Hello everyone, before starting off with what I will be focusing on I would like to go back to the day of the class conference and remind the class readers of the presentation I submitted, which was a picture having a satirical statement, “I noticed you don’t cite your sources, I too like to live dangerously.” The presentation highlighted the most important thing that I learned in this class which applied to my other courses as well and it will stick with me till the end of my undergraduate degree, and further in life; is how to do citation, what are the techniques of it and tips on how to avoid plagiarizing. This is very important because if it is taken lightly a person can get into the trouble for academic misconduct which may affect the person’s academic and professional life. Besides learning how to avoid academic dishonesty from this course, I got the opportunity to read many literary books such as Cockeyed, Missing Sarah, Diamond Grill and Persopolis,through which I learned about many issues and concepts.

All the literary texts were very engaging and each of the texts gave a different perception, such as Cockeyedwas written from a blind person’s perspective, Diamond Grillwas written from a mixed-race person’s perspective, Missing Sarahwas written from a sex worker’s close family member’s perspective, aiming to change to stereotypical mindset and Persepolis from an Iranian child’s perspective. However, the primary texts that I’m going to be focusing on is Persepolis. This book revolves around Satrapi’s journey through the decline of the Shah of Iran and up rise of oppressive Islamic republic. The concept I will be focusing on is that I found interesting is a child’s perspective and their ability of imagination which is unique yet a powerful approach to a written narrative. The reason for claiming Persepolis’s narrative powerful is because of its reach and its unlimited audience. This book is not only limited to a specific group of people, but people of all ages will find this narrative interesting. The book’s first chapter ‘The Veil’ provides an example of how Satrapi uses simple black and white pictures which may be used in order to signify a story of trauma, each picture is with a few statements yet conveying her message to the readers effectively. In the first chapter, Satrapi signifies how girls in the society she was born in were oppressed and had little agency with them as it states it was obligatory for every girl in her school to wear a veil, willingly or unwillingly (Satrapi 3). The scholar who would agree to my statement that Persepolis is a unique approach to narrative writing is Hillary Chute, as she recognizes and acknowledges the work of these narratives by stating “The field of graphic narrative brings certain constellations to the table: hybridity and autobiography, theorizing trauma in connection to the visual, textuality that takes the body seriously.” (Chute 93). An example of how readers get to experience the massacre in Iran through a child’s lens showcasing her imagination in Chapter 2 “The Bicycle” where Satrapi imagines the burning of the movie theater, drawing ghostly creatures apparently screaming (Satrapi 15). Chute states in her article “… “The Veil.” An icon of a single eye, directly engaging the reader, dangles over the book’s very first gutter, reminding readers at the outset that we are aligned with Satrapi’s penetrating vision…” (Chute 96) demonstrate how Satrapi from the beginning of the chapter makes a strong connection with her readers and how throughout the book she makes her readers view her childhood journey through her own lens.

To conclude, I think the concept of a graphic narrative serves an important purpose as it gives us an insight of what’s going on in the victim’s mind and their capability of imagination. However, in my opinion Persepolisis different from other graphic narratives in ways of how it gives the reader to view one of many traumatic stories of Iran-Iraq war through Satrapi’s journey, proving it to be a first-hand experience for the readers.

Works Cited:

Chute, Hillary. “The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis.’” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 1/2, 2008, pp. 92–110. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27649737.

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. SAPL, 2013

For this week’s blog post, I will be writing about a loss memoir, “Missing Sarah”. The book is a narrative based on Sarah, who is one of the many missing women from Downtown Eastside, Vancouver who were murdered. It was written by Sarah’s sister, Maggie De Vries and was written with the help of using Sarah’s journals, in which she has written about her life struggles and has shared her honest thoughts as being a sex worker and a drug addict. In this blog, I will be examining how sex workers are portrayed in the media.

