http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095
Monthly Archives: February 2017
SOCIAL BIAS: PREJUDICE, STEREOTYPING, AND DISCRIMINATION Sabrina Keene
This summarises quite well the key terms.
House girls 2
A lot of the families with children I knew had a house girl.
A church Frend had a girl the same age as Araba. The children of the family went to a high cost catholic school while she went to a low cost methodist school. I guess that would be mainly because she could not have passed the entrance exams to the catholic school. Her English language skills were not so good and that would contribute to failure in other topics too as the teaching language was English. She was with the family for a long time but one day she did not come to church any more. Her madam had sent her home, saying she was lazy and would gossip about the family in the school. “She would tell them I was beating her. What an embarrassment.” I don’t know if she really did beat her but I would not be surprised if she did. Later the woman got pregnant again and she was troubled. She could not ask the girl to return again but needed a house girl to help.
My neighbour also had a house girl which she was not satisfied with. The girl was around 9 years old. After sending her away she requested her relatives to look for another girl for her. She told me how disappointed she was when they brought a 7 year old girl to her. She was younger than her oldest child. “What can this girl do? Just another mouth to feed.” Araba told me later that she had noticed how that little girl would do all the chores in the house and her own children would do nothing.
Elämän ja kuoleman kuvat Analyysi evankelis-luterilaisen uskonnon etiikan oppikirjojen abortin teeman kuvituksesta by Niina Sikilä
This thesis uses hermeneutics to analyse roles assigned to sexes in the studied material.
http://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/97018/GRADU-1430396904.pdf?sequence=1
I think I should include this approach, at least modified, so that I could somehow have a standard when I analyse the sketches and illustrations afterwards.Ok I understand it is against the nature of hermeneutics to analyse one’s own production, but maybe there is something to learn.
Oh dear, as I read more I get ever more confused. What is discourse analysis? How am I supposed to know what kind of analysis method to use? Can’t I just take a look back to what I have designed and kind of reflect on them, analyse them, without using any specific method? I’m so lost…
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN THE DESIGN PROCESS – How designers recognize and utilize their personal experiences in the design process By Maaria Tiensivu
Good thesis which deals with spersonal experiences and auto ethnography in design process.
http://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/107885/tiensivu_maaria.pdf?sequence=1
The Big Fight
I am now expecting my second child. We are staying 2 years in Finland for my studies. My husband was asking wether I wanted us to pay air tickets for his sister to come and take care of the baby for me the first month. I considered it but did not find it reasonable.”I don’t think it’s a good idea. She won’t be able to do anything. The way we cook, shop and move about is so different from anything she is used to. She would not be much of a help.” I argued.
Then my husband corrected me. “What you just said sounds very selfish. She would not come here to serve you. She is not supposed to do everything for you. I have noticed it before. Even in Ghana.” I was shocked. I would never assume she would do everything for me or be my servant. I would not expect that of anyone. How could he accuse me of something like that!
We argued for hours. I felt horrible. Was it really true that this is how I appeared to other people; as a selfish woman who takes advantage of others like a hideous colonialist? These thoughts put me so down. I swore in my mind I would not accept any help from our relatives if it meant I would be accused of something like this again. I rather struggle trough life alone.
The house girls
The first time I visited my inlaws’ house was a shock. They had a tiny compound where they had built one tiny mud house and one equally tiny and simple cement house, with kitchen out doors. For the sake of me and my mother, my husband had arranged a shelter from sun as a lounge and an outhouse with shower to be built. Despite of these improvements I was absolutely shocked. Later I would be ashamed of my reaction. As if I had been expecting life to be the same here as on the opposite side of the world.
The family had a young girl living with them and I was told she is not a family member. Despite of her being the same age as the boys of my brother in law who was living there too, she was doing all the house work. My mother in law would shout at her and make her too a lot of work. I felt pity on her and. could not understand why she was there and not with her own family.
We went to visit my husband’s relatives on my first trip to Ghana. We drove trough a very bushy road and reached a rural community. The place was so stripped down compared to the great infrastructure of the capital city not far away. A family of seven lived in a tiny mud house roofed with hey. There were chicken and goats everywhere. But the place was peaceful and serene to me. By this time I had gotten over my first shock of the very different standard of life here.
I was introduced to the children. Araba however ran away and hid herself. She later told me she was afraid I would catch her and take her away from her parents. How right she was…
On my next trip to Ghana I met Araba finally. We took the children to the capital city for excursion. They saw the airport and the mall and we bought them ice-cream (which was too sweet for their liking) and toys. They stayed in our rented apartment over night and in the morning we took them back home. Upon arrival Araba was cranky and disappointed. I was told that she would have wanted to stay with us and watch TV and eat sweets.
Years later as we moved to Ghana my husband began to talk of taking Araba to live with us to help me around. The main motive was to get me someone as a Frend and guide in this new country. I opposed the idea. How would a small girl of 11 be of any help? I was actually more terrified by the idea of being seen as a white Colonial master having a little servant.
As my husband got work from the city and we had to move there life became hard for me. I was not able to do almost anything. Power and water rationing made simple house keeping unbearable. My fingers would bleed any time I tried to do laundry. I was too afraid to go to town on my own so buying anything was a problem. I was helpless and lonely. There was no-one to talk to.
It was then that I gave in and we decided to go for Araba. We travelled to the village to fetch her. Her parents were happy to give her away as she would be provided with good living standards and education in a city which was famous for having top schools in the country. Araba was quiet that day. I think she was exited and nervous, but was not grasping how it would really be to leave her mother and father.
