#samaa ahmed

[wearivebeen]

Karachi, 2015, Samaa Ahmed

[browngirlpositivity]

Ajrak self portraits

[browngirlpositivity]

Self portrait

[browngirlpositivity]

Thanks to @purdahocad for capturing this!

[wellesleyunderground]

For My Muslim Girls by Samaa Ahmed ‘13 (@hashtagsamaa )

Illustration by Samaa Ahmed ‘13. Posted with permission.

This world has never been safe for brown bodies. In the last 16 years, it has become increasingly unsafe for Muslim bodies, especially those considered “foreign” when existing/interacting within in a US-centric context. An entire generation, including myself, has grown up in a world where our Muslim identities have been demonized.

On a global scale, our nationalities and our Muslimness mark us as “other” and undesirable. Most of us experience great fear and uncertainty when applying for visas, traveling anywhere, or thinking about the security of ourselves and our loved ones. This fear comes from the absolute lack of accountability for the actions that could be taken against us, by Imperialist powers generally, but American more specifically.

The recent executive order signed by Trump just felt like another blow in this never ending mindf***. Man, it hurts. It makes me feel scared. Right now, thinking about what the future might hold, is hard. This is the kind of stuff that makes a person’s heart harden.

I don’t know what to do.

I’ve been feeling really weird and shitty for the past week. Partly it’s because the weather has been gloomy and that always takes a toll on my mood, but maybe part of it has been the increasingly negative vibes that have infiltrated this Earth, and my consciousness. I know this isn’t the only thing, maybe not even the worst thing that’s happening right now, but it makes you feel heavy nevertheless.

I can’t even write about all the people that I am hurting for. It’s too much. We all have people who are affected by this: family, friends, comrades, just other humans, man. Other complex, fragile, vulnerable, honest, scared, soft, people. Fuck.

So what can we do? I know that no one can ever take my will or my self esteem away from me. All I can do is live my life as unapologetically as I can. As truthfully, as bravely (as safely as possible), and with as much dignity as I can. And so can you.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Even if all the power in the world seems to be against you, there is more power in holding true to your own values. Do not ever believe the dehumanizing things they say about you or anyone else.

Hold yourself, your family, and your friends super close. Seriously, hold them. Nurture yourself and your loved ones. Pour out all the empathy and feeling and positivity that you can into creating the most beautiful and meaningful life possible for yourself and your inner circle, because that’s all that you have control over.

Continue to stand strong, with courage, and know that there is so much more love and goodness in this universe that is here and waiting for you.

Originally posted on Samaa’s tumblr browngirlpositivity. Reposted on Wellesley Underground with permission of the author.

[browngirlpositivity]

I made a thing!

[wearivebeen]

I made some art

[samfuturism]

Situating my research

Rapid changes in technology, changes in media, falling prices, and planned obsolescence, have resulted in a fast-growing surplus of electronic waste (e-waste) around the globe. In 2016, the United Nations Environment Programme estimated the amount of worldwide e-waste discarded each year to be 1.8 billion metric tons, and that figure is expected to rise by 8% each year. One of the challenges of growing global consumerism - and as a result, growing waste - is that only 20% of global e-waste is recycled, and that e-waste accounts for over 70% of hazardous waste in landfills worldwide. Although figures like those are compelling, I believe that it is difficult for consumers, especially in the West, to really conceptualize the severity of the situation, because so much of this waste is hidden from the mainstream.

The focus of my thesis project is to make this hidden waste visible, and to create an immersive experience where audiences are confronted by the scope of, and the urgent need to better address, e-waste issues on a global scale. Using principles of critical design, I hope to create a series of vignettes that allow users to visualize the tangible and complex connections between digital devices and the eco-political landscape of e-waste, now and in the future.

In my opinion, e-waste poses important ecological, political, and cultural challenges on a global scale, but I do not think that it is being addressed with enough urgency. There is lots of information available online, and elsewhere, that details the specifics of how much e-waste is produced, and what sorts of health and environmental consequences are related to e-waste. So, I do not think that a lack of data, or even a lack of awareness, is the issue. Rather, I think that there is a disconnect between these facts and figures, and people actually feeling implicated by that data. I think that is partly to do with the fact that all waste, and e-waste is no exception, is hidden from us in our day to day lives. When I say “us”, I am specifically talking about people living in the West, in places like Toronto. Very few of us actually have seen landfills full of e-waste, or have water that is contaminated by toxic pollutants that come from e-waste, or know someone who forages through piles old computers to extract microchips with their fingers. Because we have such little interaction with e-waste disposal, it becomes this sort of abstract thing that affects “other” people, which is a hugely problematic stance.

The brunt of the impact of e-waste is felt in the Global South, in countries like India and Ghana, although these countries do not contribute a very high proportion of the production of e-waste. The issue of e-waste disposal is an example of techno-colonialism, and imperialism by proxy, whereby the Global North outsources its problems, using the rest of the world as its dumping ground, without feeling much of the impact.

With that critique in mind, I am using a postcolonial ecocritical perspective to ground much of the theory that I am reading. In his essay “Toward an African Ecocentrism” (2008), Anthony Vital describes postcolonial ecocriticism as a “politics and philosophy of environmental activism that is attuned to histories of unequal development, and varieties of discrimination, and contests the disparity between Western and non-Western cultures,” (90).

My personal politics are grounded in a feminist, decolonial, and intersectional perspective. What this means, for me and my academic work, is that I choose to take a critical stance to all readings and media that I am referencing in my thesis. This also involves challenging assumptions about power, blame, and responsibility, and complicating relationships and entanglements like transnational trade and globalization. Additionally, it is essential to me that at least 50% of my bibliography and creative references come from non-Western, non-male sources. I am also interested in the specific ways that e-waste issues are gendered, racialized, and “queered” by focusing on non-Western contexts like China, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, and Pakistan.