Paper #1 Text #1 (ACTS analysis)

   The text is an autobiography, written with the aim of projecting the character of Mary Seacole in a favourable and positive light in the eyes of the beholder.

“The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole (1857)” was available back in her time as a possible form of entertainment or enlightenment. Those with a fascination of reading firsthand the lifestyles of those immersed in the British culture at its height, particularly that of one of their colonies, could have their interests piqued by such a text; alternatively, it could be of interest to people such as those who have a desire to read about the effects of Yellow Fever on a society from a personal perspective.

   The text describes the thoughts, beliefs, actions, and adventures of Mary Seacole, with the excerpt mainly dealing with her encounter with the Yellow Fever in Jamaica during the year of 1853, and how it affected her personally

   The author’s reflections come in a relaxed, albeit bleak and dreary atmosphere, set by her frequent usage of words related to death and sadness.

   Mary Seacole writes her autobiography in an elegant, well-structured style that lends her the persona of well-cultured, intelligent individual as she reflects on her personal experiences, all of this painting her in a favourable light in the eyes of the beholder.

Context:

Based in 19^th century Jamaica, currently a British colony, during the height of the British Empire.

Language and Technology

   Most people describe texting as a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. The virus that caused poor spelling, unnecessary abbreviations, non-caps, limited vocabulary and grammatical mistakes performed by the younger age group of today; resulting a negative impact on language itself but from a linguist perspective, what does David Crystal and John Mcwhorter have to say?

   Prior to writing his commentary, David Crystal did his research and collected decent amount of data such as the types of abbreviations that are constructed by people to support his argument. So many abbreviations till the point where it seems over-exaggerated. In his commentary, he referred to the linguistic affects of texting as textspeak. Crystal described textspeak as a new medium for language.

“In textspeak, we are seeing, in a small way, language in evolution.” Crystal’s closing sentence.

   John McWhorter on the other hand looks more into the history of textspeak and its formation. He comes up with different examples of speech and said that the way people talk to each other is called casual speech, 7-10 word packets. McWhorter’s main point was that texting is just writing the way we speak. Technological advancements had led to this point where we can write like we speak because as McWhorter mentioned,

“Once you have things in your pocket that can receive that message, then you have the conditions that allow that we can write like we speak.”

   The impact texting has made on language as a whole isn’t a really significant one according to the two linguists. Both linguists believe that textspeak is a new way of writing that is being developed alongside their true writing skills and that they’re two separate things used at different circumstances. Some might have mistaken the concepts impact on language and social impacts but that’s another topic that is not to be discussed on this one.

Letter to the editor

The Cultural Appropriation of the Kurta

Andrew Kapelle

6 October 2014

Dear Editor,

Although I am not a Pakistani like yourself, relating with your personal account on cultural appropriation was quite easy as it is a very simple concept to fully understand.

To me, Cultural appropriation is the idea of adopting one’s culture without the requirements to do so. It is often regarded as an unacceptable behavior to the legitimate members of the cultural group. Your encounter with cultural appropriation was non-South Asian people wearing the kurta; which from my understanding is a super-comfy man dress that connects South-Asians of all classes. You stated that the act had made you feel uncomfortable and that you would face discrimination if you tried to adopt other’s culture and the feeling of inferiority.

   On the second last paragraph you mentioned “it represents the love for a culture…” I find this interesting due to the fact that throughout the editorial, you were against non-asians wearing the kurta as it lessens the value and overall meaning. What if the meaning they are trying to convey is different to your ideas?

  The real question here is why not think of cultural appropriation toward as an act of respect towards the South-Asian culture? You might argue that I’m only an Indonesian whose culture and traditions is not as widely known when compared to other Asian culture and some might even refer to as Asia’s best kept secret. Nevertheless being more open-minded can only be beneficial for you and your surroundings.