Children’s Games Social Hierarchy &

Revolution

Area: 65,610 km2

1.82 of Taiwan images

UNSD statistical division for Asia based on statistic convenience rather than implying any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories:

 North Asia   Central Asia   Western Asia (Middle East)   South Asia   East Asia   Southeast Asia (source)

Azerbaijan

Turkey 

IranIraq

• Friends in a garden

• Child Bride • loss, betrayal

and sense of fragmentation

• Friends in a garden

• Child Bride • loss, betrayal

and sense of fragmentation

Gender & Race

Gender & Race

Earth Earth

•Bride-Bride game, marriage, widowhood, sex Childbirth & children on the beach

•Bride-Bride game, marriage, widowhood, sex Childbirth & children on the beach

Class & GenderClass & Gender

GaindaGainda

--Bollywood Film & Dance--Work, Drug dealing, robbery, prostitution-- Betrayal and Survival

--Bollywood Film & Dance--Work, Drug dealing, robbery, prostitution-- Betrayal and Survival

Poverty & Gender

Poverty & Gender

Salaam BombaySalaam Bombay

Mica mining & Child labor 

Introduction: the author, the book and Sri Lanka

“Pigs Can’t Fly” › I. Childhood Games and Social System› II. Battle for Power and Gender Boundaries› III. Ending

Born: Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1963› Father Tamil, mother Sinhalese › Immigrated to Canada, 1984. -- his

family forced into exile after the 1983 racial riot against the Tamil in Colombo.

Education: York University, Toronto. Funny Boy: A Novel in Six Stories

--read by the Sri Lankan President and prompted a national debate on the need to repeal the antisodomy law in the country (Salgado 100)

Funny Boy – set against the increasing violence between a between Sinhalese and Tamil in Sri Lank, culminating in the civil war which lasted for almost a decade(1983-1991). The protagonist, "Arjie" Chelvaratnam, is

the second-son of a privileged middle-class Tamil family in Colombo.

Connected stories of how Arjie is continually isolated from his family and then exiled from his society because of his gender orientation and the society’s racial tensions and despite attempts at breaking boundaries and rebellion.

› "Pigs Can't Fly”-- Arjie's early childhood and his gravitation towards the imaginative games his female cousins play as opposed to his male cousins' beloved game of cricket.

› "Radha Aunty" --Arjie's Aunt Radha, and her doomed affair with a Sinhalese man.

› "See No Evil, Hear No Evil“-- his mother's extra-marital affair with a childhood sweetheart.

› "Small Choices" --chronicles one of Arjie's first crushes a puppy love obsession with a young man employed by his Father

› “The Best School of All” – Arjie’s experience of the conflicts between colonial education and Sinhalese nativism, between his need to conform and his love for Shehan.

› "Riot Journal" -- first hand accounts of anti-Tamil violence. (Black July)

Sinhalese （僧伽羅人） migrated from Northern India to Sri Lanka since 5th-6th century BCE, while Tamil ( 坦米爾人 ) came from Southern India around since 2th BCE.

Sinhalese -- Buddhism Tamil -- Hinduism, more sent to Sri Lanka by

the British government and supported by the latter.

Since its independence as Ceylon, the Sinhalese (80% majority) put forth “Sinhala Only Law” in support of their political power, which causes discontent among the Tamil people (20%).

1. 3:00 – Tamil imported to Sri Lanka by the British

2. Sinhalese rise to power after Independence

3. Civil War: 4:00 the burning of the library 5:19 1983 retalion of Tamils

4. History updated: 1983-2006 -- civil war (4 peace talks,

100,000 people dead)2004 – striken by South Asian tsunami –about

35,000 dead 2009 -- LTTE defeated

Ammachi/Appachi

Territory & Leadership: How are the boys' game and girls' game

divided up and located? Describe the other parts of Grandma’s house (p. 3)*

What are the rules of the boys' cricket game and the girls' Bride-Bride?   Do these rules make sense?   Do these groups' structure reflect that of adults, or not? 

Who are the “leaders” of the children’s games and social games?

What does the title mean?

Her Fatness vs. Arjie› How does Her Fatness fight for attention &

power? › What gender roles do Arjie and Her Fatness

take respectively in their power struggle?  Cricket vs. Bride-Bride:

› How does Arjie cross gender boundaries? Who else does so, too?* *

› What roles do the adults (parents, Aunt Kanthi, grandma, Janaki) play?

What does the ending mean?  ***

Funny --either humorous or strange (17); disgust

But Meena also crosses gender boundaries in playing the cricket game.