By reading this book I get to know a sex worker’s perspective on how they are mistreated by the society. In many parts of the book when Sarah was in the position of speaking through her journal, she mentions that the work she does is because it has come down to it and she has no other option left for a source of income. The source of income she gets is really important for her because without the money, she is unable to buy the drugs which help her to keep functioning. The mistreatment of this community can also be seen in chapter five of the book “Sex Work in Vancouver” where Maggie writes, “To this day, prostitutes are pushed from one neighborhood to the next…” (Vries 95) this statement by her suggests that sex workers are not looked at as normal human beings and are not accepted in any neighborhood as they are shunned out. However, in the same chapter Maggie writes, “In most industries, regulations are made, processes put in place, through consultation with those concerned. Because our society has deemed sex workers unacceptable, it does not occur to us to consult with sex workers when making decisions” (Vries 96), by saying this she has singled out a valid point on which society turns a blind eye, which is the discrimination against sex workers. The discrimination occurs against sex workers in the sense that they are not consulted by the government when actions regarding them are being taken place and therefore the outcome of the policy adopted by the government has inefficient outcome.

Media is also an important part of the society who plays a vital role in building an opinion about someone or something. In other words, media has the power to shape people’s opinions by the way they broadcast the news. This is looked upon by Wing as he looks at how a white suspect is portrayed in the news versus how a black suspect is portrayed in the news. In the article “When The Media Treats White Suspects and Killers Better Than Black Victims”, there has been an example given of two suspects belonging to different skin color. Michael Brown is a black teenager who was brutally shot by a police officer, and the claim of him assaulting a police officer was shown in the media as “Police: Michael Brown Struggled With Officer Before Shooting” with a picture of him having apparently an expressionless face whereas the article shows a picture of the headline of a white suspect involved in shooting. The white suspect’s headline states “Theater Shooting Suspect Was Brilliant Science Student“ with a smiling picture of him. This suggests that white suspects are given a positive image compared to the black suspect.

In my opinion, the discrimination against the sex workers and the discrimination against the blacks have an analogy as they both are given a negative image. This leads to labeling them as bad people of the society for which they have to face consequences such as police brutality and discrimination. However, media, who has a considerable power in today’s world should use its power to create a positive image of them and avoid biasness towards certain kinds of people just to gain attention towards their business.

Works Cited:

Vries, Maggie De. Missing Sarah: a Memoir of Loss. Penguin Books Canada, 2008.

Wing, Nick. “When The Media Treat White Suspects And Killers Better Than Black Victims.” Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo!, 14 Aug. 2014, sports.yahoo.com/media-treats-white-suspects-killers-182442973.html.

Today, I will be discussing about my observations and experiences on my visit to the Amazonia exhibit. This exhibition is situated in the UBC, Museum of Anthropology and its custodian is Nuno Porto (“Amazonia: The Rights of Nature.” Museum of Anthropology at UBC). The exhibition is about the Amazon rainforest which is the largest rainforest of the world (WWF). This exhibition showcased the Amazonian history, its art, nature, textile and the significance of it. As you enter the exhibit there is a long frame on the wall which demonstrates what are the threats to the rainforest. One of the main threats to the rainforest is deforestation and large-scale agriculture is one of the causes (“Amazonia: The Rights of Nature.” Museum of Anthropology at UBC). The frame on the wall states some interesting facts about the rainforest which emphasizes why it is important to preserve these forests (e.g. 10% of the world’s known species are found here (“Amazonia: The Rights of Nature.” Museum of Anthropology at UBC). Anthony Shelton, the director of the UBC Museum of Anthropology said “People are not separate from nature, but part of it. The relationship is one of interdependence and survival of both is intimately connected,” (Rogers, The Ubyssey). The statement by Anthony makes it clear that humans cannot separate themselves from the nature and their actions have consequences to the environment. These consequences are faced by the humans, themselves in many forms such as the climate change. Therefore, humans should take full responsibility of their actions in the world because this is the only way the world can continue for many generations to come.

