Orientalism and Culture

Said introduces Orientalism by talking about his visit to Beirut. “The orient was almost a European invention, and has been since antiquity a place of romance exotic beings, haunting memories and landscapes, remarkable experiences” (Said, 1). He had gone in with so many expectations…

Dont Trust The Process

“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.”-Edward Said. This powerful quote has but a rather deeper meaning within the words in which construct it. Growing up, we as…

Beat the Drum for Justice

A Critical Reflection on Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.

What?

In the United States, racism is still very much a relevant topic causing disunity in our society. Because of this disunity, negative stigma follows. A sign of it comes…

What is “the Orient”?

“Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the Orientʻs special place in European Western experience.” (Said 1) This loosely explains what Orientalism is so I can understand exactly what this is about. How it is a term from the Western Europeans.

Racism: Conditioned or Intentional?

WHAT: Perspective. Positionality. Interpretation. To deem those who are racist or have even slightly racist thoughts as bad people, is everyone considered as ‘bad’? That is not fair to those who have grown up being taught a way of thinking without knowing that it is…

The Power of Proximity

What?

For the accused people, discourse essentially becomes everything. Once one is positioned into the incarceration system, they are not longer seen as human beings. One will receive all of the labels and stigmas that come with being incarcerated — which is…

American But Hyphenated

Critical Reflection #2

What?: Shame is an intense feeling that tells us that there is something wrong or in need of fixing in order to be loved and accepted. Therefore, we make the connection that we must then change or alter that which we feel…

Critical Reflection #1: Illegal: Reflections of an Undocumented Immigrant

The book begins with a quote from General George S. Patton: “When we land, we will meet German and Italian soldiers whom it is our honor and privilege to attack and destroy…remember that these ancestors…

Have a Little Mercy

The issue of US mass incarceration is a critical problem in this nation that unfortunately not enough people are aware of it. In Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, he uses not very well-known historical events to describe the discourse in the system of US mass incarceration; one, for example, is…

The Hypocrisy of “Helping”

What?

These readings really changed my perspective on what it means to “help” someone. Prior to the readings, “helping” to me was such a positive, beneficial action. To “help” someone was to better the life of another, or at least ease their suffering…