Assignment 1:1
Following the instructions in this lesson, set up your blog and write a short introduction (300 – 400 words) that includes at least two hyperlinks and a visual. This introduction should, 1) welcome your readers, 2) include a brief description of the course, and 3) some commentary on your expectations for this course of studies.
Hello Everyone! My name is Junyi Wu but you can call me Patrick if you want. I came to live in Vancouver last year and have since been engaged in the studies in UBC working towards my degree in Education. Other than fulfilling the English credits as the prerequisite of the teacher education programme, my selection of this course is mainly to do with my multi-cultural background and experience.
I come from Guangzhou, or Canton, the historic status of which chartered as the only Chinese port for overseas trade (1757-1842) has made it a distinguished intersection of Western and Oriental culture as the European and Arabian and Persian traders settling in. Known as the “cradle” of the Chinese modern revolution, Guangzhou also saw the departure of the country from its last imperial dynasty (of the Qing from 1644-1912) making its way through to the first ever modern nation-state in the mythical five thousand years of Chinese history (Sigel 283). Along with those critical historical events, there emerges the distinctive Cantonese culture which impacts the development of contemporary Cantonese literature. Such a multi-cultural background of mine enables me to develop an initial understanding of ENGL470 which is, in a way, to investigate how the Canadian Aboriginal culture characterised by story-telling and the colonial European literary culture encounter and interact over the process in which Canada as a nation and Canadian literature as a genre come into being.
The Canadian Indigenous studies are also relevant to my multi-cultural experience working on the Swedish Ship Götheborg, a replica of a 18th century merchant vessle owned by the Swedish East Indian Company. I suppose its voyage to Guangzhou in 2006, in remembrance of the history of the trading between Sweden and China, would NOT have been much celebrated by the Cantonese had it been operated instead by the British East India Company which is arguably involved in the opium sales that lead to the first Opium War, or the Anglo-Chinese War, taking place in Guangzhou (Robins 81). Although Guangzhou did not end up being colonised as happened to Hong Kong, the kinship between the two Cantonese cities facilitates the exposure to the conflicting stories informed by divergent dimensions including the native mainland China ideology, characterised by the sense of a victim of Western imperialism, and in contrast the British colonizing narratives which defend the legitimacy of gaining territorial rights over Hong Kong. My understanding of the history of the British colonization of the Chinese land as well as my experience of dealing with the complexity of stories developed from different sources and presented accordingly in different ways might effectively enable my critical approach to the Canadian Indigenous history, which appears to be one of the major components of this course of Canadian studies.
One of the most significant characteristics of the Canadian Indigenous history seems to be the systematic and enduring discrimination that the Canadian Aboriginal people were subject to in Canada’s colonial history. The miserable experiences and painful feelings of the First Nations caused by institutional racism could be well identified with the Chinese who had to face the discrimination manifested through the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, or the Chinese Exclusion Act (Chinese), regardless the contribution they have made towards the growth and prosperity of the Canadian society e.g. in opening the virgin land of British Columbia (Brief). Personally my experience with discrimination did not happen on the Swedish sailing ship, nor in Britain where I studied my MSc and worked in the hospitality industry, but unfortunately here in Canada. I saw a man, who appeared to be a white and a drunk, shouting at a bunch of young individuals and saying something like “speak English or go home to China”. It now prompts me to wonder if this gentleman knows anything about the Indigenous “beginning” stories in addition to the European Genesis (King 10). If he did, would the power of the native orature help open up his mind for the variety of cultures that contribute to the creation of a multi-cultural Canada as it is today? If Canadians from all walks of life bear the awareness of the diversity of Canadian literary genres in mind, would they be able to find the common ground that makes one land home to all of us, including the natives and newcomers (Chamberlin 4)?
Hopefully I could explore those questions in constant and structured dialogues, enabled by the blogging assignments, with my fellow students who may have a large number of fascinating stories and critical insights to share. In return, I hope my own stories and ideas could offer up a range of distinctive perspectives into the class readings, thus contributing to the collective knowledge property of this weblog community. With the posting of this very first blog in my life, I am feeling incredibly excited in joining you in the same boat in search of the past and the future of Canadian literature.
WORKS CITED
A Brief Chronology of Chinese Canadian History: From Segregation to Integration. n.d. Web. 10 Sep. 2016. <http://www.sfu.ca/chinese-canadian-history/chart_en.html#>
“Canadian Aboriginal History: “Did You Know”?” 27 Jul. 2011. YouTube. Web. 10 Sep. 2016.
Chamberlin, Edward J. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground. Toronto : A.A. Knopf Canada, 2003. Print.
King, Thomas. The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative. Toronto : House of Anansi Press, 2003.Print.
“Lakota Origin Story by Elder Duane Hollow Horn Bear.” 4 Sep. 2016. YouTube. Web. 10 Sep. 2016.
Robins, Nick. “Loot: In Search of the East India Company, the World’s First Transnational Corporation.” Environment and Urbanization 14.1 (2002):79-88. Print.
Sigel, Louis T. The Reform and Restructuring of the Guangzhou Economy: The Question of National Applicability. Ed. Yu, George T. China in Transition : Economic, Political, and Social Developments. Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, 1993. UBCLibrary. Web. 10 SEP 2016.
SOIC: The Swedish Ship Götheborg. n.d. Web. 10 Sep. 2016. < http://www.soic.se/en/our-story/>
The Chinese Experience in British Columbia: 1850-1950, Immigration: Chinese Exclusion Act. n.d. Web. 10 Sep. 2016. < http://www.library.ubc.ca/chineseinbc/exclusion.html>
Hey Patrick!