There were a lot of objects displayed in the exhibition and they were well organized as they were properly categorized with information relevant to them written below. However, the object I found most interesting and that caught my eye was the headdress from the category of the marketplace. The headdress is made from the feathers of the bird which were previously hunted by the people (Pitt Rivers Museum). Every community or a society has their own culture which is followed by its people, thus wearing a headdress is a part of the Amazon culture. “In many cultures, the head is viewed as the most important part of the body” (Pitt Rivers Museum), many cultures give importance to the head as stated in article, South American Feather Headdresses. This could be due to obvious reasons such as it is the area where brain is situated and if brain is damaged, the whole body can be paralyzed. The article further suggests that headdress was worn by the people because they believed “head is where the soul or spirit resides” (Pitt Rivers Museum).
To further develop my discussion on the headdress, I would bring into notice that these objects were expensive to produce as they were labor extensive and were too delicate for daily use. Whereas, the article suggest that the feathers used to make them were a status-symbol (Pitt Rivers Museum). The headdress from the Amazon culture and expensive wedding dresses from my culture have an analogy. There are many evidences which support my claim such as both are labor extensive, for example the wedding dress requires customization to meet the specific needs of the person who is going to wear it and the headdress is also labor extensive. Headdresses are worn on ceremonial occasions as the article states and so are the wedding dresses, such as they are worn on the day of the wedding.

In conclusion to today’s discussion, the analogy between the headdress and the wedding dress is one of the many ways people from many parts of the world such as Vancouver can feel a connection to the Amazonia culture and can relate to them. However, it is important to preserve places such as Amazon rainforest because they have many communities living in them, who have a rich culture to be explored by the people throughout the world. In the article by Shelby Rogers, ‘’ MoA’s Amazonia exhibit makes a powerful case for forest conservation ‘’, it has been states that countries like Ecuador have listened to the Indigenous people and have realized that rights of nature is important by making amendments to their constitutions. This action has set a great example of taking responsibility by the countries to whatever happens on our planet, Earth.

Works Cited:

“Amazonia: The Rights of Nature.” Museum of Anthropology at UBC, moa.ubc.ca/portfolio_page/amazonia/.

“Our World’s Largest Rainforest: The Amazon.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, www.worldwildlife.org/videos/our-world-s-largest-rainforest-the-amazon.

Rogers, Shelby. “Review: MoA’s Amazonia Exhibit Makes a Powerful Case for Forest Conservation.” The Ubyssey, www.ubyssey.ca/culture/review-amazonia/.

“South American Feather Headdresses.” Pitt Rivers Museum, 21 Apr. 2016, www.prm.ox.ac.uk/feathers.

We all stand on this pedestal of principles, which include our integrity and moral ethics. Both these things may go hand in hand in our social, as well as our academic life. Academic integrity, in my own simple words, is something we have produced without unlawfully using another person’s work or mind.  

In recent news, we have heard much about the Panama Papers, “a giant leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records exposes a system that enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies.” (The ICIJ, Panama Papers). The Prime Minister of my country back home, Nawaz Sharif, was caught in a breach of integrity which got him indicted (The ICIJ, Panama Papers). He not only had forged his signature and dated it back to 2006, but when the document he signed went under investigation, it was found to have been fabricated as the font used in the document was Calibri, which was available to the public by Microsoft in 2007 (Ha, The Global and Mail Inc.). One fabricated document cost a prime minister his seat, so the consequences for such acts can be seen to be very serious for students, employees, or any profession for the matter. 

Another form of academic integrity we often see is impersonation, it occurs when students exchange identities to perform on tests. Impersonation sometimes runs alongside bribery. Either the student who has the test bribes another student to lure them into impersonation or the impersonator themselves, ask for a bribe in exchange for their performance. A quite popular SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) scandal, was when multiple high school students had paid a great deal of money to a college student to appear for them on the SAT. This only went on for so long until everything came out in the blue and ended with the students being arrested (Nbcnews.com). In no aspect was there any academic integrity maintained, not only was there impersonation and bribery involved, but these students had agreed to terms and conditions when registering for the test, stating that the person taking the test and is you, which they didn’t uphold. As well as when taking the test and signing it in your “own” handwriting – these students also committing forgery which they didn’t uphold. (SAT Terms and Condition, College Board)  

In this day and age, we have been exposed to numerous ways in which academic integrity can be exploited. Any type of offense in the direction or area of academic integrity is considered to be very crucial in determining a person’s future. Any employer, firm, school, etc., would want their perspective peer to be an individual who prioritizes moral and ethical values above money or an easier path.  

