Racism Created Race

As we learned in Professor Block’s lectures, the idea of race was created as a result of racism. Racism is not an idea or an attitude, it is the actions taken against a certain group based on a double standard of race. In context, this means that because the class of white people that were in charge wanted to stay on top and remain in charge, they dehumanized people of color, especially black people, so it would create a divide between the races rather than the classes.

This is reminiscent of another point in history that I learned about in English 10, a class taught by Professor Lazo. Bacon’s Rebellion was a major problem for imperialists in the American Colonies because it defied the constraints of race and allowed indentured servants and slaves to work together and be more powerful against the upper class. This was problematic and needed to be handled so that the lower class was not more powerful than the ruling. The way to solve this was to create a racial divide. Tactics were used to make a point of race and to dehumanize people of color so that they were systematically controlled and had no voice.

Not only is it similar to very early American history, racism and the creation of a separation of races is still an issue we face today here in the United States. As President Trump continues to push for the building of a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and the end of immigration from Central and South America, he uses derogatory and dehumanizing terms in order to convince Americans that these people should not be let into our country. These people seeking asylum from dangerous situations and a life of poverty try to come to the United States for a better life and are turned away by the president who believes they are all “animals” and criminals that will steal American jobs. This is a repeat of these past situations because one race is dehumanized and is made to be seen as lesser than white people.

Final Thoughts

Professor Vo’s lectures discussed the inadequacies of the United States’ education system and how we teach our history. We create a sense of nationalism in kids by teaching them the “glorious” history of our past because we only teach the good parts of our history and quickly brush over the bad parts. No one talks about our faults in history because not many people know what actually happened. Through the lectures in Humanities Core this year, I’ve learned many things about the world and in history that I knew nothing about previously.

Humanities Core this year was a valuable learning experience because it exposed students to many different topics and reading materials. We learned about all areas of history from ancient European ruins to the gender and racial inequalities of colonial America, to the effects of the Iranian Revolution. This wide range of topics all related to the theme of empire which allowed us to see the world in a different light. Everything is related to one another in some way and that the phrase “history repeats itself” rings true within the subject matter of Humanities Core.

The reading list for the course was dominated by different excerpts from authors of all backgrounds and qualifications. I really enjoyed the diversity of the points of views in the readings and how they each pushed their own narrative and opinions on a topic. There was no qualification or standard to be achieved to be an author for a reading in Hum Core and that’s what I really liked because the sky’s the limit in what perspective and what take any author in particular will have. We read everything from the classics like Homer and Shakespeare to a Quechuan-to-Spanish dictated excerpt. The pieces were all unique and offered new insight on the topic it related to.

Overall, Humanities Core was an experience that helped me garner new insight and information on topics I never knew the whole story about or I didn’t know the existence of. The readings and lecturers were all diverse and knowledgeable of each subject which created a space for thorough discussion and uncensored learning.

False Repression in Catholicism

Contemporary society has a vast amount of norms that are associated with gender roles and gender identity, many of which dictate the way we dress and the way we choose to express our physical appearance. I, personally, have a considerable amount of experience with traditionally feminine standards for women’s clothing, primarily because of the way I was raised at home but also because of the schools I attended. Much like a large percentage of people in my community, I was raised Catholic; however, unlike the majority of my Catholic peers, I was sent to private Catholic schools from Pre-K to eighth grade– all of which enforced a very strict dress code. They were specific and restrictive for both the boys and the girls, while boys were instructed to wear pants and shorts only, girls were instructed to wear skirts only. These dress code regulations were non-negotiable, even on cold days girls were not allowed to wear pants, even if it caused them discomfort. The rigid and specific nature of this dress code, while seemingly harmless, became one of the first things that cultivated the ideology of a binary gendered society in my young mind. Reflecting as an an adult, I realize not only how wrong this ideology is but also how harmful it is, especially for members from an age group that are barely developing their personality and identity.

In addition to being counterproductive to a child’s growth and development, this enforcement of specific clothing perpetuates an idea of female modesty. Girls, by wearing skirts, are being modest and are avoiding dressing provocatively, which is distinctly frowned upon. For many years in the Catholic church women were only allowed to wear skirts to avoid being overly sexual. In Professor Block’s lectures she addresses the idea of false repression which is the restraint of thinking or talking about a specific thing because it is seen as something sinful or immoral but it really creates an obsession with what is supposed to be repressed. This phenomenon is prominent in Catholicism because the lack of discussion of sexual topics creates something near obsessive behavior because people are intrigued and curious. The over-sexualization of girls in the church by making them wear skirts to avoid being promiscuous stems from the ideas of false repression and strict dual-gendered societal norms that they are pressured to follow.

