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Zine Reflection
I am happy to say that I am proud of my final project. What started as “maybe I’ll do immigration and use a passport as my object” ended up in a totally different realm of the class. I actually ran into this documentary, Mardi Gras Made in China, while I was randomly browsing through the internet and I am happy to have watched it. It really made me think about where I get all my materialistic items from. Even something so simple as finding beaded necklaces from Walmart or target has a large and deep history. This project definitely made me more aware and woke about where my things come from and I have learned to appreciate it more.
While researching on the beads, I learned so much of the genderization transnationally- in America, where women are encouraged to show off their breasts for beads and in China, where women are almost enforced to work in harsh working conditions and be complacent with their situation. It shocked me that even in today’s day- in- age, there is still such inconsistencies with the law and how people are actually treated. There is so much room for growth, especially in international countries. Being in the United States, I never imagined minimum wage to be as low as 10 cents per hour. This is dictatorship! The workers have no mobility in the social ladder or their mental health. It made me ask the questions “what can I do to help?” I feel like this zine was brought to the attention of Professor Yang due to the content. Something we, living in the first world nation, do not think about yet we use/ run into these objects on a daily. Even this computer I am typing this on- we talked about the workers who have to wear suits for technology assembling companies. Their bodies are filth and their bodies are only used for labor. It’s insane how this world operates to make money.
I wish that I can have the opportunity to see what my classmates wrote about. Seeing all the zines that professor Yang put up during class made me really excited to see what people came up with. One classmate I had the chance to talk to wrote about tiger balm. It is so interesting because I have used tiger balm growing up and although my family never knew the active ingredient in tiger balm, it was the go-to ointment for any sort of muscle or joint pain. It is interesting to see it at places such as Ralphs. For some reason, the packaging and overall feel of Tiger Balm makes me think of 99 Ranch or Zion markets (2 different types of Asian markets) however, it makes me happy to see that this object has made it transnationally. Now, I am just really interested in how this happened.
Overall, I feel like the zine taught me to think about products from a different perspective. For example, when studying the mardi gras beads, I not only researched where it came from, or how it was made but also it made me focus on what the event mardi gras beads are used for and what is the culture? What ethnic groups are prevalent in these events and are they affected by the beads? I like that I had the chance to event see the city Mardi Gras is held and how natural disasters affected them, such as Hurricane Katrina. I was able to see how it disproportionally affected the Black community. From a simple object such as the Mardi Gras beads, it is so fascinating to see how far we can trace back on object. I will continue to think in this manner in the future and I am thankful I was able to learn about a different style of observing different objects.
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The harsh reality of underserved communities of New Orleans post- Hurricane Katrina.
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Notebook 1
Heidi (Hyunjoo) Lee
A99064024
1. Object: Mardi Gras Beads
2. In dissecting the beads used in Mardi Gras festival circulating transnationally, I want to focus on the huge contrast of how the beads are made in China and the people who make them are being exploited of their labor in terrible conditions; yet people in New Orleans are throwing the beads which will ultimately be thrown away as waste. I want to discuss the theme of globalization and labor circulations.
3. In Asia, the Tai Kuen Bead Factory in Fuzhou, Fujian (China). In 1978 Deng Xiaping overturned Mao’s cultural par by introducing the free market economy. In 1980, factories in China started manufacturing the plastic beads. Free market reforms have expressed over 150 million rural migrants to vulnerable economic conditions. For example, in the film, machines not only were dangerous in that it can easily cut off limbs but also the beads are made of polystyrene and polyethylene which are both petroleum based products. Styrene is narcotic and central nervous system toxins and causes cancer when melted and inhaled. In additional to physical health being exploited and damaged without improvement, the pay is terrible. Most workers get 10 cents per hour. While minimum wage in the US is ~$10.00, workers in China are getting only but a mere fraction of that. Most women who are working have a sole goal of sending the money back home; however, with the amount they work, they do not get paid enough. In America, the beads are bought by Accent Annex and further sold to stores like K-mart and Walmart. The beads are most put into use in the French Quarters in New Orleans. Mardi Gras is a celebration that happens yearly before Ash Wednesday. Starting from 1978, men and women exchanged beads for nudity in the French Quarters in New Orleans.
4. It is interesting to realize that both parties are not aware of each other. To the Chinese, making the beads is their life. They are not using the beads for their enjoyment; rather it is to work efficiently to meet the status quo so that their pay doesn’t get cut. Working in the factory also means that enjoyment and the human in them is taken away during the 14-16-hour work day. Talking, taking breaks, slowing down necklace production all equates to a cut pay check so their lives are all surrounded by working until they finished making over 200 pounds of bead necklaces, per day! For the people celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the beads signify some sort of pride or acceptance/ feeling of being wanted. When women flash their breasts, men whistle, wave, and throw Mardi Gras beaded necklaces at them. Throughout the event, as women collect more and more beads from men, men can use the amount of beads the woman has and correlate that to how easily he can sleep with her that night. The beads has two completely separate meanings- physical labor and physical fun.