The other girls do, too, in the bride-bride game.

Arjie’s view of being a bride (5) and jewel and sari (15)

the story is about the ideological system (the sky), and the power struggles within it.

Two perspectives A. Gender vs. religious fundamentalism: How does Marjane experience revolution and

war as a child & an adult? How does her family survive and/or suffer from

the Khomeini regime The images of tulip and jasmine; the roles of

women B. Exile and cultural identity: The 1st time – isolation or liberation? The 2nd Exile – after marriage and a friend’s

death -- any difference? C. Filmic Techniques?

1.Childhood & Revolution 2.Teenage Years & War 3.Europe – a. 1st 3 years b. love & dejection 4. Postwar Iran – a. return w/

depression & School; b. Iran – marriage & divorce + departure

Group 4 – Pigs 1; Persepolis 2 teenage Presenter (1) Wenny (2) Yoko

Group 3 -- – Pigs 2; Persepolis 1 childhood Presenter (1) Alan (2)Coco Group 2 -- – Pigs 3; Persepolis 3 Europe Presenter (1) (2)Charlotte, Agnes Group 1 – Pigs 4; Persepolis 4 postwar Iran Presenter (1) (2) Shirley, Bluence

Avoid Mamachi (2) and Janaki The dark corridor (2) Territoriality and leadership (3) Girls’ territory potential for free play

of fantasy (4)

Arjie as the leader because of “the force of his imagination”(p. 4)

His imagination– allows him to "leave the constraints of [his] self and ascend into another, more brilliant, more beautiful self" (5).

Still conditioned by the goddesses of the Sinhalese and Tamil cinema (breaking the racial boundary).

A world for girls – the groom the most useless (p. 6)

Competition -- with winning as the goal;

trading players › less powerful ones: e.g. Sanjay› girlie-boy: Arjie

the batting order – p. 26 › Numbers marked in the sand for the

players to step on; › The older and better ones play first

Her Fatness – in need of attention › An outsider pp. 6-› Kanthi Aunt – her anger (pp. 7-8)

Wins attention › by lying about not having a friend (7) › by showing off the dolls (p. 8) –which is

less powerful than the bride-bride game; › by playing a loud groom (9) › by appealing to traditional gender

boundaries (11) “A girl must be the bride.”

Insisting on the rule to be the first one to play so that he becomes offensive and can run away

the sari in the bag as a weapon Agrees to play the groom, and then

attracts the other girls’ attention. Sari gone – so is his power.

Amachi and her cane p. 38 The seaside and the tall building as a

mirage p. 38 Exiled

Salgado, minoli. Writing Sri Lanka: Literature, Resistance & the Politics of Place. NY: Routledge, 2007.1. BBC: Sri Lanka+Tamil Tigers: Evolution of the Ethnic War (1)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1UnhPq8Pio (2)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArqcfDhHg9o

Persepolis Introduction

› Review: Purdah from different perspectives

› Purdah/the veil in Persepolis Discussion Questions A child’s perspective on religious

fundamentalism and war The cultural identity of an exile

Purdah 深閨制度 -- Purdah is the practice that includes the seclusion of women from public observation by wearing concealing clothing from head to toe and by the use of high walls, curtains, and screens erected within the home. Purdah is practiced by Muslims and by various Hindus, especially in India. (http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/purdah.html )

Burqa = body-covering, head-covering + face veil

types of sartorial hijab (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of_sartorial_hijab )

Mostly believers in Islam see purdah as a very positive and respectful practice that actually liberates women.

Different Views: e.g. – 《回教女性的面紗》› Muslim girls in UK; › in Iran › In Egypt › in Nigeria, etc.

In France, 2004 -- a law was set to prohibit students to wear any clearly visible religious symbols; thus wearing the burqa has been banned in public schools.

The mother feels breathless wearing it, once humiliated when someone says: “Put your scarf back on sister.” (26:00)

(1:14) Bet to take off her veil Speaks up against it in college The episode: framed by

Grandma’s lessons: a. “Integrity!”b. “Take off this fucking cowl.It makes me claustrophobic.” Still caught by the police for

holding hands with her boy friend

young ladies to wear tighter trousers and longer cowls. They must cover their hair and must not use any make-up.

1. I need to be able to to draw. A longer cowl makes it difficult to move freely

2. Our trousers efficiently hide our shapes. Knowing that those trousers are in fashion, is the religion defending our integrity...or is it simply opposed to fashion?

3. You make comments about us while the brothers...have many different clothes and hair cuts. Sometimes, we can even see their underwears.

