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Samantha Ollerton
Professor Bown
ENGL 1050
August 4th, 2014
Essay Two: Reflection
To begin, as eloquently as I can, a cultural lesson speaks to me as I think it should all
human beings. In this fascinating world where we are all fundamentally the same, and yet so
uniquely different from one another, culture and diversity sets the stage for global understanding
and inner differentiation. Its how we as a species can come together as a powerful force, but also
divide ourselves in to stronger parts. To understand culture, one must understand history, as well
as psychology and art. The literary arts looks at all of these things and collects the history and
psychology of culture through art, and in this class, that is what I learned. So I believe, to some
degree, everyone of us, every human being can look at culture and see history and art as one, and
I believe it speaks to all, as it does to me as something notable and important.
The path of this understanding is not always easy, and most of history will tell us its not.
From the things weve discussed and learned in this class, the power of photography during
culturally historical times is invaluable and enriching to learn from. In the excerpt from the book
Reading American Photographs: Images as History, Mathew Brady to Walker Evans written in
1989, author and professor Alan Trachtenberg discusses the beauty of American photography as
pieces of history. He talks about how inseparable the pictures are from the history they portray
and the history that was enacted behind them. In this piece, the reader is taught that a piece of
photographical history lives on as a lesson for society, and not just the viewers. It teaches the
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affected through its remembrance, and through the actions and lessons learned from the act that
was recorded through such a medium. Trachtenberg himself says this:
Indeed, what empowers an image to represent history is not just what it shows, but
the struggle for meaning we undergo before it, a struggle analogous to the historians
effort to shape an intelligible and usable past.(1)
Through this, I learned what power all parts and pieces leftover from history have,
and the role they play in a societies growth, and even sometimes their decline.
It seems cultures have often collided negatively, and the aftermath creates a
seemingly endless air of clashing that fogs future generations. For many years now there
have been Mexican and America cultures dwelling in the states, and the two languages have
had some negative clashes. In the book Passport Photo, written in 2000 by Amitava Kumar,
the first chapter portrays an interesting scenario and potential conversation between the
author and a border patrol officer. In this hypothetical discussion, the officer talks about the
differences in how English and Spanish are being used as a different kind of barrier. Its a
cultural barrier, and Kumar believes that language is being used as a racial weapon. There is
a picture that shares the page of the written piece, and it depicts a California road sign near
the Mexican border. The sign says Caution in English, and shows a picture of two adults
and a child running. Below that, it says Prohibido, meaning prohibited in Spanish. This is
an interesting example that Kumar also mentions in her hypothetical dialogue with the
immigration officer, about the tension and divisions created by racial uses of language. It is
also another example of the photographical capturing of history and cultural events. This
excellently depicts something that affects culture, and something that society can learn from,
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if its approached the right way. Its not just a clash between Mexican and American cultures
and languages. Kumar excellently depicts how language is being used against many different
cultures, and done so through all sorts of outlets, from poems and speeches to classrooms and
courtrooms. Kumar mentions a case where a judge speaks to a Spanish mother, saying that
she needs to start speaking English to this child because if she doesnt do good in school,
than I can remove her because its not in her best interest to be ignorant.(2) I think its a
simply false statement to say that a child speaking Spanish will be ignorant, and from this
class Ive learned that there are many examples of excellently brilliant non-English speaking
authors, writing very moving works in English.
In Gloria Anzaldas book Borderlands/La Frontera written in 1987, she portrays a
battle against tongues, and the hardships of growing up with pressure on her identity as a
Spanish speaking citizen. In the excerpt How to Tame a Wild Tongue, her points on
educational and societal pressure on people speaking anything other than English support the
writings and ideas of Kumar, stating that language can be used, and often is used as a racial
weapon. Anzalda makes an excellent point in stating that attacks on ones form of
expression with the intent to censor are a violation of the First Amendment. She makes the
argument of stating that ones language, as a part of their identity, is a form of expression that
should not be silenced. I whole heartedly agree with this, and I believe its something that
should be embraced by the American culture, as something to strengthen and unify it. Not
something that should be tamed, as Anzalda refers to, saying wild tongues cant be
tamed, they can only be cut out.(3) She talks about how teachers would punish her for using
