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Notebook 5 Reflection

Honestly, I came into Ethnics Studies 2 expecting it to be an easy A class. I took DOC for my general education requirement so I was not worried about doing well in this class, but I later learned that that was not the case. I was genuinely scared about this class after Week 2 because of the untraditional way Professor Yang ran it. I should’ve taken more notes in class, but I always end up just listening to him talk. Personally, I enjoy the topics we discussed in class. The books were hard to understand most of the time but they weren’t impossible to read. I felt awkward doing the dance and protest stances in class, and when Professor Yang had us introduce ourselves to our classmates, I felt out of place. Discussions were enjoyable for the most part, I liked how most of our section contributed to discussion and there were rarely any awkward silences. I wasn’t very into making the zine. Personally, I am not someone who likes to craft so I did a collage, because I felt like that was on par with my artistic skills. I think I am more comfortable with classes that have a structured course load, so this class was sort of a deviation away from that. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this class more than I did DOC because there was less emphasis on writing. For this class, I felt like we focused more on the topics that we were discussing and the significance behind it, whereas in DOC, I felt like I was in another writing class and was mostly graded on my writing abilities. I think Professor Yang and the TA’s are very open-minded and understand that not everyone is on the same level of comprehension of the material or artistic ability, which was something I definitely appreciated and made this class enjoyable and less stressful.

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My zine represents the evolution of diversity represented in Coca Cola advertisements. Coca Cola advertisements originated with the commercialization of selling the concept of the American Dream, hand to hand with the beverage. 

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This is a rough rough cut of my final Zine. Probably as I work on it I’ll add more pictures and stuff. But this is something. That’s for sure

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Summary: This zine tells a story about a Yazidi (a Kurdish religious community) refugee who fled from Iraq to Greece with his family. In Iraq, Yazidis were hunted down by the terrorist group ISIS since they were considered as infidels by the latter’s predecessor Al-Qaeda. The mass murders of the Yazidis was considered a genocide and was internationally denounced by the UN. In this zine, Brian tells a story about the refugee’s life in Iraq through narrative storytelling through the character. The refugee ran a successful small store back in Iraq, but due to the genocide, they were forced to leave in order to stay alive. They fled to Greece, where they were not accepted as actual citizens due to their religious belief, ethnicity, and their manner of clothing (turbans, etc.) that was different from what the rest of the Greeks wore, which was considered “normal”. Due to these circumstances, the store owner identified himself as “stateless” and his store was the only piece of home he had left. The refugee, despite his situation, seemed hopeful and maybe not content, but at least grateful to still be able to run his store and at least be in a safer situation than in Iraq. I think the intended audience for this zine are students who are not aware of the refugee crisis that is happening globally in so many different areas. 

Quotes:

“ISIS separated Yazidi men and boys older than 12 years old from the rest of their families, and killed those who refused to convert, in order to destroy their identity as Yazidis.”

-I think this is a good quote to use to portray how the refugee in this zine is going against ISIS’s attempt to diminish the Yizidi identity even if all he did was fled to save his family; His fleeing allowed him and his family to conserve their identity and religion. 

“ISIS has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities,” he (Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro) said in a press statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“ISIS has sought to erase the Yazidis through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily and mental harm; the infliction of conditions of life that bring about a slow death; the imposition of measures to prevent Yazidi children from being born, including forced conversion of adults, the separation of Yazidi men and women, and mental trauma; and the transfer of Yazidi children from their own families and placing them with ISIS fighters, thereby cutting them off from beliefs and practices of their own religious community,” according to the report.

-These are also quotes from the UN report that give background information on the yazidi genocide.

Facts:

https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-08-10/yazidis-greece-safety-and-security-still-out-reach 

This link directs you to a story about life in a Yazidi refugee camp in Greece. It portrays how even in a refugee camp, safety and security is still out of reach, which would contribute to the idea of “statelessness”.

Images:

-A protest in Germany in relation to the refugee crisis in Greece. 

-Not a yazidi, but a syrian arriving to the Greek island of Lesbos and thanking God for their safe journey.

-A yazidi man, and his daughter?, fleeing Iraq. 

Analysis:

I think it would be cool if you could relate the concept of whiteness and citizenship that occurred in America, to the requirements of citizenship in Greece. In this case, Greece is not accepted of the Yazidis as potential citizens due to their ethnicity and religion. In our class, we have focused mainly on what was happening in America, so it would be cool to see how it related to other parts of the world. For the zine, I think it would be helpful if you could provide some background information on the Yazidi genocide so that the audience can understand the refugee’s story on a deeper and more concrete level. 

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Notebook 4  Zines

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Fashion of the 1950′s. 

All the pages in my zine will be collages on American postcards. 

