From our readings in ASTU, i have come to the realization of the existence of the marginalized communities we have discussed. I did not really think about these people prior to our class discussions and readings. It made me see how close these people are to us and the drastic differences between our lives. These cases that we learnt in ASTU widened my perspective towards this topic as I was never really aware of it.

The texts we read in class taught me a lot (in terms of knowledge and how to write using these texts). Missing Sarah gave me insight of the Downtown Eastside life of Vancouver (De Vries). Furthermore, our study on archival work really widened my perspective because I did not know a lot about Canadian history. For our group archives project, we had to do research, present it to the class, and we also decided to present at CAPCON. I found this assignment to be the most interesting one in the course because I learned new content about British Columbia specifically that I did not  know. It is my first year in Canada and I came with not knowing anything about BC history. My group researched the archives about the Japanese-Canadian Research Collection. More specifically, we researched about the Japanese internment camps and their forced relocation (Sunahara). I found this really surprising because I had not heard about this significant historical event before. Despite enrolling in history classes throughout my elementary to high school career, I had not heard of such events. It was interesting to hear more about events that has happened in BC history, especially now that I am going to spend at least four years of my life in Vancouver. This event demonstrated to me the differences between Canada and Indonesia. I have discussed about how the Chinese were treated in 1990s Indonesia in my previous blog but to summarize, the Chinese were rioted against by the Indonesians and were not wanted (Glionna). Many of the Chinese people were killed, properties burnt, and belongings stolen. In comparison to the Japanese in Canada, the Chinese in Indonesia were treated on a  much worse level. Although the Chinese living in Indonesia were not interned, they also lost some or most of their belongings and were the minorities.

It was really interesting to learn about events that happened outside the classroom incorporated to become assignments and stuff that we can actually learn more about. Instead of only focusing on the facts that happened, this course allowed me to learn extensively about the significance of these events and the various ways it has impacted today’s society. Although it was a challenging course, I have learned a lot of skills that I am positive that they will be beneficial in my future studies.

Works Cited:

De Vries, Maggie. Missing Sarah: A Memoir of Loss. Toronto: Penguin Group, 2008. Print.

Glionna, John M. “In Indonesia, 1998 Violence against Ethnic Chinese Remains Unaddressed.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 04 July 2010.

Sunahara, Ann. “4: Expulsion.” The Politics of Racism: Chapter 3: Expulsion. N.p., n.d.

Fred Wah’s biotext, Diamond Grill, captures Wah’s memories of his family and him as he grows up in Nelson, British Columbia. The short stories from his biotext mainly circulates around his father’s restaurant, The Diamond Grill. Instead of only short stories, Wah mixes in recipes and poetries as well to further help demonstrate the journey of searching for his own identity. Wah’s biotext follows his journey of exploring his identity since he is a mixed-race Canadian with the main ethnicities being Swedish and Chinese. Wah’s father, Fred War Sr., married Karin Marie Erickson. Wah’s mother was “shunned by her family for marrying a Chinaman.” (42), which exemplifies the explicit social hierarchy that existed during the time (with the Chinese being a minority). Despite the fact that Wah’s physical appearance is distinctively white, a lot of people still considers him to be Chinese due to his last name being Wah (39).

Wah mentions how “that hyphen is a real problem for multiculturalism; it’s usually a sign of impurity…” (178). Furthermore, he also explains that “race makes you different, nationality makes you the same. Sameness is purity” (36). Even though Wah is part Chinese, eats Chinese food, and is exposed to the Chinese culture, Wah often face an identity crisis since he wants to be considered white  but he iThe factor of multiculturalism is supposed to make society have an open mind and be more diverse, however, that was not the case during Wah’s time.

