigrating, but the price paid by the Africans far supersedes the others’. When the Indians of America “collided head-on” with the white Europeans, they got wiped off “as though struck by lightning”, but they died their native land, believing that they were passing over to the invisible regions of their own Cuba. However, the Africans were brought across the oceans against their will, by brutal force, and they “arrived deracinated, wounded, shattered, like the cane of the fields, and like it, they were ground and crushed to extract the juice of their labour”. Even in death, they bore the agony of separation from their ancestors and ancestral lands.

He then proposes that the word ‘acculturation’, defined as transition from one culture to another and the associated social consequences, does not adequately describe the process of transition that takes place in Cuba. In Cuba, the different populations not only acquired a new culture but were abruptly uprooted from and lost their previous culture (not a gradual transition). Therefore, the term ‘transculturation’ is more fitting. I agree with Ortiz here; the kind of cultural transition that took place in Cuba (accompanied by upheaval, violence, and subordination) is very different than the type of cultural transition that immigrants today go through in Canada/USA (gradual loss of native traditions and slow, peaceful assimilation into North American culture). Therefore, a distinction must be drawn between the two processes.

In response to Ortiz and other writers, Millington suggests that the term ‘transculturation’ needs to be more closely examined due to the recent overuse. According to Millington, any term that is overused “[degenerates]  into orthodoxy and so [produces] a devaluation, which may be but one step away from obsolescence. He dislikes the word hybridisation because of the ambiguity attached to the term (lacks a precise definition, carries the implication that “what went into the cultural mixing was in some way pure (or not already mixed)”, etc).

The reasons he doesn’t like the term ‘transculturation’ is because Ortiz bunched the terms ‘deculturation’ and ‘acculturation’ under one master term which lends further to the confusion regarding the precise definition of the term ‘transculturation’. His explanation of the term makes no mention of   ‘neoculturation’ (creation of new culture), and therefore no longer seems to to replace ‘acculturation’ but subsume it.

The most interesting point raised by Millington (quoting Beverly), however, is whether “the idea of transculturation expresses in both Ortiz and Rama a fantasy of class, gender and racial reconciliation”. I’m not sure how true this is, given that Ortiz does point out the violent history of how the transculturation process came out to be, making it seem no more than a ‘survival technique’. The natives that were perished and the Africans who were enslaved as a result of cultural collision likely do not see it “embracing” different cultures.

I would like to apologize for doing this so late. I have to complete ~12 supplemental applications for graduate schools (which I’m still not done with) and there’s just so many essays to write, it’s hard to figure out what to prioritize and what can wait. Hopefully, this is the last time I’d be late though.

I liked the article by Campbell on murals. The murals, originally a form of artistic expression, gradually developed to be an artistic form of political and cultural resistance in the 20th century. As it became more and more politically charged, the government started to censor certain murals that it didn’t agree with, destroying them by painting over them, etc. The excerpt involving art critic Hijar and artist Ehrenberg was really interesting. Hijar accusing Ehrenberg’s group, H2O, as “neutrality at the service of the State” implied how Latin Americans EXPECT the murals in public spaces to be politically relevant and charged, and to express public woes against the political establishment. I never before saw the political/cultural factor as crucial when looking at murals. Additionally, the incident in April 1990 where the militants of PRI occupied the municipal building in the town Tlalpujahua was interesting. The government committed voter fraud, made a deal with the militants that they would let the mural in the building stay, but then cheated the people and destroyed the mural. I find it ridiculous how rampant the corruption is, and it somehow reminds me of the government in India. The pictures of the murals included in the text itself were really different and interesting though!

Coming to The Spirit Queen, I have now read that first chapter twice and I still don’t understand. Is he actually seeing the Spirit Queen, the cult Goddess/leader? Is it a figment of his imagination? Does he know he’s imagining? Or is it a pretended dialogue? The answer to this doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that in 11 pages the only time I understood what Taussig’s motive for writing the book/chapter was when I saw the image of “oil out videos tv ammo in”. So it was Latin Americans’ struggle for self-governance/freedom or against imperialism (I’m only guessing). The following words really resonated with me:

“Do not fear the sword that comes to avenge you and to sever the ties with which your executioners have bound you to their fate.”

Overall though, interesting writing, but if it weren’t for these bits of text, I probably would have no idea what the theme was (or would find it very vague).

But mostly the Cosmic Race, because I found the paper so controversial (and also funny and quite amusing in parts). Two VERY different papers this week: one, an impassioned and very forthright essay written by the Mexican philosopher, Jose Vasconcelos, and the second, an academic and scholarly essay written by the anthropologist, Peter Wade.

