yasmeensh - Tumblr blog

[yasmeensh]

Book rant? Anthropology, apes, and racism discussion.

I started reading a book titled "Bonobo Handshake" by Vanessa Woods. I picked it up because a) I want to learn more about bonobos since my knowledge of them is minimal. b) the author had interacted with bonobos in person so it's an interesting perspective to read. c) the book had positive reviews.

I was not expecting the author to start off telling us about the 'discovery' of bonobos in this way.

W-what do you mean, in Belgium? The author makes it clear that bonobos live in Congo and she gives us a few examples of local bonobo lore. Meaning, people in Congo know the bonobos very well. Way to go to give a colonizer the credit??? wtf. In this perspective, she is letting us know THAT was the moment when Bonobos entered western science, which is true. But I was really hoping the author would give it a more holistic view than this, but it seems she really believes in this??? And let me tell you, from what I am picking up between the lines, she ONLY accepts western science. Here is an example:

This is the page that confuses me immensely. I don't know if she is trying to come off as sarcastic or not. She sets out for us that Takayoshi Kano is the star of Bonobo research, but in the next paragraph says there is no one studying Bonobos. "there was never a Jane Goodall or Dian Fossey for bonobos." UHM NO? YOU JUST SAID THERE WAS???

[highlighting and writing over a picture of the page (32) since it's a library book and I can't write on it.]

She says Japanese researchers are responsible for all we know on Bonobos, but then starts talking about de Waal's zoo discoveries in detail, and they seem pretty minor compared to Kano's work with wild bonobos. She did point out that scientists don't take de waal's observations seriously because it's from a zoo, but she doesn't remedy that by telling us if it can be supported by Kano's work or not when compared. Kano is ignored. He does have one book available in English, so it's not like we can't ever learn about what he observed. you said western mainstream media don't want to listen to a man who only spoke Japanese??? UHM. You are too??? Why did you jump to de waal? If it's a book about bonobos, then please give Kano a little spotlight and tell about his research. (I actually want to read Kano's book now but I can't find a borrowable copy of it. It's a complicated long loop to get one. But it's possible T-T!!!!)

I very much dislike her tone in 'oh it's the Japanese that tell us about bonobo'. It is as if no one is actually researching them at all. They are 'foreign' so it doesn't count. Meanwhile, if it's a white person's discovery, it is humanity's. But if it's someone else theeennnn well we are not sure if it's actually real :/ Not until a white person observes this can we really put this into humanity's archive of knowledge. Otherwise, whatever they learnt is not very important or worth talking about.

I'm not gonna drop the book, because it does get me thinking about stuff and that's what I read books for. I guess it reminds me of University days, of how irritated I get when we are assigned a problematic reading to pick apart and present to class. I hope I'm not picking this apart too much 😭 I'm not sure if I'm enraged and reading too much into it. I might be totally wrong. idk... I think I need to join an anthropology book club to have people to talk with about this. Only way for now is to share on the internet and maybe a discussion starts. Want to see what others think of this (especially if they read the book).

[yasmeensh]

Donation Goal CRUSHED!!

Art by @zarvasace!

As of today, April 3rd, the Legend of Link: Courage charity zine has raised $1,858 dollars for Doctors without Borders! Thank you to all our generous patrons, our amazing artists and our wonderful writers who helped us achieve this in a little more than one week. This effort would not have been possible without you!

Now that we have passed our $1,000 donation goal, there will be a slight change to how money from future orders will be processed. A total of 25% of revenue made past the $1,000 dollar mark will be given back to our zine organizers, who have paid for all production costs from their personal accounts. Further details can be found on the front page of our shopify. We are here to answer any questions!

Please note that the amount of money kept to cover production costs will not exceed their total. If we are able to cover production costs, all future proceeds will be donated. We will not make any profit from the magazine!

Thank you once again for making this amazing goal come to life! We are excited to continue our efforts. Live updates on the donation total can be viewed on our Shopify!

[yasmeensh]

PREORDERS ARE OPEN!

Very simple post for a very big announcement!

We are now open for preorders!

Preorders will be open until April 30th. Get your copy of the zine, as well as all of the other amazing goodies our team has put together!

[yasmeensh]

Zine Launch Countdown: 24 Hours!

Art by @yasmeensh!

24 HOURS LEFT!

This is so exciting! Our shopify will be launching and opening for preorders in 24 HOURS...mark your calendars for March 25th, 11:59 PM PST!

[yasmeensh]

Zine Launch Countdown: THREE DAYS!!

Art by @kiwinatorwaffles!

THREE DAYS UNTIL LAUNCH!