5. Mardi Gras- Made in China http://roger.ucsd.edu/search~S9?/Xmardi+gras+made+in+china&searchscope=9&SORT=D/Xmardi+gras+made+in+china&searchscope=9&SORT=D&SUBKEY=mardi+gras+made+in+china/1%2C3%2C3%2CE/frameset&FF=Xmardi+gras+made+in+china&searchscope=9&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C
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Notebook 3
Heidi (Hyunjoo) Lee
A99064024
How African Americans Were Affected Post- Hurricane Katrina
In 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream where he emphasized how he wanted everyone, whites and blacks, to have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. However, through history, there are incidents that happen over and over again which put African Americans disproportionally affected by unemployment, police brutality, incarceration, and laws that’s don’t protect them- drowning the dreams of King. I want to focus on the lack of attention the African American community received post- Hurricane Katrina, leaving these communities under water.
To start off, Hurricane Katrina was something that was not random. Ivor van Heerdon, a coastal scientist warned the officials of Louisiana that the city will be under water in a month; however, the lack of attention to communities- especially African American heavy communities were not looked after. If it was any other city, the government would have protected the people as much as they could. For example, in the wealthy areas of Westhampton Beach in New York, when hurricanes struck, New York officials ordered to use their tax dollars to fix up the mansions. Not to mention that hundreds of trucks came to the residential areas with sand bags. However, when van Heerdon recognizes that the levees were knocked over and predicted that the city will be in ruins, nothing was done to help the citizens. In southeastern Louisiana, the Mississippi Gulf outlet canal also created an extensive amount of damage to the neighboring citizens. The Mississippi Gulf was used built for oil companies to save time for oil tankers building. The US government okay-ed a dangerous building asset for economical purposes and the health of citizens were not taken into consideration.
Similar to “the ship” in The Wake, African American refugees were taken from their homes and dumped into places like Texas, New York, Virginia- all with no plans to return, similar to how they got there in the first place (for profitable slave plantations). Sending them to other states allowed the state of Louisiana to exploit immigrants such as Latin Americans of their cheap labor in hopes of rebuilding areas that were destroyed. With so many African Americans dispersed, there was no sense of home, no ability to make money and no means to get back “home”. Using other immigrants as labor was better for the officials than having African Americans who are socially constructed to have an image that they are poor, thugs and drug addicts.
While media portrayed African Americans people who looted trying to get food and other resources, they were stuck on their roofs of their houses for days waiting for help. Not only that, they were also thrown into the Superdome where they were supposed to find refuge but instead found babies sleeping in urine, elder citizens suffering who haven’t moved their bodies, and the community wanting the bare necessities- food, water, and functional bathrooms for hygiene purposes. The Superdome became a sense of hell for the African Americans- the National Guard informed them they could not leave (similar to “the hold” in The Wake), children were being raped, people were committing suicide and there was no sense of security. Overall, African Americans were affected from the disaster left from Hurricane Katrina in a way different magnitude compared to how other affluent areas affected.
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Cover to my zine// The juxtaposition of the what Mardi Gras beads mean to Americans vs. Chinese. The cargo ships represent the medium for globalization.
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Interaction between female factory worker and male owner// original artwork
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Woman’s body as a form of commodity ∥ http://www.welovenola.com/?p=2709
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Factory workers hands up close ∥ https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiisfqnqebRAhWHqlQKHZGDD4cQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.etsy.com%2Fen%2Fmardi-gras-made-in-china%2F&psig=AFQjCNHqObm_6WVjeE7ZZpE8HjaMXiQTPg&ust=1485743842544500
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Notebook 2
Heidi (Hyunjoo) Lee
A99064024
IA: Cynthia Vazquez
Focus- I would like to still keep my object as Mardi Gras beads that are made in a Chinese factory. I want to continue to explore the huge contrast of what Mardi Gras beads mean in China, specifically a factory in Fuzhou, Fujian, and what they mean in the French Quarters in New Orleans. In China, workers are not given basic workers’ rights as they have to continue to work 16-18 hours a day, and are punished for reasons such as: if the quotas are not met, if they are caught talking while working, and if they are caught talking or being with the opposite sex. However, on the other side of the world, in New Orleans, to celebrate in a wild fashion one last time before Lent, women expose their breasts and beads are thrown at them my men. At the end of the night, beads are essentially trashed on the streets and the festivities live on in wild partying and debauchery, without much thought of where the beads are coming from.
