Travel Narratives: Gender, Migration, and Cultural Identity, Appunti di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Travel Narratives: Gender, Migration, and Cultural Identity e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! ENGLISH LITERATURE & CULTURE 29.09.2022 Travel Narratives: Migrations, Diasporas and Borders Perspective  gendered (women must face more problems than men). Exam: 50% essay about a topic we choose (2500 words limit; comment or comparison) and 50% group presentation !! Be careful at the setting described by the author !! It’s not just the background of the story, it has importance in migration literature. DEADLINE ESSAY: A week before the oral exam 30.09.2022 Why migrationS, diasporaS, borderS? Migration is not a single, universal phenomenon, we have to diversify the experience (men vs women), there are different ways of living and coping with it. Diaspora = some people consider it an opportunity to find better conditions, but there are people who were forced to leave (Jewish). Each person lives these experiences differently. “Identity is changed by the journey”. (Madan Sarup, “Home and Identity”) According to this anthropologist our identity is constructed by the society we live in. WE are a construction of that society. Ladies Coupe di Anita Nair (a book about an Indian woman who travels on a train and meets other women). “Living on borders and in margins, keeping intact one’s shifting and multiple identity and integrity, is like trying to swim in a new elelement, an “alien” element”. (Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera) Anzaldua is a Mexican woman, but she lived on the border between Mexico and US. When the border was established, her family was separated by a fence. Her aunt and uncle remained in Mexico, while she and her family were in the US  psychological split. She has traumas (her cousin was arrested when he was a child). As an adult, she understood than being an hybrid person was not that bad (she could use a diversified language in her books  advantages). Here, we see that the border is not just a line, is a place to live, a place of encounter. It’s something that goes beyond the geographical division of a country. She had troubles in identifying her identity (American vs Mexican), but she realized that she didn’t have to choose. She talks about a “third space”, a space that people create when they refuse to choose between 2 identities = A hybrid space, mixed location where the Mexican traditions can be preserved. In her books she uses “Spanglish”, but is more a mixture, a new language created by her that she can use in this “third space”. Why are scholars studying migration now? Until recently it was considered just a problem to handle day by day, not as a phenomenon that was evolving. OVERLOOKED for a long time at a political level. However, in literature something different happened: people never stopped writing about their experiences. In culture people kept on talking and writing about it; because of this push from narratives this phenomenon could no longer be overlooked. In the last two decades government understood that it was a big issue. At the end of the XX century Foucault wrote this: “The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space” It’s correct to consider our epoch as one where people occupy SPACE, that has become a big issue (movement of people throughout the space). Geography is one of the fields that is studying migration issues. Migration narratives always have particular settings or geographical locations, and geography really helps in the interpretation of these locations. Anthropology (that studies the human being and his features) is important too: “The range of diasporic transnational practices is not monolithic but instead governed by differences in class, gender, race, sexuality, and a host of other distinctions” (Bose 125). Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of advantage and disadvantage. Examples of these factors include gender, caste, sex, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, weight, and physical appearance. MIGRATION The movement of peoples from one place to another around the globe. A history of dislocation and relocation, displacement and emplacement, losing homes and making new homes, living in a limbo between worlds and adapting over time to new ways, being changed by and also changing the culture of the adopted land. (Friedman 264) Optimistic view related to this concept: you lose something (family, home, habits, food etc.) BUT you also make a new home, new friends and you integrate into a new society. The migration is successful if you eventually adapt to the new world, and you are ready to accept to give something up. But you gain something. When you emigrate you also contribute to the enrichment of the culture of the new land, you change the place.  