Raichel's Blog

 The Library of Rare Books and Special Collections found on the campus of the UBC is almost like a modern day scrapbook from long ago. Uno Langmann’s collection of photographs depicts life in British Columbia in the early years of 1850 through to the 1970’s (UBC Library). One scrapbook titled “Ten Annual Cycling Trips” portrays the lives of two women, Kitty and Clara, over the course of ten summers between 1938-1947. These women used scrapbooking as a way to “preserve memory,” and to help establish a sense of self (Phillips). Phillips further explains how “autobiographical memories” use material objects, such as the pictures and letters in Kitty and Clara’s scrapbook, as crucial pieces in understanding one’s identity and as “souvenirs of the experience to be remembered” (Phillips). By placing themselves in the centre of their own story, Kitty and Clara undergo “continuing interpretation and reinterpretation of [their] experience[s]” (Bruner qtd. in Phillips), and these memories embody their ideas of self. 

        Today, most people typically use social media as a way to connect with friends online and to keep tabs on each other’s lives. It provides an instant sense of interconnectedness. Phillips notes how scrolling through a social media profile is not unlike flipping through the pages of a scrapbook. Both dispositions provide a personal peek into the creator’s life by “document[ing] friendship and visualiz[ing] their social network” (Phillips). Day refers to both of these platforms as “personal media archives” which allow the creator a choice of maintaining privacy or allowing for public showing. Although social media users have the capability to connect with strangers, most individuals use it to re-establish pre-existing offline relationships. Social media “predecessors [like scrapbooks] appear to have anticipated” and demonstrated real life relationships long before the origination of the online web (Day). Not only are scrapbooks and social media platforms to build memory and identity, they also provide a medium to display and gather “cultural capital” (Bourdieu qtd. in Day). This is defined as “one’s accumulated knowledge about society… obtained through education and credentials, inherited knowledge and the acquisition of high-status goods” (Bourdieu qtd. in Day). Day orchestrates various authors’ arguments who agree on the use of social media and scrapbooking as a way to demonstrate social networks as well as class and wealth, but also as a stage to gather more capital. This is obvious in the use of social media as people use “impression management, identity performance, and/or expression of taste” in order to amass more stature among online friends or followers (Day). Yet, this concept is far less evident in the craft of scrapbooking because it is usually viewed as a personal activity (Day). However, scrapbooks have historically been passed around to share “friendly inscriptions,” or in the familiar terms of social media, comments or captions, perhaps on a Facebook ‘wall’ or underneath a photograph posted online (Day), which then allows for the expression of “cultural capital” (Bourdieu qtd. in Day). In the case of Langmann’s scrapbook “Ten Annual Cycling Trips,” Kitty and Clara are able to demonstrate their affluence through their yearly summer travels and their widespread social circles portrayed in the photos.

Memories bridge the past with the present. The manner in which they are documented has changed, but the importance of remembering is still prevalent in forming one’s identity. Uno Langmann recognized the inherent need to maintain recollections of personal histories. Although scrapbooks and social media provide insight to the times, they cannot be held as historically valid in the sense that they are “messy, fragmentary and highly individualized” (Day). Despite the impermanence of words and images on a screen, social media is a modern day scrapbook.

 

Works Cited

Good, Katie Day. “From Scrapbook to Facebook: A History of Personal Media Assemblage and Archives.” New Media & Society, vol. 15, no. 4, June 2013, pp. 557–573, doi:10.1177/1461444812458432. Accessed 25 Jan. 2019.

Phillips, Barbara J. “The Scrapbook as an Autobiographical Memory Tool.” Marketing Theory, vol. 16, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp. 325–346, doi:10.1177/1470593116635878. Accessed 25 Jan. 2019.

UBC Library. “Browse Collections.” Open Collections, The University of British Columbia, https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/langmann. Accessed 27 Jan. 2019.

Wilson, Clara. “[Ten Annual Cycling Trips, 1938-1947].” A. N.p., 1950. Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs. Web. 27 Jan. 2019. <https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/langmann/items/1.0376059>. Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs.

 

Arts of Resistance: Politics and the Past in Latin America, an exhibit currently showcased at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, depicts the continuous struggles of Latin American Indigenous communities. Through art, people are able to find a voice to speak out against the mistreatment and injustice committed against them.

