Category: final

Taylor Wilkins Benny Hegbe

The social issue we decided to portray in our project is discrimination of immigrants. Discrimination is defined as “prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action or treatment” according to Merriam Webster dictionary, meaning one is viewed or treated differently based on preconceived values or ideologies. In society today unfortunately, discrimination is such a prevalent issue because there is a myriad of cultures, values, and beliefs in existence. Typically, people form biased opinions and beliefs based on their ignorance of these cultures, values and beliefs. Discrimination perpetuates the racial divide amongst a group of people when in reality people of all races, ages, genders, and backgrounds must come together in order to fight the issues of the world.

According to NPR, those who appear to be immigrants, specifically Hispanic people, report 4 out of 10 have been discriminated against. In another survey, according to NPR 92% of black people say they have been discriminated against. As one can see discrimination is very high in the United States which is why this issue needs to be brought to the attention of others.

In Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche the main character, Ifemulu faces discrimination when she visits a black hair salon. Ifemulu visits a hair salon in order to get her hair braided and while at the salon there are numerous snooty comments made by the ladies in the salon even though they are also African, however they ate from a different country. One example being when they ask Ifemulu if she knew a famous Nigerian actress just because they are from the same country. Even after Ifemulu leaves the book states, “They would, she was sure, talk about her after she left … They would laugh with derision, but only a mild derision, because she was still their African sister, even if she had briefly lost her way” (Adiche 126). The women in the salon are clearly treating her different even though technically they are still the same race. Another experience of discrimination in the book was when Emenike, Obinze’s friend, tries to hail a cab in London. He tells the story of a time where the cab driver turns his active light off before passing Emenike and then turns the active light back on after passing him(Adiche 201). In this instance Emenike was pointing out the evident discrimination he had faced from the cab driver due to his ethnicity. Also the book shows another instance of discrimination when Ifemulu and Curt are at the farmer’s market. A black man walks by and mutters how could Curt be with her when it looks as if she’s from the jungle(Adiche 157). All three of these accounts display discrimination on various levels throughout the book.

We decided to choose cinematic virtual reality as our medium to enforce the prevalence of our issue. As we discussed in class our society is becoming less empathetic and virtual reality is a proven tool to help stop this issue. We believe if our audience actually experiences discrimination first hand via a variety of scenes from Americanah, especially those who because of demographic issues may have never or will never experience it, they will be prone to join the fight against discrimination in their daily lives. Virtual Reality is a great way for our audience to become uncomfortable enough to join the fight against discrimination of those who are different from them. Specifically in our VR project we will incorporate three different scenes to display discrimination in different ways. All scenes are adaptations from the book Americanah. We will feature the above described scene where Ifemulu faces discrimination in the hair salon, the scene where Emenike tells the story of the time he couldn’t catch a cab, and when Ifemelu are in the farmer’s market and a man tells her she looks like she’s from the jungle. Our VR experience will be set up that whoever is viewing the story is being discriminated against and it will be as if each story is occurring from their POV.

Sources:

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. 2013.

Bates, Karen Grigsby. “92 Percent Of African-Americans Say Black Americans Face Discrimination Today.” NPR, NPR, 24 Oct. 2017, www.npr.org/2017/10/24/559889541/92-percent-of-african-americans-say-black-americans-face-discrimination-today.

Florido, Adrian. “There’s An Immigration Gap In How Latinos Perceive Discrimination.” NPR, NPR, 5 Nov. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/11/05/561876519/theres-an-immigration-gap-in-how-latinos-perceive-discrimination.

 

Almost anyone can tell you what the American Dream means to them. But can anyone obtain this dream? We propose that now a days the American Dream is unrealistic for immigrants. The way American society and government are makes it more difficult for immigrants. Immigrant families are being separated from one another once entering America and are not given a fair chance at reaching their goals.

The inspiration came from the novel Americanah and the current news on immigration.  Our goal is to create an experience similar to Americanahs chapter 9 when Ifemelu’s comes to America for the first time. Ifemelu arrives in America and Aunty Ujupicks her up from the airport in New York. Uju seems tense and unhappy, different from how Ifemelu remembers her. Ifemelu also relizes that when speaking on the phone Uju pronounces her name differently because that’s what people call her here in America.  Ifemelu has to sleep on the floor, as Aunty Ujuand Dike share the single bed. Ifemelu expected everything to be more glamorous than it is, and she can’t fall asleep, overcome by the newness of it all. She looks out the window and notices how different the street looks from the one on The Cosby Show (Adichie).Everything since her arrival seems disappointing and even unfriendly to Ifemelu, and Aunty Uju provides an example of how the pressures of immigrant life can “subdue” and change someone (Adichie).

LATimesjournalist Angelica Quintero wrote anarticle titled America’s love-hate relationship with immigrants.This article is about how even though America is made up of immigrants it has a history of having problems with immigration. The articles stated “The poor, the sick and those espousing certain political beliefs were barred from entry into the U.S. under other new laws. Laws discouraging immigration from Southern Europe — mainly from Italy — reflected widespread anti-Catholic sentiment (Quintero).” This article also stated “President Trump ordered an overhaul of immigration law enforcement, stripping away most restrictions on who should be deported. Under the new guidelines, up to 8 million people in the country illegally could be targeted for deportation (Quintero).”

