nabiyafatima

[nabiyafatima]

Growing up in a typically “brown” family (Pakistani, Indian, Bengali, etc), girls are given roles that they must fit into perfectly. These roles can either be “positive,” like being good at housework or being educated, or “negative,” like caring about your looks or playing sports. Once it was decided which label a girl deserves, our society doesn’t see them as much beyond that.

Girls grow up having to be mindful of each move they make, as we are aware of the box we can get put into if we make a mistake. Regardless of whether we conform to our society’s expectations or not, we all end up in a box, labelled, and then advertised to potential suitors. The goal of each desi girl is to be the PERFECT BRIDE. To be pretty, but not too pretty. To be smart and educated, but know that in the end, we were not to make more than our husbands and that our roles as child-bearers came first. 

Being tomboyish and interested in sports meant we threatened the manhood of the males in our society, which obviously was disrespectful. Dressing however we wanted and wearing makeup made us shameless. Regardless of how little these aspects of our personality were, they were magnified and put on display, as though they were nothing more.

Similarly, girls that were educated and wanted to go into medicine could do no wrong. Once a girl had a degree, it did not matter if she wanted to work or not. She was now “educated”, which made her a prize to anyone she were to marry. Girls who wanted lots of children and cooked were put into the same high standard category, as a good desi girl with the right values (her husband and family) fit right in to the socially constructed idea of perfection. These girls were idealized and any other negative (or positive) aspects of their personalities were overlooked. 

I chose to explore this phenomena in my project, because I believed it was something we, as a society, never really gave much thought to. We don’t realize how harmful it is to put these labels on girls and treat them as though they are nothing more than that specific label. The saddest thing is, it is mostly older females that do this to the younger generation, pushing these outdated values onto girls that deserve the right to break free of the boxes we have been put into to please the patriarchy. Each girl is different, with their own pros and cons. However, those pros and cons are not there for us to be are not items to be advertised to men. We are not dolls that can be marketed off, we are not the smallest aspects of our personality, or what we choose to study in university, o what we wear, or the sports we are interested in, or the hobbies we take up, or how well we can cook. We are human beings, with our own individual personalities that are often overlooked and it is about time we addressed this issue so that it can be corrected. 

I realize this is a controversial topic, as a desi girl myself, but it is one that needs to be talked about and although I love my culture, it has it’s flaws and I am not one to overlook them. Feel free to criticize my ideas, I’m open to correcting any mistake I’ve made, provided I truly feel I’ve made the mistake.

[nabiyafatima]

Home

The reading we were givevn was titled “Home, Territory and Identity”, by J. Macgregor Wise, and is from a chapter of his book called ‘Cultural Studies’. Greg is a Professor of Communication Studies at Arizona State University, USA, and teaches about cultural studies of technology, globalization, and surveillance. This implies that the concept of identity and culture is one he has been to explore in multiple ways, through multiple streams. The, which emphasizes on home not being limited to physical structures, but to the feelings associated with it. It describes home as being ‘a space of comfort amidst fear’. 

One of my favourite things about his writing is the way he is able to talk about a scenario and you immediately envision what he’s talking about. When he talks about the ways people subtly mark their territory, even though it may not be something that you had noticed in the past, you immediately think back to the countless times you, or someone else you may have just seen in passing, has done those exact things. He talks about the multiple ways one marks their territory, with the most common being objects they place around them to make themselves feel more comfortable, to the accent in which they speak, which either repels or attracts people around them.

He talks about how a home is collection of markers, and how one’s home can open up into multiple other things. Personally, the way I interpreted this is that the way in which one chooses to live can tell a lot about them – whether they plan to be there for the long-term or are just staying temporarily, whether they are comfortable or not, and whether they think of the space as “theirs” or not. In this way, the home, or living area, opens up into other aspects of one’s personality, regardless of whether they want it or not. He also talks about how one’s habits make up the way they mark this place, which again ties up in the idea that the way in which they mark their space tells a lot about them.

The reading was engaging as it opens up one’s mind in regards to what they refer to as a “home” and makes them realise that there are multiple ways in which one can mark their territory. I would recommend this to my class, and to everyone else, because sometimes people may not realize the ways in which they’re invading someone’s personal space or “territory” and this reading highlights the different ways in which that space is marked and could help people be more aware of those boundaries and where they shouldn’t be crossing.

“Our identity, in other words, is comprised of habits. We are nothing but habits.”

[nabiyafatima]

[nabiyafatima]

Street

Georges Perec was a French author and was often referred to as the greatest innovator of form of his generation. He was a member of a group dedicated to the pursuit of new forms for literature, as well as revival of old ones, called Oulipo. This has an impact on Perec’s writing, and his novel, La Disparition (1969) was written without the letter e entirely. He had several other works based on these unreal concepts and was known for his unusual way of writing. He was also a filmmaker and had many accomplishments in that area as well.

The reading we were given was called “The Street” and it was a chapter from a book written by Perec, “Species of Spaces and Other Pieces.” In this, he explores the mundane things happening on the streets of Paris, things that are normally overlooked. Such as how streets are named, numbered and the direction that they are in. He talks about how the space is divided up into areas that are reserved for certain people and how buildings belong to someone, while streets do not. By doing this, he gets the reader to ponder over this idea which may have always been there at the back of their minds, but was not an active thought.

He urges his readers to pick out the unordinary as well. Things that we look at but don’t really see as such. He wants people to see things for what they are, flatly, and not what we know about them. He also points out rhythms, patterns and coincidences that would most likely be overlooked by the typical observer. He suggests looking until the familiar is no longer familiar and you are under the impression you are in a place you’ve never been before, rather than observing the things you already know.

I found the reading interesting because it encouraged me to find the beauty in things that are ordinary and to make tasks that seem dull and repetitive more interesting. I would recommend it to my class as reading it really opened my eyes to thing that I normally wouldn’t really have given a second thought to and that allows for a broader understanding and bigger ideas to find their way in. Sometimes, things seem extremely flat but are actually more complex, while sometimes thing can seem complex when from another angle they are ridiculously simple to understand. Similarly, I think it’s important for one to take the time out of their to reflect on things, and see what they may have overlooked the first time, similar to how when we walk down a street we know, we overlook the obvious.

“You must set about it more slowly, almost stupidly. Force yourself to write down what is of no interest, what is most obvious, most common, most colourless.”

[nabiyafatima]

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