In ‘Rhetoric and Self-Representation in Disability Memoir’ (2009), G.T Couser explains autobiographies may be the most accessible literary genre to members of marginalized groups, particularly the disabled (1). Couser’s reasoning behind this involves the notion that autobiographies give disabled people a high degree of control over their own images (1). Couser elaborates how important this degree of self-representation is because it holds great potential for individuals to address “stigmatizing or patronizing portrayals of disability” (1).

‘Cockeyed’ (2006) an autobiography by Ryan Knighton can be one example of the potential Couser emphasizes. In his novel, Knighton details how on his eighteenth birthday, he was diagnosed with a congenital and progressive eye disease which would eventually lead to blindness. Knighton talks of the struggles he has faced as a result of his new disability, one of the most difficult being transitioning from an able-bodied person to a disabled one. Readers of ‘Cockeyed’ can see this in Knighton’s initial denial in being disabled; up until his eighteenth birthday, Knighton has experienced several near life-threatening incidents such as driving his car up a line of large decorative boulders, which unbeknownst to him, were due to his eye disease. Knighton acknowledges how dangerous the car incident in particular was, “I drove for thirteen danger-filled months, practically blind and legally reckless, unaware of what I was missing” (24). Yet when Knighton realized his diagnosis provided a concise explanation for those incidents, he continuously dismissed it as “some rumored future of blindness” (45). His denial may be partly because his idea of being blind did not sync with what he experienced, “I found night blindness difficult to identify or accept because I could see light” (49).

In spite of this denial, Knighton became increasingly aware his location within society has gradually shifted to outside of it. He explained how he found solace in night clubs because, “The culture camouflaged my inability to cooperate with other bodies” (55). Here, we can sense Knighton’s longing to be like everyone else who was able-bodied. Even when Knighton finally takes up a white cane, he sees it as “a form of concession and defeat” because it is a “permanent commitment to blindness” (61). Though Knighton has accepted his blindness, we can see his reluctance in his repeated attempts to hide the cane and his insistence that his “mobility aid” was like his blindness, “both were occasional” (69). Though Knighton knew he needed his stick to guide him, he only felt comfortable with it when no one else was around; for weeks, when he carried it, he feared “everybody in the world caught a glimpse of me … playing Blind Man for the crowd”, and he would “casually swing it around” to reassure his audience he did not truly need it (70).

It is possible Knighton’s reluctance can be traced less to personally accepting he is blind, and more to accepting it in the face of society regardless of the reactions he may receive to his disability.  For myself, this is a topic of great significance because we may live in a society where unless it is explicitly stated, an individual is usually assumed to be able-bodied. However, this explicit statement tends to be treated like a label, and once someone assumes that label, it tends to dominate their entire identity instead of becoming another dimension of it. Thus, the general public is likely to only see them as this label, along with the “stigmatizing or patronizing portrayals” which come attached (Couser 1). As the labelled individual may be hyper aware of how they are viewed, it can influence them into feeling uncomfortable with this newfound aspect of their identity, resulting in attempts to reject it despite the possible harmful ramifications. As ‘Cockeyed’ talks in depth about these issues on a published platform where it can reach others, it helps contribute in deconstructing negative portrayals of the disabled.

Works Cited:

Couser, G. T. Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing. University of Michigan Press, 2010. Accessed 10 March, 2018.

Knighton, Ryan. Cockeyed: a memoir. Thorpe, 2008. Accessed 10 March, 2018.

In ‘Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence’, Rodney G.S. Carter describes archives as ‘texts in the broadest sense of the term, including written, visual, audio- visual, and electronic’ (Carter 216). Carter defines archival power as partly the “power to allow voices to be heard” through “highlighting certain narratives and of including certain types of records created by certain groups” (Carter 216).

In present times, where the internet has become vital to most people’s lives, it can be argued social media users are creating their own archives through documenting and posting snippets of their lives online for others to access. As a result, marginalized groups are better able to create a counter narrative that reaches a bigger audience. A significant advantage of online archives is the ability for anyone with internet to access them, and communication is so extensive, it interlinks even individuals living in various parts of the globe.

