Reflective Writing 1

For our photo board assessment, I chose four photos which represent my personal view on culture, identity, history and human rights, below are my explanation on why I chose these photos.

  

My first photo was about Eritrean coffee ceremony; coffee holds a special place in our daily life no day pass without having one or two coffee ceremony per day. I grew up smelling and hearing the crack of roasted coffee beans every morning it’s a norm that we grew up with. At first look coffee ceremony might seem just a normal practice but if we take a closer look we found each region in Eritrea have slightly different rules and ways of preparing coffee in some tribes its considered as healing method, culture is an iceberg we only see the visible part above the water while the rest part still hidden beneath the water (Hall,1976). Thus the coffee ceremony might differ from region to region but it’s a norm we been taught to love and respect, Ryan (2010) mentioned that “Culture means embedded norms all obey usually without thinking about it” (p.6).

Second photo was about my Identity this one was quite hard for me because I don’t know who am I yet! Yes, my name is Zahra, I am African, I am Eritrean, I am woman. But what do I Identify myself with? See I was born in Eritrea, raised in the Middle East with Eritrean value and norm, I also lived for couple of years in Asia learned new culture, and now I live in New Zealand it’s hard for me to say what I identify myself with because all of the above has influenced my behavior. The way I view the world might be different from those who are born and raised in Eritrea or to those who grew up in Middle East and adapted to the culture. So am I unique? Lawler (2008) says “uniqueness is seen as something which belongs to the person in question and is nothing to do with the social world.” I don’t believe I am unique however I do know I am different, but I am on the journey of self-discovery.

                            
                                    “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”

                                        Ralph Ellison author of Invisible man.

Third photo was about human right; the photo shows the number of children effected by poverty in NZ. The reason I chose this photo is to show that child poverty is not third world problem only, child poverty in Africa is caused by war and economic instability. According to the UNICEF website NZ has endorsed the child right . I think NZ government has to do more to protect the most vulnerable member of the community.

The last photo was about history the 9/11 attack on the world trade center. We all know the story of the four airplanes hijacked by terrorists and how this led the US and its allies to declare war on Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq. Although I understand how the US might felt for losing innocent citizen in horrible tragic. The war against the so called terrorism resulted in wars and more distraction in world. I am against terrorism but war won’t resolve it either, in fact it resulting in more terrorist groups using US invasion, religion as tool to recruiting people to join them. 

 Reference 

Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond Culture. New York, USA

Lawler, S. (2008). Identity: Sociological perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press

Ryan, M. (2010). Cultural Studies: A practical introduction. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Unicef New Zealand. Child Right. (2016). Retrieved April 2,2016, from                         https://www.unicef.org.nz/learn/our-focus-areas/child-rights