Often times while reading the essay “Cosmic Race”, I would stumble upon a ridiculous sentence and think, “Wait, what? You concluded THAT from that?” For example, he states that there are four fundamental human races, and the Mestizo will form the fifth race. Additionally, global history is divided into three stages – material/warlike, intellectual/political and spiritual/aesthetic. Taken together (I don’t understand why he decided to literally sum up these two disconnected ideas, to begin with), he somehow rises to the conclusion, “This gives us five races and three stages, the number eight which in the Pythagorean gnosis represents the ideal of the equality of all men. Such coincidences are surprising when they are discovered.” It’s the kind of ‘logic’ I expect from Trump…

Other statements left me amazed. Not because he thought like that because I’m certain many people to this day do, in private. What stunned me was that despite being a politician, he wrote something so politically incorrect and upsetting and then published it. For example, on page 32, he writes, “In this way, in a very few generations, monstrosities will disappear; … The lower types of species will be absorbed by the superior type. In this manner, for example, the Blacks could be redeemed, and step by step, by voluntary extinction, the uglier stocks will give way to the more handsome.” He fails to mask his racism, despite his attempts to come across unbiased. The idea of mixing races is not offensive in itself, it can even be beautiful, as Vasconcelos describes it, and Peter Wade also concedes; a blended cosmic race of people with the greatest attributes of culture, beauty, warmth, love and spirituality sounds wonderful. What is enraging is the reason behind Vasconcelos’ desire to erase individual races, especially the “inferior” races, and by inferior, he means the Blacks, or dark-skinned. But why do these ‘inferior’ races need redemption at all? For what do they need to be forgiven? He’s also very fixated on the aspect of physical beauty. He repeats several times that the ugly should not procreate. He doesn’t fixate half as much on intelligence, or wisdom, or artistic abilities. Furthermore, even though he challenges the prevalent white supremacist racism, it is pointless and hardly revolutionary in my opinion, given his justifications for racism towards Blacks in the same breath. All along, he echoes the same sentiment over and over again: his people, the Mestizo Mexicans are better than the rest of the world. Which is funny, because at one instance he himself points out this fallacy, “Throughout history, every great nation has thought of itself as the final and chosen one.” Aren’t you guilty of doing the same here yourself, Vasconcelos?

The essay contains many contractions too. On one hand, he talks about how humanity “loses each time a race disappears by violent means”. But then suggests that we should systematically erase the Black physical features and unique indigenous cultures for a superior blended race.

Despite all that, I do agree with some sensible statements or arguments Vasconcelos proposes. Historically, the most “illustrious epochs of humanity” have definitely been those in which people from several different countries came into contact and intermingled. From the Greek, Roman and Indian civilizations of the past to the multicultural societies such as Canada, UK, Latin America of today, these are definitely more enriched in terms of culture and human experiences. And finally, this beautiful sentence he wrote, “Beyond good and evil, in a world of aesthetic pathos, the only thing that will matter will be that the act, being beautiful, shall produce joy. To do our whim, not our duty; to follow the path of taste, not of appetite or syllogism; to live joy grounded on love – such is the third stage.” An inconceivable yet magnificent future indeed.

Contrastingly, Peter Wade’s paper is very academic and balanced. But Wade’s paper is also written in 2005, so we maybe we shouldn’t be judging Vasconcelos as harshly for his opinions. Wade makes interesting points that reveal that the seemingly all-inclusive Mestizo identity that is marketed isn’t all that inclusive after all. Even mestizos who have black and indigenous heritage aren’t free from racial categorization. The elites and middles classes “want to re-establish the possibility of making hierarchical distinctions of race (and thus also class and region), distinctions which threaten to vanish if the process of mestizaje were really to reach its ideological goal of homogenisation”. Therefore, even though a unified mestizo-identity is supposed to eliminate racial hierarchy, it rarely achieves that goal. People are “constantly thinking in terms of roots and (racial) origins”.

While Vasconcelos describes mestizaje as different races coming together and blending to form an absolutely new and distinct identity from its sum parts, Wade describes a patchwork quilt. Each piece of the mixed race is separate and stand-alone; it’s a racial mosaic opposed to a Vasconcelos’ racial melting pot.

In conclusion, the best point overall was again made my Vasconcelos. That is a different thing that he himself failed to adhere to it.

Humanity “loses each time a race disappears by violent means”.

And for that reason, our individual identities, racial or cultural, shouldn’t be forgone in favour of a unified mixed identity.

I really enjoyed the collection of stories based on Guatemalan folklore by the 1967 Nobel Laureate, Miguel Angel Asturias. The stories were compelling and engaging because of the poetic language and the imagery it creates in the readers’ minds. They were very unique in terms of structure too, since he would usually start the legend with one set of thoughts/ideas that would continually transform throughout the story, as we are introduced to new settings and new characters all along.