One prominent example of social media’s immense power is the #MeToo movement coined in 2006, but caught fire in October 2017 after sexual misconduct allegations were made against Harvey Weinstein, a high-profile movie producer (Hawbaker and Johnson). These allegations sparked the “Weinstein effect”, describing the current numerous waves of people who have come forward with their own stories of sexual assault and harassment (n.p, 2018). On social media platforms, most notably Twitter, we can literally trace the movement’s progress from beginning to current through stories which have been tweeted and now archived for everyone to access In fact, #MeToo laid the path for #TimesUp, explained as “a legal defense fund and anti-sexual harassment initiative backed by prominent women in the entertainment industry” (Hawbaker and Johnson).

Yet, the #Metoo movement has also shed light on marginalized groups within the marginalized. Though women have taken the most pro-active role in #Metoo, not every women feels included — most notably, women of colour. Despite how #MeToo’s founder Tania Burke, is black, many women have expressed feeling excluded out of the narrative due to their double disadvantage (Prois and Moreno). They experience discrimination tied to their sex, as well as their race where they can often be objectified, stereotyped, and fetishized based on their ethnicity — an issue white women may not encounter as much (Prois and Moreno). Despite women of colour possessing higher rates of harassment and assault, their cases are taken less seriously (Prois and Moreno). When interviewed on her experience, Shanita Hubbard expressed how difficult it is for black women because of the many variables at play — the mindset to protect their black men who already suffer from police violence, the severe power imbalance if a victim were black but the offender white, and because “society dismisses black women on many levels”, their pain is minimized and not heard (Prois and Moreno).

.As Carter has voiced, it is impossible for archives to be fully representative of society (216). No matter the narrative created by no matter the people, there was always be the possibility of another group excluded. That is not to say the #MeToo movement isn’t significant, especially considering how taboo a subject sexual violence had been a couple years ago, and how some of the accused assaulters were once considered ‘untouchable’ due to their wealth and influence. Yet, it is important to acknowledge any outside voices and continue adding to archival narratives as long as those marginalized are willing. By creating an open space where individuals feel safe and supported to share their grievances without fear of criticism and judgement, their issues can be brought to awareness and create dialogue for change.

Works Cited:

Carter, Rodney G.S. “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence.” Archivaria 61: Section on Archives, Space and Power, 2006, pp. 216–233., archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12541/13687. Accessed 3 March 2018.

Johnson, Christen A, and J T Hawbaker. “#MeToo: A timeline of events.” Chicagotribune.com, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2018, www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-me-too-timeline-20171208-htmlstory.html. Accessed 3 March 2018.

Prois, Jessica, and Carolina Moreno. “The #MeToo Movement Looks Different For Women Of Color. Here Are 10 Stories.” Huffington Post, HuffPost Canada, 2 Jan. 2018, www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/women-of-color-me-too_us_5a442d73e4b0b0e5a7a4992c. Accessed 3 March 2018.

In Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence (2006), Rodney G.S. Carter defines archives as places “filled with voices” (216), because archives can be interpreted as compilations of various media and art forms from a specific time period, geographic setting and/or group of people. G.S. Carter elaborates these compilations as “the currency of archives” (216). In the case of the ‘Amazonia’ exhibit curated by Nuno Porto at the ‘Museum of Anthropology’ (MOA), physical relics would be the “currency” (216).

The objects I found most interesting were the Shipibo people’s ceramics and textiles. Their display plaque states the designs inscribed on the crafts were “inspired by the anaconda”, and crafted only by women who passed the practice to each generation (Porto). I am personally intrigued by how the Shipibo incorporated nature into handiwork, as it is likely they used their home, the Amazon as cultural inspiration. Their art exists because of knowledge transmitted within their culture throughout the years (Porto), but most importantly, it can be relevant to Carter’s exploration on different kinds of archival silences.

