Adichie as advice for composing in the Social

Adichie’s TedTalk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” talks about how only hearing one perspective or story can create a misconception and then lead to harmful stereotypes. Talking this knowledge as advice has made me more aware of the power of a story. It can move someone to make them more empathetic or even create anger and a sense of hate. For the Social Sciences, we aim to answer a question using someone’s story. Knowing how a story can change how you see things, I want to stay true to that story. This is why things such as a transcript are crucial. You don’t want to quote or forget something that changes the tone completely.

To go more in-depth with how it can impact my transcultural interview with the theme of analyzing the Americanization of Puerto Rican individuals. I now see how one views culture as fluid and constantly evolving. How culture is explained or shown can affect how outsiders of said culture view it. Because there are countless perspectives to consider when we have someone’s perspective, we must ensure that we are not oversimplifying their words or coming to inaccurate conclusions. We must remember that we are outsiders and do not judge what we are told. We must remove our biases and questions that reinforce the idea of a single story. Allowing yourself to hear and become open to what you’re told is essential.

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Tan & Lee

The prominent subculture in the reading is writing as an Asian American individual. Many have a stereotype that if you’re Asian, you must be good in the math and science field. This discourages Asian Americans from humanities and engaging in literature. The experience in itself is a culture as having immigrant parents and seeing your parents in a vulnerable position because language is a culture. In the readings, the dynamic of an immigrant mother and their child is essential. We can see how, although the mothers in both stories want to be understood in society, their accent speaks louder than their words and creates a dependency on their children. This is a common struggle with first-generation families. The child born or has spent more time in the area becomes the family’s translator. As Tan suggests, this can make it challenging to create a different view of the language itself. In both readings, Tan has to intervene to have doctors take her mom more seriously with her test results, or Lee’s mother is absolutely humiliated due to her accent.

At first, both are from an outsider’s perspective. However, after viewing Tan’s writing, we can see that, in a way, she interviewed her mother, making it more of an insider perspective. Lee’s work is still classified as an outsider’s perspective because it is more about what he remembers, which can be misleading because they have faults when you’re going off of memories. Analyzing the work, I would have liked the authors to include more direct quotes from their mothers to back up their stories and experiences, especially Lee’s stories, explaining only how he saw the situation and how his mother might have felt. Considering this for my transcultural interview, I want to ask open-ended questions. This will allow my partner to express their experiences and emotions in their own words without the biases of an outsider. I do not want to bring my preconceived notions to the table and hope to create a comfortable space for authenticity. This made me wonder where my interview should take place and how I should make my interviewer feel when conducting the interview. I believe that approaching it in a way where I want to tell their story, not a story that I have tinted into creating, holds me accountable for how I  interview.

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Observation Experience with image

In my observation of the Walton Laundry Room. Through this experience, I saw how individuals regularly interact within this setting. Being in an electronically obsessed world, we tend to be blind to what happens around us. By putting the phone down, listening, and seeing who is in the room and what is going on, it allowed me to become a better fieldworker. Being a fieldworker means to use active observational and listening techniques and honed into interactions. When looking at a community, it’s always good to step back and not center yourself around the environment. Fieldwork requires patience, attention to detail, and knowing that even minor interactions can set the stage for a community. Seeing kids laughing, the older ladies talking and catching up, or the gentleman who came up to me and wanted to have a conversation, although I was a stranger, showed how friendly individuals were.

While writing my summary, I had to hone the importance of stepping back and observing without interference. I was concentrating on writing what I observed and what happened, and giving an unbiased perception of how I viewed the environment. Ensuring that I captured every detail and allowed my reader to imagine the space was challenging. I had to be mindful of what words to use and if they provoked my feelings about the environment when I was there. This experience challenged me to be present to the world and be more mindful of how I approach societal behaviors.

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Nalylor Mama Day 

Reading Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day allowed me to see the importance of seeing a community for how it is. Reema, our field worker within the book, allows me to see the importance of representing a community the way it’s supposed to. In the story we were introduced to the idea of traditional words and how others not as involved with the culture can become confused and misinterpret the definition of these words. 18 & 23  a phrase which our fieldwork was confused on throughout the story almost felt like a cryptic message which was deciphered as we read more. Throughout the story we see how hard it is to captivate a community as an outsider. Through the story Reema although he was a part of the community at some point still is an outsider due to how disconnected he was. The way he talked to them almost as he intentionally felt above them could be felt throughout the writing. This is something I had to reread to see as when I first read it all I could focus on was how understanding they were to his misinterpretations of the language.

This surprisingly reminded me of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, a Novel by Grace Lin. Here culture is also very prominent and the fieldworker within the story had to sit back at times to understand the history behind certain norms. In the case of this novel it was the inability of having a river and here within Mama Day it’s more of verbal normals. Overall I loved the way mama day was written it really allowed me to see the compassion they had for an individual like Reema that most likely meant no harm and meant well. It also allowed me to see the value of cultural history and how that can shape a community.

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Wehle

In the story we kissed the tomato and then the sky by Dana Wehle I was able to view elements of fieldworking. Wehle is able to set the scene and pull the reader into the writing. Using descriptive language for how objects in a room appeared like a bed being made “in its flowery pastel color” stood out to me because these descriptive details helped me as a reader really visualize the setting the fieldworker is in. Not only is it packed with descriptive detail on the surroundings but on the emotions which are displayed. Emotions such as her “a weak smile on her face as her fading eyes” allowed to view passing and acceptance physically while also setting the scene. Field working is all about making sure you put an emphasis on your surroundings. The idea of setting aside yourself in some instances to allow a full story to unveil is powerful to me. Reflecting on my observation experience, being able to at moments sit back and place the spotlight not on me but on what I am viewing often allows for a more powerful understanding. 

