Dany Laferrier wrote a memoir concerning the Haiti Earthquake, titled “Tout Bouge Autour de Moi” which was later translated by David Homel, into the English language under the title “The World is Moving Around Me; a memoir of the Haiti Earthquake”.

In taking and translating a text from one language to another, there is always a chance that a part of the meaning could be lost during the process. Whether that concerns the function of phrases utilized to express concepts for which the language of translation has no equal wording, or whether the authors original narrative is altered with the style of writing utilized by a translator, the newly constructed piece of work will simply become an alternate representation of the original concepts captured by the author in his own words.

In David Homel’s article  “Tin-Fluting It:On translating Dany Laferrier”, Homel mentions “that the worst nightmare for a writer would be to be forced to write in a language that is not the one from his…childhood…Laferriere is in exactly that situation.”(50) as his “native language is Creaole”(Ibid). Therefore the process of both translation and writing becomes more complex. It would seem that although a childhood language, or first learned language is an important part of communication, a secondary language which is often practiced should not pose too many problems, if there are in fact any at all.

I found an article from words without borders that suggests a major component in translation is a solid foundation of trust and understanding between both the author and the translator himself. In the interview questions found within this article there are two specifically geared towards translation.

1) I understand Gogol is very difficult to translate because of the subtleties of his style. Do you think you are difficult to translate? You’ve worked with David Homel on several books. Are there issues that have come up in taking your work into English?

2)Do you know your translator personally? Do you work with him face to face?

In answering these two questions, Laferriere provides some insights into the complexity of the translation process which is often viewed as quite challenging and complex. For L’aferriere, the elements of stress seem to be eliminated, as he instead exhibits a great deal of faith in his translator, understanding that the process is eligible to its own creative liberties.

Over this past week much of the lecture content pertained to discussions regarding the concept of Trauma. Not only were we introduced to what Trauma entails in terms of first hand exposure, but were also given a glimpse into the concepts of second hand or relived Trauma that arises through the process of testimony. We are specifically shown the impacts of Trauma on those that experience the act of bearing witness to a traumatic event, and furthermore the effects of trauma that may also extent to those who “bear witness to witnessing”(Laub 57-92), a concept which has been reviewed in connection to Spiegalman’s Maus in both lecture and many of this weeks blog postings.

Since Spiegelman’s Maus is a representation of Vladeck’s story as told by his son Artie, through the form of commix it is interesting to note the dual implications of Spiegelman’s work. Through his detailed research, he is re-experiencing a form of Trauma that he has been exposed to in witnessing the recounting of his fathers story. However at the same time using commix as the chosen mode through which Spiegelman expresses the events that transpired throughout his fathers experience in the holocaust, Spiegelman himself is undergoing a form of therapy whereby the art form of drawing takes on a therapeutic quality.  This concept is further discussed in Isabel Keng’s Blog post Art Therapy in Post Secret and Maus, as she points out that Spiegelman “lessens the trauma by breaking it down into manageable units and containing it in the small boxes of the comic book format, so that we only have to look at one panel at a time” in much the same way as post secret confines confessions to the size of a postcard.

Joey Levesque also draws upon a comparison between Post Secret and Maus, citing Anita Kelly’s 1999 review of the field in Current Directions in Psychological Science in the discussion of confessionalism and its benefits as Kelly’s article points to “statistically significant correlations between revelatory acts and health” that reveal the importance that the development of art plays in therapy.  I also found Sunny Chen’s post concerning propaganda and its purpose in art to be an interesting component of discussion for the content of Spiegelman’s Maus. As we discussed in Lecture, there is one particular instance in which a news reporter questions art concerning the message he intended to portray through his work. The question is left with an uncertain answer as Art responds with an “I don’t know…” the trailing response representative of his inability to articulate his intentions, relate to his use of commix as a means to express the story in a way that is not only accessible to the public but an important component to working through his own understandings of the situation in an ultimately therapeutic mode of representation.

Another important component of this weeks blogs posts consisted of the discussion of Spiegelman’s decision to represent people in terms of animals. While this choice adds to the easily digestible quality of the work, it also serves a greater purpose within his work. Not only does it serve the purpose of addressing the questions revolving around identification by way of animals and humans alike disguising themselves with various masks, but it also represents a complex concept that’s explanation is aided by the use of animals, rather than human portrayal of characters. In particular Preet Chhina’s blog post addresses this important notion in connection to Foucault’s Panopticon concept, where “The cat’s keep the mice in check, mentally and physically through this idea” of the panopticon. Through the use of commix as a means to represent the stories of his father, Spiegelman is given an opportunity to exercise his artistic abilities and discretions in way that not only represents his fathers story, but his own story of dealing with the issue of dealing with bearing witness to witnessing trauma.

