Blog Post #4: Mother Tongue

23/09/2016

Welcome back to my blog, now this blog post is going to be a little different as you will experience my enthusiastic opinions for the first time. This will be more of an opinionated post but in my case could turn into a rant, if this does happen I will try to organise this rant as best as I can. "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan discusses her and her family have faced with language and English, the discussion presents the reader with a number of issues they encountered and we still encounter in society. A specific issue I want to focus on within the text is certain stereotypes thought of non-native speakers of the language English. There are a number of troubles mentioned in her text however, this is one I feel extremely passionate about and will continue to fight against. More specifically, I want to discuss the stigma present against someone who may not be able to communicate in English very well. This stigma arises in many situations and tends to allow people to build an opinion on one's intelligence based on their speech.

If someone were to speak the English with a lack of skill or speak "broken" English, suddenly people gain a certain perspective of the person. This perspective automatically puts them in a group of less intelligence, it is someone we unconsciously do. In psychology, we study how humans categorise members of society unconsciously because it allows us to identify who we should communicate with and who we shouldn't. It is human nature and comes down to the survival of the fittest, these actions or thought we are unaware of allow us to hopefully live and grow the life best for us. However, to automatically categorise someone in a separate intellectual social group based on how well they speak your language is cruel and unfair.

Everyone has the ability to be incredibly smart but just because they can't convey this in your language does not make them any less smart. Let's use Tan's mother as an example, her mother could be a skilled linguist with an extremely high education in Chinese but to transfer this mindset to English is another thing. The people at the hospital thought of her as a low priority due to her lack of English, they assumed that she was not as important as someone they could easily communicate with. This prioritising was not due to our ego centrical opinion of the English language, well it could be for some but in most cases, it is because we are judging the fact that they can't properly communicate.

We know how important language and communication is, so when confronted with someone who cannot communicate with us we assume they are less educated. When this is not the case, we forget about language and forget that not everyone knows how to communicate in our language. The world may be more open minded and international in our modern period but this is still present. In some cases, it's not our fault if we unconsciously judge someone for this because it is our raw barbaric mind judging their lack of ability to communicate. In saying this, it is our job to catch this of ourselves constantly reminding ourselves that everyone has a different background and a different way of communication. So I hope you all take something from this and maybe be try to help someone who can't communicate very well instead of pushing them away.

Blog Post #3: Master Identity

18/09/2016

Today, we learnt about the different types of identity being master, interactional, personal and relational identity. Master identity is quite a key one as these are the things that do not change or do not change often within a person. One element of this we have become accustomed to is the names we have been given by parents. They are the things we associated with people, our name is our label and is how we identify as an individual. Some people have the same name however how we think about one Hassan is completely different to how we feel about another Hassan. As many of you know from my first post I have been given the name Karma, more specifically my name is Karma Valerie Thomas. How did I get this name? Does it mean anything?  Well, if you are interested then keep on reading.

Let's start with my last name because that is the easiest, my last name 'Thomas' is the family name of m father's side of the family. It is a normal Australian name and to my knowledge has no relevance at all really. Before you ask, no, I'm not asking my Dad if it has any significance because I will bet anything he will look at me funny and say "Yes! Of course, it is the name given to naturally born Dovakiins who are ready to kill dragons." If you failed to get that reference then don't worry because I have grown up in a family of gamers and I don't blame you. The point is my dad is a jokester as you will learn and that the name 'Thomas' has no real relevance. However, my middle name does have some substance as it is the first name of my Dad's grandma who is a very sweet woman. I adore the name 'Valerie' and my Dad gave me it because he respects her dearly.

Now, let's get to the main attraction and that is my first name which is Karma. For me to explain this to you I need to give you some background on my Dad's family. My Dad is called Peter and his two brothers are Steve and Jeff which makes all three names probably some of the most stereotypical names in Australia. He describes his name to be the Australian version of Mohammed, and even says at a point in his friend group he had about 10 good friends with 6 of them being fellow Peters. This is most likely majorly exaggerated because it came from my father but it does paint a picture for you guys. Growing up with these stereotypical names he decided he wanted to name his children more unusual things. We all know 'Karma' being part of Hindu philosophy, it describes the relationship of cause and effect. The idea that if you do something bad something bad will happen to you and if you do something good then you will be repaid. This belief did help in the decision of my name, however, isn't how he came up with it. Truth be told, he got it from Final Fantasy VII ( a video game), it is one of the attacks the enemy uses and a growth currency earned by Mira daughter of the Darklord. If that all just went over your head then it's fine, just know my name originally came from a video game. My Mother obviously agreed with this because she is just as a unique person as he is and they both loved it.

All my siblings have interesting names as it is what makes our family special, I have an older sister called Starr, an older brother name Kaleb (the only normal one), a younger brother called Orsume (Awesome) and the youngest is called Wylde (wild). No matter how many jokes are made each day or each time I meet a person, I truly love my name because of its obscure behaviour and meaning. Plus, it makes it a great conversation starter and in some situations, I bring endless punch lines.

I hope you have enjoyed this explanation of my name!

Blog Post #2: Cultural Markers

12/09/2016

For our second post, we were asked to "choose a cultural marker that you feel is misunderstood or unknown to those outside your cultural group and write an explanatory post." I find this quite difficult as I identify myself within the Australian culture, more specifically as a Sunshine Coast Australian. If I were to discuss the cultural markers; language, law, customs, myths, texts, or daily practices, there are none that really stick out as being misunderstood in my mind. Being a part of the Sunny coast Australian culture does have quite a few cultural markers but there is none present in others people's mind that particularly make me feel offended or misunderstood. In Australia, if I were to say I was a part of the Aboriginal culture then I would have a lot more to discuss as some may believe their customs and practices are barbaric or pathetic however this is due to extreme racism still presented in Australia. I can't discuss being a part of this natural culture that exists because I simply do not have any family from it and do not relate to any of their cultural markers. This is not because I disapprove of them but due to my whole family tree having to Aboriginal ancestry and customs.

