I found these microlectures very insightful and interesting. They introduced me to a lot of material that I'm largely unfamiliar with given my cultural background. I feel that it helps me understand There There better by providing me with some context of the characters' cultural backgrounds. In general, the microlectures have also helps me understand the histories of Native American peoples. As I watched the first microlecture, I thought about our trip to the Archives and Special Collections in the library. I recall the librarian, Ms. Baughman-McDowell, introducing us to the many physical mediums used by people from all geographic areas of the world. It was interesting to see the physical mediums that Native Americans used in the microlectures. I was particularly interested to see the Pawnee star map and the Buffalo robe. I was surprised to see that there were colors used other than black in the pictographs illustrated on the Buffalo robe. It was very aesthetically pleasing to me to see the history of tribal events drawn out and put in order. The order couldn't be perfectly linear because there wasn't enough room on the Buffalo robe, so the order started in the middle and went in circles until the chain of tribal events reached the outer parts of the robe. I'm impressed that historians were able to figure out that the pictographs on the Buffalo robe were showing a story. To the naked eye, the circular chain of pictographs just seems like an aesthetically pleasing design, not an intentional way of illustrating tribal events.
It is clear to me that gender plays a large role in Pachinko. Sunja has many social pressures that consume her life. Most of these social pressures are a result of her being female. For example, when she gets pregnant while being single, she is pressured to leave her life in Korea behind to find a man to marry and provide for her so that she is not judged by society. This demonstrates that society is not supporting women to live independent lives and/or pursue an education. The only expectations for women include being good mothers and good wives. Another example of gender roles playing a big role in Pachinko is women as part of the workforce. In Japan, it becomes apparent that women aren't encouraged to work. In fact, Yoseb takes it as a hit to his ego as a man when Sunja and Kyunghee tell him they wish to work. He is insulted because in Japan, a man is supposed to provide for women.
I am also fascinated by historians ability to establish a hypothesized context around historical items. You're right, to the average person the robe looks like an aesthetically pleasing design, but in reality it has so much more depth than that. It's impressive what historians are able to do.
ReplyDeleteHey James! I would agree with you that the microlectures have helped me understand the cultural context that I am unfamiliar with and gave me a better understanding of the novel. In the future I wonder if the Archives and Special Collections has some native american mediums. I would love to see medicine bundles or some other medium in person.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think of order of the pictographs at first. That's quite interesting how the organization of the pictographs is actually intentional. I probably wouldn't have noticed that myself! I hope we can see indigenous literature mediums in real life in the future!
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