Spanish on the playground, and even her own mother was mortified that she had a strong
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accent present in her English. This to me is an unfortunate thing, as language should be
something one is proud of. Through this, I feel Ive found an opinion on something I didnt
previously think much about, but I can now say that I agree with Anzalda, and people like
her, who find pride in their language and envelop it as a part of themselves.
Anzalda continues on to say that language is also a male discourse, referring to the
fact that many spanish words are masculine, making it a male dominated language.
Through this, the diminishing effect of feminine speech in Spanish can also be detected, and
the lessening of females as equals is not just found in this culture. The cultural diminishment
of women that Anzalda is talking about is a global thing, and certainly prevalent in
American culture.
In France, 2004, the government had banned the use and display of religious symbols
in public school, but not long afterwards, the banning of Burqas and headscarves was also
administered. There was a large amount of controversy, and women were subjected to fines
for not conforming with the new laws. The article we read this information from in class
discusses how these actions were targets on the growing Muslim population, and the use of
laws as a racial weapon against Muslims as potential Jihadists is a factor in this event.
Needless to say, this was a very unfortunate and unnecessary course of action. To have
learned about this is rewarding and insightful, but its a piece of history that shows the effects
of fear in a culture for an entering culture. This issue is very similar to the previous
discussions in their nature of pressure on difference, and seeking some kind of forced
normality amongst the newer, more ethnically and culturally diverse citizens. The fact that
this happens in France tells us that its not just America that has these issue with racially
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opposed ideas on integrating cultures and welcoming change, it is in fact a global problem,
and probably a human problem.
In Slumdog Tourism, an ob-ed column published in the New York Times on August
9th, 2010, author Kennedy Odede discusses the experiences hes had first hand with tourism
through poverty stricken cities and areas. The tours themselves were not something I was
even aware of until reading this article, but Ive learned from his writing what an abhorrent
exploitation of suffering it is. Odede seems to go a little easier on them, stating that the
tourists probably do genuinely enter these tours believing that they will gain some empathy
and desire for action from what they see. However, he believes that very little will actually
come from it, and these tours simply arent worth it. Odede talks about his experience with
the results and effects of these tours, saying that slum tourism is a one way street: They get
photos; we lose a piece of our dignity.(5) I wholly agree with his statements claiming that
the tours are not worth the potential understanding that the tourist might get from the
experience. The tourism is almost a way to justify doing nothing, and as a peer from my
class, Mathew Jenkins says, [the tours] are almost boasting and prideful of those who have
money to come down to where the slums are and see what the city is really like. This kind
of tourism is a sad excuse for gaining cultural understanding and diversity in ones own life,
and I think truly doing something about these problems in poverty scares people.
Of the things I learned in this class, understanding and enrichment is something I feel
was the strongest lesson in the readings. There was a good deal of literary analysis, and the
learning of understanding and empathy of the messages in writing. However, I think I
personally took a lot of cultural lesson from this class, some were reminders of things Id
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previously learned, and some were actually quite shocking. The world is still a growing
place, and despite how far weve come as a society and an intellectual species, cultures tend
to still clash in these modern times. I believe it comes out of fear of the unknown, a fear of
change, and this is something inherent in humans that needs patience, empathy, and
compassion to overcome. From these readings, the wealth of diversity and understanding
from the writers, Ive learned that this kind of compassionate understanding is very real and
possible.


















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Citations:

Trachtenberg, Alan. Reading American Photographs: Images as History, Mathew Brady to
Walker Evans. 1989. (George, Diana; Trimbur, John. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and
Writing. Pearson Publishing.)(1)Pages 489-495

Kumar, Amitava. Passport Photos. Chapter one. 2000. (George, Diana; Trimbur, John. Reading Culture:
Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. Pearson Publishing.)(2)Pages 514-518

Anzalda, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera. 1987. (George, Diana; Trimbur, John. Reading Culture:
Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. Pearson Publishing.)(3)Pages 521-528

George, Diana; Trimbur, John. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing.
Banning Burqas and Headscarves in France Pearson Publishing. (4)Pages 544-546

Odede, Kennedy. Slumdog Tourism New York Times. August 9, 2010. (George, Diana; Trimbur,
John. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. Pearson Publishing.)(5)Pages 518-520