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KQ1: How does the setting and cultural background influence the text?

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KQ1: How does the setting and cultural background influence the text?

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In my opinion, setting and cultural backgrounds can influence the values of characters. Through the ranking game last class, I found that the things we value are quite similar. I assume that one of the reasons behind this observation is that we have similar cultural background and are living in the same city. In stories, setting and cultural backgrounds can do the same thing to people. Take Imitation for instance, Nkem found her past behavior to date with married man similar to the behavior of the girlfriend of her husband. Their decisions and actions are similar because young Nkem and the girlfriend lived in the same country with the same cultural background. On the other hand, different settings and cultural backgrounds will bring out conflicts, which sometimes become the main conflict a story focus on. In the text Imitation, Nkem is isolated in the American neighborhood because different cultural backgrounds bring gap between her and her neighbors.

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KQ2: In what ways does our perspective or “single stories”: impact on our identities, how we view others and the choices we make?

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KQ2: In what ways does our perspective or “single stories”: impact on our identities, how we view others and the choices we make?

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I think the primary thing perspective offer me is limitation. As a matter of fact, we all have different perspectives when we view something, and our own perspectives are always limited. Take Africa for instance, the game “Africa or not” on the class reminded me of how limited my perspective is when I view Africa. The image of Africa that the media has shown me is always poor and primitive. The pictures on class did refresh my view of Africa by showing me perspectives of African people.
However, as I reflect on the class after class, I realize that the people who take these pictures can also have limited perspectives just like me. The limitation perspective has can lead to bias, stereotypes and conflicts s consequences. So it is important to step in the shoes of other people and know their perspectives. Only by this can we break the limitation perspectives give us .

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KQ3: Did your perspective of the characters in the story change after today’s lesson?

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KQ3: Did your perspective of the characters in the story change after today’s lesson?

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Yes. My perspective for Obiora’s girlfriend changed today mainly because of the analysis we did on class on the quote where she memorized her past relationship with married men. When I first read it, I never related this part to the behavior of the girlfriend. When on class it was pointed out that Nkem’s past experience reflected some phenomena of the Nigerian society, I realize the girlfriend is also influenced by the Nigerian society, my perspective therefore changes.

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a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs.
(by merriam-webster)

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Originally, diaspora means the Jews living outside Palestine or modern Israel.
Now, diaspora also stands for people settled far from their ancestral homelands, while cultural diaspora stands for cultures that settled far from their origins due to diaspora of people.

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Benin,  country of western Africa. It consists of a narrow wedge of territory extending northward for about 420 miles (675 kilometres) from the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, on which it has a 75-mile seacoast, to the Niger River, which forms part of Benin’s northern border with Niger. Benin was a French colony from the late 19th century until 1960.
Prior to colonial rule, part of the territory that is now Benin consisted of powerful, independent kingdoms, including various Bariba kingdoms in the north and in the south the kingdoms of Porto-Novo and Dahomey.
(from Britannica)

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It means to to absorb into the cultural tradition of a population or group.
(by Merriam-Webster)

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The historical period or state of affairs representing the aftermath of Western colonialism; the term can also be used to describe the concurrent project to reclaim and rethink the history and agency of people subordinated under various forms of imperialism.
(from Britannica)

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Perspective: a mental view or prospect;
(from Merriam-Webster)
Stereotype:  characteristics imposed upon groups of people because of their race, nationality, and sexual orientation.
(from ThoughtCo)

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A single story is a one sided point of view of something or someone.
(from CRAM)
"the danger of a single story"

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KQ4:  How are female characters portrayed by Adichie in her short story?

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KQ4:  How are female characters portrayed by Adichie in her short story?

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The main female character portrayed in Imitation is Nkem. The other female characters served as supplementary characters that has been mentioned to further develop the group of females, Nigerian females, Adichie tried to focus in the story. The way Adichie portrayed Nkem is actually very interesting. The story was written from Nkem’s perspective. This character seemed to engage in a deep level of self-reflection over her past behaviors in order to decide what she would do next. Through this unique way of writing, Nigerian cultures and society were not only presented by an insider, but an observer, a person that were affected by those cultures and was becoming conscious about the fact that she was influenced. In addition to cultures, this also showed the awakening identity and independence of females.

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KQ5: What is Adichie’s intention with her portrayal of the character of Nkem?

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KQ5: What is Adichie’s intention with her portrayal of the character of Nkem?

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A more usual way of portraying a housewife who has been betrayed by her husband shows a choice that women can make in terms of marriage. The problem for those women is often whether to devote themselves to the family or to achieve their personal goals and gain financial and personal independence. This kind of stories is usually educational and inspirational. It tells its audience that women can do whatever they want and don’t have to stick to their traditional roles.
However, what is interesting about Nkem is that she was not that kind of woman. When she was cheated on, the thought of living independently did not even cross her mind. I think this is due to the limitation of her perspective. Nkem, as a woman who was once a mistress and grew up in Nigerian society, she could not truly set herself free by herself, and the only way that she could think of to gain more independence and power was still through marriage and family. This inability is also related to the isolation she was going through. Nkem left me wondering that the feminism we talk about today is mentioned by women that can have the right and motivation to know the world and see themselves not just physically a female, but a part of females as a social group. On the other hand, what about women like Nkem? Once I read somewhere that feminism is seen as “ a belief that all women on the planet should have the rights to know things happening around the world.” I interpret it as the right to have more than a single story and have multiple perspectives.

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September 2018 Druckansicht
by Minna Salami
comment: It is a great article concerning the context of the story. It can give a general overview of the status of women in Nigerian society.

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To what extent does contemporary Nigerian feminism reﬂect Nigerian women's realities?

I grew up in 1980s Lagos, in a chaotic but exciting city in a country which I love, but which struggles with a deeply ingrained male supremacist culture. Already as a child, I took notice and issue, that men had all the so-called "head" positions in our society; they were heads of state, heads of companies, heads of the army and heads of families. In school when we learnt about Nigerian history, we did not learn about notable people such as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Margaret Ekpo, Charlotte Obasa, Oyinkan Abayomi or Queen Amina of Zazzau, or the many notable Nigerian women who played vital roles in shaping our nation. We learnt about great men like Herbert Macauley and Sir Tafawa Balewa. We also learnt about westerners such as the Scottish explorer Mungo Park, who was falsely attributed with discovering The Niger, the river which had sustained bustling kingdoms long before Mungo Park was even born.

In 1985, when I was seven years old, Ibrahim Babangida, a man who was then chief of army staff, staged a coup against Muhammadu Buhari who himself had taken power in a military coup. Babangida managed to ruin the socio-political infrastructure in Nigeria; he destroyed labour- and student unions, and implemented debilitating World Bank- and IMF-led Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), which set strict rules for gaining loans. All together these policy changes created a culture of demise in an already fragile system.

Thanks to Babangida's regime, by the early 1990s, large numbers of Nigerians - those who were privileged to have had foreign passports or permits - left the country. In 1990, as life got politically and financially unstable, my mother and I have also decided to temporarily relocate, leaving my father, who would not leave Nigeria no matter what, behind. Although our heritage is Finnish, we headed to Sweden because we had family there. My mother had eventually returned to Lagos, and I continued to visit home frequently, but it is only in the past three years, twenty-five years after being uprooted from my hometown, that I gradually began to end my exile.

I share all this because people who know that I lived in Sweden sometimes ask whether I would be a feminist had I not moved to Sweden from Nigeria. The answer to this question is an unhesitating yes. As far as countries shape our politics, it is not Sweden but Nigeria that made me feminist. In fact, I was barely aware of the strong feminist movement in Sweden as a young woman living there. Not only was I dealing with the complexities of early adulthood, I was also grappling with, at times violent, racial attacks that I suddenly faced on a regular basis. Feminism was not at the forefront of my mind in those years.