Although this example is way more extreme, Chinese people were also looked down upon in 1990s Indonesia. An abundant amount of Chinese workers fled to Indonesia looking for jobs and then decided to settle in the country. When Indonesia’s economy was not stable, the Indonesian locals started to blame the ethnic Chinese. It did not matter if an individual was dominantly Indonesian; if they looked Chinese then they were most likely to be hated. The 1998 Indonesian riot was a great deal in Indonesian history, especially to the Chinese living in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital. Indonesians violently rioted against the ethnic Chinese. They would burn houses and cars, steal their own boss’ belongings, and even go to the point of killing those who looked to be Chinese. Thousands of Chinese fled Indonesia in concern for their own safety.

The ethnicities that makes up an individual depends on how exposed they are to that ethnicity’s culture. As Chinese-Indonesian, I am personally greatly more exposed to the Chinese traditions and culture (because of my family) despite having lived in Indonesia for sixteen years of my life. I believe that a person will have one ethnic background more dominant compared to the other even if they are exposed to both just as equally.

Works Cited

Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill. Edmonton: NeWest, 2008. Print.

Archives are important when documenting historical, societal, personal, and even medical documents for individuals personally and on a greater scale, such as societal, as well. These documents are essential to determining what happened in the past and are important enough to be stored safely for future reference. Carter stated that “Archives are filled with voices” (Carter 216), thus, meaning that not only one person is able to generate the archives. Instead, it is composed of individuals that contribute different parts to society. Although these voices are created by those in the society itself, the archives cannot be generalized to everything in society (Carter 216). However, archival stories have the potential to allow one’s story to be heard by the public.

Humans of New York (HONY) is an example of an archival site by photographer Brandon Stanton. He would usually take portraits of individuals, usually having straight face as an expression, in New York City and have them share their story for Stanton to post online. Progressively, Stanton would have featured stories from kids suffering from cancer to overseas stories from his travels. HONY demonstrates how individuals together create a greater society and the impacts it has made on society. The stories featured in HONY are personal and are often an achievement of what the individual has overcome, or is going through. These stories tend to be moving for the audience to read and sometimes be able to connect to even though these sharers are strangers to them.

The HONY post that is going to be discussed is a three-part post about an elderly couple with the wife having dementia. The husband summarized their story. He told about how when they were “simple people” and “don’t have many big moments to share” (Stanton). The husband also shared the start of his wife’s decline in memory and how she started to forget names, directions, and tried to run way and “didn’t want to come back home”. (Stanton) He then told Stanton what they used to do before she had dementia and how “[he] miss that [they] can’t go out and dance. Or visit other people.” and how his wife would play the piano at the senior centre but now she cannot anymore. Instead, the couple stay there now. Instead of being frustrated, however, the husband sees it as an “honor”. He saw how his wife has been helping people her whole life and now it is time to pay back the deeds she has done for others by helping her. (Stanton)

After reading these three posts about the elderly couple, I was able to emphasize with them. Although they may be simple people, as the husband described, him and his wife see the little joys in life that most people would overlook. For instance, when he shared how he is still able to make his wife smile by making “bubbly noises”. The simple and little things are able to bring happiness into their lives despite the obstacles the couple is facing. I think that this post is able to reach out to the majority of individuals. This is because this situation could potentially happen to them. In today’s world, people are often over-working themselves trying to make money in order to provide for their family. On the other hand, they start missing out the simple details that brings more happiness. Present and future readers will be able to read this story and start prioritizing what is important in their lives.

Works Cited

Carter, Rodney C.S. “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence.” Archivaria 61 (2006). pp. 215-33

Stanton, Brandon. Humans of New York. Humans of New York, 21 Nov. 2016. Accessed 25 Feb. 2017. <http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/153479069531/13-i-was-nineteen-she-was-sixteen-our-dates>

Stanton, Brandon. Humans of New York. Humans of New York, 21 Nov. 2016. Accessed 25 Feb. 2017. <http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/153489703561/23-we-celebrated-our-50th-wedding-anniversary>

Stanton, Brandon. Humans of New York. Humans of New York, 21 Nov. 2016. Accessed 25 Feb. 2017. <http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/153490207221/33-i-miss-that-we-cant-go-out-and-dance-or>

Marjane Satrapi’s 2003 graphic narrative Persepolis story takes place in 1970’s Iran during the Iranian Revolution, an event that would later change the lives of those living in Iran. The Iranian Revolution was a series of events that aimed in overthrowing the Shah and resulted in “the establishment of an Islamic state” (history.com Staff). The identity of an individual’s personal life and political aspects are different, however, the two are linked with each other. Satrapi not only verbally tells the story of her horrid trauma, but she also does it visually to further help her audience understand what is being described.