I have recently been introduced to the term Hapa, having read an article concerning a fairly new festival called Hapa Palooza,which is currently happening throughout Vancouver.

This term was entirely new to me, so in addition to reading about the festival,I felt it was important to learn a little more about the meaning and origin of said word. As it turns out Hapa is of Hawaiian orgin, and encompasses anyone of mixed race. That being said, I suppose I could categorize myself as Hapa.

It seems as if the number of people who categorize themselves as such has been growing at a remarkable pace over the years, and many, upon learning the word, find a true sense of community in reaching out to others whom also identify as Hapa.

In our course on Life Narratives, we have just finished lectures on Fred Wah’s “Diamond Grill” and will begin engaging with Maggie De Vries memoir “Missing Sarah” next week. Each of these texts is quite different from one another, however each text is concerned with an ethnically diverse individual. Having said that, each could be defined as Hapa asFred wah is part Chinese and Part Swedish, while Sarah is also of mixed race (black, aboriginal, Mexican American and white).

In reading the texts, I found a commonality between Fred and Sarah came in the form of their liminal nature, a sense of in between-ness that seemed to separate the individuals from fitting in with either side of their ethnic backgrounds.

I have choosen two quotes to illustrate this liminal nature:

“I’m not accepted into the Caucasian social circle nor am I accepted in the black social circle, for I am neither white nor black. The blacks say I act too much like a tie and tails, and whites say I act like a homeboy. I’m stuck in the middle and outside to both. I have no people. I have no nation and am alone” (De Vries,69)

“That’s the mix, the breed, the half-breed, metis, quarter-breed, trace-of-a-bread true demi-semi-ethnic polluted rootless living technicolour snarl to complicate the underbelly panavision of racism and bigitory, across this country. I know, you’re going to say, that’s just being Canadian.” (Wah,53)

It seems as if the concept of not fitting in, or choosing to side with one ethnicity over another was also prevalent amongst the online Hapa Community, that is of course until the Hapa Nation began to see themselves as a collective whole, a nation where all belonged.

I also came across a trailer for a 2010 documentary titled One Big Hapa Family which questions multiculturalism and its existance in a world where many are mixed, and would prefer to identify with all of their herritage, rather than selctive aspects of their herritage.  Although it seems like the term Hapa has the potential to open up dialogues about some of the common feelings of seperation or isolation, as well as other isues concerning the hapa, to both themselves and the world. I find it is interesting to explore this in terms of qoutes from to un-declared Hapa.

Bibliography

De Vries, Maggie.Missing Sarah, a memoir of loss. Toronto: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill. Edmonton: NeWest Press. 2006. Print.

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The concept of staying connected with one another has existed within popular culture as an important factor in maintaining community ties, whether they are familial or otherwise, by way of communication using various forms of genres. As the development of the world wide web has evolved, so too has the form of genre used to communicate. No longer relying on the letter or postcard to keep those close to you informed, the vast majority has shifted towards a more technological mode of communication. Utilizing sites specifically designed for blogging (Insert link) or one of the popular social media sites, such as Facebook (https://www.facebook.com ) Twitter, (https://twitter.com/)  Instagram (http://instagram.com/ ), as a means to accomplish the same essential types of communication update.

With a platform such as Facebook, it becomes important to understand that there is a certain element of exclusivity, in that updates shared on the individuals wall, or more recently time line can only be accessed by those also holding an account for the site. This therefore excludes a certain number of potential audience members, from exposure to updates they may have otherwise also shared an inclusion in.

With the creation of a Profile, we must be aware of the information we are providing, and the implications this may have for the content we are than exposed to. In looking at a Newsfeed one becomes more aware of the way in which adds cater towards each individual. Having watched the Ted Talks by Praiser titled “Filter Bubbles” (http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en), I have become more aware of the complexity of the filters through which we gain access to the contents of the vast depths of the web, and realize that although there is plenty of information available, we aren’t necessarily exposed to a large degree of said information, and instead are sheltered from a large portion of content by some of the sites we frequent the most often. Having learnt more about this, I wonder how it is possible to extend my learning beyond the created filter bubbles of the web, in order to gain more knowledge of the world around me.