By contrast, it was during my formative years in Nigeria that my feminist consciousness developed. It was predominantly planted in me by my mother and her close friends; however, also by women from underprivileged backgrounds such as our house help, Margaret, who was a second mother of sorts to me. Margaret taught me so much of what I know about surviving in this world as a woman. She was vulnerable to the harsh realities she had faced and yet she was also sharp, tough and empowered in ways that few middle-to-upper-class Nigerian women were. The society I grew up in makes the foundation of my feminist work today.

Does Nigerian feminism today speak for women like Margaret, who work in an industry with no regulation and few rights? Or is feminism in Nigeria a middle class movement? Does it include the voices and struggles of the masses of women who do not have economic freedom? Does contemporary Nigerian feminism reflect the realities of all Nigerian women? I will attempt to answer these questions in this article.

However, I must immediately add that the answers to these questions are hardly straightforward. First of all, because the Nigerian feminist movement is not easily definable. The majority of Nigerian feminists have contributed to the movement as African and/or black feminists rather than as Nigerian feminists per se. Consequently, their contributions have had a continent/diaspora/global perspective rather than a specifically Nigerian one. While this is an approach that benefits the pan-African agenda, it means that there is no clear-cut Nigerian feminism in the way that there is a US- or German feminism, for example.

Another reason that Nigerian feminism is challenging to define is because there is an inseparable overlap between the feminist movement and what is nowadays referred to as 'Women Empowerment' in Nigeria. An organisation such as D'Angels, to give an example, an all-female Nigerian biker group providing poor women with free breast cancer screenings, does not explicitly term itself as feminist. However, I would argue that D'Angels are part of the feminist movement, not because the relationship between feminism and women empowerment is always harmonious, but rather because the shapers of women's rights have tended to be involved in both movements, employing the same ideological lexicon. There are countless examples of such overlapping agendas in the Nigerian women's movement.

Bearing these two factors in mind, I will attempt to provide a brief background of Nigerian feminism: An essential task, which is part of the naming process of a Nigerian feminism that is simultaneously pan-African.

A brief history of Nigerian feminism

Women's liberation - the ultimate goal of feminism - has always been part of the narrative of Nigeria. The very same year that Nigeria was formed in 1914, women staged a significant protest, which the scholar Nwando Achebe has referred to as the "Ogidi Palaver", against both indigenous and British men who had jointly side-lined them in decision-making.

In 1925, the "Nwaobiala Movement" saw women forcefully rejecting colonial values culminating in 1929 into what is known as the "Women's War", where 10,000 women participated and dozens lost their lives fighting back against a drop in female authority.

However, the explicitly feminist movement in Nigeria finds its roots in WIN (Women in Nigeria), an organisation, which was founded in 1983 with a clear agenda to establish an "ideologically feminist movement" in the country. WIN has since been replaced by the Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) in 2008. Today. organisations such as Stand To End Rape, Afri-Dev Info, The Nigerian Women's Trust Fund, Coloured Africa and As Equals Africa are emerging as pronouncedly feminist platforms.

Besides, the African feminist movement at large insists that creative expression such as plays, poetry, art and fiction are sites where women can challenge male-dominance as a form of political and intellectual intervention. This stance is a direct critique of Eurocentric and male-centric notions of intellectual work. In this vein, arts and culture play a significant role in shaping the contemporary Nigerian feminist agenda. Artists such as Peju Alatise, Nike Ogundaike Davies or Otobong Nkanga who use art, sculpture, textile production and performance art pieces to raise issues about tradition, polygamy, and the oppression of the female body are some of the key shapers of Nigerian feminism. Theatrical interventions such as Christine Oshuniyi's "The Cut" or Bikiya Graham Douglas's "WAIT" are also shaping conversations about female genital cutting and a lack of education of girls respectively. Books from authors such as Chimamanda Adichie, Molara Wood and Ayobami Adebayo have similarly had a significant influence on the Nigerian feminist narrative. These are just a few examples of art and culture crafting a feminist voice.

Moreover, like everywhere in the world, new technologies play a significant role in contemporary Nigerian feminism. Thanks to the internet; blogs and social media, Nigerian feminists have been able to propagate an unprecedented feminist awareness revolutionising social relations in our times. The Me Too hashtag aside, there have been strong hashtag movements such as Female In Nigeria, which encouraged women to give voice to the harsh realities facing women in the country; Bring Back Our Girls, a campaign to rescue hundreds of girls kidnapped by the terror group Boko Haram; and most recently No More, a hashtag movement founded by Nigerian activist, Ireti Bakare-Yusuf, calling to end sexual abuse and impunity.

Is contemporary Nigerian feminism inclusive?

Nevertheless, is Nigerian feminism - to the extent, it can be named as such - inclusive? Or are feminists in Nigeria championing issues of middle class or elite women, and neglecting the concerns of less privileged women?

The notion of a middle class has become a popular metric in a Nigerian context only recently, arguably thanks to a first of its kind study in 2014 entitled "The Rise of the African Middle Class" by the Standard Bank Group.

Furthermore, unlike in the West, where the depoliticised middle class tends to shun tradition, middle class values in Nigeria are reversed.

On the one hand, they are more conservative than in Western societies. Gender roles are pronounced among the Nigerian middle class, and although Western cultures influence them, traditional customs and religious ideals play a significant role, too. While modernisation and economic growth tend to go hand in hand with secularisation in most parts of the world, religious commitment in Nigeria has not waned with modernity. According to Renaissance Capital, 96% of Nigerian middle class regularly attend a place of worship or religious service.

On the other hand, Nigeria's middle class is more socially conscious than the middle class in the West. It is perhaps no surprise that in a country marked by poverty, ethnic tension, insurgency and corruption, the middle class is politicised in ways that the middle class in other parts of the world is not. For example, in recent years, the middle class has been at the fore of struggles such as Occupy Nigeria and Enough is Enough, both campaigns fighting for the rights of the less privileged. Therefore, insofar that Nigerian feminism is a middle class movement, the complexities of the notion 'middle class' in Nigeria should not be ignored.

That said, the best way to answer the question of whether Nigerian feminism reflects Nigerian women's realities, is by looking at the types of issues that feminists are concerned with in the country. Moreover to do this, I find it useful to think of issues as either political or personal, albeit with the understanding that the personal is political!

When it comes to "the political", some of the critical issues that Nigerian feminists are involved with include law reform. For instance, feminists lobbied for the ratification of the Maputo Protocol, an African feminist charter of women's rights adopted by the African Union in Maputo in 2005. It is in my view one of the most radical feminist charters, not only in Africa but in the world at large. Nigerian feminists also drafted the Violence Against Women Bill and the Gender Equality Bill, of which the latter was unfortunately not ratified. because it was seen as too provocative by male politicians. The bill tackles questions of domestic violence, girls' education, child marriage and sexual violence. It became especially contentious because of the reproductive rights it granted women.

In a country where only 27 out of 469 legislative seats are filled with women, feminists have also pushed for affirmative action alongside issues such as agricultural reform, maternal health and women's access to financial loans. Since its launch in 2008, the Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) has made strides in ending policies that enabled discriminatory practices such as HIV and virginity testing in universities, and state impositions of dress codes for women. In the cultural sector, films, books, plays, songs and art by Nigerian women tend to tackle social issues such as female genital cutting, witchcraft, ethnic conflict, poverty, war, motherhood, widowhood and marriage.

Nigerian feminists have only recently begun to strongly advocate for liberation in "the personal" space. The culture of challenging domestic roles and marriage, for example, is especially vigorous among modern feminists who use the internet as a main tool of resistance and consciousness-raising. Outspoken and unapologetic feminists such as Ozzy Etomi and Olutimehin Adegbeye are using online platforms to send a powerful and personalised message to young women about the need to question the status quo, not only in political life but also in the personal space.