Plethora of distinct migrants = economic migrants (voluntary), refugees (non-voluntary).  “New Migration” (second half of the XX century) = unlike in the past, in the modern times it is much easier to migrate because of technologies. It’s possible to go back to your country, it’s never something that is forever. This phenomenon has become something less definite.  “Reverse Migration” = Going from a former colonized country to the country “colonizer”, happening in the postcolonial era. For a long time, Indian people hated the British, but it was usually the first generation of people who experienced colonialization, while their children did not feel this anger, so they emigrated to the Uk for better opportunities.  Stimulant to literary expressions of identity in motion (metaphor of the journey) DIASPORA Physical movement to one place to another (migration) + loss, desire, and widely scattered communities held together by memory and a sense of history over a long period of time. We talk about the human aspects of the experience of migration. Desire to build a new home. asking how his day was, but eventually she went to the deck to smoke a cigarette, leaving Eliot to wrap up the leftovers.” Individualism, they do not eat together. Other elements: integration, isolation, memory QUOTES and COMMENTS 1) Home vs. world “Professor’s wife, responsible and kind, I will care for your child in my home.” = She defines herself through her husband. HER HOME is the place where she feels more comfortable. Pag. 28 = “Mr. Sen teaches mathematics at university” is everything she has to say to an external authority (policeman). The world sees her just through her husband. She hasn’t found her own place in this world, doesn’t have an identity. “Mrs. Sen’s apartment was warm, sometimes too warm; the radiators continuously hissed like a pressure cooker” = it’s warm inside, it’s like she wants to recreate the same Indian environment/ weather condition. “White drum-shaped lampshades flanking the sofa were still wrapped in the manufacturer’s plastic” = this means that there is a separation between her and the furniture (physical separation, she doesn’t want to touch the things) and we feel that she’s always on the verge of leaving and move back to India. “Mismatched remnants of other carpets […] like individual welcome mats” = no filter in Eliot’s description. The living room is not a welcoming place and arranged with care. It’s clean, but it feels like Mrs. Sen doesn’t care about this place. “At home, you know, we have a driver.” […] “Yes, everything is there.” = strong feeling of nostalgia. In this moment she looks around the room, remembering India. When she hears the word ‘India’ she instinctively touches the sari (another element reminding her of the place where she comes from). In another passage she describes what happens “at home” when you raise your voice a bit and everyone comes to help you. “By then Eliot understood that when Mrs. Sen said home, she meant India”. CONTRAST BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE AND THE COMMUNITY LIFE IN INDIA. Very frequently migrants idealize the place where they come from, we cannot trust their memories, BUT it’s true that Mrs. Sen cannot bear the solitude that she is feeling in the US. “Here, in this place where Mr. Sen has brought me, I cannot sometimes sleep in so much silence.” = she didn’t have an active role in the decision process before moving. Somehow, she resents Mr. Sen. Cassette = life stuck, frozen in the past. She needs to listen to these things to feel better. 2) Food and Cooking utensils The blade: she uses it every day in a very confident way. OBJECT OR THING? The first is just there filling the room, you don’t even notice it. A thing is something more personal (an object full of symbolical value for us). 3) Means of transport “Could I drive all the way to Calcutta?” = she doesn’t see the advantages that driving could give her in the US, she just wants it to drive to India. Episode on the bus “The smell seems to be bothering the other passengers. Kid, maybe you should open her window or something.” = the driver is not kind. He addressed Eliot and not Mrs. Sen. The driver asks her “Speak English?” only because she is brown, as she could not understand (assumptions). The smell disturbs other people (whereas in India the smell of fish is everywhere). All these things that are normal for her (also the fact that she has a red scalp) are seen differently by others. Every time Mrs. Sen tries to do something different, it’s frustrating. The accident is the moment that ends the relationship between Eliot and Mrs. Sen. The fish triggers this kind of movement (she wants to drive just to go to the local market). While Mrs. Sen is driving, Eliot reflects about how driving is different for his mother and for Mrs. Sen = “It seemed so simple when he sat beside his mother” “he saw how that same stream of