This is the idea of storytelling and how a story can be most effective when told as if you are that person. The idea of death, something so hard to grasp for most, is something said perfectly by Wehle. It’s a paralyzing feeling and the use of the title using it as a symbol of life caught my eye. It is a story told in a well thought out order and detailed in a way where I as the reader understand even if I haven’t experienced it. 

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Baldwin & Shively

James Baldwin’s report provides insight into the black American experience, focusing on how racist police would target collared children, adults, or the elderly and how easy it was to become a target. It is discussed that it was easy to be framed for things that you didn’t do if you were viewed as uncooperative and they would try their best to kill you. With so much information on the disrespect and hostility individuals had for black men, a field worker could question how this need to be resilient affected future generations or if the hostility they had for black males affected the family structures and how they would identify themselves in the household. To get these answers and gain perspective as field workers, we can look at autobiographies, music that typically tells a story, or literature that is from community members and focuses on what we are typing to find. Listening to and understanding these forms of information can give us a better understanding than only reading. Both Baldwin’s and Shively’s texts focus on being black in America. What interests me about both is that Baldwin focuses on how it was before to be black. Shively focuses more on the present, naming people like Donald Trump while also referring to individuals like Martin Luther King. I like how Shively does this in his essay, and it would make Baldwin’s writing stronger as a fieldworker if he could incorporate present things into his writing as well so that the reader can understand what is trying to be said better by reflecting on present-related matters.

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One Course Learning Objective (except 7)

The objective of enhancing strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment mostly aligned with what I learned and engaged with in this semester. Using the Writing Center, my professor, and my peers I was able to level up as a writer. With how peer revision is done in my classroom my teacher reviews peer comments and makes sure that we get not only respectful but helpful comments. Many times when it comes to peer revision I have been given simple comments such as it’s good and with a statement like that there’s not much that I can fix. My professor pushed us to give more critical reviews of students’ work and this allowed me to see how I myself give reviews and how I can be more specific with my comments. This helped outside of the classroom as when asked to check a paper it was now something I made sure to do. 

My drafting did not only consist of talking with peers but also in a classroom setting when my professor would explain assignments. Before we went off on our own trying to find our own information and our own topics she would help us brainstorm on the whiteboard to see what possible topics can be used and how we would want to take those topics and elaborate on them within the assignment itself. This grew to be very helpful because I was able to hear my peers’ thoughts on the assignments and also any questions that came up not only answered any question I had myself but made the assignment clear. If I had any doubts before the assignment began I had a space where I could brainstorm and discuss and analyze further which I appreciated immensely. 

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Benefits of a Literature Review

The benefit of literature review in the social sciences is that it allows the writer to discuss topics unbiasedly. Instead of forcing an opinion on the reader, it educates the reader and allows the reader to create their own opinions on said topic. The literature review stood out to me because you’re not arguing a stance; you’re educating the reader and providing reliable resources and perspectives. The essay’s paragraphs also do not revolve around the evidence found; they revolve around the topic itself and use various pieces of evidence to support the claim. These approaches work well with sensitive issues, such as societal stances on gender and women’s bodies, as they inform rather than attack a side. One thing I enjoyed about the literature review was its openness to not having all the information. I was able to thoroughly discuss most of my topic while still allowing my reader to know that there’s so much more that I could take in terms of women’s fashion that I chose not to and instead informed the reader what was not discussed.

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Reverse Outline

A reverse reflection helped a lot as it provided a way to see if my paragraphs had an overall theme. Many times in other essays, I have written paragraphs that can either be split into two separate paragraphs or have no sense in being in the essay. Writing a reverse outline held me accountable for what my paragraphs contained. It pushed me to have a starting sentence that is clear and straight to the point and a paragraph that stays on one topic. I struggled to find sentences explaining my paragraph, but I ensured I had clear paragraphs within my editing process. I will use reverse outlines in the future because a reverse outline plays an essential role in drafting and editing. In terms of the drafting process, it can provide me with a general outline of what I can discuss in each paragraph. Sometimes, when starting a paragraph or starring in a whole essay, it can be hard to see what will be addressed, when, and where, so doing a reverse outline can assist me. In the editing process, it can be used more as a support, where I can check if my paragraphs align with what I want to convey and if the reader can understand what my paragraph means.

 The reverse outline helped me create a more structured essay, and it also helped me with my multi-modal translations and conveying my message. Through the reverse outline, I could see the main points I tackled, and I was able to incorporate them into a poem format. Understanding the theme and what needs to be said in the poem is very important, so using my main sentences from each paragraph and merging them into a more poetic format really helped me express myself the way I wanted to. 

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Composition Process

The Reverse Outline of Literature Review was the most helpful in editing my essay. Having to quote key sentences from each paragraph in my literature review, I was held accountable for the content of my writing. It made me question whether a paragraph should be in my essay and if I should split it into two separate paragraphs. This process helped me stay on topic and not become too repetitive. It highlighted areas where I needed stronger evidence or a clear theme for what I am discussing. Recently, I have used this tactic with my psychology papers for the introduction of lifespan development, and it has helped me strategize on how I will discuss my topic and if I am staying on task.

Seeing my work in a simpler format, such as this, helped create a game plan and helped me immensely with my editing process in and outside of class. It made it less overwhelming, and through this process, I could focus on a paragraph at a time with a plan already set in mind. I will for sure use this in the future, as I have already seen the benefits of a Reverse Outline in classes beyond writing for the social sciences.