One of our current leading feminists, Chimamanda Adichie, has played a seminal role in spreading feminism in Nigeria. She has been accused of focusing only on middle class feminist issues such as chivalry and sexual objectification. These accusations ignore the multiple issues that she has tackled. For example, her most famous book is told from the point of a view of a house help.

In a similar vein, the blog that I founded, MsAfropolitan, which has contributed to popularising African feminism, is a space where the political and personal overlap. Yet as I wrote in 2012 in the Guardian article "African women can blog": "When people ask me what I do, and I respond that I'm a blogger and that I blog about topics that primarily concern African women, quite often they proceed to either tell me about an humanitarian or developmental cause they are involved with or have read about. Sometimes they ask me how my blog reaches women in African villages. [...] I'm tired of people immediately assuming that to blog about African women is to blog about charity work," I wrote, "I'm tired of this idea that African women can only be objects of pity. I'm tired of the notion that African women can or should only interact on select topics."

The truth is that African feminists are in the damning position of having to fight back against the effects of patriarchy in our societies on the one hand, and one-dimensional stereotypes and exploitation of African women by Westerners on the other hand. I explored this theme at a later point in a TEDx talk titled "To change the world, change your illusions". Ultimately, as I argued in an article titled "Seven key issues in African feminist thought", the primary matters of concern for feminists in Africa are 1) patriarchy, 2) race, 3) tradition, 4) underdevelopment, 5) sexuality, 6) global feminism and 7) love. It is incredibly rare for an African feminist not to have such an intersectional feminist approach, which considers multiple factors affecting African women's lives.

Class, Sexuality & Sex work

That said, while I hope that this article has shown that especially for a young movement, Nigerian feminism, - to the extent it can be named as such - is inclusive and complex in the manner of issues it addresses, and although I do not believe that focusing on sexual objectification or chivalry, is somehow "less" feminist than focusing on female genital cutting (FGC) or agricultural reform; I do believe it is important to stress that poverty is the most pressing issue facing not only Nigerian women but all of humanity. Anyone who truly desires women's liberation would therefore automatically understand the gravitas of an anti-poverty approach. In addition, there are three crucial issues the Nigerian feminist movement has somewhat neglected.

The first is LGBTQI people's rights. A survey led by The Initiative for Equal Rights in 2017 found that support for the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) remains at 90%. This means that only 10% of Nigerian civil society opposes what is a profoundly dehumanising policy. Additionally, the survey has found that only 39% of Nigerians agree that "homosexuals should have equal access to healthcare, housing and other public goods."

Although attitudes have begun to change (in 2015 only 30% of respondents thought that "homosexuals should have equal access to healthcare, housing and other public goods"), the feminist movement has not been sufficiently vocal about the rights of LGBTQI people. Lesbians and trans women, in particular, face discrimination both on the grounds of being women as well as for being part of a sexual minority community. A new book, She Called Me Woman (2018), has paved the way to include voices of queer women from a wide range of class, religion and educational backgrounds.

Secondly, wherever possible feminists should lobby for sex worker rights in Nigeria. Sex work is challenging work everywhere in the world. There is no country where sex workers do not face harassment, violence and torment by men. But a number of countries have decriminalised it, giving sex workers rights such as pensions, healthcare and protection from violence. To be a sex worker in these countries is therefore a professional choice that increasing numbers of women are making. To be a sex worker in Nigeria, however, is a different story. Following what an activist of the Nigerian Sex Workers Association (NSWA) said in an interview: "Sex workers in my organisation face a lot of harassment from the police and other law enforcement agencies. The health care workers are not friendly with the sex workers too." These are stories that feminists can ensure to be heard and transformed.

Last but not least, the Nigerian feminist movement will achieve greater successes if it continues to tear down divisions between Nigerian women; they can be of class, sexuality, religion, profession or ethnic group. I started with saying that it was growing up in Nigeria that made me the feminist I am today. My upbringing taught me that women who had access to privilege were not necessarily happier or worthier than those who didn't. It made me appreciate that women of poor backgrounds would often be my feminist teachers. It showed me that in an imperialist and patriarchal world, African female knowledge systems were always a multiple-way learning stream. We are all teachers and students of one another. The more we appreciate each other's voices and struggles, the stronger our movement. So long as one group of women is not free, none of us are free.

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To what extent does contemporary Nigerian feminism reﬂect Nigerian women's realities? I grew up in 1980s Lagos, in a chaotic but exciting city in a country which I love, but which struggles with a deeply ingrained male supremacist culture.

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KQ6: What can the story teach us about culture in our globalized and connected world? 

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KQ6: What can the story teach us about culture in our globalized and connected world? 

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Cultures change in interactions. Looking back, the traditional cultures we have today did not come from an isolated situation. As a matter of fact, cultures evolve when they were correlated with other cultures. The same issue still happens today. In “Imitation”, cultures are influenced by interactions. The Benin mask represented the fact that Nigerian cultures she could find in the USA was nothing but imitation of the original ones. Colonization in the past did extreme things to local cultures of colonies, it destroyed civilization. While immigration or globalization today make us lose some parts of our cultures and replace them with imitation of other cultures. The imitation is not a negative things that we should avoid, but it is something we should be conscious about. This is the thing this story teach us abut culture in our globalized and connected world.

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Igbo, also called Ibo, people living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria who speak Igbo, a language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family.
(from Britannica)

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Lagos, city and chief port, Lagos state, Nigeria. Until 1975 it was the capital of Lagos state, and until December 1991 it was the federal capital of Nigeria. Ikeja replaced Lagos as the state capital, and Abuja replaced Lagos as the federal capital. Lagos, however, remained the unofficial seat of many government agencies.
(from Britannica)

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The Biafra war (1967-1970) was a bloody civil war in Nigeria. The battle is also known as the Nigerian Civil War. In 1968 this war led to the first images of starving Africans with ‘Biafra bellies’ on television: a large-scale famine broke out in Biafra.
The war lasted from 6 July 1967 to 13 January 1970. Ethnic violence, genocide, and a massive famine in Biafra led to the death of an estimated 1 to 3 million civilians.
(from The Afrinik)

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Subjection is the act or process of bringing someone or something under one's control.
(By Merriam-Webster)
Gender subjection can be understood to be the act or process of bringing someone under control base on his or her own gender.

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Colonially tinged condescension is an attitude of patronizing superiority that comes from colonization or is tinged with colonization.

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Loaded means carrying a hidden or secondary meaning that is capable of causing unease.
(by Merriam-Webster)

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It is a form of bias that occurs automatically and unintentionally, that nevertheless affects judgments, decisions, and behaviors.
Supplementary: bias is an inclination of temperament or outlook（By Merriam-Webster)

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It is a hidden identity, a secondary personality, or a secret life being led in addition to a normal life that only exists in stories, plays, or movies and never actually existed.

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KQ1：What is the danger of a single story? What impact does it have?  Where do these single stories come from?

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KQ1：What is the danger of a single story? What impact does it have?  Where do these single stories come from?

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A single story is a one sided point of view of something or someone.
(from CRAM)
"the danger of a single story"

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Who is "Conrad" and who are "Conrad's Africans"?

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Who is "Conrad" and who are "Conrad's Africans"?

