As we’ve discussed in class, Racism, Medicine, and Literature are all interconnected and are incorporated in other fields of study beyond their boundaries. I’m a Political Science major and right now I’m taking a course on International Relations/Politics. So far in this course, we’ve learned how theorists view interactions between different states (term used for countries) across the globe and how these interactions impact others around them. I guess I’ve experience a ‘both/and’ situation between these two courses, especially when discussing medical volunteering pros and cons. In the International Politics, we’re reading The Essentials of International Relations by Karen A. Mingst and Ivan M. Arreguin-Toft. We’re focusing heavily on theories and the structure of the international system and how interactions with other states impact them for better or worse. The ‘both/and’ connection I made was about how these main theories (Realism, Liberalism, Radicalism, Constructivism, and Feminism) play a role in medical voluntarism. Before I explain how the theories apply to this controversial situation, I’ll define the meaning of each theory so you have background context of International Relations. Continue reading “A Political Take on Medical Voluntourism”
Making Sense of the Shadows: An Allegory of Modern Day Slavery.
“Race”, a tightly weaved fabrication that has been adeptly warped and knitted into the tapestry of time always finds a way to spin and roll itself into every social justice conversation and debate in modern day America. With each passing generation, the hot topic on race refuses to fizzle out. Yet, race does not exist, scientists have maintained constantly. Then, why do we still believe it does? Let’s look at the early origins of slavery. The documentary, “Race: the power of an illusion” narrates how in Early America there was no division along color lines, rather the obvious division was class. In other words, “Race is a modern idea – it hasn’t always been with us. In ancient times, language, religion, status, and class distinctions were more important than physical appearance” ( ). Basically, the main question at the time was not about who was coloured or white but who had more wealth, influence and lands than the other. The advent of the transatlantic slave trade business and forceful capture of Africans into the Americas introduced a deceptive division. Chain business transactions (pun intended) would create a division so wide, false ideology and pseudoscience could only account for it. In simplistic terms, the historical buying and selling of human beings breathed life to the lie called “race” Albeit, modern scientists maintain that if race actually exists then there is only the human race. Continue reading “Making Sense of the Shadows: An Allegory of Modern Day Slavery.”
Ageism and Fashion
After discussing the issues of ageism that Butler brings to light through Shori’s relationship through Theodora, I began to think more about the connotation that older women have in our society. This reminded me of a piece that I wrote for Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) while in high school, in which a blog brings and binds together women of the senior set through their passions that are often overlooked due to their age. The blog, Advanced Style (http://www.advanced.style) helps create a platform and discourse in which older women have a comfortable environment to express themselves without limits on their age. I figured I would share my paper on this blog, as to give some insight and thought into our society’s concept of fashion and aging. Please keep in mind that this was a piece written in high school that I have not touched since. Continue reading “Ageism and Fashion”
Jazz (take two) thoughts
I figured I’d post this after finishing Jazz now for the second time. Literally like right after. I think I put the book down three minutes ago. There’s a feeling that comes after finishing a novel and if you don’t act on it, it goes away. So I figured maybe I’d try to capture it in a post. (This might be long) Continue reading “Jazz (take two) thoughts”
The Ethics of Self-Destruction in Clay’s Ark
This is somewhat tangential, and focuses mainly on Clay’s Ark, but it’s something I had been thinking of as we spoke in class about Clay’s Ark, and something that Brendan’s post makes me question even more. It seems that the class largely came to the decision that Blake’s goal to get to a hospital and find a cure to the infection is misguided, arrogant, and unrealistic. Believing this, we can empathize even more so with Eli, and his goal to contain the infection as much as possible. In the climax of the novel, Blake causes the epidemic, infecting a truck driver, and it seems to the reader that Eli was right. I think that Butler constructs this ending to push the reader to begrudgingly side with Eli over Blake, even as we have seen Eli go to inhumane extremes to contain the virus. Continue reading “The Ethics of Self-Destruction in Clay’s Ark”
Sexual Assault and Consent
While reading Zulus, it is inevitable that one thinks about rape, or at least some sort of sexual assault. Consent is a crucial theme to Percival Everett’s novel. Whether it be chapter A or chapter Z, Alice Achitophel, the protagonist, recalls the first scene of Zulus in which she is raped by a stranger. This horrific incident is described in great depth through the author’s use of sensory elements like imagery. This is literary element is evident in chapter H. Everett states; “Her thoughts spilled with shards of her brain down her body and into her lungs and became sparkling cities, bubble-covered cities, fat with the hope of success and clear of the poison planet-air which she sucked in.” The majority of books in this course have referenced a lack of consent. Although this is the case, Zulus uses a plethora of detailed descriptions and repetition to further the reader’s understanding on a more personal level. Continue reading “Sexual Assault and Consent”
Patriarchy and Fledgling
I always like to look up books on GoodReads and see what other people thought, and I came across this (I thought) brilliant analysis of Fledgling.