Photos of the Shipibo artifacts

Taken by Melody Tang

Carter separates silence into “unnatural” and “natural” (228). Whereas “unnatural” happens when a group’s voice is forcibly suppressed by the powerful, “natural” is when they choose silence to actively resist their oppressors (228). With the Shipibo, it is likely they have selected silence due to their past trauma. In the 18th century, when missioners and foreigners made their presence known in the Amazon, the Shipibo allied themselves with other native tribes to drive them away (Porto). Between the late 1800s-1920s, the Shipibo were enslaved and abused by rubber entrepreneurs for intensive production (Porto).

When I attempted further research on the Shipibo and other Amazon tribes, I found little information. Survival International explained presently, the tribes preferred and maintained isolation with outsiders; an estimated 15 uncontacted tribes live in Peruvian Amazon, and the Peru government has passed laws upholding “the tribes’ right to be left alone” (n.p, n.d). MacQueen’s article attributed most of their want for isolation to fear, reporting an instance where an interviewed tribe leader recounted “his parents always talked about how ‘the whites wanted to kill us’” (2016). 

Carter observes silence “forces active participation by the readers/listeners” who “must investigate, interrogate, and attempt to understand the contexts that gave rise to the silences” (230). When a group or part of a group finally choose to break their longstanding silence, the impact of their action seems to resonate deeper because it can force individuals to pay closer attention. Survival International reports Amazon tribes are in greater danger because “illegal loggers and miners are invading the forest, and oil and gas concessions cut across more than 70% of Peru’s Amazon region”. Yet instead of remaining silent, some Amazon tribes are starting to reach out to archival institutions to make their presence known. What the Shipibo relics, and the ‘Amazonia’ exhibit seem to exemplify is the starting of a conversation between two groups who though vastly different, can take steps towards acknowledging past tragedies, educating those unaware or wish to learn more, and discussing current issues.

Works Cited:

Carter, Rodney G.S. “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence.” Archivaria 61: Section on Archives, Space and Power, 2006, pp. 216–233., archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12541/13687. Accessed 18 January 2018.

Macqueen, Angus. “Why are the lost tribes now emerging from the Amazon?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Feb. 2016, www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/21/amazon-lost-tribes-emerge-rainforest-brazil-peru. Accessed 18 January 2018.

“Museum of Anthropology at UBC.” Museum of Anthropology at UBC, The University of British Columbia, moa.ubc.ca/. Accessed 18 January 2018.

Porto, Nuno. “Amazonia: The Rights of Nature.” Museum of Anthropology at UBC, The University of British Columbia, 10 Mar. 2017, moa.ubc.ca/portfolio_page/amazonia/. Accessed 18 January 2018.

“Uncontacted Indians of Peru.” Survival International, www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/isolatedperu. Accessed 18 January 2018.

Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York (2010), also known as HONY is best known as a popular photo blog. Its premise is simple: Stanton snaps street portraits of individuals he interviews, and uploads them with a snippet of their conversation. HONY can be recognized as a collection of life narratives; because by capturing a glimpse of an individual’s life, Stanton captures part of their identity. By reconciling thousands of lives vastly different from ours and broadcasting them to a vast audience, HONY alludes to Schaffer and Smith’s introspective of life narratives in Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights (2004),

As people meet together and tell stories, or read stories across cultures, they begin to voice, recognize, and bear witness to a diversity of values, experiences, and ways of imagining a justsocial world and of responding to injustice,inequality, and human suffering (1).

In a post on HONY’s official page, Stanton praised the community as “a special group of people” who is “largely composed of people who try to choose compassion over cynicism”. Facebook comments are automatically sorted by the number of likes they receive. As a long-time HONY follower, an uplifting fact is whenever I return a couple hours later to a post, all the disparaging comments will be replaced by positive ones.