cars made her knuckles pale, her wrists tremble, and her English falter”. Eliot notices that she cannot enter the road  she is not ready to join other people, or, the American life. 07.10.2022 The Third and Final Continent and Mrs. Sen’s- same point of contact (India - USA), but different point of view (female vs. male). In the book, normally the first, the last and the story in the middle are the most important ones. This collection of stories is a journey (we begin the journey with the first story, and the last is the “destination” of the journey). Mrs. Sen’s is in the middle of the book. It marks a watershed between the stories that come before (people dealing with a lot of difficulties) and after. Mrs. Sen is not totally alone, she doesn’t have economic difficulties, she has a kind of job and support  she has the opportunity to improve her life, BUT she’s not prepared to face this process. There is this moment in the migration process where everything is up to you, and if you take the right steps eventually something good will happen. The Third and Final Continent is the last story. It gives a very optimistic view about the migration process. Just a few difficulties (especially for the wife), but happy ending. Demonstration that if the migrant takes the right path, it is a successful migration. Jumpa Lahiri wanted to give an optimistic view of the migration process. The main character doesn’t have a name  it’s the symbol of all the successful migrants, who like him were ready to integrate into a new society. There are rituals related to FOOD in both countries where he moves to (Uk = rice and eggs, USA = milk and cereals + bananas) but there is no culture value behind the preparation of this food; it’s just cheap and quick. Open-minded attitude: he’s not stuck to the past. Eventually, he will manage to adapt. Homeland desire (nostalgia for the place where you came from) vs. Homing desire (active feeling that makes you the protagonist of your life). He reads something that may help him adapt and integrate in the new country (Guides, The Washington Post). He’s very practical. MALA vs. Mrs. Sen = Mala is much more supported by her husband and her marital relationship is different. In the beginning she was a total stranger, her husband was used to everything but not to her. He wasn’t used to the smell of coconut oil, all things that belonged to the Indian world. BUT the protagonist tells her that she doesn’t have to do all those things (sari, rice), and she listens to him and in the end the adaption is successful. SHE REACT IMMEDIATELY. She might feel homesick, but she is ready to give sth up and adapt. She is ready to wear the pullover in the winter (not a sari). Several clues tell us that Mala has a totally different mindset, and she has a supportive husband. Mrs. Croft = she’s very old, she is like a migrant in her own land. Like the protagonist, she travelled a long way in time. So, they are related by this long travel. She’s a curious character: bench ritual talking about the moon landing, “SPLENDID!”. Why is this episode important in this story? The astronauts went on a journey too, they are migrants too (earth – moon) who travelled long distance towards an alien land. They are considered heroes. The protagonist landed in the US on the same day, so it’s like he’s sort of a hero too. In the end they find a compromise: they speak Bengali at home and eat rice with hands, but their son has a “normal” American. After the meeting between Mrs. Croft and Mala the protagonist understands that it was his duty to take care of Mala. He understands that he had the time to adjust, but HE was the reason why Mala was there. In that moment he has to present Mala as his wife, so he started feeling this responsibility. Like in the other story, we have a protagonist that doesn’t judge: Mrs. Croft is like Eliot (genuine point of view). 13.10.2022 Mrs Sen was PUSHED to emigrate. On the other hand, in “The Third and Final Continent” he wasn’t pushed (only Mala). PUSH FACTORS = negative factors in your life. You don’t want to live but something is pushing you. PULL FACTORS = there is a nice job opportunity in another land, so you want willingly to leave your homeland and go to another country. The Irish migration has caused a lot of shame in Ireland. The Irish ignored the fact that their population was a population of emigrants for a long time (shameful fact for the government, but also from a cultural point of view) it shows how people didn’t like it there, they were not happy. This phenomenon was hidden on a national level. Only recently, the phenomenon was recognized and made public. When we read Eveline, we must take into consideration that huge flows of people left Ireland in that period; most of them were women. They have been defined “the Great Unknown” of the Irish history  incredibly shameful. Reasons of leaving: 1) lack of