So what do I talk about? Well, instead of debating cultural markers that are majorly misunderstood I will enlighten you on one that tend to be unknown or overlooked. The first cultural marker could be counted as being a part of our daily practices or customs, and it is the food in Australia or the Sunny Coast. Food of Australia tends to be quite looked over by foreigners and even myself sometimes, I only ever realise how important it is to me until I go back binge for a month on it then go into withdrawal when I come back to Abu Dhabi. Some may think we have a basic form of cuisine compared to more exotic places, but there is still a certain element of our western meals that provide us with a natural satisfaction. Many of these are simply products that become necessary to Aussies life to the point were I become deprived anytime I come back. I know for a fact each and every time I visit Australia there are specific products I crave as soon as I touch Australian soil. There is nothing that pleases me more than eating mint slices, crunchies, shapes, pavlova, lamingtons or a ginger beer for the first time in what seems like an eternity. Then, don't even get me started on kebabs, these are not like middle eastern kebabs but they are Australian doner kebabs which are heavenly. I appreciate all these things and more when I get there simply because I can't have them while I'm here. Some are so prominent in an Australian's daily routine for an Aussie tradesman I ice cold icebreaker and a Beefy's pie is the only way to start the day.

I honestly don't know if people understanding this cultural marker could improve communication in a serious manner. However, I feel like the sharing of food between people is like sharing cultures, it's a way to make people slightly more open-minded. It allows ease in conversation when discussing different customs or cultures while educating people. Most should enjoy food so it's a way to become closer with on another especially when sharing something from your own culture, everyone just has to be respectful during this distribution. That's why I love coming back with piles of Sunny coast food, it allows me to show them the things I love and hate that are dear to me. This ritual also is a symbol for how much you care for the person as it brings you and them joy by expressing these lesser known things about yourself.

Blog Post #1: All about me!

04/09/2016 (I did not mean for this to be a long post, I'm sorry)

For our very first blog post as Language & Literature students in the DP, we have been asked to discuss a little bit about ourselves and our ambitions.  My name is Karma Thomas, I'm from Australia but have been living in this desert we call Abu Dhabi for about 7 years. Currently, I'm studying in grade 11 in Raha International School. Now it's time to inform you of my interests, this is always the hard part for me because I love so much, hate so much but I'm also up for nearly everything. I enjoy being active and will do or at least try most sports while refusing to do basketball and soccer. In saying this I do have some passions interests in specific physical recreational activities. If the weather is right I will go running any day and love hiking, I swim any chance that I get, adore volleyball and attempt to do yoga every day or every second day. However, I must warn you I'm incredibly clumsy and sports tend to put that on display. As for the rest of my interests, some are normal and others are a bit more quirky. I enjoy going out with friends and playing video games on occasion like most teens do, but I'm mostly entrapped within Art. Art is by far my favourite subject, it is probably the one I could go on reading articles for hours on end. Not saying I can't do this with my other subjects but I enjoy it most with Art. While explaining this I must say I'm not the best artist out there, I have a lot of work to do for my art even to be considered good. My biggest problem is that I tend to leave myself with no time to practice as I'm either doing work, going out or spending time with family. I know right, sounds like an exciting life. When I do get time to trial I don;t really trial with a piece of pen and paper. My favourite thing to do is to play with special FX and body paints, so much so that I did a whole YouTube channel on it for Personal Project. By the way, when I say I did a whole channel on it I mean I did three videos. I don't continue posting because I simply don't have the time so I just do it and take photos. P.S. I exceeding love music but I don;t create any.

I just realised I wrote so much for the first question so now I'm going to try to keep my answers a little bit more contained. What do you care about? Now, this question is unreasonably difficult for me to answer. I could say I care about my family which I do, I care about my family incredibly but that makes it seem like they are superior to everything else. They are not though because I care about everything in a way, I care for my friends, I care for school, and care for music. I have a preposterous love for food, it may not look like it but I'm a human hoover with food, just ask my friends. However, out of all these, I think I care for the happiness of others the most, the people that know me well can agree the happiness of people around me come first. I will go out of my way to make someone happy even if I'm not fond of them because everyone deserves to be happy. My dreams for this year are to simply study and work hard so that next year isn't as hard as it could be. As for the future if I had it my way I would get a beach house with a studio and experiment with every form of Art that I could then sell it. Sadly, life doesn't work like that.

Language is unbelievably important, I'm not speaking about English specifically but all languages. Each language allows us to communicate with each other, not only English, Spanish, French or Arabic but Maths, Music and Art. These things all stripped to their basic forms give us the right to understand one another, this is probably the hardest thing to realise as a person growing up. Language should not be used to offend or judge each other but to understand. We simply use these words to carry ourselves, give them an insight of who we are. This insight grants us friends, education, jobs and relationship that would be difficult without it. It is all reasons make it important for us to learn a language, doesn't matter what type, but to learn it we learn to communicate and grow together, I have never experienced a language barrier, and I can say I'm blessed to never have had to. The idea terrifies me, being stuck in a place where you can't communicate with anyone sends shivers down my spine. This is why I respect language.

Mr Micheal said upload a photo that represents you. TO BE HONEST, I literally don't know what photo could represent me so here is a body artwork thing I did last week. It sort of represents me.