Works Cited: 

“7 Students Arrested in SAT Cheating Scheme.” NBCNews.com, NBC Universal News Group, 28 Sept. 2011,  

www.nbcnews.com/id/44701102/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/students-arrested-sat-cheating-scheme/#.WizZa7aB2rc. 

Ha, Tu Thanh. “How a Microsoft font brought down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.” The Globe and Mail, 28 July 2017, www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/how-a-microsoft-font-brought-down-pakistani-prime-minister-nawaz-sharif/article35828938/ 

“SAT Term and Conditions” College Board. 2017 https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/sat-terms-and-conditions.pdf 

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. “Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption.” The Panama Papers, 3 Apr. 2016, panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-overview.html. 

For my blog #2, I’m going to be focusing on people who are often considered as the ‘’misfits ‘’ of the society. They are regarded in that manner because they are different from rest of the society. They are different in many ways such as they tend to have different lifestyles as compared to people who are regarded as ‘’ fits ‘’ of the society. I’m talking about people who suffer from disabilities and the challenges it has to offer. Disability according to a Dictionary means ‘’: a physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person’s ability to engage in certain tasks or actions or participate in typical daily activities and interactions ‘’ (“Disability.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disability) which emphasis that disability doesn’t only refers to physical but also mental difficulties as well. Some types of physical disabilities include paraplegia, cerebral palsy and polio whereas examples of mental disability include major depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. (“Upcoming Events.” NEADS, www.neads.ca/en/about/projects/inclusion/guide/pwd_01.php)

When a person is categorized as ‘’ disabled ‘’, this signifies that he or she is unfit to do anything. It can be seen that disabled members of the society have a sticky stigma attached to them, their accomplishments are seen as if out of pettiness. Pasquale Toscano says ‘’ Believe me, I, too, sometimes wonder whether my scholarship is predicated upon pity. I can’t help it … ‘’ (Toscano, Pasquale S. “The Myth of Disability ‘Sob Stories.’” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 June 2017, www.nytimes.com). Pasquale who is suffering from an injury wonders if what he has achieved, is it because of his hard work or is it out of pettiness. The representation of this community can be observed by looking at how the media portrays them in the advertisements for example. They only tend to focus on the ‘’ Disability ‘’ which should not be the case because it encourages the society to pity the person being presented.  There are a lot of initiatives taken place for the disabled community such as wheelchair basketball, Blind Cricket, and Paralympics but there a lot of issues surrounding them. One of the main issues is the viewership. When we compare the viewership of cricket for the blind versus cricket for abled bodies, it is apparent that not many people watch or go for games for the disabled and they also tend to get low coverage.  Furthermore, some Tv shows tend to create a misconception about disabilities, such as daredevil (“Marvel’s Daredevil.” Marvel.com: The Official Site, marvel.com/tv/show/216/marvels_daredevil). The lead role in this show is blind but has extraordinary six senses, that is not the case in reality. Muniba Mazari is also an example of someone who is disabled but has a passion for painting and says “Art was an escape for me” (Basu, Oyindrila. “Muniba Mazari-A Live and Charming Inspiration.” EWellness Expert, EWellness Expert, 19 Feb. 2016, www.ewellnessexpert.com/stories/20/muniba-mazari-a-live-and-charming-inspiration). Her success story is an inspiration for all and is not only restricted to motivate disabled people.