As we got to our home she immediately tried to get her hands into house shores. My husband had to stop her and said she was not brought here as a maid but as a family member. We would take care of the home together.
In the beginning Araba did not want to join us in the dining table. I felt bad and once again my husband had to remind her that she was part of the family and should join us.
Sometimes Araba would cry for home sickness. I tried to make her call home thinking it would help her but she said it would only make her miss them more. I told her that I could never replace her mother but I loved her and would want to be her friend her sister. I’m afraid I did not do so well in that. I remember one time she cried and asked wether I would treat my own child the way I did her. I did not understand what she meant and she would not tell me. I wondered if I had made her work too hard. I thought I had joined in the labour equally much. In Europe children did not have to join the house chores. I did join as a child but it was true that my chores were quite much lighter. Hesitantly I said that I was treating her just like I would my own child. I now have a son of 1 years and I wonder wether we will expect him to work as hard as we expected Araba to work as he grows up. I’m also wondering wether she actually meant that I was not giving her enough affection. I think I was not able to let her know often enough that I loved her.
Araba must have felt so lonely. She had a big almost empty room to herself and no-one to play with. She had to join a new school at class six where she knew nobody. Our land lady however had a house girl a little younger than Araba. She was not the relative of the land lady and was treated as a servant. Our land lady would mistake Araba to be in the same position but I would try to emphasise to her that Araba was not a domestic servant and that the land lady should not treat her as such.
Araba and the house girl became friends. Well, short of. They lived on the same compound so they interacted a lot. The house girl had very little time to play but she would call for Araba from her window to chat with her. Sometimes we could hear her screams trough that same window when she was being beaten by the land lady or her husband. I had no-idea what to do. I knew it was horrible and wrong but that no police would ever care if we reported the case. Corporal punishment of children was after all legal.
We moved away from that place to an apartment rented by the University my husband and I were working with. The day Araba had to say goodbye to her friend was hard. Araba was so worried of the girl who would now be all alone on the mercies of the land lady. Some years later she would see her in the market place selling water sachets from a bowl she was carrying on her head. She told her the land lady had grew tired of her and she was now living with another family. I doubt she was any better off and wondered if she was going to school. I think she stopped after class six because Araba would see her from the window of the school buss on the street selling when she should have been on her way to school.
As time passed by we developed a deeper relationship and Araba settled down well. We would travel to see her family twice every year and I think she was fine with that. Often she would cry when we returned and then I would ask if she wanted to stay. She would always deny.
I got pregnant with my first child. Araba insisted on coming with us to the hospital. She was there mostly on the lobby was allowed once to come and see me and she even offered to rub my back. When our son was born she was allowed to hold him. She looks nervous and exited in the photo holding a 20 minute old baby. She and her big sister and later her big brother were helping me to take care of my son. Once she had to stay home alone with him for 2 hours. She had let the baby to hold the neck line of her shirt so that he would calm down and sleep. She often carried him in her back. She was a bit ruff while playing with him but seemed to love him anyhow. I think the birth of my son made us finally a family.
Then we had to leave. I wanted to do my masters in Finland. We had to leave Araba to finish her studies. She had one more month of junior high school left. Her grandfather would move in to take care of her and then they would travel back to the village she was born in. I was worried that her sorrow would spoil her success in the final exams but she was able to perform. I remember how we both cried as we departed. I saw her vanish behind the corner as our car drove off the yard. I felt I had abandoned my child. She must have felt so betrayed.
We only talked on few occasions over the phone knowing not what to talk about. We were so completely separated. I sent photos of my son and asked if she was doing fine and if she was reading books. Then she got to go to secondary school after summer holidays. Secondary school is a boarding school and mobile phones are not allowed. I have not heard of her since Christmas. The next time I can talk with her will be Easter. I wonder if we will be so close any more when we return to Ghana after two years of separation. I miss her.
Comic?
I have been wondering if I still could swop the illustrations to a comic. It would make no difference to the topic as I would still evaluate the presentation of characters. I feel my experiences would create an interesting story line and trough comic it would be easier for me to communicate with the viewer. I feel like the illustrations would be just too vague. I have a desire to tell more about the topic.
My fear is not that I would not finish on time, I think I will. Rather it is about wether comics fit the area of design. Is it going too far towards the field of media studies?
Well this article is trying to highlight the connection between comics and (graphic) design. http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v7_3/evensen/
I guess it does fit well with graphic design, less so with the other fields of design to which my course is more dedicated to. But I should make decisions that fit my career and not those that fit the course outline.
I’m even sure the sketches I have made so far will find their way to the comic. And actually this is such a topic that I would love to produce a comic about it anyhow. Why not hit two flies with one stone? I hope my supervisor is not varied for the sudden turn around.
Underage Domestic Workers
I will probably have to read a bit more about underage domestic workers. A few helpful sources I will need to read trough:
https://www.unicef.org/wcaro/english/Briefing_paper_No_1_-_child_domestic_workers.pdf
Pride
Ok ok this comes after watching art of Kehinde Wiley. The way he gives his characters pride, self worth and respect.
I’m afraid I did not quite nail it. It’s more like “life is hard but I’m trying to be brave, mommy”…
It’s generally a really bad idea to try to draw right after watching some great artist’s portfolio. I feel worthless…
ILLUSTRATING THE OTHER 