Not only does Satrapi use written words to let her readers know her state of mind about her home country, but she also use images to visually aid the readers understand her message better. It is interesting that Satrapi decided on using a comic narrative to tell her story.

Although comics are usually non-fiction, Persepolis is. The simplicity of black and white Satrapi decided to do emphasize the fact that she was only ten years old. Furthermore, it extends to the idea of how a child’s mind is usually more pure than of an adult’s due to the fact that adults are more exposed to various sorts of experiences. Satrapi was not able to imagine how torturers burned their victims with an iron (Satrapi, 51) since an iron is an everyday household item that Satrapi is familiar with. Instead, this household item is being used for a different, horrid purpose. Then, Satrapi finds out that a victim, Ahmadi, who is her dad’s friend, has been executed (Satrapi, 52). Satrapi used one-third of the page to draw his cut-up body. The fact that she used up quite a lot of space for it is sure to attract the audience’s attention for them to realize the major problem that is occurring in Iran. On the other hand, the clean cut of the human body extends to the inability for someone inexperience to imaging such trauma. Although Satrapi lived in the time and location of the war, she is still a child. Similarly, not all of Satrapi’s readers are familiar with such events and so, the images help the audience be more familiar of the tragic incidents that happened.

This brings us to the topic of how trauma and violence are represented. Trauma is something that individuals try to avoid experiencing. If someone were to experience trauma, he or she would not want to re-live it. Thus, the traumatic event becoming a repressed memory. In this case, the trauma and horror Satrapi faced was not enough to just be described through words. In Hillary Chute’s article “The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis”, she explains how “The visual, Persepolis shows, can represent crucially important stories from a child’s putatively ‘simple’ perspective, because no perspective, however informed, can fully represent trauma” (Chute, 102). The images may be simple but what the images represent still affect the readers emotionally. Event though Satrapi uses more than one method of communication to express her past to her readers, it is still challenging to fully describe what happened during her childhood.

Despite being a child when she was going though the struggles her nation was also facing, Satrapi still manages to remember the events. She sticks to making her comic narrative black and white, but the comic remains to be detailed and it gives the readers an opportunity to imagine the unimaginable since she aims to appeal to a greater audience.

Works Cited

Chute, Hillary. “The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 1/2, 2008., pp. 92-110doi:10.1353/wsq.0.0023.

History.com Staff. “Shah Flees Iran.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2017. Web. 12 Jan. 2017.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon, 2003. Print.

Those in marginalized groups are often misrepresented by the media. One of the reasons as to why this issue arises is because they do not have the opportunity to speak out their side of the story. An example of a marginalized group is women. In this case, it will be from Yasmin Jiwani and Mary Lynn Young’s article “Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing Marginality in News Discourse” and Maggie De Vries’ Missing Sarah. Considering that we live in a more patriarchal society, women are often disregarded and are sometimes forced to conform to what men believe is right.

Jiwani and Young’s scholarly article discusses how media represents missing and murdered women in society, in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to be specific. Jiwani and Young then further explores the different groups that exist. Within the marginalized group of women, there are different groups that divide them. For instance, there is a divide between white women and the Aboriginal women. Within the white women, there is also a divide that separates the lower and upper class, showing the existing hierarchy that exists. The media only tells the stories of those “positioning in ‘respectable’ societal roles — as mothers, daughters, and sisters.” (pg 903), they do not bother digging too deep into the stories of the missing or murdered Aboriginal women despite people reporting them in. Women in the minority group are often not acknowledged. This shows how the general population in society are misinformed  even though they feel like they are informed. The media decides which stories are told; this factor is quite scary, especially when thinking of what other stories are framed differently through leading words to make the audience have a certain perspective and thus leading to a bias?