What Is A Home?
In the very beginning of Fledgling, Wright questions where to bring Shori in order for her to reach a safe and secure location. She responds with “Home” (page 8) but a few moments later, she reveals a more truthful statement, changing her initial answer to “I don’t really have a home” (page 8). Granted, the readers eventually find out that her inability to figure out where she lives is due to the amnesia Shori is suffering from, but nevertheless, this notion of what, or where, a home is has been lingering in my brain since my first reading in this novel. Continue reading “What Is A Home?”
Misanthropy in Octavia E. Butler’s Fiction
In both of Octavia E. Butler’s novels we read so far, Clay’s Ark and Fledgling, the author repeatedly demonstrates how horrible humans can be. Oftentimes, Butler seems to think of humanity in rather negative terms, shedding light on our many weaknesses and emphasizing the importance of acknowledging our faults. She writes about the dark and realistic aspects of humanity, but with an optimism of exposing these things, knowing that we can be (and do) better. Thus, I wouldn’t necessarily call Butler a misanthrope, but I do believe her novels express a lot of contempt of the human species and of our fundamental dispositions and traits.
As we discussed in class, Butler is trying to make us imagine worlds that are more just and less aggressive than the one we live in today. But “how on Earth is that possible?” First and foremost, the author clearly draws a picture of our species’ brutality and the segregation we still enforce in our contemporary society, whereby she makes it clear that our world is everything else but perfect. Humans tend to include and exclude others according to their individual preferences, they fight and hurt, and they do whatever it is that will bring them to their goal (frequently neglecting how this might affect others). Yet, we all rely on each other and cannot deny that we are an utterly interdependent society.
Although Butler’s created worlds may seem unnatural (in sexual, communal, familial, societal, financial, and many other ways) to the reader at first, these fictitious places allow us to recognize and better understand the dilemma of our own world. Perhaps Butler is trying to tell us that what we think of as normal is only viewed as normal because our way of life is engrained into our brains from the moment we are enabled to think for ourselves. If we look at our society from a different (outside) viewpoint (to the degree that this is possible), we can see how distorted and corrupted the world is we live in. In many ways, Butler’s imagined communities function on a higher level than our society, her worlds’ inhabitants acknowledge their interdependence and therefore show more respect and appreciation to each other. Their knowledge of their reliance on others enables them to create one big in-group, rather than countless small out-groups. Accordingly, we see less rejection and discrimination in Butler’s worlds and can begin to ask ourselves if the world we live in is really as “natural” and “normal” as we think it is?
Vampiric Literature, Fledgling, and Loyalty
My first encounter with vampire novels was The Twilight Saga, and yes, I was team Edward. But after having completed the saga, I noticed a peculiar dynamic in Vampiric literature that I would later see in other novels like that of the Vampire Academy series, the Dark Heroine series, and Fledgling. Continue reading “Vampiric Literature, Fledgling, and Loyalty”