Notebook 3

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Notebook 3

Relational analysis: The object I have chosen is relational to whiteness and white superiority. In this picture, the waiter is a black person, serving the white family. The black waiter seems to be smiling, implying that he likes his job and is content with his position in society. Even the clothing of the family implies superiority; each member of the family is wearing layers of clothing and are dressed business casual. The waiter is wearing a plain white button-up, with no jacket over. As seen in other coke advertisements around this time, the people that drinking the beverage or are being offered or served it are all white people; since the beverage used the concept of The American Dream to attract consumers, the exclusive usage of white people as consumers of the beverage implies that the American Dream is only accessible to those that are white. 

This advertisement is also relational to heteronormativity.  As seen in this ad, and almost every other ad of coca cola around this time period, when depicting a family, there is always a mother and a father. Since homosexuality is not a very accepted concept in the 21st century, imagine how rejected and demonized it was during the 1900′s. Again, this concept of a family headed by a mom and dad was what was considered the “American” way of life. Even the kids of the family dressed to their gender norms. 

Another relational analysis that can be made from this advertisement is the class divide. As talked about earlier, clothing definitely sets the white people and black people a part. Although the picture does not tell what occupations that mom and dad hold, we could assume using the time period that the mom is a housewife who takes care of the children. The dad is the breadwinner who most likely works a good, stable job as determined by the quality of the clothes the family is wearing and the fact that they have the luxury to go on family trips. The relationship between education and success is established in this picture. The family is a model of what is prosperous and stable, what all aspirers of the “American Dream” strive for. The picture shows the mom reading a book; reading is what is considered a hobby, a hobby that only those who could afford the time and money (to buy the books) could practice. The rest of the family are looking at pictures, another item that is not considered cheap during the time. 

For the Zine, I will be making a collage depicting the types of clothing that people of different societal classes and genders wore during the 1950′s. I chose to do this to back up my theory of how the clothes shown in the ad are relational to economic class and gender norms. Below is one of the pictures used to make my collage.

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Notebook  2: Intersectionality

Focus

I chose this TIME magazine cover depicting the Earth being hand-fed and cradled by Coca Cola.

Published on May 15, 1950

Coca cola is globalizing & replacing traditional drinks: Chinese serve coke instead of tea, Italians replaced champagne with it.

Myths: brazilians say it increases sexual prowess & makes people more bold

Luxury drink for the wealthy: businessmen, bankers, aristocrats, etc.

Relates back to the American Dream: success & prosperity

Why the drink is so attractive to consumers

Dissection of the picture:

A happy and carefree Earth → peace and prosperity in the world →  happy people

Earth seems to be enjoying the drink

Earth is the baby and its mother is Coca Cola

Earth is being cradled and hand-fed by Coca-Cola

Depicts Coca Cola as a very caring and nurturing mother

Coca cola is depicted as milk → nutritious → aids in growth & development

Implications of the motherly role: always being there for their child, mother knows best, birthgiver and savior

In some perspectives (like mine), the Coca Cola’s smile seems a bit deceiving and its actions seems forceful; has a manipulative feel to it

The caption at the bottom of the magazine says, “WORLD & FRIEND” implying that the friend is coca-cola

Meaning that coca-cola has good intentions and wants what’s best for the world

A friend of the world means that it is a global drink; it is peaceful with every country in the world and does not discriminate against others; (an advertisement strategy → to appeal to everyone as it did with the concept of the American Dream)

Sources

Object of Circulations

Reference Pic 1

Reference Pic 2

Family-friendly drink; White “American” family with both parents; A friendly, Black server; family is well-dressed → wealthy, upper-class; on a train: have the money & luxury to travel and take family trips

Depicts the American Dream: graduation/Education, a nice house, everyone is happy and smiling, even grandma’s serving coke/enjoyed by all ages; grandpa & grandma: growing old happily, healthily, and financially stable

Subtle mentions of the word “friend” or “friendly”

National Binds

Whiteness: coca cola depicts what it means to be American

White people are used as examples and set the standard for “whiteness”

A social construction: upper or middle-class, white skin, polite, proper, well-mannered, father: fends for the family but also spends time with his family; mother: takes care of the family and is nurturing

American Dream: success in terms of education; the way the models are dressed: ties, well-groomed hair, wearing accessories, happy and enjoying life, not struggling, model reading books or playing cards: luxury of time

Property: Clean, white, picketed house with a patio

Colonialism:

Coca-cola originated in the US but the picture doesn’t just depict the US but the whole world

Coca-Cola= US; Earth = World

The US is the mother that knows best and the rest of the world should do/follow as the US says/does if they want to be successful

The world is content (happy earth) with doing as their told by the US

Intersectionality

Coca-cola defined what it meant to be “American”, it wasn’t just the color of your skin, but your social class, economic class, and the mannerisms associated with itSex: Either male or female

Girls wore dresses, but were conservative Boys wore ties and were neatly groomed Sexual orientation: promoted heterosexuality since it always depicted a family with a mother and father The object chosen does not display these intersectional concepts, but the two American advertisements used for reference doThis shows that the advertisements are targeted at specific concepts depending on its audienceIn America, coca cola promotes the “American way of life”The object chosen does not explicitly characterize the Earth or Coca-Cola as one sex or the other

Because it is targeted to everyone- globalization; needs to appeal to every sex and race