Although feminists have already held uncountable protests regarding gender inequality, the conflict is still around. Jiwani and Young also points out how the media introduces the article when a marginalized person is biased so that the audience would lean towards a negative perspective. In their article, it is noticed how these marginalized women were often associated to be drug addicts and sex-workers. The media aims to increase its views by telling the sensational stories through the victims, only focusing on profiting from the story.

On the other side, Maggie de Vries’ memoir on her sister Sarah de Vries tells the story of Sarah’s life. Sarah was adopted to a white family and she was a mix of multiple races (de Vries, 1). The way the victims are represented to society differs depending on how well the author knows them. As seen for Jiwani and Young, the media do not know the victims personally so not much about their personal lives, or how the victims were prior to the lives the lead as sex-workers and drug addicts were told. de Vries, however, knew Sarah personally. Although Sarah also fell into the same lifestyle in being a sex-worker and drug-addict, de Vries told the story from a more well-rounded point of view.

Works Cited

De Vries, Maggie. Missing Sarah: A Memoir of Loss. Toronto: Penguin Group, 2008. Print.

Jiwani, Yasmin, and Mary Lynn Young. “Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing Marginality in News Discourse.” Canadian Journal of Communication 31.4 (2006): 895-917.

Having read Yasmin Jiwani and Mary Lynn Young’s Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing Marginality in News Discourse, I realized how there are individuals who do not get any say in how they are portrayed, individuals usually have the chance to say their stories themselves. Based on Jiwani and Young’s research in analyzing articles about stereotypes on women in Vancouver, I believe that it can be related to the materials we have studied in our Sociology class.

Mead’s “The Self” theory in which there is the “I” and the “me”, which was discussed in our Sociology class a couple of weeks back. Mead’s theory rose from the view that the self comes from how an individual interacts with society, meaning how they respond, react, and behave. According to Mead, the “me” is the socializing aspect. It is how the person has grown due to experiences and social interactions with society. The “I” is the reaction from the “me”, it is how the person follows social and cultural norms without needing anyone to explain the rules.

Going back to Jiwani and Young’s research, the women mentioned in the articles are the ones from the minority group. These women have a stereotypical label of being sex-workers and drug-consumers (899). Jiwani and Young first start off discussing about the women who have gone missing and the background hypothetical situations that could have happened to them, which is most likely done by aa serial killer (896-897). Multiple headliner articles have emerged from the stories of these women and yet, they do not have a say in what goes out. The headlines for these articles use loaded language to get to the point of the whole article. In my opinion, this can give the audience a perspective. For instance, the headline “…Women Have History of Drugs, Prostitution and Links to Downtown Eastside” (904), leads the audience to have the stereotype of how the “I” of the victimized women is. They are already generalized to have the association with drugs and prostitution. This can shift the audience’s perspective into the bias of the headline.

We also discussed the topic of race and gender in our Sociology class and I think that it links well to Jiwani and Young’s research. Race and gender discrimination will always happen. In this case, the discrimination occurs to the African-American and Aboriginal women. Jiwani and Young’s section on “Mediations of radicalized and gendered violence” demonstrates the newsworthy stories about violence against women, but are written differently by reporters. Black men’s stories are more likely to appear in the front cover news while Black women’s stories are barely even told. This signifies how the different genders are portrayed to society.

In sum, most minorities have little to no say on how they are portrayed to society, or how society views them. It is in rare cases where they are able to tell their story and it is important that those who write the story should have accurate information.

Works Cited:

Jiwani, Yasmin, and Mary Lynn Young. “Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing Marginality in News Discourse.” Canadian Journal of Communication 31.4 (2006): 895-917.