Photo of me on my first day of Kindergarten wearing my Catholic school uniform

Binary Oppositions

History is full of binary oppositions. Professor Chateurvedi is teaching us about the differences between Mohandas Gandhi and Vinayak Sarvarkar. Gandhi is all about using nonviolence to maintain the British Empire and working with them to make India a better place. On the other hand, Sarvarkar wants the British Empire out of India and completely destroyed so India can rule herself, doing whatever is necessary to get there, even violent acts. This type of binary opposition is seen many times throughout history and very prominently in the United States’ Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

King advocated for equal rights for African-Americans through pacificity and nonviolence, similarly to Gandhi. They both believed that through love and resistance without violence society would change and the oppressors of their peoples would rule themselves and have equality. Although the pairs of King and X and Gandhi and Sarvarkar fight for the same outcome, their philosophies are different and the way they plan on achieving the goals and the lengths they are willing to go to vary extremely.

Gandhi and Sarvarkar both used the word “swaraj” to convey the messages they wanted to get out into the world about Indian home-rule and self-government,. Although they had this similarity, they disagreed on the meaning of the word. Gandhi, for example, used the word coupled with “swadeshi” to instill the idea of self-sufficiency and reclaiming India as their own home by emancipation. Sarvarkar used the word “swadharma” alongside “swaraj” to show the love and protection of religion and for the two ideas to work together to start a revolution.

Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest”

The Julie Taymor film version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest is very similar to the original play because it follows the same plot line and uses most of Shakespeare’s original old English language. The adaptation of the character of Ariel in the film is an interesting because in the play he is just a voice that can only be heard by Prospero, but in the cinema adaptation his character relies heavily on visuals to cause mischief and for the audience to have a better understanding of his past and how he plays a role in the story.

After being contorted and trapped at the bottom of a pool of water, Ariel emerges with a big splash as Prospera calls him to do her bidding. In Shakespeare’s play, Ariel’s “entrance” is completely ambiguous and left to the imagination as he is just a voice. In the film adaptation, the way he manifests himself from the water is almost triumphant as he feels a taste of freedom to leave the pool that he is bound to.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/441141725969501991/?lp=true

Prospera calls Ariel from the pool and he begs for freedom before she reminds him what she has done for him. This also gives us a more visual approach to Ariel’s character because he is given the same backstory in both versions but Shakespeare leaves the details of Ariel’s despair to the imagination and Taymor gives the audience her interpretation of Ariel’s past in a very visual way. She shows Ariel being turned into a tree where Sycorax trapped her and how Prospera freed him, making him her slave.

http://collider.com/julie-taymor-interview-the-tempest/

The scene where Ariel turns into a harpie to scare the men he is supposed to be circling above them and nipping at them as harpies do, but in the movie adaptation, he just sits on the fake feast table in one spot and the men are cowering in fear even though the harpie is not really that physically threatening because he shows no signs of physical attacks.

Overall, Ariel in the film adaptation is a much more significant character, but the special effects that were used to make this cinematic piece more reliant on visuals than imagination caused the story to be more humorous than serious as it was supposed to be. I believe the effects really took away from the potential the film had and turned it into a farce due to poor quality. Most of the actors and actresses were very good and the storyline was well-executed, but Taymor should have relied more on the audience’s imagination than trying to make it become a visual spectacle with the budget she probably had.

https://prezi.com/riydaoskckno/the-tempest/

Intercultural Interpretation: “Arrival” (2016)

“Arrival”, starring Amy Adams, centers around Doctor Louise Banks, a linguistics specialist that is brought to the site of one of multiple alien landings on Earth in order to try and communicate with this other life form. This film takes the idea of intercultural interaction and interpretation to the extreme as it deals with two separate life forms attempting to understand and communicate with each other. They must decipher each other’s language and attempt to understand the other’s culture. The movie follows Dr. Banks’ self-immersion into the alien culture. Little snippets of “memories”  from Dr. Banks’ life are revealed to the audience, none of which have happened to Amy Adams’ character yet. By the end of the movie, Dr. Louise Banks realizes that the form of communication used by the aliens, circular ink-like clouds swirling and forming symbols, is unique because it allows them to predict the future due to its non-linear basis. This non-linear and non-vocal form of communication allows the aliens to not only gather information from their past, but also their future. Dr. Banks’ “memories” are actually snippets of her future when she is married to another character and has a child. Banks so deeply immerses herself into the culture that she begins to think like the aliens and is able to predict future events and communicate as these extraterrestrial life forms do.

Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/3oriOeYGl5MKFtb2FO

The importance of language and culture throughout the film is due to the necessity of asking the aliens their purpose on Earth before mass uprising and war break out throughout the world. Similarly to Dr. Banks, I believe that language can be the main barrier or bridge between two peoples. The miscommunication or lack thereof between two groups can cause major problems on a global, or in this case, a galactic scale. Language is the biggest barrier between two groups and misunderstandings, much like the translation of the Incan word “viracochas” which improved the Spanish narrative of the Andean takeover as they were supposedly looked upon as gods to the indigenous people. This was semi-recently contradicted to simply mean “something strange or different” so the Spanish would not have been seen as gods, but as different people.

Source: http://blueeyedstark.tumblr.com/post/161636715211/language-is-the-foundation-of-civilization-it-is

The nuances and meanings of languages cannot be understood unless you completely immerse yourself in the culture like Dr. Louise Banks does. The willingness to completely understand and learn a new culture surpasses the barriers between races and even life forms. This creates a bridge between two cultures or life forms to understand each other and realize there are different ways of thinking and processing life. Banks’ eyes are opened to the idea of precognition due to the aliens’  non-linear thought processes, allowing her to access future events in her life. In the case of the Incas, if anyone had bothered to earlier translate and publish Titu Cusi Yupanqui’s works, there would have been a bit of discrepancy between the Spanish and Incan sides of the story of colonization. This would mean that the narrative of “Spanish gods” could have possibly been questioned or refuted by sources closer to the time frame of the conquest. The simple desire to understand these extraterrestrial people without preconceived ideas or notions allows Dr. Banks to completely start blank and truly understand their communication, opening doors in her mind to improve her thought processes and think differently.

“Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict.” – Dr. Louise Banks, Arrival (2016)

Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/3o7TKuQo5VpLLVz6W4

Information Sources:

Francisco de Jerez, excerpt from True Account of the Conquest of Peru (Province of Cuzco)

Titu Cusi Yupanqui, excerpt from An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru

Uncle Rousseau Disappointed by Fake News

What would Rousseau think of the concept of fake news?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was against all kinds of society in general, and believed we would be better off as people if we were primitive beings with no sense of hierarchy or leadership. He thought any type of hierarchy would decrease personal morality as people would focus on gaining power and control over others rather than doing what is right or what is best for the community. This imbalance of power is what allowed the idea of “fake news” to come into existence to begin with.

In a general sense, richer and more powerful people spread false information and lies to the general population in order to make more people favor their beliefs and think that their way of thinking and living is better than any other way. Rousseau’s ideology of no society, no standards, and no ranking among people would completely contradict the basis of fake news and dislike it. He would believe there was no morality behind it as its main goal is deception for one own personal gain. Actual lies are told in place of fact and truth in order to take advantage of regular people.

Rousseau believed that all men are born into goodness and with virtue but as time goes on, they are soiled by their surroundings. These people are corrupted by poor values and morals as they are raised and exposed to things like power and money.

The idea of progress and man becoming more “sophisticated” is a toxic way of life and we should revert back to our savage and primitive ways to get the most out of life instead of worrying about irrelevant things like fake news and what goes on in the government. Rousseau believes that hierarchy and social constructs are wastes of time and deteriorate the inner goodness and morality we all hold inside of ourselves. We have become too power hungry and will do anything even if it is immoral to hold a higher position and better our own lives.

Uncle Rousseau would be very disappointed in us as a society, as we are becoming too invested in personal gain rather than the greater good with fake news as a prime example of our corruption, lack of morality, and need for power.

Friday Forum #2

Kant was influenced majorly by Rousseau as a philosopher and they both focused on the essence of human nature in their studies. This similar path of research lead the two to have many similarities in their beliefs, as they both encourage individualism and self-determination. These two Enlightenment philosophers also thought freedom is the central aspect of practical philosophy and that human nature is the basis of politics and morals.

Though Kant and Rousseau share many ideals and beliefs, a fundamental difference between the two philosophers is that Rousseau believes that vanity is set upon a person by society and they are corrupted to believe that societal standards and norms are more important than one’s own physical and mental health, while Kant believes the individual is not independent enough and people do not think enough for themselves, allowing themselves to be easily influenced by others.