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Joseph Conrad, original name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, (born December 3, 1857, Berdichev, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Ukraine]—died August 3, 1924, Canterbury, Kent, England), English novelist and short-story writer of Polish descent, whose works include the novels Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907) and the short story “Heart of Darkness” (1902). During his lifetime Conrad was admired for the richness of his prose and his renderings of dangerous life at sea and in exotic places. But his initial reputation as a masterful teller of colourful adventures of the sea masked his fascination with the individual when faced with nature’s invariable unconcern, man’s frequent malevolence, and his inner battles with good and evil. To Conrad, the sea meant above all the tragedy of loneliness. A writer of complex skill and striking insight, but above all of an intensely personal vision, he has been increasingly regarded as one of the greatest English novelists.
(by Britannica)
Conrad's Africans: Conrads has several novels concerning Africans and colonization in Africa, like "Heart of Darkness". His novels has been considered postcolonial for a long time. However, the images of Africans in his writing is still considered racist. The Conrad's Africans are  passive, savage, silent, and lacking in agency. his image of Africans is completely western. In addition, critics pointed out that the fact that the Conrad's Africans spoke English showed that Conrad made the African speak English only to enable the Western reader to glimpse the barbarism.
links: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Conrad
https://culture.pl/en/article/africans-in-joseph-conrads-books-what-do-they-really-say
https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-is-joseph-conrad-s-representation-of-africans-2844977

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Table of Contents

What was Joseph Conrad's original name?

What was Joseph Conrad's family like?

What were Joseph Conrad's jobs?

What is Joseph Conrad known for?

Read a brief summary of this topic

Joseph Conrad, original name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, (born December 3, 1857, Berdichev, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Ukraine]-died August 3, 1924, Canterbury, Kent, England), English novelist and short-story writer of Polish descent, whose works include the novels Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907) and the short story "Heart of Darkness" (1902). During his lifetime Conrad was admired for the richness of his prose and his renderings of dangerous life at sea and in exotic places. But his initial reputation as a masterful teller of colourful adventures of the sea masked his fascination with the individual when faced with nature's invariable unconcern, man's frequent malevolence, and his inner battles with good and evil. To Conrad, the sea meant above all the tragedy of loneliness. A writer of complex skill and striking insight, but above all of an intensely personal vision, he has been increasingly regarded as one of the greatest English novelists.

Early years

Conrad's father, Apollo Nalęcz Korzeniowski, a poet and an ardent Polish patriot, was one of the organizers of the committee that went on in 1863 to direct the Polish insurrection against Russian rule. He was arrested in late 1861 and was sent into exile at Vologda in northern Russia. His wife and four-year-old son followed him there, and the harsh climate hastened his wife's death from tuberculosis in 1865. In A Personal Record Conrad relates that his first introduction to the English language was at the age of eight, when his father was translating the works of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo in order to support the household. In those solitary years with his father he read the works of Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, and William Makepeace Thackeray in Polish and French. Apollo was ill with tuberculosis and died in Kraków in 1869. Responsibility for the boy was assumed by his maternal uncle, Tadeusz Bobrowski, a lawyer, who provided his nephew with advice, admonition, financial help, and love. He sent Conrad to school at Kraków and then to Switzerland, but the boy was bored by school and yearned to go to sea. In 1874 Conrad left for Marseille with the intention of going to sea.

Life at sea

Bobrowski made him an allowance of 2,000 francs a year and put him in touch with a merchant named Delestang, in whose ships Conrad sailed in the French merchant service. His first voyage, on the Mont-Blanc to Martinique, was as a passenger; on its next voyage he sailed as an apprentice. In July 1876 he again sailed to the West Indies, as a steward on the Saint-Antoine. On this voyage Conrad seems to have taken part in some unlawful enterprise, probably gunrunning, and to have sailed along the coast of Venezuela, memories of which were to find a place in Nostromo. The first mate of the vessel, a Corsican named Dominic Cervoni, was the model for the hero of that novel and was to play a picturesque role in Conrad's life and work.

Conrad became heavily enmeshed in debt upon returning to Marseille and apparently unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide. As a sailor in the French merchant navy he was liable to conscription when he came of age, so after his recovery he signed on in April 1878 as a deckhand on a British freighter bound for Constantinople with a cargo of coal. After the return journey his ship landed him at Lowestoft, England, in June 1878. It was Conrad's first English landfall, and he spoke only a few words of the language of which he was to become a recognized master. Conrad remained in England, and in the following October he shipped as an ordinary seaman aboard a wool clipper on the London-Sydney run.

Conrad was to serve 16 years in the British merchant navy. In June 1880 he passed his examination as second mate, and in April 1881 he joined the Palestine, a bark of 425 tons. This move proved to be an important event in his life; it took him to the Far East for the first time, and it was also a continuously troubled voyage, which provided him with literary material that he would use later. Beset by gales, accidentally rammed by a steamer, and deserted by a sizable portion of her crew, the Palestine nevertheless had made it as far as the East Indies when her cargo of coal caught fire and the crew had to take to the lifeboats; Conrad's initial landing in the East, on an island off Sumatra, took place only after a 13 ¹/ ₂ -hour voyage in an open boat. In 1898 Conrad published his account of his experiences on the Palestine, with only slight alterations, as the short story "Youth," a remarkable tale of a young officer's first command.

He returned to London by passenger steamer, and in September 1883 he shipped as mate on the Riversdale, leaving her at Madras to join the Narcissus at Bombay. This voyage gave him material for his novel The Nigger of the "Narcissus," the story of an egocentric black sailor's deterioration and death aboard ship. At about this time Conrad began writing his earliest known letters in the English language. In between subsequent voyages Conrad studied for his first mate's certificate, and in 1886 two notable events occurred: he became a British subject in August, and three months later he obtained his master mariner's certificate.

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In February 1887 he sailed as first mate on the Highland Forest, bound for Semarang, Java. Her captain was John McWhirr, whom he later immortalized under the same name as the heroic, unimaginative captain of the steamer Nan Shan in Typhoon. He then joined the Vidar, a locally owned steamship trading among the islands of the southeast Asian archipelago. During the five or six voyages he made in four and a half months, Conrad was discovering and exploring the world he was to re-create in his first novels, Almayer's Folly, An Outcast of the Islands, and Lord Jim, as well as several short stories.

After leaving the Vidar Conrad unexpectedly obtained his first command, on the Otago, sailing from Bangkok, an experience out of which he was to make his stories "The Shadow-Line" and "Falk." He took over the Otago in unpropitious circumstances. The captain Conrad replaced had died at sea, and by the time the ship reached Singapore, a voyage of 800 miles (1,300 km) that took three weeks because of lack of wind, the whole ship's company, except Conrad and the cook, was down with fever. Conrad then discovered to his dismay that his predecessor had sold almost all the ship's supply of quinine.

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Joseph Conrad | Biography, Books, Short Stories, & Facts

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Joseph Conrad, original name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, (born December 3, 1857, Berdichev, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now Berdychiv, Ukraine]-died August 3, 1924, Canterbury, Kent, England), English novelist and short-story writer of Polish descent, whose works include the novels Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907) and the short story "Heart of Darkness" (1902).

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Why is it necessary to introduce and portrait all the participants in the workshop? For instance, what impact the two south Africans have on the theme?

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Social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line;

a society or institution organized according to the principles or practices of patriarchy.

(by Merriam-Webster)

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Queer is a word that describes sexual and gender identities other than straight and cisgender. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people may all identify with the word queer. Queer desire is the sexual desire of these identities.

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It refers to any situation in which people exchange roles so that one plays the role of the other, e.g. master and servant, adult and child, male and female roles.
(from The Free Dictionary)

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Gender roles in society means how we’re expected to act, speak, dress, groom, and conduct ourselves based upon our assigned sex.
(from planned parenthood)

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The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance.
(from Investopedia)

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Culture conflict a type of conflict that occurs when different culture values and beliefs clash.
(from BohatALA)

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KQ1: What are your first impressions of Kamara? How does she differ from Adichie's other protagonists?

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KQ1: What are your first impressions of Kamara? How does she differ from Adichie's other protagonists?

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The story begins with Kamara looking into the mirror and wishing her figure can be skimmer because of a queer desire she has towards another female character called Tracy. My first impression of her is a baby-sitter in her late twenties or early thirties, whose youth has been revived by another female. Additionally, the way she treats Josh makes her a kind and tolerant baby-sitter who may provide the child with a different domestic education with Josh's father. She is different for being a woman who is working in the basis of service industry in the USA. It shows that she is a working woman instead of a housewife that is fully dependent on her husband.

