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Altering Environments and Dynamic Identities

By bgenaro
October 27, 2014 - 21:29
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All Over Creation notes

  • Yumi feeling like an “exotic plant” in her home because she is different than everyone else
  • The environment controlling the way the characters feel or to the extent they succeed
  • The sharp contrast between the tropical environment where Yumi moves to and the vast environment of her hometown.
  • The altering environments can have different effects on different people depending on where they are from and what their priorities are.
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Shallow Apologies and Avoided Identities

By rebeccamec
October 27, 2014 - 19:29
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I am so thankful for the discussion we had the other day about feminism as manifested in Adiche's talk and Beyonce's "Flawless." I am further interested in how it is represented in the novel, like rosea. Does Ifemelu consider herself a feminist? Does Obinze? Ifemelu seems fiercely independent, but some of her thoughts about men made me wonder if she thinks her purpose in life is to serve them. Obinze has had some very problematic and sexist thoughts, especially when referring to how sorry he feels for his "good wife" who seems to never be good enough, though she's very pretty. His thoughts aren't blatantly sexist, but have the twinge of sliminess that Margaret Atwood's male characters have. Their thoughts don't sit well with a person who tries to be aware of gender inequalities.

Education and Intersectionality

By Hummingbird
October 27, 2014 - 17:24
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khinchey and I are planning to do the listening/talking project together. We want to talk specifically about different identities – class, age, caregiving, etc. – and how those have played out in and impacted our educational experiences. In particular we are interested in the ways these identities intersect with norms and expectations around Bryn Mawr and what it means to be a student here. We want to structure the project in the style of listening and telling we did in Monsoon and Benifer's Saturday workshop. khinchey suggested inviting the McBrides and our 360 classmates to view the listening and telling, and perhaps having time for questions afterwards. 

Response to Green

By changing9
October 27, 2014 - 17:15
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I think exploring the relationship between Yumi and Elliott is a great idea. You could devote some time to the nature of the relationship she had with him at the age of fourteen and then compare it with the relationship she had later. I don't know if I agree with you about whether Yumi did in fact grow up to become more conscious of her choices, because in my opinion, the fact that she went back to Elliott so easily, shows that she was still to some extent the same naive girl who hoped that Elliott might have changed over the years even when all evidence suggested otherwise.

Response to nienna

By changing9
October 27, 2014 - 17:02
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The metaphor you draw on between raising a child and growing a potato is simply fascinating, and I think you could explore that to a great extent. You could even use it to analyze Lloyd's success/failure as a father since he might have expected the similarities between growing potatoes and raising Yumi to be more, and might have assumed that Yumi would need the same level of attention as his potato crops.

Joining this group

By nbarker
October 27, 2014 - 17:01
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Ndifrank, Sunshine, and I discussed this earlier, but I'd like to add on that they have graciously allowed me to join their group. I realy agree with how well this has been thought out, especially how it takes into account different levels of comfort & ability, and the need for the humanization in this debate. In addition (I thought of this after our in-person conversation), it might be a good idea to set up an anonymous way to add in comments, to even make confidentiality & accessibility greater. 

Can't wait to get this going!

Response to Leigh Alexander

By The Unknown
October 27, 2014 - 16:53
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People at birth are given a name.   It is this name that follows us through our lives, and gains meaning to those around us as we develop who we ourselves are.  Yet, as we struggle through the process of growth and reform, the gaining of knowledge and the loss of innocence, our names become more pliable to the world around us.  Just as we become more able to define ourselves, as we open our view of the environment we are a member of[1], we become more aware of the roles we should be playing[2], and the environment has the ability to pressure[3] our identities to shift accordingly.