Satrapi, Marjane (2006) Persepolis (London: Jonathan Cape, 301, 3-7)Cited in Claudio

But she can’t win over the system. Why?

French law on secularity (laïcité) and conspicuous religious symbols › “. . . All my life I have been against the veil, and

now I am the one defending the veil. I hate the veil and what it means, . . . but I put myself in their [the girls’] place. It’s a question of these girls’ identity. Their mothers never wore the veil, and so they want to. Why? They [came] to France, 30–40 years [ago, but for the] French they are not French, and for [the] Arabs they are not Arabs. So the height of irony is that the veil has become a symbol of rebellion...”.(qtd in Costantino)

Tulip: symbol of martyrdom

Persepolis (2003-2004)– around the time of the US ‘‘War on Terror” and the French debate over veiled Muslim girls in secular public schools

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)– reinforces Western concepts of Iranian women as oppressed?

Kabul Beauty School (2007)– Deborah Rodriquez as an American savior or victim of marital abuse?

Official HistoryThe Qajar dynasty ( 卡加王朝 )1925-1979  the Shah regime ( 巴列維王朝 ) 1979 -- revolution; wearing the veil and anti-alcoholism 1979-1989 -- the Khomenei era1980-1988  -- Iran–Iraq War

1. 1979 – enthusiastic about revolution

2. 1981 -- age 12; Marijan went to Vienne, smoked drug, fell in and out of love

3. 1987  --age 18; Marijane returned to Iran; got married and then divorced. 

4. 1993 --age 24 -- Marjane left Iran again

5. present -- Marjane Satrapi at the airport, unable to board a plane to Iran.

The Shah –1925 (0:08)

The revolution 1979

The post-war 90’s

The US – • secretly supported Iraq in its production of chemical weapons. • sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the hostages ( 伊朗軍售醜聞 Iran-Contra Scandal—disclosed in 1986) (References: Reasons and Senate Mitchell’s Speech against Olive Northhttp://usinfo.org/zhtw/PUBS/AmReader/p842.htm )

Reasons: 1)Iran – Islamization of the nation; Iraq – reduces and controls religion; 2)Khomeini once expelled by Iraq; 3)the issue of Kurdish ( 庫德族） , etc. Father: The West sold weapons to both sides. . . (1:03)

Charlie Wilson's War -- Charlie Wilson urged the government to provide essential weapons to help the Mujehideen in Afghanistan beat back the Soviet Army.

Wilson: "I always, always, whenever a plane goes down, I always fear it is one of our missiles. Most of all I wanted to bloody the Red Army [of Russia]. I think the bloodying thereof had a great deal to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

But -- the weapons probably wound up in the hands of the Taliban regime, which took power in Afghanistan and harbored Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, organizer of the September 11 attacks. "I feel guilty about it," he said. "I really do." "Those things happen," (source)

1. Major Influences –Western culture vs. Muslim religion and nationalism

2. Major Turning Points and Her Choices

Pre-revolution: Westernized, loves Bruce Lee

Idealistic and inquisitive, learning from uncle Anouche

takes on the adults’ enthusiasm (or fanaticism)

We're gonna smash Ramine's face.

1. After the revolution: Execution of Uncle Anouche

2. After the I-I war: many dissidents

Communist Niloufar &

Uncle Taher

1. Police Persecution

1. Parties2. Alcohol

Marjane – wearing denim jacket and buying punk music (Iron Maiden, etc.)

“Punk is not ded” To evade control: Lies

Feeling isolated among her friends who don’t understand revolution.

Physical changes

Migration is a one-way trip; there is no way home.

1. Cannot return home

2. Acknowledges her Iranian background

The mother – protective; The father --instilling revolutionary

thoughts.

1. Asks her to maintain her integrity;

2. To take off her veil

She herself got divorced 55 years ago The first – a practice for the 2nd.

The black and white – to suggest an era of dictatorial control

Drawing to show different emotions and human situations –human closeness, humans as shadows, with dignity, freedom, fantasies, liberty, etc.

Size contrast; floating, subjective views when she falls in love, falls out of love …

Fear

Dignity

Costantino, Manuela "Marji: Popular Commix Heroine Breathing Life into the Writing of History." Canadian Review of American Studies 38.3 (2008): 429-447. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Oct. 2009.

Claudio, Esteher. “Marjane Satrapi’s elaborate simplicity: Persepolis.” Comic Grid (March 28th, 2011).

Jasmine Flowers, originated in Persia

Monsoon Wedding “Her Mother” Group Topic & Journal?