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KQ2: Some critics argue that there are two types of conflict that Kamara goes through. What are the two types in your personal opinion and can you give examples?

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KQ2: Some critics argue that there are two types of conflict that Kamara goes through. What are the two types in your personal opinion and can you give examples?

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1. Conflict with her husband's American Dream
There are several examples depicted.
For instance, "How old was it? And all the while his eyes were shining with watery dreams. “We will live in a house like that one day in Ardmore, too, or another place on the Main Line,” he said.

She said nothing, because it was not where they lived that

mattered to her, it was what they had become. "

2. Conflict of her marital state and her sexuality
Example 1: Kamara feeling uncomfortable in her marriage:
"In bed, she felt nothing except for the rubbery friction of skin against skin and she clearly remembered the way it

used to be between them."
Example 2: "Kamara watched them drive oʃ in Neil’s Jaguar. Her feet itched to go down the stairs, to knock on Tracy’s door and offer something:

coffee, a glass of water, a sandwich, herself. In the bathroom, she patted her newly braided hair, touched up her lip gloss and mascara, then started down the stairs that led to the basement. "

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The lure of Tracy first comes from her womanly body. In the story, the curves of her figure are depicted several times along with her outfits. Tracy has a body so similar to Kamara but also so different because it's more womanly. At the same time, the paint on her hands shows her being a free artist that does not hold back when showing feeling and desire. On contrary, Kamara grew up and lived most of her life in Nigeria, where people see sex as a way to raise children and love as something supplementary to the marriage in the aspect of law. This is the reason that only by being looked at by Tracy arises Kamara's instinctive sexual desires. On the other hand, the intentional physical contacts of Kamara and Tracy give Kamara a feeling of being noticed and being appreciated. The attention she gains from Tracy is something she desires in a relationship. It is also something that she fails to have in her marriage, which suppresses her true feelings and emotions.

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Why does Kamara say nothing about Tracy flirting with another woman in the end? How does she feel about this? 

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Why does Kamara say nothing about Tracy flirting with another woman in the end? How does she feel about this? 

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An American role-reversal: Women the new breadwinners

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An American role-reversal: Women the new breadwinners

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As women gain strength, and money, in the workplace, households take on a whole new vibe.

She's a soldier. He's a stay-at-home dad.

She works at a booming software company. He's starting a graphic design business.

She's a business executive and electrical engineer. He's quit many jobs to move for her career advancements.

These are real-life examples of how changing gender roles and an evolving economy have reshaped American society in barely a generation - from an Ozzie and Harriet nation found in the classic 1950s sitcom to one in which Harriet is increasingly the breadwinner while Ozzie stays home with the kids.

A USA TODAY analysis of Census Bureau data reveals a revolution in the traditional roles of men and women that extends from college campuses to the workplace to the neighborhoods across this nation. Today, when one spouse works full-time and the other stays home, it's the wife who is the sole breadwinner in a record 23% of families, the analysis finds. When the Census started tracking this in 1976, the number was 6%.

Just as telling, wives outearn their husbands 28% of the time when both work, up from 16% 25 years ago. This means the wife is bringing home the bacon - or at least more bacon than her husband - in more than 12 million American families.

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg (author of Lean In, which explores workplace biases) and Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer (who limited the company's telecommuting policy) have stirred debate about the complex choices occurring as women push themselves higher and higher up the economic ladder. The earning superiority of women over men isn't the rule, but it is increasingly common.

What does this mean in everyday life, not just in the executive suite? To find out, USA TODAY interviewed a dozen female breadwinners and many of their spouses about the role reversal - and how it's working. Several themes emerged:

Education. In nearly every case, the woman is better educated than the man. The wife and husband don't generally consider one smarter than the other. But the men often prefer doing things with their hands or outdoors, while the women excel in school and working at a desk.

Parenting. The role reversal has freed moms who prefer to work and dads who like to nurture. "Patience" - when Dad has it naturally and Mom doesn't - is the attribute both men and women cite for flipping traditional roles.

Health insurance. Who has it? Professional women generally have this precious commodity. Blue-collar men often don't. When kids arrive, the couple's decision is often a matter of familial responsibility.
WHERE EDUCATION MATTERS
The college gap is driving startling changes in financial equations between women and men. Women earned 57% of bachelor's degrees, 60% of master's degrees and 52% of doctoral degrees in 2010, the Education Department reports.

Tiffany Townsend, 36, of Nashville is a college-educated fundraiser. Her husband, Todd, 40, is a carpenter. They discussed having a second child. Financially, it would make sense for her husband to stay home rather than to use day care.

"I'm kind of wistful, wishing I had that option," Townsend says. "I even worry how others would judge me. Women who work are sometimes perceived as sacrificing family for career."

In most cases, the higher-earning working women interviewed by USA TODAY came from households in which their mother was a role model, working long and difficult hours outside the home.

Jill Kennel, 51, of Gresham, Ore., was raised on a Virginia farm. Mom worked in a grocery while Dad farmed. So it didn't seem radical when she became the family's sole breadwinner after her husband lost his landscape irrigation job during the economic downturn and his unemployment benefits ran out in 2011.

She's a software trainer and teaches part-time at community colleges. Her husband, Donald, 55, does the laundry and keeps house. Their children, a son and a daughter, are 17 and 20.

"He makes a wonderful househusband. If I had to sit at home, I'd go nuts," she says.

Donald Kennel is finishing his associate's degree, made affordable by the tuition benefits from his wife's teaching job. He hopes to start on a four-year college degree in the fall and become a civil engineer.
A SOLDIER, A STAY-HOME DAD
As a girl, Army Capt. Kaththea Stagg was told that she was too independent and homemaker was the proper role for a Southern girl. She would have none of that. She enlisted in the Army to rebel against her dad, then found that she loved the military.

After serving her enlisted obligation, Stagg went back to college and rejoined the Army as an officer. She met her future husband during her last year at college. He was a master electrician from Massachusetts working on a Veterans Administration hospital.

Figuring he was the typical sexist guy - sweet at first, then expecting her to change - Stagg didn't expect the relationship to survive her plans. But when she went to Officer's Candidate School in Georgia, he visited every weekend, then took a pay cut to live there. When she was assigned to South Carolina, he followed.

She told him she didn't want to have children alone and needed a stay-at-home dad. "I could do that," he said.

"So I asked him to marry me," recalls Stagg.

Kaththea Stagg and Tom Dunham, both now 33, were married in March 2008. He cares for their two sons, ages 2 and 4. She's in language school studying Korean at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

"From a numbers point of view," he says, "her career is hands down better than mine financially."

On Army posts, Tom Dunham is often the only stay-at-home dad around.

"The Army moms treat me like an outcast. They don't know what to think about a guy in their group," Dunham says. He hangs around with enlisted guys instead.

Dunham doesn't miss his electrician's job. It paid well but was brutal on his body, didn't provide health insurance, required working many holidays and was an unstable source of employment. Now, his time belongs to him and his children.

"You've got to handle your business like a mom," he says.
THE DETERMINED SINGLE MOM
Kim Spight, 40, a FedEx sales manager, got pregnant during her freshman year at Howard University in Washington. "I was young and dumb," she says.

Her hardworking mother, a military veteran, insisted that she not drop out of college. "The reason I work so hard now is that I saw my mother work so hard," Spight says.

During her 16-plus years at FedEx, Spight transferred twice with her daughter and earned a master's degree. She manages a 12-person sales team in Dallas.

"I don't know of anyone at the manager or director level who's in my situation, who is a single parent who had kids when they were young," Spight says.

She's persevered by remaining upbeat and spiritual. "I can't wallow in self-pity and say, 'Woe is me.' What good is that going to do?" Spight asks. "Every day is a great day."