The platform we chose to use is power point. The experience we are trying to create an adventure game where the user/ player is an immigrant entering America and what you go through once in the “Dream Land.” We want to impact your experience as an immigrant to create a unique and memorable experience.  Our users will make their own choices and each choice will have a different or similar outcome. This will put the user in an immigrant’s shoes and bring out different emotions ones you wouldn’t get from just watching T.V or reading.

 

QUINTERO, y ANGELICA. “America’s Love-Hate Relationship with Immigrants.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2018, www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-immigration-trends/.

 

 

We propose that immigrant families are at greater risk of having a presence of depression within their family. The prevalence of depression within families is fueled by other behaviors that are byproducts of experiences faced as an immigrant in America. As a result, these behaviors affect their relationships with others. Nigeria is more of a tribalistic country compared to the individualistic society, and there are multiple instances of this within the Chimamanda Adichie’s novel, Americanah.

Ifemelu was depressed within her first year of immigration (Chapter 15, pg 193). She goes from Nigeria where everyone essentially works together in their daily lives, to America, where everyone follows a “on their own” mindset. This is an example of the beliefs of tribalistic countries versus those of individualistic countries. Other ways depression had manifested into Ifemelu’s first year was the observation that race did not exist to her until she came to America. She describes upon returning to Nigeria that her race disappeared when she stepped off of the plane.

Ifemelu also experienced the struggles in paying for rent, felt homesick as she suffered from lack of social life/activity. Adichie writes, “Between her and what she should feel, there was a gap. She cared about nothing. She wanted to care, but she no longer knew how; it had slipped from her memory, the ability to care. Sometimes she woke up flailing and helpless, and she saw, in front of her and behind her and all around her, an utter hopelessness. She knew there was no point in being here, in being alive, but she had no energy to think concretely of how she could kill herself” (Adichie, 192).

Another character who was directly affected by depression was Dike, who attempted suicide in chapter 43. Ifemelu refused to believe in the possibility that he was depressed as she said, “He looked no different from before; there were no shadows under his eyes, no funereal air about him” (Adichie, 469). Dike’s depression was also fueled by his identity crisis in which he felt stressed between not knowing his father/having a positive father figure, and not understanding why he is different and treated differently by others.

Aunty Uju is another character who deals with behaviors linked to depression such as anxiety. Ifemelu notes that upon seeing her aunt in America, she had changed and become more stressed than she was before. This affects her relationships with Ifemelu and Dike as well as her relationships with her significant others.

In 2017, a study was conducted in order to whether there is a relationship between source-country individualism and depression among different immigrant groups, with results stating, “Immigrants who migrate from countries with low levels of individualism to a highly individualistic nation were found to be particularly vulnerable during their initial years after migration, highlighting the role that cultural shock may play” (Frank and Feng). The results essentially mean that those who come from a country with strong beliefs of individualism like Germany or South Africa, aren’t as depressed as those that come from a country with collectivists beliefs like Guatemala and Indonesia.

We decided our platform will follow a podcast and discuss Isabella’s family’s experience as immigrants. We chose this medium in particular because it addresses a real issue with a real story. We felt that an experience with depression and immigration would be difficult to script without a realistic perspective. We chose to do a podcast because it would answer questions directly and allow a conversational tone to relay the very real experience.

One of the first symbols that we encounter in Americanah is Ifemelu’s hair. Ifemelu is self-conscious about her hair, so she visits a hair braiding salon to have her hair done and to also revisit a familiar culture. We chose these hair salon scenes because the hair salon highlights the culture of gossip and stereotypes. For example, in chapter one, Aisha, the hair braider who is working on Ifemelu’s hair says, “Igbo men take care of women real good… I want marry. They love but they say the family want Igbo woman. Because Igbo marry Igbo always.” Aisha is stereotyping Ifemelu’s ethnicity because she believes that the kind of men who are Igbo only marry Igbo women. In Ifemelu’s mind, she is criticizing Aisha’s close mindedness. Through our medium, we want to demonstrate the kind of gossip and criticism that is voiced in a hair salon.

Stereotypes and criticisms of black and African American women are also often are based around their hair. Natural Afro-textured hair is seen as “unprofessional” or “nappy” in many cultures, which is an opinion based in ethnocentrism. In a study completed by Whitney Bellinger of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the opinions of several African American women were recorded as to explain why these women worked to have “good hair” (Bellinger). “Good hair” was defined as that which has been chemically treated to defy its natural texture. It was found that women who treated their hair reported changing their hair for convenience, better opportunities, and because that is how their mothers did their hair; but those that did not treat it did so based on racial pride. In Americanah, Aisha immediately assumes Ifemelu wants dark hair attachments and snidely asks why she does not relax her hair. This attitude of “fixing” natural hair, which is held by many people all over the world, even natural hair stylists, exemplifies the stereotyping and criticism African women face for having naturally kept hair. Our medium will display the criticism African women face and demonstrate the societal pressure put on them through gossip culture and peer pressure to change their hair. The platform we decided to use is a podcast that will be recorded and edited with the digital tool, Audacity. We are utilizing this medium because it is the best outlet to examine the culture of gossip and stereotypes relating to culture and hair.

Citation: Bellinger, Whitney. Why African American Women Try to Obtain ‘Good Hair.’ University of Pittsburgh at Bradford