Any form of disability tend to be viewed negatively by society. The social stigma that attaches to someone with a disability sticks on to the person for most of his or her life. On most cases, those with disabilities are seen being unable to do everyday activities. If they are able to do them, society sees them as being an inspiration despite the fact that the activities are not difficult to do. From the two blog posts and video interview, I noticed some common ideas that the three individuals shared to the audience.

In the first blog, “We’re Not Here For Inspiration” by Stella Young, the author mainly holds the topic of inspirational porn. Inspirational porn is when a disabled child does something ordinary with a cheesy and motivational caption attached to the image or video. Throughout the text, the blog’s atmosphere seems to be passive aggressive against the stereotype about how disabled people are not able to do the ordinary things abled people can. “It’s no coincidence that these genuinely adorable disabled kids in these images are never named: it doesn’t matter what their names are, they’re just there as objects of inspiration.”(Young), is a quote from the blog. The author’s perspective of the argument. Young’s argument on the disabled being objectified raises the idea of dehumanizing these people due to their disability. In a way, those making the “motivational” advertisements are attempting to appeal to the audience’s sense of pathos so the audience will have empathy.

The second blog, “But You Don’t Look Disabled” by Jillayna Adamson, is about the author herself and her experience with being slightly deaf. A friend of hers said that she did not look disabled, which then made her realize how society views the disabled. In this case, the blog is saying how society perceives the disabled to have a special look, a look that a non-disabled person does not have. People were also surprised when they found out Adamson is disabled and doing her masters degree. Her disability has taught her more about people than she could have learned if she were not disabled.

The video interview of Jason DaSilva and Alice Cook focuses on the fact how DaSilva, a filmmaker, adapted through multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a disease that disrupts the ability for nerves to communicate with one another and thus, resulting in fatigue, blindness, and trouble with coordination to name a few. Being a filmmaker, DaSilva needs his eyesight to focus the camera and know what shots to take. MS has made this a challenge for him as his vision is deteriorating. DaSilva and Cook co-created a documentary following seven years of DaSilva’s life and how he has coped with his condition.

All three are based on personal experiences so the authenticity of the stories are credible. They greatly mention the fact how each author deals through their obstacles.

Adamson, Jillayna. “‘But You Don’t Look Disabled… ‘” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jillayna-adamson/but-you-dont-look-disabled_b_6208986.html>.

WHEN I WALK Documentary With Filmmakers Jason DaSilva and Alice Cook. Dir. TheLipTV. Perf. Jason DaSilva and Alice Cook. Youtube.com. Youtube.com, 23 June 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1ot-TNA0U&feature=youtu.be>.

Young, Stella. “We’re Not Here for Your Inspiration.” – Blog – ABC Ramp Up (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). ABC Ramp Up, 01 July 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2016. <http://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2012/07/02/3537035.htm>.

Malala Yousafzai’s memoir, I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, is an inspirational and mind-opening narrative. Raised in Pakistan, a country with political struggles, Malala had to overcome the oppression she faces due to one of the many facts that she is a woman. The Taliban has taken control over Pakistan but she went against the Taliban, and insisted on women receiving education as well. In response to this, the Taliban shot her in the head and she miraculously survived. Since then, Yousafzai has been an activist to promote children’s education. The three reviews that are going to be analyzed are from The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Star.

These three reviews allow the audience to get a better understanding and context of the autobiography prior to reading the actual autobiography. In all three of the book reviews, the author of these reviews starts off with setting a situation for the audience to imagine. In The Washington Post, the author promotes the situation of an economic growth if females were educated (Arana). The Guardian, however, talks about the day the Taliban was looking for Yousafzai when she was heading home from school. Lastly, The Star sets a situation of the reality in Pakistan, with the gun shootings, police sirens, and screaming throughout the neighborhood.