Spight's daughter, 22, is like her mother. She got a job at 16 in fast food and works at Starbucks while attending college. Spight says her daughter's dad does odd jobs and lives with his mother.

"I love my work, but I still dream of getting a better-paying job, moving up, being more successful," she says.
STARTING A CREATIVE BUSINESS
Sarah and Dennis Buchanan got laid off from a small-town newspaper in North Carolina several years ago. She was an editor. He was chief photographer.

A year ago, she got a job at a fast-growing software company that pays twice what she made at the newspaper. Her success allowed her husband to start a graphic design firm - and to avoid returning to an old career as a long-haul truck driver.

"This is the first job I've had that I would consider a career," says Sarah Buchanan, 28. "It feels like a grown-up job."

Dennis Buchanan, 44, is thrilled by her success: "Her cubicle lifestyle has allowed me to push the envelope, to take chances I couldn't normally do."

He still has his commercial driver's license. "I could get on the phone and have a job this afternoon," he says.

But that grueling life - 21 days on the road, 10 days off - is a single man's game, he says. Instead, with a camera and a laptop, he is inventing a business selling full-color, two-sided business cards. "Sometimes I can't sleep at night. The excitement of making this work is so great that it consumes me," he says.

His wife adds, "He's a very creative person. Sitting in a truck all day is not creative."

She has a college education; he doesn't. Her corporate job has health insurance, a crucial benefit because she is a Type I diabetic.

The couple's next challenge: When they have a child, both want to stay home.
THE BRUISED MALE EGO
Sherrie Daseler, 49, is an electrical engineer and plant quality manager at a large medical instrument manufacturer. She has transferred locations seven times as her career advanced. She travels extensively, sometimes overseas, for her job in Holdrege, Neb.

Her husband, Jim, 51, has been a great stay-at-home dad. But the traditional "housewife" role has been a life's disappointment for him.

"I'm kind of expected to have meals made and laundry done. I'm doing it, but it's not what I was hoping for in life," he says.

The path they've taken makes total financial sense. Unlike his wife, Jim doesn't have a college education.

"Sherrie is a fantastic woman, extremely intelligent and the hardest worker you'll ever find," he says. "She earns enough, so I don't have to work."

Jim worked in corrections, construction and as a maintenance manager of a Hilton hotel, a job he loved. Moving every few years and the need for child care made it hard to sustain a work career.

The couple treat the money she earns communally. They have known each other since 1981 and have three children, ages 12, 16 and 18. In many ways, it's a traditional home, except with gender roles reversed.

"I couldn't do all that I do if it were not for him," Sherrie says. "His support has been priceless."

Contributing: Paul Overberg

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/105UZD0

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An American role-reversal: Women the new breadwinners

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As women gain strength, and money, in the workplace, households take on a whole new vibe. She's a soldier. He's a stay-at-home dad. She works at a booming software company. He's starting a graphic design business. She's a business executive and electrical engineer. He's quit many jobs to move for her career advancements.

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conflict---cultural
----gender
----dream and reality
----
intenc

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It means an attitude or belief dictated by probability of people of different gender.

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Toxic masculinity is a term often used to describe the negative aspects of exaggerated masculine traits.

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It means to treat as an object or cause to have objective reality.

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Reflection on "The Hour of 'What about the Men?'"

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Reflection on "The Hour of 'What about the Men?'"

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The extract is really inspiring, as it refers feminism to the opposite of patriarchy, not the men. It is interesting to see how a female writer can see the global issue of feminism in the perspective of men. What I obtained from the extract is the idea that there is separation between the intention of feminism and the outcomes of it. Feminism is, in fact, a novel philosophy that is backed up by humanitarianism and social equality. It is supposed to be against the older belief of sexes, which was often referred as patriarchy. Nonetheless, feminism has negative outcomes as the writer describes. This is in fact really relatable to me. I've seen many examples on the Internet, where feminism sometimes leads to conflicts and bias towards opposite sexes. But, just like the article, I find the importance of revealing and being conscious of the negative impacts since by this, we can truly reach the intentions of feminism when we act as feminists.

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Reflection on "We should all be feminists 

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Reflection on "We should all be feminists 

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I am especially inspired by the part where she talked about how the fact that many men do not see gender as a problem to be one of the major problem of gender. I am able to think more of feminists as not only humanitarians who believe in equality of human-beings, but also people who actively link their belief to context of the modern society. This is actually very relatable to me, because I grew up in a traditional family, in which I was often told be follow many traditions and conventions. Respecting traditions is good and encouraged, but the fact was, I was always told to follow them blindly. The biggest thing feminism has taught me is to be critical, be aware of whether some rules and thoughts that many people believe in can be wrong and outdated. To live in the present and to be loyal only to one's own identity, feminism is more of a philosophy to me.

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In her eyes: what the male gaze means for women’s queer desire

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In her eyes: what the male gaze means for women’s queer desire

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In her eyes: what the male gaze means for women’s queer desire - RUSSH

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Pride in desire. The male gaze is a bind we’re only beginning to loosen. Arca Bayburt explores what that means for the women’s queer desire.

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In her eyes: what the male gaze means for women’s queer desire

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KQ1: How do you perceive the end of the story – as positive or negative? Discuss.

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KQ1: How do you perceive the end of the story – as positive or negative? Discuss.

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I perceive the ending as positive.
From the part about her imagining planting ixora flowers on her son's grave, I see her tie to her motherland. The woman was reminded of her childhood when talking about the flowers. At the same time, the facts that the flowers reminded her of eating and building homes all show how she had been raised and sheltered on the land. In addition, the sense of motherland was also depicted when she was trying to live her new lives with her family though that family member has passed away. Motherland in many situations is closely link to family.
I think the ending showed that the woman has finally made up her mind to stay with the land, the flower and her son.
On the other hand, ixora flowers are actually red flower, just like blood and palm oil in this story. The color red shows a sense of hidden but strong and passionate love, which could not be known by foreigners according to the woman.

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KQ2: Is there any explanation to explain the brutality of the military officers?

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KQ2: Is there any explanation to explain the brutality of the military officers?

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In my opinion, the brutality is no necessary strictness of a firm government, but a kind of "exaggerated selfishness" just like the one of the woman's husband. The brutality is a manipulation of power. To quote from the story, the brutality is something enjoyable that gives the officers " the glower of a grown man who could flog another grown man if he wanted to, when he wanted to."

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Nkem
Obiora
Chioma
Ujunwa
Edward
Isabel
Kamara
Tracy
Neil
Josh
"The Woman"
Ugonna
"The Woman's husband"

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What does the character Tracy represent and indicate about America in the story?

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What does the character Tracy represent and indicate about America in the story?

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English B Individual Oral Marking Criteria HL 2020 (1)

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In part three, try to link topics to the sources you have read.

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KQ1: What point of view did you not consider earlier in class? 

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KQ1: What point of view did you not consider earlier in class? 

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When we were asked the question "if you were born as the apposite sex, would life be easier?", I first was aware of how important "the acceptance of identity" is to feminism. Because for me, though I know the fact that male privilege exists, I still want to be a woman because I am always proud of it. I think the definition of feminism teaches us to believe in equality, while wanting to take advantage from male privilege is a way of showing support to the inequality existing in the society.

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Which argument do you think was expressed the best? 

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Which argument do you think was expressed the best? 

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I think the argument that "male privilege is real" was expressed the best. Because it made me recall how many cases of male privilege I have seen in my life. It reminded me of the severity of this issue.

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KQ3: Did you mind change at all throughout? 

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KQ3: Did you mind change at all throughout? 

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Yes. When teacher Gezina talked about the reversed hierarchy in South Africa, I suddenly doubted the true intentions of feminism and egalitarianism. Why has the former victims of inequality eventually created a society with hierarchy? Does feminists and egalitarians really believe in equality, or are they just unsatisfied with being the victims and people that are suppressed by others in the society instead of the people suppressing others?