I liked your boat analogy as an intersection between understanding the past and present as well as integrating your own experience. Adding onto discrimination in the now, there are those who may only want to see things that confirm their beliefs, and thus just continue to live in their own delusional reality. They then have a limited perspective on the multiple functions of cultures and may misappropriate and such, but that’s a different story. But who is more responsible for said racist person: society or the individual? I would think ultimately that there is a collective responsibility through mindful discussion and keeping others in check, but this doesn’t include individual ignorance. Would you say that people such as the drunk man you encountered would cease to speak such words if they were educated about other cultures? Referring to Chamberlin’s question, would reading a diverse range of Canadian literary genres aid in some sort of understanding about a multicultural world? I wonder what constructive steps would help break into middle ground, in changing and/or forming others’ perspectives into a diverse and accepting whole.
Hello Jenny, thank you so much for stopping by my blog and leaving comments with insights; and in the meantime I feel awful of not getting back to you for such a while! You may rest assure that I will respond to your remarks properly as soon as I can! Cheers, Patrick
Hey Jenny,
Thank you for your recognition of the boat metaphor which tells a lot about my understanding about how a diverse community works. By titling my blog “We are in the Same Boat”, I mean to say to my fellow students now that we have decided to go through this literary course together no matter how different we are from each other and let’s work together as in the way required by the syllabus. That is to say, we should help each other out in this situation, as implied in the idiom of “being in the same boat”, by expressing our thoughts based on proper readings and writings through the blogs of ours or others’. As the on-line discussions or dialogues go on with different even critical ideas from various great minds being shared, it is very likely that we come to gain perspectives which might prompt us to think out of our own boxes, taking a closer or different look at the diverse world and in return re-examining our beliefs, values and attitudes. This is not only my understanding of how education works most effectively but my answer to your questions. Imagine what might happen if the racist drunk is somehow engaged in a course focusing on how a multi-cultural Canada comes into being . He is required to read what we are supposed to read this semester and post blogs regularly, leaving and responding to comments. Over the course of such interactions he might get to make his voice heard and hear voices that are different than his, coming to understand that we are in the same boat after all working towards common goals which would not be accomplished without varieties. Would this help him eventually assume responsibility for his voice and frame his concerns properly with an awareness of a culturally diverse community being developed? If this is the case, I guess the group of Chinese-speaking young men would be happy to join the gentleman in the same boat, or skytrain, on their ways home in Canada.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
I find it ironic that you felt discrimination in the proclaimed multicultural country, Canada. But, I guess multicultural doesn’t always imply that they’re all accepting. Are people becoming too self-entitled to something that isn’t truly theirs? As you said, it was a person who was presumably white, shouting at young individuals. Even he does not have the right to the nation. At least, not as much as society likes to tell us. If awareness were the key to being more open-minded, then to apply that to a wider range of people, I would assume that diverse education would help broaden perspective.
Why do people discriminate through race? Language, I can understand; people just feel less connected when neither parties are understood. However, that does not entail discrimination. I find that no matter what skin color, the common ground should be the experiences we carry with us. Most people have probably felt some sort of loss in their life or had ecstatic moments. Could they connect through those and disregard racial differences? Of course, there’s also cultural differences that add to differences in experience. So, referring back to what Jenny said, would being well-read aid in understanding the multicultural world?
Hello Jamie,
Take a look at my response to Jenny’s comment and you will find that I absolutely agree with you at the point that education might be one of the best options for broadening perspective. In addition to this constructive step we could take, you have actually provided another alternative: the common experiences or feelings that transcend language barrier or cultural differences. Just so you know that I took a course associated with Socio-linguistics (LLED489A) this summer where the instructor introduced us a clip as regards the experience of a female Japanese student coming to study in Canada. At the very beginning she got frustrated about all the trouble caused by her low proficiency in speaking English. Then she came up with the idea of communicating her thoughts and feelings through drawing. She also invited other students, whom she came across around the student hall she lived in, to speak up via drawing. For example, they produced images that embody their feelings, likes and dislikes, or dreams. At this point all people are closely connected with humanity regardless the language barrier and cultural differences. I think this is the picture of finding the common ground that your comments have painted for me.
Thanks,
Patrick
Hello Patrick;
Welcome to our course of studies together – and thank you for a fascinating introduction with excellent hyperlinks. I am very much looking forward to working together and gaining new perspectives via your insights. Thank you and enjoy.
Erika
Hello Dr. Paterson,
Thank you for checking out my introductory blog and your critical feedback will always be highly appreciated!
Regards,
Patrick
I enjoyed reading your blog and watching the two video hyperlinks you provided. Your post made me think of the time I and my children visited Alert Bay (caught a ferry from Port Alice, Northern Vancouver Island) and went into the mask museum. I was just looking up some history of Alert Bay. Here are a couple sites: http://www.hellobc.com/alert-bay/things-to-do/arts-culture-history/museums.aspx and http://umista.ca/exhibits/index.php. The museum has artifacts that were taken from the First Nations people during the time potlatches were illegal. What made the museum most interesting for me were the primary sources posted throughout the gallery. It was baffling reading first hand accounts of the persecution the people of this area
endured. There was also a large residential school building beside the museum, and it was a painful reminder of the numerous injustices that occurred there. I have heard it has since been torn down.
Cheers, Kim
Hello Kimberly,
Thank you for stopping by my blog and providing information on exciting museums or cultural sites that are worth checking out! Your recommendation of the cultural trips is amazing as it involves destinations that are quite different from the tourists sites around B.C. that new immigrants like me would, and only, know of.If only the whole class would gather together for visits to those interesting places which are closely relevant to this course!
Cheers,
Patrick