chaos-sparkles-blog

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For my art map, I pieced together a collage based on Buzzworm’s view of Los Angeles. I used quotes from pages 80-84 for reference. The two sides of the page--red versus blue--represent the Crips versus Bloods rivalry: “He followed the thick lines on the map showing the territorial standing of Crips versus Bloods...Even if it were true, whose territory was it anyway?” (80). I wanted to demonstrate the way that gentrification affected the city through Buzzworm’s eyes as well, by including the places mentioned on pages 81-82, like Mrs. Field’s and Footlocker at the mall. I also included a loose, somewhat abstract sketch of the freeway. Lastly, I love the way his palm trees are described--“He thought about his palm trees like jeweled fingers. They towered in the sky. Formed the true diamond lanes of the city” (84)--so I attempted to represent that visually.

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reflection 3: final project ideas

For my final project, I was hoping to take a closer look at female characters in the diasporic texts, as well as texts examining globalization, we have read. I had been particularly drawn to the characters of Anya in Diary of a Bad Year and Emi and Rafaela in Tropic of Orange (after spending so much time with White Teeth during the first half of the semester I wanted to avoid using it if possible). For the research/paper portion of the project, my plan was to research the relationship between women and globalization, diaspora, and postmodernity. If possible, I wanted look at analyses (if there are any out there) of the novels with regard to their female characters. How has diaspora influenced intersectional feminism? How is misogyny and the male gaze perpetuated in these texts? Has globalization had any effects on the predominating view of women internationally--positive or negative? I was also open to looking at the topic of postmodernity and possibly other topics that Senor C explored in Diary of a Bad Year and/or the themes in Tropic of Orange. I do not have a thesis or anything yet, as I have been in the preliminary planning stages for the project.

For the project itself, my idea was to would create diary entries from the perspective of the characters with art and writing--including reflections on their experiences that were included in the plot of the novels. The diary entries would probably be in a sketchbook, so various magazine scraps or other multimedia visual art forms could be integrated with text. The goal would be to find a personal, artistic and creative approach to understanding what I learn through research about women and diaspora.

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where i am in the course and where i hope to go with my midterm essay

At this point in the course, I feel that I have gained an understanding of how globalization is informed by politics, economics, culture, and colonialism. Through Gomez-Pena, I looked at globalization from the framework of cultural hybridity. We also discussed, a little more implicitly, capitalism, and the various ways the West has influenced globalization. Along with that, we unpacked  time-space compression, the clash of civilizations, and--most recently--modernity and postmodernism. I believe that now I have all these different conceptual frameworks for examining globalization swirling around in my mind, and a much more complex, multi-faceted view of what it actually is.

In reading White Teeth (and Diary of a Bad Year, although I won’t be writing the midterm on it), I have begun to focus on how novelists write globalization into fiction. Furthermore, I have been thinking how we can examine it through elements of prose, including metaphor, imagery, and plot progression--both vertical and horizontal. Reading novels as a way to study globalization has pushed me to contemplate the way individual people interact with it, how they (i.e. the characters in these novels) live and operate in a globalized world, what it means to build a family and inspect the past through the lens of globalization.

For my midterm essay, therefore, I hope to analyze how Smith, in White Teeth, has managed to construct several characters’ histories in the context of globalization through imaginative and compelling prose. Her writing is very image-driven and includes symbolism that adds layers and texture to the various characters’ experiences. Expanding on my textual analysis, the goal is to explore and push the idea that the changing real world--specifically, a world that is becoming more and more globalized--can be critiqued and unpacked within a fictional work using metaphor and imagery.

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the internet as a form of globalization

The internet has helped the world shrink. From video platforms like Youtube and Vimeo, to blogging sites like Blogspot and Tumblr, the internet is a world of its own with a language and culture while connecting people across timezones and national borders. It embodies globalization in that it transcends time and space--people often point out that once something is on the internet, it is out there forever. Images are shared and people can see them within seconds of being posted, regardless of where in the world the sharer is located. Great examples of viral images include the photo of Kim Kardashian that supposedly “broke the internet” and the one of the protestor standing up to police. News is no longer constrained to paper newspapers delivered on lawns, or local television stations. We can find out, here in Ohio, what’s breaking news in Pakistan, or China, or anywhere across the globe. No longer does our knowledge, information about the world come from slow-to-travel sources, and no longer is it limited to being shared in only one capacity. You can get your news from Buzzfeed or CNN on the internet. You can see what the far right has to say about it--i.e. Breitbart--or the far left, or even just what your high school classmate thinks via Facebook.

Along another vein, the Internet is a major cog in the capitalist machine. Internet ads are catered to your specific searches, music-listening resources like Pandora and Spotify pander for your money by offering Premium options in lieu of advertisements. You cannot watch a video on Hulu or Youtube without having to endure at least one commercial. Coextensively, websites like Amazon and eBay facilitate the exchange of goods, without the limitations of borders. People can pay each other, and get paid through Paypal.

When considering online, virtual realms, we can harken back to discussions Fukuyama’s “The End of History?”--the internet has furthered the extension of the United States’ capitalist ideals. Just as Harvey pointed out, time and space has been compressed by globalization, thanks, in part, to the timeless nature of internet content. All over the world, internet users are voyeurs to Western culture and capitalism, helping enlarge the West’s already invasive influence.

https://youtu.be/zS1CacgMWIs

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why are you here in this course

I am in this course because I wanted to be in an English class that challenges my worldview and pushes me to explore literature from an interdisciplinary perspective. I hope to expand my academic horizons by reading works about our shrinking yet socioculturally complex world. At this point, and at the time of signing up for the course, I only have/had a very broad understanding of what globalization and diaspora mean. I definitely would like to add to what little knowledge I have and shape it to be more informed by literary perspectives. The opportunity to learn about globalization excites me because I am eternally curious about people, especially those different from myself--their lifestyles, cultural histories, difficulties. Through reading, studying, discussing works by authors of various global backgrounds, I aim to gain a deeper understanding of both the world and my place in it.