In the article “The Confident Gaze” by Shekhar Deshpande, it talks about how National Geographic magazines undermine other cultures. In the beginning, Deshpande explains about how National Geographic seems to be on the counters of Middle class parents or teachers of anthropology or that they lie around in dentist offices and insurance agents. Basically, he explains the stereotypes of who reads them. The specific article that he elaborated on was the issue: “India: Turning Fifty”. The cover page was an Indian boy who was covered in red, mostly likely due to the celebration, but his eyes were extremely bold and “striking” (Deshpande p4). Then Deshpande continues with the analysis about the images that the photographer took for the magazine. Deshpande thinks that National geographic is only successful due to the “natural” representation of other places of the world. But this only works because they clean and polish it to look nice, the opposite of what the reality really is.Photography can sometimes fog up the true meanings that lie beneath. As Shekhar Deshpande states “it attempts to sanitize and universalize the uncomfortable as well as different elements of other cultures.” Deshpande discusses here about how photography from National Geographic is trying to almost fade out the bad parts or sensitive parts of cultures because it’s uncomfortable for us.
It makes a blissful scenario in which, to the Western eye, makes it look happy or pleasant. We look at the problems around the world comfortably on our couches without being troubled because of the way the photographs are taken. Another claim Deshpande makes is the fact that human suffering starts becoming something that we can use as a valuable picture. As readers, we find ourselves more intrigued by the wretched for many reasons. Also Deshpande elaborates, “Human suffering becomes worth a good image”. In other words, suffering from others invokes a spark of curiosity towards us and that's how magazines like National Geographic can reel readers in. The suffering of others makes a good picture because it's more "interesting" to read rather than something wonderful in the world that is going on. Or maybe because of the suffering, it lures more readers in to make them feel sorry in a way.Human suffering can bring in people’s attention rather than something else that is going well in the world. He also says that the magazine is sensitive to some parts of topics they discuss. For example, it beautifies and sterilizes conflicts and blood from the situations. The magazine is detailed in the misery of their conditions, but Deshpande says it cannot be this way. He says that National Geographic of known for their photographs and that is where the big impact is made. Another issue Deshpande makes is that even though India has made 50 years of independence, the magazine is still making a relation in which we are comparing their success to our standards or technology, democracy, and etc. Lastly, Deshpande makes the point that regional conflicts are more important than keeping up with their material wealth.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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