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KQ4: Should all men and women work together to create fairness and equality? 

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KQ4: Should all men and women work together to create fairness and equality? 

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I think it is definitely the optimal situation. However, in order to have all people work together to create fairness and equality, we must all agree to the opinion that unfairness and inequality are created by outdated social rules instead of the difference in genders of people. In addition, Therefore, the question itself is problematic to me.

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It is a system of advantages or rights that are available to men solely on the basis of their sex.

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It is the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are regarded as normal or conventional; the dominant trend in opinion, or the arts.

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Its is denoting relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.

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It is deprived (a man) of his male role or identity. / make (someone or something) weaker or less effective.

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All the points has been covered, while the timing was perfect!!!

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I have had points that I agreed and disagreed with the teacher. At the same time, I was able to express my ideas boldly.

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3. Connections have been made with sources!

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3. Connections have been made with sources!

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For certain questions, I was able to link my opinion with real-world examples of the English-speaking countries.

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An interesting aspect of this story was that it was written in a very simple and immature language. In the whole story, we can see that the majority of the story is written in short and direct sentences that I consider them to be "not native". This, in my opinion, is automatically linked to the fact that the story is written in first person perspective by an immigrant. I believe that the immaturity in use of language also create  a sense of foreignness, which can be linked to the theme of the story---immigration.
At the same time, the story depicted many cultural elements of Ireland in order to emphasize that the immigrants are ostracize and isolated. The cultural elements included accents, food, street and so on. All were very daily and ordinary of Irish lifestyle.

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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Irish Accent

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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Irish Accent

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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Irish Accent

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What is the Irish accent, or are there perhaps more than one? Here’s an overview of Irish English, including where it comes from and how it sounds today.

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a way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad, etc. : humor that shows the weaknesses or bad qualities of a person, government, society, etc.

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It is a narrative composed from personal experience.

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Mixed blood
Bi-raced

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Segregation is the separation or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group by enforced or voluntary residence in a restricted area, by barriers to social intercourse, by separate educational facilities, or by other discriminatory means.

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In the past in South Africa, a system under which people of different races were kept separate by law, and White people were given more political rights and educational and other advantages.
1888---Europeans' arrival
1910--- start apartheid
1948---official apartheid
1994-----ban apartheid

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It is a person whose ancestors belonged to two or more races.

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KQ1:The title of his memoir is It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime. What is the meaning of “born a crime”? How would it feel for your very existence to be considered a crime? How does this concept impact Trevor’s life?

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KQ1:The title of his memoir is It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime. What is the meaning of “born a crime”? How would it feel for your very existence to be considered a crime? How does this concept impact Trevor’s life?

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"Born a Crime", in the story collection, refers to the fact that the protagonist was the child of a black South African and a white European. This was seemed as against the law back then in South Africa. Being born as a crime means that the existence of a person bears more than others. Trevor Noah represents the conflicts between different races in South Africa. At the same time, considering someone's existence to be legally wrong is against humanity in modern society. Trevor, for instance, was marginalized and isolated even as a child. He was forbidden to have a complete family like everyone else. This has already shown how inhumane the South African society at that time was.

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KQ2: What does apartheid mean? Look up the definition and discuss the history of apartheid in South Africa with reference to the two stories you have read so far.

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KQ2: What does apartheid mean? Look up the definition and discuss the history of apartheid in South Africa with reference to the two stories you have read so far.

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policy that governed relations between South Africa’s white minority and nonwhite majority for much of the latter half of the 20th century, sanctioning racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against nonwhites. Although the legislation that formed the foundation of apartheid had been repealed by the early 1990s, the social and economic repercussions of the discriminatory policy persisted into the 21st century.
When reading Trevor's story, the term apartheid reminded me of the Babel Tower. The way god used to break the tower was to make people different, so they would be busy arguing and fighting with each other rather than trying to reach the god's realm. The apartheid exaggerated and sorted people base on tribes and races, which has created conflicts and even wars between people. It has also created extreme inequality and social hierarchy in South African. However, since the rule itself was problematic, the rule has also prevented people to stand together as a whole to fight for their collective independence and right.

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"Born a crime" is a memoir, which is a genre that I have read before, it will definitely be interested for me to explore it further in EB classes. Though the author was born in a society where inequality existed and human right was suppressed, Trevor's satire tone eased the cruel nature of it, and made a heavy history more entertaining to get to know. During his coming of age, Trevor, as a bi-racial child in a society that forbids bi-racial children to be born, went through a lot of unique experience, in which I, as a reader, also get to understand the apartheid system in South African. This is a system that shocks me so much because I thought system like this has long died out.

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reverse apartheid

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Afrikaans (UK: / ˌ æ f r ɪ ˈ k ɑː n s /, US: / ˌ ɑː f-/) is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of Holland (Hollandic dialect) spoken by the Dutch settlers in South Africa, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century.

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Zulu,
Xhosa
Tswana
Sotho
Venda

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Zulu, a nation of Nguni-speaking people in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. They are a branch of the southern Bantu and have close ethnic, linguistic, and cultural ties with the Swazi and Xhosa. The Zulu are the single largest ethnic group in South Africa and numbered about nine million in the late 20th century.
Zulu means sky in its language.  Zulu was the name of the ancestor who founded the Zulu royal line in about 1670.
IsiZulu is South Africa's most widely spoken official language. It is a tonal language understood by people from the Cape to Zimbabwe and is characterized by many "clicks".
It has rich oral tradition.
Ancestral spirits are important in Zulu religious life, and offerings and sacrifices are made to the ancestors for protection, good health, and happiness. They converted christianity with their original religion.

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The four major ethnic divisions among Black South Africans are the Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda. The Nguni represent nearly two thirds of South Africa's Black population and can be divided into four distinct groups; the Northern and Central Nguni (the Zulu-speaking peoples), the Southern Nguni (the Xhosa-speaking peoples), the Swazi people from Swaziland and adjacent areas, and the Ndebele people of the Northern Province and Mpumalanga. Archaeological evidence shows that the Bantu-speaking groups, that were the ancestors of the Nguni, migrated down from East Africa as early as the eleventh century - see South Africa's general history timeline.
Language, culture and beliefs:
The Zulu language, of which there are variations, is part of the Nguni language group. The word Zulu means "Sky" and according to oral history, Zulu was the name of the ancestor who founded the Zulu royal line in about 1670. Today it is estimated that there are more than 45 million South Africans, and the Zulu people make up about approximately 22% of this number. The largest urban concentration of Zulu people is in the Gauteng Province, and in the corridor of Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The largest rural concentration of Zulu people is in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

IsiZulu is South Africa's most widely spoken official language. It is a tonal language understood by people from the Cape to Zimbabwe and is characterized by many "clicks". In 2006 it was determined that approximately 9 million South Africans speak Xhosa as a home language.

The following overview of the language was written by B.P. Mngadi for UNESCO's World Languages Report (2000):
"The writing of Zulu was started by missionaries in the then Natal. The names J W Colenso, S B Stone, H Callaway and Lewis Grant are among the prominent. They taught the first people with whom they made contact, spreading the word of God, basic writing skills in Zulu. Magema Fuze, Ndiyane and William were among the very first who were taught communicative English and basic writing skills at about 1830-1841. The first Zulu Christian booklet was produced by Newton Adams, George Newton and Aldin Grout (1837-8) titled "Incwadi Yokuqala Yabafundayo" which dealt with the spelling of Zulu words and the history of the Old Testament. Between 1845 and 1883, the first translated version of the Bible was produced in very old Zulu orthography. In 1859 the first Zulu Grammar Book by L. Grout was produced".
Its oral tradition is very rich but its modern literature is still developing. J.L Dube was the first Zulu writer (1832) though his first publication was a Zulu story written in English titled "A Talk on my Native Land". In 1903 he concentrated in editing the newspaper "Ilanga LaseNatali". His first Zulu novel "Insila kaShaka" was published in 1930. We see a steady growth of publications especially novels from 1930 onwards.

