Assembly of Keywords

The novel Untouchable is the story of a boy living in colonial times that revolves around poverty. It is the time in which the British have invaded India in a sense of which they pronounce it their own. However, under these circumstances this boy named Bakha whom is considered to be the “Untouchable” by the caste system of his nation, holds a sort of false consciousness in which he becomes rebellious to his surroundings and then at the same time strives to personify an ideology of these “higher” men as if they were his role-model or hero. His false consciousness is what he doesn’t seem to understand and disagrees with which causes him to continuously end up in many mishaps, like those with his father and fellows around him. As a preform to this he strives to live in a paradigm that idolizes the people of higher authority (specifically, the sahib’s and british soldiers). As opposed to which his actual paradigm is set in a way to constrain him and others like him from being somebody. Since he doesn’t seem to recognize the oppression of which he fits into, his life becomes sophisticated being that he starts to oppose all that he feels shunned to. This caste serves as a form of racial formation which radically distinguishes Bakha and many other Indians in his nation of “lower castes” as opposed to the ones of a “higher caste”....

Cluster Connections

Well it is a bit more than half way through the semester and so far every class in this cluster interacts with each other in certain aspects. A few of these aspects would be the fact in what the cluster is called generally, which is “Race and Culture”. Every book and almost every piece of writing that I’ve done are all related to the cluster title. The first reading which was by W.E.B Dubois, is a black man speaking about the significance of the “negro” in life during all of time, even ancient. Following that was “Slave and Citizen”, which made the whole sense of topic, “race” escalate by mainly focusing on the existence of slavery and the “negro”. Then we have our current piece of reading, “Untouchable” which defines the course title in a bold sense being of a race and a culture of which defines the book itself. All of this interacted well with the other classes solely on the fact that in other classes we talk generally about “race and culture” as it has developed to today self and as it was back then in comparison. In one class however it’s a bit different because the focus of topic is upon human sociology. Nevertheless, I realized this topic revolves well around “race and culture” because each ethnic background associates differently with each other. Not to mention the vast differences of cultures as well which also play key in the sociology of many different ethnic groups also.

As far as the relation of each class interacting with each other goes, my view of LaGuardia CC and my surroundings (neighborhood and NY) is more strengthened. By saying so I mean that I knew from the get-go that this school and state is the most diverse of all, but now actually being in a “race and culture” induced cluster of classes you obtain a sense of knowledge about the people that you walk past in the hallways and streets, as well as the ones you personally know. When I say “sense of knowledge” I solely mean the extent of which their ethnicity goes. Like the background of it as well as the culture of it. For example, my current piece of reading, “Untouchable” has shown me a different point of knowledge of the culture of my ancestors and the way of their life and how social classes interacted in the old days. Which kind of explains a sense of the ignorant negative differences between “East Indians” and “West Indians” being that the east frowns upon my kind (the west), but this is something I wouldn’t like to get into. Overall, this cluster is sculpting and shaping out a better vision of race and culture through my own eyes.

'Anti-Islamic Hate Crime Incidents"

Paul Jairam

ENG 103

 

According to this chart the hate against Muslims is very real. The chart is graphed by incidents through the years of 1995-2008 detailing numerically the hate crimes towards Muslims. As it starts from the year 1995-2000, the hate crimes are at a low of a tenth (below 50). However, when you get to 2001 it sky rockets to 98% (481) of the graph, and reason for being so is because of an unfortunate horrid incident that happened in that year. September 11^th, 2001 was the year that struck the whole of America when the twin towers were struck by planes killing nearly a total of 3,000 people as well as another government facility around the U.S was struck that day also. In that year alone the racial hate towards Muslims spike high and got very disgusting to the point where non-muslims such as Sikhs were being attacked just because of the imprinted racial profile that the media portrayed upon Americans. Being that is the main cause of the spike in anti-islamic hate crimes that year, the following years it all decreased by 60% (all under 160). Therefore as an impression of this it showed the main cause for the revolving factor that triggered the hate-impact upon Muslims which was 9/11. All of this “data” is relatively significant in relation to our cluster theme as well, because it features a type of race and then hate towards these people from opposing races (Americans as a wholesome). The graphing alone speaks for itself and details moreover why and how anti-islamics hate crimes have grown and spurred in addition to unfortunate incidents. However with that being said I myself am a bit riled up by how idiotic people can be in associating a completely non-relative wholesome of people with an incident that happened within the midst of government shadows. Although I can understand the emotion of hate that developed towards the Muslims, it still isn’t a righteous reason to go out and bash on these people without knowing the wholesome truth behind such a crime committed.

Global Watch Accounts

Paul Jairam

ENG 103

New Twitter Handles

 

Based on these new twitter accounts that we’ve been asked to follow I’ve noticed that a lot of them are very active. I say this in means of socially active with the world and how it operates. For example, “@Prisonwatchint” is an account that puts its main focus towards addressing the abuse of human rights in prisons as well as racist procedures in distinguishing punishment for the inmates. Another relatively similar account to the one mentioned before is the “@ZMTRUST” account which does the same but mainly focusing on UK’s prison systems. However one twitter account that I found interesting was, “@shamnix”. There are many other accounts to that have different means as to political in a worldly view throughout the eyes of the people and also another account that plays defense in the borough of Bronx to the disadvantages shunned upon the residents. Overall all these accounts are seemingly interesting and relative when it comes to relating to my “race and culture” cluster, mainly because their intentional purposes provide reinforcement to these vast communities whether it’s prisons or just a borough. They also account for culture because of basing the ways of living in these specific areas opposing political stress which gives sort of an enlightenment to those they attempt to help.

English Major Event

Paul Jairam

Professor JRC

After today’s event, hearing all the experiences and journeys of those who have kicked off their diverse careers with an english major, it kind of makes you see this particular major with a more expanded venue. I heard many self-expectations from these successful individuals which fell through from an english major, then led to jobs that they thought were out of their sight. There was a man who spoke about how his english major which helped him interact solely with a doorman position, by helping him in every aspect of that job. Later on he spoke on a note of how he accelerated higher as a business advisor for lagcc and even higher into a six figure salary job, but then he later on decided on following his passion in teaching which he currently teaches as an adjunct here at lagcc. There were other interesting stories such as a young man who transformed his english major into suiting a law career as a public defender which all in all is a very distant but interactive setting. Nevertheless, with an english major you can integrate it into almost every corner of careers, when its look at this way. With that aside it is also a major that teaches you how to communicate, speak, write, and elaborate on critical thinking to suit any aspect an english major student would stumble upon. There’s also a lot more behind the curtain, as entertainment goes as well as self-expansion in interest, because reading itself is a wonder in which depending on the book a reader can disappear into a state of trance or sense in which you have some sort of one on one feeling or connection as you read such a provocative book. Closing off with the main topic on how applying these “english major” skills becomes the revolving subject which plays as the key factor in being successful with this specific major. Overall, being there for this event opened my insights on the distension of an english major, because some look at it as just a major to teach or write, but truth is the fact of how applicable these skills can be as well as getting stretched into suiting your situation, which has all made the major seem more enterprising.