In HONY’s latest post covering a same-sex couple who had a son by surrogate, the comment section is filled with an outpouring of congratulations and heartwarming stories. If sorted by most recent however, we would see the section scattered with remarks such as, “The funny thing about the word “straight” is that it infers that the opposite of it is disorderly, crooked, corrupt. Think about that.” The comment received 4 likes. The most popular comment, “I had my son the traditional way but it felt very similar — one day I wasn’t a parent — the next day I was 🙂 You are more relatable than you think!” has 5.3k likes. By bearing witness, HONY’s audience form as put by Schaffer and Smith, “a collective moral commitment to just societies in which all people live lives characterized by dignity,equality, bodily inviolability, and freedom (2)”.

Schaffer and Smith discuss how life narratives having the benefit of a global audience “provide platforms and mechanisms for redress for those whose rights to life, liberty, and security have been denied… (2)” With HONY, its community sees the push for change in action and actively participate in it. In January 2015 for example, they raised $1.4 million for Mott Hall Bridges Academy, a project which stemmed from a single interview with a student, Vidal. The money raised would go on to fund summer programs, college trips, and scholarships. The project received such publicity to where Vidal received the opportunity to meet President Barack Obama, and the principal, Mrs. Lopez, was featured on TED Talks, and became a finalist for The Global Teacher Prize.

Schaffer and Smith refer mainly to literature when they discuss life narratives, but it can be suggested HONY as an online blog possesses a unique feature in its accessibility. HONY’s posts can be uploaded instantaneously and accessed by virtually anyone, as indicated by its 18.2 million Facebook likes and 7.4 million Instagram followers. Its accessibility, and comment section which allows for constant interaction between users has created a thriving online community that bears witness to countless narratives to put in practice a universal conceptualization of human rights. 

Referenced Works:

Schaffer, Kay, and Sidonie Smith. Human rights and narrated lives: the ethics of recognition. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Stanton, Brandon. “Humans of New York.” Humans of New York, www.humansofnewyork.com/.

Stanton, Brandon. “Humans of New York.” Humans of New York, Facebook, Nov. 2010, www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork/.

Stanton, Brandon. “Humans of New York.” Humans of New York, Instagram,  https://www.instagram.com/humansofny/?hl=en

Lopez, Nadia. Nadia Lopez: Why open a school? To close a prison | TED Talk, Ted Talks, Nov. 2015, www.ted.com/talks/nadia_lopez_why_open_a_school_to_close_a_prison.

Grinberg, Emanuella, et al. “Boy featured in ‘Humans of New York’ meets Obama.” CNN, Cable News Network, 6 Feb. 2015, www.cnn.com/2015/02/06/living/feat-humans-of-new-york-vidal-meets-obama/index.html.

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers (2008) deconstructs the notion of successful people being successful purely because of their efforts and talent. Gladwell convinces readers the successful are, “beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways other cannot” (p.20).

Gladwell invites a new introspective into I am Malala, an autobiography by Malala Yousafzai and co-writer, Christina Lamb (2013). Yousafzai is a human rights activist and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Her story chronicles her fight for education in her homeland, Swat Valley, Pakistan, where Taliban have banned girls from school.

Raised with the overlooming expectation girls be subservient to men, Yousafzai proclaimed, “I had decided very early I would not be like that. My father always said, ‘Malala will be free as a bird’” (p.22). As a child, Yousafzai’s strong moral compass would guide her in her future pursuits, but she had a powerful beneficiary in her father.

Yousafzai quickly distinguished her father from “most Pashtun men” (p.9). While the births of sons were celebrated, daughters were “hidden behind a curtain” (p.9). Her father subverted it by writing her name on their clan’s family tree which only showed the male line (p.9). He asked friends to “throw dried fruits, sweets and coins” in her cradle, usually exclusively done for boys (p.10). His actions expressed he cherished her birth no matter her gender.

When her brother was born, her joyful mother wanted to buy a new cradle for him despite giving birth at home because they couldn’t afford the hospital (p.16). Yousafzai recounted her father refusing the request, as she originally used an old wooden one, “Malala swung in that cradle, he said. “So can he’ (16)”. Regardless of family dynamics changing, her father insisted both children be loved and treated equally.