At 11:59 PM PST, March 25th, preorders for the Legend of Link: Courage zine will be going live!

100% of proceeds will be donated to Doctors without Borders! Stay tuned for updates!

[yasmeensh]

It's them again

[yasmeensh]

When we all die in salmon run and there is that one person still alive with a special and we are all racing towards them to get revived.

I'm finally pitching in to splatoon fanart lol.

[yasmeensh]

Story update

I got to write a good chunk of the opening these past two days. Excited to get more work done over March break. And I can't wait to get to writing more about my daughter T-T But she comes in a bit later in the story. Still in the first act, though.

Some more character design doodles:

[yasmeensh]

Hello!! You ocs are phenomenal and it makes me feel so excited to know other anthropology majors on Tumblr!! My question is what is your favorite plestiocene megafauna?

Hiiii! I'm so glad to hear you like my OCs! Anthropology is a fascinating subject. I'm also always excited to meet other anthropology majors!

My favorite pleistocene megafauna must be megaloceros! and glyptodons are a close second.

[yasmeensh]

I LOVE YOUR SILLY LITTLE GUYS

aaaah thank you so much!!!!

[yasmeensh]

I thought it would be fun to have Kujo wear lil' bear feet as footwear, but I couldn't find any info indicating if pads as a material is possible to treat for footwear. So... I just decided to ignore that for now and go along with my imagination :P I didn't draw the idea before... but I did now!

[yasmeensh]

I finished reading 4 books from Earth's Children series. The last three were really hard to read. After finishing Plains of Passage, I have come to really appreciate Clan of the Cave Bear as a standalone. I miss all the Neanderthals and Ayla's character arc. Gotta do some fanart!

PS. I MISS IZA! Best character in the series.

[yasmeensh]

I'm so hyped!!!! 😍😍😍

Preview of my Hero of Hyrule piece for the @2023legendoflinkzine !

[yasmeensh]

Hello hello! Here is a preview of my spread for @2023legendoflinkzine !

[yasmeensh]

Zine Launch Countdown: 10 Weeks!

Art by @yasmeensh

Hey everyone!

We're very excited to announce our new launch date: March 25th, 11:59 PM PST! We've added a lot more to the zine, including keychains, stickers and posters, and we're extremely excited to share what we have with you!

There are 10 weeks until our Shopify launches and preorders open! In the meantime, stay tuned for sneak peeks, promo art, and more!

[yasmeensh]

Hi! I found this video of prehistoric music, is this the right time period for your girl? https://pin.it/SBVKXt9el

That's about right! It's so interesting how striking certain kinds of rocks in different sizes can produce such beautiful sounds! Thanks for sharing! :)

[yasmeensh]

Zelda 2 comic sneak peek

I took out my old full-length Zelda 2 comic draft and chose a segment to make a short comic out of. It's missing context from the whole grand narrative of the entire story, but I think it gets the point across.

There were a couple potentials, and I ended up choosing the scene where Link discovers that his blood is the key to awakening Ganon. It's the most well-known plot point of the game in the LOZ fandom in general, besides the Prince of Hyrule plot. Throughout the comic, Link gets attacked by various monsters during his quest. He thought Hyrule was incredibly dangerous for merchants and travelers, but found out that it was only him encountering monsters at a high rate, thus targeted (that is not discussed in this short comic). This disturbs him a lot. And this is the scene when he discovers why he's a target. It's more than the monsters seeking revenge.

At some point in the game, the player is made to travel towards south-western Hyrule and use the Hammer on dueling peaks to enter and get a magic potion. You specifically enter the peak that is originally Level 9 in Zelda 1. I found that to be very... interesting. And suspicious. Why did the developers think "Okay lets have Link go back to the traumatizing final boss place from the first game to retrieve an item :D" It's kinda epic honestly and it gave me the idea: For the full comic, I made it that Link follows rumors and travels down there in the hopes of finding the magic book containing the revive spell, which is game-changing for the rest of his journey. Being the adventurer that he is, Link takes the risk and goes there thinking the place is long-abandoned and that Ganon probably no longer exists. Except, that isn't the case. (Okay I must add, after the revelation, Link loses his adventurous spirit and gets very serious with his quest. No longer enjoys exploring, which is all this Link is about. He starts developing Big Fears. This eventually spawns Dark Link. I wish I could make the entire comic but I know I can't T-T I should probably finish up and polish the draft and post it online for whoever is interested in a deep dive, lore-intense Zelda 2 story reimagining.)

It's the first time I do a 10 page comic, so I'm going through a learning curve right now xD It's going to be experimental, but I hope you enjoy it still. Here are some WIP shots. Still a while before it's completed.