My favourite story was “Legend of the Crystal Mask”. Ambiastro has fled to the “most inaccessible of mountains” to escape the “men with worm-white skin” (Spanish colonialists). He has an obsession with carving sculptures of gods, warriors and priests out of rocks, that guard his cave. He toils and toils for days at end, without stopping, his face and hands replete with injuries and cuts, but none of this matters. He is devoted to sculpting. But in a twist in the end, his creations turn against their creator. The stools “kick him in the shins”, the work tables and work benches “hurled themselves about like enraged animals”, the shelves “lashed out at his shoulders, as if to kill him”. It parallels the science-fiction narratives common today where human creations such as robots/artificial intelligence turn against the human species. I wonder how prevalent this folklore is in Guatemala? How do they feel about today’s ever-growing technologies? I really liked this one excerpt from the story, “The one who adds creatures of artifice to creation must know that these creatures are rebellious. See, they have buried him, yet they remain!”

The short story, “Legend of the Singing Tablets”, reminded me of last week’s reading, “Popular Faces of Culture”, where one of the major themes was resistance, either masked or upfront. The indigenous culture, as portrayed in this story, is uninfluenced/untouched by the Spanish Conquest. The story is based on the lunar cycle, followed by the indigenous population. Despite the Spanish imposition of their own calendar and methods of life, the natives are able to keep their culture and traditions alive.

Overall, I loved the works of Asturias. They are definitely unlike anything I have read before!

I’ve been unwell and in pain all weekend so I couldn’t get this done in time but having finally finished the readings, I feel I learnt a lot. The second half (urban culture) was much easier to get through than the first half. Maybe that was just because I associate culture with contemporary times, and that holds my interest more. 

In the beginning of the chapter, the authors recognize that the (Spanish) ‘Conquest had catastrophic consequences for the Andean and Mesoamerican civilizations’. They used their superior military, disease and religion/Christianity to destroy the indigenous cultures and their existence as autonomous states, but their efforts failed to ‘expunge the memory of an Andean, Aztec and Mayan civilization’. These cultures continue to thrive, albeit still altered in some form of another. I feel this sort of resistance to colonial powers by the indigenous cultures can be seen throughout the world and reveals characteristics of humans as a whole. In other countries too, such as India and parts of Africa, we can see the same sort of resistance to colonial powers and influences not just politically, but also socially and culturally. There are interesting parallels between India’s freedom struggle under British colonial rule and Indigenous Latin American people’s struggle to maintain self-identity under Spanish Colonialism. 

One can infer that although the Andeans and others incorporated certain elements of Catholicism into the culture, but these were forced down on them. It’s admirable to note how these civilizations fought back and perpetuated their own traditions and customs down the generations through dances, handicrafts, theater, etc. It’s also interesting to note how indigenous populations and mestizos in Latin America portray the Spanish Conquest and its aftermath differently. The former presents a native interpretation which resists the European version (56) whereas the latter celebrate the Spanish victory and reaffirm the Spaniards’ legitimacy and cultural dominance in Peru (57). It shows that history is never an accurate account of events. In the words of Dan Brown, ““History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, ‘What is history, but a fable agreed upon?” 

While reading the second part of the chapter on urban culture, it was interesting to note that capitalism CANNOT exist without nationalism/a unified national identity. Capitalism destroys local traditions and their peculiarities. The power wielded by capitalism can be clearly seen in the following sentence: “[Even for the unemployed and marginalized], ownership of a television set is among the first priorities after basic shelter and food.” Rowe and Schelling also talk about culture as not being fixed but constantly changing and adapting itself to the society changes. Popular culture is made by the people and evolves with them. This is exemplified through the case of the Otomi women in US, whom people called ‘Marias’. They started giving their daughters the most unfamiliar names like Jeanette and Deborah, so they can be looked upon as individuals and not a homogenous group. Football too, plays a huge role in the urban culture, which comprises 3/4th of the population. 

Although long, I definitely enjoyed the second half a lot.

Hi,

My name is Keerat Gill. I was born and raised in North India but moved to Vancouver in high school. I attended the University of California, San Diego (located in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful cities!) for two years prior to transferring to McGill University in Montreal. I recently graduated from McGill with a Bachelors of Science in Biology (June 2016). I am now attending UBC as an unclassified student. I’m not Latin American, I don’t even understand the languages, but I find different cultures across the world fascinating! I greatly enjoy Latin American movies and music, and I’m thrilled to learn more about the people and culture of the South.

My goals (outside of academics) for this year include learning to play the piano, learning Spanish and taking visual arts courses at Emily Carr to nurture and hone my artistic skills!