There is a need to improve standards for representation and treatment of the disabled community. They should be treated or be regarded as a human being and not someone who is disabled. When this act will come into play, the feeling of ‘’ pettiness ‘’ felt by disabled will be reduced

Citation:

• “Disability.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disability
• “Upcoming Events.” NEADS, neads.ca/en/about/projects/inclusion/guide/pwd_01.php
• Toscano, Pasquale S. “The Myth of Disability ‘Sob Stories.’” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 June 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/opinion/the-myth-of-disability-sob-stories.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdisability&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=2.
• “Marvel’s Daredevil.” Marvel.com: The Official Site, marvel.com/tv/show/216/marvels_daredevil.
• Basu, Oyindrila. “Muniba Mazari-A Live and Charming Inspiration.” EWellness Expert, EWellness Expert, 19 Feb. 2016, www.ewellnessexpert.com/stories/20/muniba-mazari-a-live-and-charming-inspiration.

Academic integrity could be considered as a code of conduct having ethical policies in it. This code of conduct ensures that cheating or plagiarism is prevented and academic honesty is maintained. There are many types of academic misconduct such as plagiarism, fabrication, deception, cheating, bribery, sabotage and impersonation. Plagiarism refers to copying someone’s text without proper citation and backing it as your own work. fabrication refers to when any data or piece of information has been edited with false data. Cheating is similar to plagiarism, it refers to copying someone’s work. Students may bribe others usually with money to complete an assignment and impersonation refers to when students may exchange their identities in order to appear on any test, to gain high grade.

There are many reasons why students may carry out an academic misconduct using the tools mentioned above. One of the main reasons is the workload. There are many students who are very hardworking as they work and study side by side. This becomes difficult and students may turn their way to misconduct. Pressure to do better than other students could also be one of the reasons as students might self deprecate and self doubt themselves due to this they might bribe someone to do their assignments in order to get a better grade. Sometimes students find it difficult to make the transition from high school to university and may carry out an academic misconduct unintentionally.

There are practices students must do in order to make sure that academic integrity is maintained. This includes citing material properly. Students should always take notes on what they read. they should properly acknowledge all sources from which they use ideas. Students should always remember to cite direct quotes, paraphrased ideas, summaries of ideas and factual information and they should always review their work for example assignment if academic honesty is met. if students perform or are involved in any research they should maintain high level of scholarly rigour. they should provide complete and accurate data so that there is no deceiving. All of those who have contributed to the data should be acknowledged. Students should produce original work meaning it is not copied from someone’s work.

In conclusion,  if students fail to carry out an academic honesty conduct they may face serious consequences which can affect their future negatively. For example if they get caught doing plagiarism they might be expelled from their respective college which will not only result in waste of money, time and effort but also their employment chances are endangered. Students may fail to get their desired jobs as their potential employer will not entertain such acts.

Bibliography:

“Academic Dishonesty.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Sept. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dishonesty.

“The University of British Columbia.” Academic Honesty and Standards – Campus-Wide Policies and Regulations – Vancouver Academic Calendar 2017/18 – UBC Student Services, www.calendar.ubc.ca/Vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3%2C286%2C0%2C0.

“The University of British Columbia.” 3. Disciplinary Measures – Discipline for Academic Misconduct – Student Conduct and Discipline – Campus-Wide Policies and Regulations – Vancouver Academic Calendar 2017/18 – UBC Student Services, www.calendar.ubc.ca/Vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3%2C54

“The University of British Columbia.” Academic Honesty and Standards – Campus-Wide Policies and Regulations – Vancouver Academic Calendar 2017/18 – UBC Student Services, www.calendar.ubc.ca/Vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3%2C286%2C0%2C0.

“The University of British Columbia.” Vancouver Academic Calendar 2017/18 – UBC Student Services, www.calendar.ubc.ca/Vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3%2C286%2C0%2C0http%3A%2F%2Flearningcommons.ubc.ca%2Facademic-integrity%2F%3Futm_source&utm_medium=sept17&utm_campaign=tlef_coursepilot

Hughes, Brian. “Tough Topics: Are Essay Writing Companies Ethical?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 Jan. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-hughes/tough-topics-are-essay-wr_b_9128910.html.

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