employment 2) lack of marriage prospect. OLD COUNTRY. Eveline  20’s, influence of the British Empire was dominant in Ireland. In the poem (ppt) oil lamps are compared to Irish emigrants. They were somehow hidden, forgotten by history and because of a very rational choice. “We, as a nation, forgot completely the story of the people that should be remembered, because they managed to accomplish this”. A nation is “the same people living in the same place … Or also living in different places” (Joyce, 317)  A nation is not what is just defined by politically established borders; it’s something much more fluid (defined by language, by culture etc.). Joyce, at some point, hated Ireland, he saw no future there (paralysis). he never came back, but he kept on writing about Ireland and Dublin for his whole life. He belonged to Ireland and defined himself as “Irish man”. BORDERS = not just geographically defining lines; they are fluid, they do not limit a nation. Joyce was very smart in writing EVELINE, a story that has to do with migration but in a very subtle way. It’s never explicitly mentioned, and eventually it does not occur. The moment when Eveline remembers her mother’s words before dying, is the moment she has a sudden revelation (epiphany)  she has to escape because she doesn’t want to end up like her mother. “Derevaun Seraun!” = for a long time, it was considered non-sense, an invention by the author. However they recently elaborated 3 possible theories related to this sentence. 1) ‘The end of pleasure is pain’ (corrupt Gaelic) 2) ‘The end of the song is raving madness’ (corrupt Irish) 3) ‘I have been there; you should go there!’ (old Irish ‘do raibh ann, siar ann’  “I have been one of those Irish women who took care of family etc. and now you should take my place” WORST PERPETRATORS “Her time was running out […], inhaling the odour of dusty cretonne” = this passage is the same as in the incipit, but now the verbs are ACTIVE. “She continued to sit”. This choice suggests a more active attitude (from a passive woman to an active character), a turning point in the story. A sense of guilt was sneaking in her head (happy moments with her father; promise to her mother). It seems clear that she doesn’t want to go…BUT at the end of the same page she has an epiphanic moment. [tricks on the reader]. LAST PARAGRAPH: separated from the rest of the story. Beginning of the climax, only moment when something happens. Eveline here is an active person. “She caught a glimpse of the black mass of the boat” = black vision, scary, like death. Hidden symbol: messa o massa (ambivalent meaning on purpose). Buenos Aires was considered a dangerous place for young girls (sexual danger). “European White Slavery Panic” Third option possible: she is not going, but she is not staying in Ireland either. She deliberately chooses not to leave. She sets herself to be passive (no sign of love). ACTIVELY BEING PASSIVE. BROOKLYN is the representation of what could have happened to her. Idea for the essay = compare Eveline (Joyce) and Evelin (Morris) The movie is based on a novel by Colm Tòibìn that was published in Ireland in not an easy period. In 2004 there was a national referendum to decide how the Irish citizenship had to be given to people. It was not enough that you were born in Ireland, but you had to have parents entitled to be Irish citizens. NATIONALIST ATMOSPHERE, because they completely forgot their past as immigrant people. Directed by John Crowley. With this movie he wanted to give dignity for all those women who left Ireland in the 1950s.  A UNIQUE CASE IN THE WORLD: Between the years of the Great Famine (approx. 1850) and the 1950s, more than six million people left Ireland, a dramatic event which constituted a serious demographic anomaly. Women, in India and in Ireland (patriarchal society), they represented purity and the traditional norms. In 1948, the Church and the then Government had seriously discussed the idea, put forward by the Archbishop of Tuam, of banning young women from leaving Ireland at all, so as to protect them from ‘moral, national and social perils’. Incredibly dangerous. Until very recently women experience in migration was completely hidden and unheard. Eilish lives in a rural place, close-minded people, where they could not find prospects. She is silent, she doesn’t raise her voice against her mother  reproducing the same silence surrounding Irish women’s experience. In the US she managed to use this silence for her own personal growth. In Ireland she was silenced by her mother etc., in Brooklyn she uses silence to keep her secrets (Tony). She remains silent with Mrs. Kehoe about her love story. Emigration gives to Eilish the possibility of personal evolution; she finds the courage to disrupt some rules. Unthinkable actions for a good Irish girl: having sex before getting married, have a relationship in Ireland even though she was married. The migration experience changed her. Her mother used her own power (associated with the motherland, values, traditions) to get Eilish back when Rose died. She is not fair (she says that she feels lonely). PRESSURE on Eilish. Selfish mother, she needs support. ‘Your mother said you’ll still be there. She wrote and accepted the invitation on behalf of the two of you.’ = her life was in her mother’s hand. By going back to Ireland, she came back to the system where other people decided over her life, limiting her freedom. Process of emancipation  Eilish deeply changed after the migration. She gained self-confidence, even though she was living in a deeply catholic environment. Father Flood says “We need Irish girls in Brooklyn”: they are needed to carry on Irish ideals, to be controlled. The reason behind his generosity is questionable. Eilish seems to like Ireland and her new story with Jim Farrell. He definitely represents the perfect Irish boy and the possibility of the good life she could have had in Ireland (children, a good job at the accounting office) BUT this double life (she is performing her mother’s daughter, behaving well) she was having somehow punishes her at the end. Double identity discovered by Miss Kelly. But she was also Tony’s wife. Until the end we’re not sure which one she preferred. EPIPHANIC MOMENT = she understands that Ireland and its people will never change. She chooses to go back without feeling forced. EVELINE & EILISH Both characters are torn between Duty vs. Desire They both come from an environment of Economic and social stagnation / Ireland They both live a life of Silence and obedience Pondering over decisions and inability to make them Characters with “no voice” Work in shops 20.10.2022 BORDERLANDS / LA FRONTERA - Context It’s a narrative that is a visual representation of the borderland. It mixes genres, languages and ideas. It is a LIFE NARRATIVE. It mixes personal facts and views with historical facts. The first chapter is fundamental to get familiar with Anzaldua’s style. You immediately understand that you’re in front of a hybrid text (effect that the author wanted to achieve). She embodied hybridity herself. She didn’t want to be trapped by the binary vision her culture imposed, she embodied diversity. She was diagnosed with hormonal disease, she had her period when she was 6 yo (she underwent an operation when she was 9, her womb was removed). This condition that she defined as a disability somehow mirrored her difference. She wasn’t meant to be a typical woman belonging to that patriarchal environment. Just a few options in their culture: nun, prostitute, or wife. But what if you can’t have children? She was “diseased” on the inside, useless for the society. Life narrative of the Chicano people, in particular women. Through this text she wants to achieve a new consciousness  mestiza consciousness (it comes from mestizaje, that is mixture). A Chicano woman who embodies the perfect mixture of Indian, Mexican, and American identity. A woman who embodies differences in a harmonious way. This was seen as a TERRIBLE CONDITION. You cannot define your identity properly - a problem to fight. After the publication of this book, something changed among “Hybrid” people. She argues how beautiful it is to embody more cultures, you’re not supposed to choose because you can find a good mixture of all your identities. SHE REFUSES LABELS, because they force you to choose. Chicano women have a dignity, and they should struggle for that. Editors asked her to add a glossary to explain Spanish / foreign words. She refused, because she wanted the readers to be confused and be active participants in the construction of the text. She used different languages (Chicano, Tex-Mex etc.) because she wanted to give some dignity to it. She uses paraphrasing /explanation most of the times, so the reader is never left alone (we are aware of what she’s talking about). MORE DEFINITIONS: AUTOETNOGRAPHY: «In an autoethnographic text people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made of them». True. She tries to redefine the image other people made to describe Chicano people. «Autoethnographic texts are representations that the so defined others [subalterns] construct in response to or in dialogue with those texts by the dominant culture». The use of more languages is definitely a response to the dominant culture. Transculturation = she starts from the dominant culture and modifies it (?) to invent something new. «Autohistória» = through her own personal story of domination she calls for social justice. Ethnographic writing research = This text is so intimate that goes beyond the research. Pag. 16 = She had to leave home to find herself, her nature, because the place she used to inhabit was no longer safe for her; it was imposing an identity that she didn’t want. “At a very early age I