The clear-cut distinction made today between the Xhosa and the Zulu has no basis in culture or history but arises out of the colonial distinction between the Cape and Natal colonies. Both speak very similar languages and share similar customs, but the historical experiences at the northern end of the Nguni culture area differed considerably from the historical experiences at the southern end. The majority of northerners became part of the Zulu kingdom, which abolished circumcision. The majority of southerners never became part of any strongly centralised kingdom, intermarried with Khoikhoi and retained circumcision.

Many Zulu people converted to Christianity under colonialism. However, although there are many Christian converts, ancestral beliefs have not disappeared. Instead, there has been a mixture of traditional beliefs and Christianity. Ancestral spirits are important in Zulu religious life, and offerings and sacrifices are made to the ancestors for protection, good health, and happiness. Ancestral spirits come back to the world in the form of dreams, illnesses, and sometimes snakes. The Zulu also believe in the use of magic. Ill fortune such as bad luck and illness is considered to be sent by an angry spirit. When this happens, the help of a traditional healer is sought, and he or she will communicate with the ancestors or use natural herbs and prayers, to get rid of the problem.
Late nineteenth-century postcard of Zulu Warriors
(note the Europeans in the background)
The Zulu are fond of singing as well as dancing. These activities promote unity at all transitional ceremonies such as births, weddings, and funerals. All the dances are accompanied by drums and the men dress as warriors (see image).

Zulu folklore is transmitted through storytelling, praise-poems, and proverbs. These explain Zulu history and teach moral lessons. Praise-poems (poems recited about the kings and the high achievers in life) is becoming part of popular culture. The Zulu, especially those from rural areas, are known for their weaving, craft-making, pottery, and beadwork.

The Zulu term for "family" (umndeni) includes all the people staying in a homestead who are related to each other, either by blood, marriage, or adoption. Drinking and eating from the same plate was and still is a sign of friendship. It is customary for children to eat from the same dish, usually a big basin. This derives from a "share what you have" belief which is part of Ubuntu (humane) philosophy.
Origins:
Long ago, before the Zulu were forged as a nation, they lived as isolated family groups and partly nomadic northern Nguni groups. These groups moved about within their loosely defined territories in search of game and good grazing for their cattle. As they accumulated livestock, and supporters family leaders divided and dispersed in different directions, while still retaining family networks.

The Zulu homestead (imizi) consisted of an extended family and others attached to the household through social obligations. This social unit was largely self-sufficient, with responsibilities divided according to gender. Men were generally responsible for defending the homestead, caring for cattle, manufacturing and maintaining weapons and farm implements, and building dwellings. Women had domestic responsibilities and raised crops, usually grains, on land near the household.

By the late eighteenth century, a process of political consolidation among the groups was beginning to take place. A number of powerful chiefdoms began to emerge and a transformation from a pastoral society to a more organised statehood occurred. This enabled leaders to wield more authority over their own supporters and to compel allegiance from conquered chiefdoms. Changes took place in the nature of political, social, and economic links between chiefs of these emerging power blocs and their subjects. Zulu chiefs demanded steadily increasing tribute or taxes from their subjects, acquired great wealth, commanded large armies, and, in many cases, subjugated neighbouring chiefdoms.

Military conquest allowed men to achieve status distinctions that had become increasingly important. This culminated early in the nineteenth century with the warrior-king Shaka conquering all the groups in Zululand and uniting them into a single powerful Zulu nation, that made its influence felt over southern and central Africa. Shaka ruled from 1816 to 1828, when he was assassinated by his brothers.

Shaka recruited young men from all over the kingdom and trained them in his own novel warrior tactics. His military campaign resulted in widespread violence and displacement, and after defeating competing armies and assimilating their people, Shaka established his Zulu nation. Within twelve years, he had forged one of the mightiest empires the African continent has ever known. The Zulu empire weakened after Shaka's death in 1828.

One of the most significant events in Zulu history was the arrival of Europeans in Natal. By the late 1800s, British troops had invaded Zulu territory and divided Zulu land into different chiefdoms. The Zulu never regained their independence ( see Anglo-Zulu Wars).

Natal received "Colonial government" in 1893, and the Zulu people were dissatisfied about being governed by the Colony. A plague of locusts devastated crops in Zululand and Natal in 1894 and 1895, and their cattle were dying of rinderpest, lung sickness and east coast fever. These natural disasters impoverished them and forced more men to seek employment as railway construction workers in northern Natal and on the mines in the Witwatersrand.

The last Zulu uprising, led by Chief Bambatha in 1906, was a response to harsh and unjust laws and unimaginable actions by the Natal Government. It was sparked off by the imposition of the 1905 poll tax of £1 per head, introduced to increase revenue and to force more Zulus to start working for wages. The uprising was ruthlessly suppressed ( see Bambatha Rebellion).

The 1920s saw fundamental changes in the Zulu nation. Many were drawn towards the mines and fast-growing cities as wage earners and were separated from the land and urbanised. Zulu men and women have made up a substantial portion of South Africa's urban workforce throughout the 20th century, especially in the gold and copper mines of the Witwatersrand. Zulu workers organized some of the first black labour unions in the country. For example, the Zulu Washermen's Guild, Amawasha, was active in Natal and the Witwatersrand even before the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910. The Zululand Planters' Union organized agricultural workers in Natal in the early twentieth century.

The dawn of apartheid in the 1940s marked more changes for all Black South Africans, and in 1953 the South African Government introduced the "homelands". In the 1960s the Government's objective was to form a "tribal authority" and provide for the gradual development of self-governing Bantu national units. The first Territorial Authority for the Zulu people was established in 1970 and the Zulu homeland of KwaZulu was defined. On 30 March 1972 the first Legislative Assembly of KwaZulu was constituted by South African Parliamentary Proclamation.

Chief Mangosutho (Gatsha) Buthelezi, a cousin of the king, was elected as Chief Executive. The town of Nongoma was temporarily consolidated as the capital, pending completion of buildings at Ulundi. The 1970s also saw the revival of Inkatha, later the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the ruling and sole party in the self-governing KwaZulu homeland. Led by Chief Minister Mangosutho Buthelezi, Inkatha worked within the NP governments system, but it opposed homeland independence, standing for a non-racial democracy, federalism, and free enterprise.

Military prowess continued to be an important value in Zulu culture, and this emphasis fuelled some of the political violence of the 1990s. Buthelezi's nephew, Goodwill Zwelithini, was the Zulu monarch in the 1990s. Buthelezi and King Goodwill won the agreement of ANC negotiators just before the April 1994 elections that, with international mediation, the government would establish a special status for the Zulu Kingdom after the elections. Zulu leaders understood this special status to mean some degree of regional autonomy within the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Buthelezi was appointed minister of home affairs in the first Government of National Unity in 1994. He led a walkout of Zulu delegates from the National Assembly in early 1995 and clashed repeatedly with newly elected President Nelson (Rolihlahla) Mandela. Buthelezi threatened to abandon the Government of National Unity entirely unless his Zulu constituency received greater recognition and autonomy from central government control.

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The four major ethnic divisions among Black South Africans are the Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda. The Nguni represent nearly two thirds of South Africa's Black population and can be divided into four distinct groups; the Northern and Central Nguni (the Zulu-speaking peoples), the Southern Nguni (the Xhosa-speaking peoples), the Swazi people from Swaziland and adjacent areas, and the Ndebele people of the Northern Province and Mpumalanga.

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Southern African a perceived bias against White people following the end of Apartheid. This bias is referred as reverse apartheid.