I personally agree with Rousseau’s belief in the difference between self love and vanity and that society corrupts the individual. There can be good love and virtue in appreciating yourself and taking care of your body to remain a decent-sized, able-bodied person on the outside and a healthy, stable person mentally. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be happy and appreciating your life. There is an issue when self-absorption and vanity become your main concern. You appreciate your physical beauty and what others think about you more than you are concerned with your mental and physical health and well-being. This is something that we as a society and as people today need to work on to define a line between self-care and love versus vanity and conceitedness.

“Have the courage to make use of your own understanding” is a very good quote as it encompasses Kant’s idea of individualism and understanding as well as encouraging people to think for themselves and form their own opinions and ideas themselves. In this day and age, being constantly connected is a major source of social interaction and being completely independent is an almost impossible and radical idea. Although maybe not to an extreme extent, I agree with Kant’s idea of independence because we all need to have our own ideas instead of following others and basing our beliefs solely on someone else.

Friday Forum #1

I had never stepped foot into UCI’s library until after this forum because I had never truly learned how to utilize a school library in high school. The extent of my library visits were at lunch to study for a test or to print out a last minute assignment. Coming from an inner city high school, the abundance of information at my fingertips in college is although a great privilege, it is also extremely overwhelming. The most “research” conducted by any student in my high school were a couple of Google searches on a topic before stumbling across a semi-reliable source or blindly searching through our school’s small, under-funded library.

The incredible accessibility of enormous amounts of information on all topics here at UC Irvine is a undoubtedly a very big bonus but is very under-appreciated by most students. It is a very daunting task to step into the library in search of one particular thing, only to be surrounded by millions of different ideas and opinions all jumbled together in one big mess that needed to be sorted through.

This Friday Forum’s breakdown of the best navigation of the library and its online accessibilities were very useful, otherwise most people would feel the same as I previously did. They would feel lost and overwhelmed by all the information available to them and probably not end up using this resource that could potentially be very practical for research in the future.

My personal favorite library on campus is the Ayala Science Library as it offers many opportunities to study with plenty of tables and booths and study rooms available. Because it is open pretty late, it allows for last minute studying in silence and is also a good place to work with friends and stay on task. This sense of community throughout the library makes you feel less alone when studying because you can see others around you going through the same thing.

The most interesting part of the forum was when he discussed the collection of Shakespeare’s works that are kept in here on campus. The fact that we have a literal piece of history and just an overall awesome part of literature housed here on campus is so crazy to me.

Global and Domestic

Although the Trump Administration claims they would like to focus more on the needs of Americans rather than help literally anyone in need (e.g. Puerto Rico, Mexico, etc.), we are traditionally a internationally-oriented country. The United States government has a need to get involved in North Korean affairs as they feel threatened by its nationalistic views and lack of fear for American government, military, and power. In the constant nationalist versus global battle, the United States and North Korea are almost always on opposing sides of the front lines. The stereotyping and negative media exposure of both countries by both countries allows dehumanization of other ethnicities, especially and obviously North Koreans in this case, and unadulterated, unjustified hatred to be more accessible and deep-rooted in citizens. The feud is strictly about opposing ways of thinking and running an “empire,” whether it is nationalistic or more internationally-oriented, but it has caused a major global upheaval and situated as opposite to American interest.

A major source of opposition in mainstream American media at this moment in time is the Black Lives Matter Movement. It is seen by some as opposing United States interest and values because they believe it emphasizes the importance of one race over another, undermining the classic American ideal that all ethnicities and people in the United States are equal. This thought process, though seemingly logical, is ignorant and insensitive. This movement was popularized and publicized in order to raise awareness to the systematic racism and oppression that people of color, especially African-Americans, endure in the United States even today. This fight against racial injustice serves to create a fair playing field for all races and create a space for equality within our melting pot country. The movement is stereotyped as an anti-white campaign when that is most definitely not the case. People within the Black Lives Matter movement are villainized and scrutinized by those outside that do not attempt to understand the oppression and systematic injustice people face every day. The campaign is seen as against American values and ideals by supposedly emphasizing one race over another when the opposite has been happening since before the birth of our country. White people and European features have always been the standard of beauty and wealth in the world and when they are suddenly taken down from their pedestal, they believe they are being protested against, when in reality, others are being raised up next to them on their own pedestals to create and even playing field in the world.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40871848