After their introduction, each author emphasizes the selflessness, determination, and courage Yousafzai showed to the world. Despite having been shot in the head, Yousafzai strives to empower and inspire women. In The Washington Post, the author mainly focuses on the history of Yousafzai’s familial background, including from how Malala Yousafzai’s father founded a school to the miracle his daughter experienced (Arana). The Guardian, on the other hand, focuses more on how Yousafzai’s life has affected those in Pakistan and around the world, as well as the impact she has made through her story (Bhutton). Similarly to The Guardian, The Star also signifies the importance Malala Yousafzai has contributed to her society as well as informing people outside her country of the situation Pakistan is facing. The Star, however, mentions how the autobiography is from the perspective of a sixteen year old, giving it limited views to be generalized. This review is one of the few that has a opposed connotation against the inspiration that Yousafzai has spread by saying, “Part of the difficulty is, of course, that a biography of a 16-year-old is necessarily limited in scope.” (Eggertson)
All in all, the three reviews exemplify and explain the positive things that Yousafzai has done to her community by encouraging not only females, but also children to be educated. All three ended their reviews with the positive outcomes due to Yousafzai’s horrific experience.

Works Cited:

Arana, Marie. “‘I Am Malala’ by Malala Yousafzai.” Review of I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb, The Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2016.

Bhutto, Fatima “I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai – review” Review of I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb, The Guardian, 30 October 2013

Eggertson, Laura “I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai: review” Review of I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb, The Star, 22 November 2013

Kettler, Sara. “Malala Yousafzai Biography.” Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 1 July 2016. Web. 07 Oct. 2016.

Born on June 12, 1929, thirteen year old Anne Frank has deep insights based on her diary entries (biography.com Editors, 2016). Anne Frank, a Jew, and her family had to go into hiding in Amsterdam when the Nazis took over Germany, making the lives of Jews difficult. Along with her parents, older sister Margot, her father’s business partner and his family, they were all hiding together behind a hidden movable bookshelf (history.com Staff, 2009). In The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank writes entries in her diary that her father, Otto Frank, gave to her (Gilmore, 2012). Although her writing and thoughts are mature for her age, the overall tone throughout her diary remains youthful, just as how a thirteen year old’s diary would seem to be. Anne was not only a young girl with a diary, but she also aspired to be a writer.

Anne Frank would refer to her diary as “Kitty” in the form of “Dear Kitty” instead of it being the usual “Dear Diary”. This allows her to have a personal connection with her diary, especially during when she was in hiding. She wrote “When I write, I can shake off all my cares.” (biography.com Editors, 2016) This quote has shown the significance of her diary to her, thus, making it even more personal. Furthermore, it has appealed to the audience’s sense of pathos as they too can have a sense to what Anne is feeling at the time of her situation.

Unfortunately, Anne Frank did not make it alive to finish her stories. Their secret hiding place was discovered by the Nazis and they were taken into concentration camps, leading to the separation of men and women in the family. After a few months, Anne and Margot were separated from their mother. From their family, only Otto Frank survived the concentration camps. Anne’s diary was returned to Otto and he decided to publish his daughter’s diary in order to share the encouragement and strength his daughter had.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank was first published in German in 1947 and has been translated into sixty-seven different languages (Stichting). Due to this fact, it is very possible that there are some words or phrases that has lost its meaning through the multiple translations as some words are special to its own language and cannot be described in another.

Works Cited

Biography.com Editors. “Anne Frank Biography.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 8 Jan. 2016. Web. 18 Sept. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/anne-frank-9300892#early-life>.

Gilmore, Kim. “Anne Frank: Her Diary Reconsidered.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/news/anne-frank-her-diary-reconsidered-20803621>.

History.com Staff. “Anne Frank.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 18 Sept. 2016. <http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/anne-frank>.

Stichting. ” .”  Anne Frank Guide. Anne Frank Stichting, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2016. <http://www.annefrankguide.net/en-us/bronnenbank.asp?aid=26362>.

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