His marriage modelled the importance of women having equality to Malala. Yousafzai articulated women’s societal role were “simply to prepare food and give birth to children” (p.9), and “most men refused to share their problems with women because it was seen as weak” (p.18). In contrast, her parents were equals and shared mutual respect. Her father deemed her advice always right and shared everything with her despite her illiteracy (18).  

His influence extended to Malala’s opportunities. Because education led to his success, he passed its value to Malala. Since childhood, her father actively took part in literary societies, decision-making, and environmentalism (p.19), and she first started campaigning with him (p.7). He and his friend founded the school Malala attended (p.3), and it was through his friend, a BBC radio correspondent, she received the chance to write about her life under the Taliban (p.23), triggering her rise to prominence.

Malala’s ambition, intelligence, and determination are her own characteristics, but Gladwell presents the question how far she could’ve honed them without the accumulative advantages her father gave her. Behind any result are invisible factors, if any shifted, how much would change? If Malala’s father didn’t believe in equality, if he never passed his values to her, never mentioned the BBC to her, would Malala be the Malala we know today?

Sources Cited:

Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Thorndike Press, 2017.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown and Company , 2008.

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

In Memory Studies, Kate Douglas (2017) suggests we accept than condemn selfie-taking at memorial sites. Her proposal clashes with Shahak Shapira and his 2017 project, ‘Yolocaust.’ Collecting selfies taken at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, Shapira overlay their backgrounds with the aftermath of death camps. In BBC’s article, ‘Yolocaust: How should you behave at a Holocaust memorial?’ (Gunter, 2017), they include a snippet of two smiling teen girls posing against heaps of emaciated bodies. Shapira’s opinion rings clear: selfies taken at memorials disregard the sufferings of millions. His perception aligns with traditional cultural norms where tribute is paid through silence and self-reflection; selfies specifically are criticized as narcissistic and a shallow engagement at best (Douglas, 2017: 3).

To Douglas, dark-selfies are how youths connect with historical tragedies, by implanting themselves in traumascapes and using social media to share their experiences (p.4). Douglas’s view holds insightful value, but in ‘Yolocaust’, it is difficult to agree when seeing original captions such as, ‘Jumping on dead Jews’. Instead of tribute, victims are disrespected in favour of tasteless jokes. Many of Yolocaust’s 2.5 million+ viewers praised the blog as ‘sending a powerful message’ and ‘bringing awareness to the importance of respect’. Those millions extended to the 12 featured selfie-takers, most of whom remorsefully apologized and deleted their selfies from their private social media accounts. The young man responsible for the ‘Jumping on Jews’ caption emailed Shapira,

The photo was meant for my friends as a joke. I am known to make out of line jokes, stupid jokes, sarcastic jokes. And they get it. If you knew me you would too. But when it gets shared, and comes to strangers who have no idea who I am, they just see someone disrespecting something important to someone else or them… (2017).

Douglas bestowed the title ‘future gatekeepers of history and memory’ upon youths, as is essential we preserve the memory of tragedies by altering their remembrance means to best suit those responsible for carrying them (p. 3). But we risk losing their original intended meaning in the process, especially when a tragedy’s horrific impact wanes with new generations. When asked why he created Yolocaust (Pineros, 2017), Shapira confessed,

I am worried that younger people fail to understand the importance of these memorials. They’re not there for me – for Jews – or for the victims, they are there for the people of today, for their moral compass.

References

Douglas, Kate. “Youth, trauma and memorialisation: The selfie as witnessing.” Journals, Sage Pub, 2017, journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1750698017714838. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.

Gunter, Joel. “’Yolocaust’: How should you behave at a Holocaust memorial?” BBC News, BBC, 20 Jan. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38675835. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.

Pineros, Benjamin. “People mocking the Holocaust memorial get rightfully shamed with Photoshop (NSFW).” Lost at E Minor, 31 Jan. 2017, www.lostateminor.com/2017/01/31/people-mocking-holocaust-memorial-get-rightfully-shamed-photoshop-nsfw/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.

Shapira, Shahak. “Yolocaust.” Impressum, Jan. 2017, yolocaust.de/. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.