Maize, also known as corn, is a staple food among most people in Latin America. It is a source of nutrition for many people and their livestock, as well as a source of income and industrial fuel. This staple product “provides at least 30 percent of the food calories of more than 4.5 billion people in 94 developing countries.” (CYMMYT) The dependence on maize is unsustainable in such an increasingly globalized world economy. Especially for rural farmers whose livelihoods depend on the production of traditionally grown maize, as the cultivation of genetically modified maize tremendously impacts the local markets of the Indigenous people.

The exhibition demonstrates the growing tensions between tradition and modernization in the political landscape. The local people use modern art to show their unrest through silent protest. Political graffiti is a recent phenomena, drawing silent attention to the political views of the artist. Often stencils are used to portray the image various times, affecting more people. In this illustration, the background is a yellow canvas, with a “pre-Hispanic symbol for maize and the pre-Hispanic Central Mexica maize goddess Centeotl.” (Art of Resistance) The graffiti on the wall shows an Indigenous woman holding a rifle to the creators of genetically modified maize. This depiction connects the persistent defence of Indigenous tradition against the contemporary political realities. The Indigenous people have been directly affected by the selling of cheaper crops, therefore unable to produce and flourish off the land as they had for hundreds of years beforehand.

In sociology, we discuss how the structures of nation can create cohesion within a society. Durkheim theorizes that religion binds a community through a sense of ritualistic or traditional obligation, creating solidarity within. Although maize does not hold explicit religious meaning, the concept of religious tradition, still pertains to the long-standing history the Indigenous people bear with maize. When policies were put into place, and the “commercial appropriation of Indigenous culture and for non-Indigenous profit,” (Art of Resistance) was established, both ancestral culture and the Indigenous sense of society were challenged. Due to this, the Indigenous people of Mexico fiercely defended their way of life.

Similar to this, the Indigenous people of Canada also fiercely defend their traditions when modernization threatens their culture. For example, the controversial Kinder Morgan Pipeline threatens the ancestral values and territories of the Indigenous peoples. They see the pipeline as an infringement of their Treaty Rights, as well as the emphasis on environmental stewardship and justice. (Roy) The great respect Indigenous groups have for their natural surroundings is deeply seeded within their culture due to the physical dependance and spiritual connection Indigenous groups have always felt towards their environment. The Indigenous peoples of Canada are enormously proud of their heritage, and fully embrace their time-honoured artwork, regalia, music and storytelling in order to remember their beginnings.

As the curator, Dr. Laura Osorio Sunnucks tells us, “this exhibition proves that creativity and arts and imagination are the ways that a lot of people who are disenfranchised do find healing, find strength and find solidarity.” (Gonzalez) This exhibit demonstrates that oppression causes an uproar of backlash, as a minority fights against the suppression of their liberty. This exhibit not only teaches us of the struggle that many societies face to maintain their culture, but it also demonstrates how deeply this persecution is felt. Suffering appears in art and music as a political statement, and eventually becomes apart of history. Fortunately for us, we can now examine these pieces as a movement towards justice, further allowing us to grow and expand as global citizens.

 

Works Cited

Art of Resistance. 17 May.-30 Sept. 2018, Museum of Anthropology at University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

CYMMYT. “Why MAIZE.” CGIAR Research Program on Maize, 2016, maize.org/why-maize/ Accessed Sept. 30, 2018.

Gonzalez, Brenda. “Arts of Resistance: Politics and the Past in Latin America showcases the social value of political art.” The Ubyssey, 30 May, 2018. https://www.ubyssey.ca/culture/arts-of-resistance-showcases-politics-in-art/ Accessed Sept. 30, 2018.

Green, Madeleynn. “A Beautiful Mess: The Evolution of Political Graffiti in the Contemporary City.” Inquiries Journal, 2014. http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1699/a-beautiful-mess-the-evolution-of-political-graffiti-in-the-contemporary-city Accessed Sept. 30, 2018.

Morris, M. L. Impacts of Maize Breeding Research in Latin America, 1966-1997. CIMMYT, 1999. Accessed Sept. 20, 2018.

Ranum, Peter, et al. “Global Maize Production, Utilization, and Consumption.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Wiley/Blackwell (10.1111), 20 Mar. 2014, nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.12396 Accessed Sept. 20, 2018.

Roy, Christopher. “Mission & Vision.” RAVEN, RAVEN – Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs, 2009, raventrust.com/about/mission-vision/ Accessed Sept.30, 2018.