had a strong sense of who I was and what I was about and what was fair”: She knew who she was, her identity, but it was hard to leave home. But she felt limited by her own culture and needed to rebel. In the paragraph “Cultural Tyranny” we understand that she felt like that because her culture was made by men. She states all the contradiction of her Mexican culture: "If a woman doesn't renounce herself in favor of the male, she is selfish. If a woman remains a virgen until she marries, she is a good woman.” There were only 3 “directions” for women. But Anzaldua suggests a fourth way: entering the world by way of education and career to become self-autonomous. If you remain stuck in your culture, you will be a victim of what she calls “Cultural Tyranny”. Women tend to passively accept these cultural values: Culture is made by those in power - men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them. When you start to refuse these rules, you start feeling abandoned. “We, as women, are afraid of being abandoned by the mother, the culture, la Raza, for being unacceptable, faulty, damaged”. (pag.20) Pag.21 =My chicana identity is grounded in the Indian woman’s history of resistance. . . . Yet in leaving my home I did not lose touch with my origins because lo mexicano is in my systems. I am a turtle, wherever I go I carry my “home” on my back. Not me sold out my people but they me. So yes, though “home” permeates every sinew and cartilage in my body, I too am afraid of going home. . . . I abhor some of my culture’s ways. Concept of homophobia. Fear of going home. “‘I thought homophobia meant fear of going home after a residency.’ And I thought, how apt. Fear of going home. And of not being taken in. We’re afraid of being abandoned by the mother, the culture, la Raza, for being unacceptable, faulty, damaged .” It makes sense in Mexican culture (I’m afraid of being myself in my own home). CHAPTER 5 Anzaldua uses language as a means of resistance, to fight. “That’s the way I speak because that’s who I am”. “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice. […] I wil overcome the tradition of silence”. There is this strong tradition of “dangerous voices of women” (Adamo e Eva) Dentist’s episode: he couldn’t tame her tongue. Symbolic way of talking about her continuous experience of people telling her to limit herself, her own ways of expressing herself. 27.10.2022 WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK Short story included in a collection of short stories (totally independent). This is the most relevant one (it has the same title as the whole book). Sandra Cisneros is a controversial figure; This collection is subversive in terms of language (not the first to use this type of hybrid kind of language; she followed Anzaldua’s example). In each of her stories the author dares to challenge engrained myths of the Mexican society. SUBVERSIVE in terms of content. She was exposed to a lot of criticism but in 2015, thanks to her courage, she was awarded the metal of Arts at the White House by Obama. This creek really exists. It is in Seguin, Texas. Water is the symbol of transcultural space; the river, the ocean, the creek are spaces that separate but also connect lands. Fierce language & Lenguaje de la ternura = language of tenderness Two souls in herself. English and Spanish  both contributed to make her who she is. ANALYSIS This text is quite complex in terms of structure and point of view, while the story is straightforward. There is a woman who dreams of a wealthy life, love, but eventually she ends up being disappointed because all her dreams break down piece by piece. The structure is a bit confusing. In the original version, the paragraphs are separated by a little wave (that refers to the creek). They are all organized as episodes, snaps of a bigger story (like episodes of a telenovela). In every paragraph we jump into another scene, another context. It gives a dynamic effect to the story. The point of view: Different voices interrupt the narrative sometimes. Main: 3rd person narrator. Bu then frequently Cleofila herself reflects in the 1st person (stream of consciousness). Is SPACE important in the story? Yes; the creek, the towns she lives in, the ice house. The story is based on Dichotomies: Dolores and Soledad. These 2 women represent sorrow and pain/loneliness, or the only 2 possible directions for Mexican women. When she was reflecting on the name of the Creek, she thinks about 2 options that caused the Hollering: ANGER or PAIN. But then in the end FELICE points out that there is another feeling: out of JOY, happiness. Cisnero is offering a 3rd way to women, a new possibility: she’s trying to revise this dichotomic version of reality, by offering a third point of view ( Felice). IN the space of 15 lines we go forward and then we stay in the present time. The time changes. She lives in a patriarchal society (women are treated badly, most of the times they are abused or even killed). Only in her family she is the only woman with 6 brothers. ALL MEN. What kind of values do telenovelas propose? Love & violence. “Love a man no matter what”. You or no one (another dichotomy). These women on TV were the only model they had. Cisneros ideas was to subtly introduce to Mexican women a new way of seeing reality. What they saw in telenovelas was not the best option, and not the only one. DESTINATION: Where they go, her situation doesn’t change a lot. The people are the same (Mexican). She ends up living a life with restrictions, not what she expected. It’s not a welcoming place for women. Myth of the “promised land” the US is not all that. She challenges this myth. The town where she lives is not that welcoming. She compares La Gritona to the myth of La Llorona: a deeply unhappy woman who ended up by drowning her 2 children; before killing herself, she used to go and cry every night, until eventually she decided to drown herself too. According to this legend her spirit is near the watercourses. Example of selfish woman, wicked. At a certain point of the story, Cleofila becomes the weeping woman (like la Llorona), but this act is not an act of desperation and surrender, but of COMMUNICATION. She can’t speak English, so she starts crying to escape  means of communication. If in the legend la Llorona killed the children, HERE the protagonist is saving them from a poor life. THE LEGEND IS REVISED. In the end she goes back home, there where she came from. IT’S NOT EASY, it’s not a fact of weakness, but it’s demonstrating that she has changed and now she found the courage to go back to her father, even though everyone would think that she is a “disgrace”. JOURNEY, personal development. The first time she crosses the bridge she’s different from when she crosses it in the end, to escape. INTERESTING PARALLEL DURING THE BORDER CROSSING: in the beginning it’s her husbands’ pickup. In the end is Felice’s pickup. WHAT DOES IT SYMBOLIZE? Power of the husband, who was responsible for her life vs. In her eyes it was not normal that a woman owned such a big car. Inner journey, not just a space change. She is a more mature woman in the end. At the beginning she didn’t fight back when her husband beats her the first time (she was speechless, motionless, totally passive in front of violence). HOWEVER, THIS PASSIVE ATTITUDE IS NOT A TOTAL SURRENDER. She’s just starting to have a clear view of her own condition. She’s reconstructing the view of her life bit by bit. Another episode is when they are at the ice house: she’s supposed to play the role of the good wife. BUT there are some parts where she reflects about these men, in her mind she thinks about how she doesn’t like them. There is another passage where she says “Is this really the man I was waiting for?” The names in this story have meaning. Felice and Graciela = happiness and grace. While the neighbors were selfish women. Only Felice gives her a way of interpreting the name of the Creek. 28.10.2022 THE ARRIVAL It’s a graphic novel. It took him 4 years to publish this book (in 2006 released). He used a lot of different techniques before deciding to use this specific style (it reminds of a photo album, sepia tones). It was his intention, to use nostalgic tones and with a visual melancholy in mind to recreate the migrant experience. To write this book (especially faces) he studied some sources at the museum, but he also wanted to honor his father, who emigrated from Malaysia. His mum was an Anglo-Australian woman who too immigrated to Australia, Perth  normally used to host immigrants. Context where Shaun Tan lived with his family: THE WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY: - Immigration Restriction Act (1901) = It prevented from entering the Australian soil until the 1950s. The idea was to create social harmony, a pure population in terms of origins. Only Anglo-Saxons were welcomed. - Controversial concept of multiculturalism spread in 1977: they didn’t have in mind a melting pot, where all the people live in harmony, they had in mind a kind of hierarchy (Australian and British/Irish most appreciated, then they would accept and tolerate other origins too). Not a clear concept. - Exacerbated xenophobic fears after 9/11 This definition creates a lot of political problems (addition of this aspect of fear), VAGUE DEFINITION. It allowed to discriminate people because of this emotional dimension. An ‘asylum seeker’ is someone who is seeking protection but whose claim for refugee status has not yet been assessed = a person who has not a precise identity yet in the hosting country, because they request has not been processed yet. State-less people. At least 89.3 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes. Among them are nearly 27.1 million refugees, around half of whom are under the age of 18. This type of literature of Refugee and migration is very important but is a very recent phenomenon. A lot of teachers have realized the importance of discussing real-life stories. Both for people directly involved and for the privileged children.  Promoting intercultural education: recognizing the normality of diversity  Developing critical literacy = students don’t just passively read texts, they should be able to formulate opinions and ideas  Validating experiences of refugee-background students  Triggering storytelling as means to overcome trauma  Selecting classroom texts that depict language and culture in representative and unique way «MIRRORS AND WINDOWS THEORY» Bishop (1990) highlighted how books act as mirrors that reflect our own experiences, as well as windows or sliding glass doors, allowing readers to “walk through in imagination” to explore experiences of people who are different from ourselves (p. ix). Refugee literature  these texts can be used in a classroom as a MIRROR for those who are displaced, so they can see they’re not alone. Also a WINDOW for the other students in the class; an outlook on the experience lived by less fortunate children. 3 MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS NARRATIVE:  Main focus on the experience of the journey (less on the adjustment in the countries of resettlement)  Universal journeys (generic story with no specific context, no clues) vs. Individual journeys (politically charged) vs. Symbolic journeys  Making a new life (secondary theme): They are often structured around following the main character through changes over time, which leads to adjustment and even a sense of safety, healing, and happiness  Political undertones: feeling unwelcome in the new country  The Day War Came (Nicola Davies, 2018). There are just a few books. [welcoming policies, racism]. Adults vs. children. THE JOURNEY vs. THE DAY WAR CAME Use of color = black hands invading a moment of happiness. SYMBOLIZES WAR. Family journey vs. Lonely journey In the first there is never despair, there is always this motherly figure who tells stories and explains things. 04.11.2022 LatinX Immigration Experience in U.S.  developing in the last few years. ZARA HOSSAIN IS HERE (Sabina Khan 2021) Usually these stories talk about Shy characters at the beginning, problematic lives – and then, after overcoming all the hardship, they eventually become mature adults. COMING OF AGE STORIES. From the cover we understand that this is not the case. Zara belongs to a Pakistani family; her father is a pediatrician. They are a happy family and they have enough money to live a good life in the U.S. She is a bisexual teenager, but she doesn’t live any identity crisis; she knows perfectly who she is, and she’s not afraid of being who she is. She also has the total support of her family (extremely open-minded). Cultural trauma novel; Black and brown voices in the mostly white world of YA fiction. WE are in TEXAS (place full of immigrants). In the city where they live several events happen, perpetrated by immigrants. According to a boy, she and her family are responsible for this crime. He wants a total “white-safe city, immigrants-free”. She’s constantly bullied by him. CULTURAL TRAUMA vs. TRADITIONAL FORMS OF TRAUMA Traditional = experienced directly, so the source is a specific event, but normally relegated to the past. Recovery = separating from the source of pain. Cultural = different scenario; experienced collectively as a member of a group. The source is an ongoing systemic oppression, not situated in the past but daily reality, non tangible. Sense of oppression. One night this boy paints very racist slogans on the walls of Zara’s house. Zara’s father went for the boy, but they shot him (they thought he was a thief). STARTING FROM THAT MOMENT CULTURAL TRAUMA BEGINS FOR ZARA. She thought she was living in a democratic country where she was able to live free. Suddenly, she starts feeling afraid. NO LONGER WELCOMING, NOT SAFE ANYMORE. They feel like this country is pushing them out. This book is included in a movement called #OWNVOICES, literary movement produced by underrepresented individuals about underrepresented characters. The writer of this novel is a Pakistani author. When she and her husband were almost at the end of their Green Card application the officer working there forgot to include a document in the application. SO the whole process stopped and jeopardized. Overnight they had to leave U.S. with a young baby. Give up their jobs, everything, and they moved to Canada. 10.11.2022 BRICK LANE Nazreen (woman protagonist) manages to combine her Bangladeshi culture/identity with western aspects that she has to embrace if she wants to survive in a city like London. The Bangladeshi community was offended by this representation, especially for the men protagonists (Kari and Chanu). -