National Binds
Sexual liberation- In the eyes of a Feminist
When thinking of the culture and events that happen during Mardi Gras, one of the main “events” that lasts all day takes place is flashing for beads. Women lift their skirts and/or take off their shirts in exchange for beads. Through this action, women are already objectified by men as men metaphorically and physically are in control of women as they tease women with beads in their hands. Men have the power to verbally encourage or shame women of their bodies, to throw beads depending on how satisfied they are with what they saw and encourage further revealing of the woman’s body- all feeding into the male gaze.
Flashing for beads has been socially constructed to be normal during Mardi Gras. Let’s take it back to the ‘70s- when this “tradition” first originated. During the ‘70s, the Sexual Liberation movement originated and was a time of acceptance. Homosexuality, contraception, premarital sex and abortion are only some of many behavioral and sexual codes that were becoming normalized. Stemming from the changes during this time, during Mardi Gras, women would lift their shirts as a symbol of free love and sexual liberation, which were valued much more than collecting beads. However, 40 years later, today, the size, style, and pendant of the beads are used a sort of local hierarchy to women celebrating Mardi Gras. Women use the status of their bead necklace as a sense of pride and joy- if she had a rare bead necklace around her neck, she was the hot one. Women’s bodies are objectified as they their bodies are exchanged for goods (bead necklaces) on the streets.
Not only does the woman’s body become an object but also property for the men who throw the beads. For an action that lasts less than ten seconds (lifting of the skirt or taking off the shirt), men could surround the woman and film her. There are many cases where men who throw the beads expect sexual pleasure in return. Since flashing has socially constructed as something that is normal, men don’t see the problem of filming a woman. To men, they think that because first, many women around them are flashing themselves, second, the women are in public space and third, they’re exposing themselves in excitement and thrill, it makes it okay to grope and film these women.
Once these women are filmed, the videos can end up anywhere in the news, online, social media and even for personal pleasure. This alternative form of pornography is not thought of what it actually is- people may not even consider it as pornography. These ideologies often stem from the fact that the footage they got was not staged, completely natural and out in public. After 40 years, the fact that this tradition still exists normalizes men filming women.
Intersectional Analysis
After watching the documentary, there were so many emotions and frustration that are rooted from the way workers are treated in China, specifically for women. The exploitation of Chinese women can be seen through the lens’ of gender norms, class, governmental ideologies thus leading them to such meager working conditions. Women workers are forced to work to meet their quotas, 14-16 hours at a time, in conditions where the beads, which are made of styrene cause cancer when melted and inhaled. However, nowhere in the video do you see the owner, Roger Wong, attempt to better the working conditions.
There is a huge gender gap in the Tai Kuen Factory and in most factories amongst China. During the documentary, Wong has a hierarchy among his workers and a lot of the jobs have to do with the nature of gender. Wong claims that only 10% of the workers are male and 90% are women as women are more obedient and more easy to control. These socially constructed norms that denounce women and view them as docile and submissive are affecting women and their potential in having equal rights as men. Because so many young women (16-18 years old) are in factories not knowing anything else that is going on in the world, these women cannot be educated. When the Chinese society have a mentality that “… women tend to be hired in unskilled manufacturing jobs because it is thought that, given their responsibility towards housework and rearing children, they have more modest career aspirations and thus are more accepting of low pay” (Factory Bound: Gender Inequality in China, 2014), there is no way that women can prosper and have the same opportunities that men have. Because they are considered to be low wage workers, these women are not getting the communication and training skills a moderate wage worker would be getting. The men who are in school are able to continue to rise the social and political ladder, leaving women behind to do what they are supposed to do, such as housework and work in factories.
Under the Chinese government, women are not protected when it comes to the way they are treated by their boss’, the hours they work, equal rights for women or freedom of thought and speech. There is an interesting contrast when viewing the ideas of Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China. He believed that “women hold up half the sky” (Mao Campaign Fuels Women Power, 2012), yet women are obviously not acknowledged this highly in the work place as they are just another factory worker. Under the cultural revolution, the People’s Republic of China also did not protect freedom of thought and speech as Wong shut down any potential form of a strike when their pay was cut for no valid reason. Not being protected by the government leaves only but a sliver of hope for women in China.
The last intersectional lens to view factory working women is through the lens of social class. These workers are coming from rural areas with little to no education and their main reason to be working so hard is to send money back home. Their sense of purpose to working is only but a couple reasons which also makes it difficult to be in their position to fight back or even consider questioning the “greater” system. These women are almost forced by obligation to their families to work low wages and lower positions in the work place.
Overall, through the lens’ of gender, class and governmental positioning, Chinese factory working women are stuck in the workforce they are currently at. Without say in what they do, their lives are surrounded upon making as many bead necklaces in the time they have.
Sources
http://www.academia.edu/3200508/Letting_It_All_Hang_Out_Mardi_Gras_Performances_Live_and_on_Video
http://cambridgeglobalist.org/2014/07/29/factory-bound-gender-inequality-china/
Mardi Gras Made in China (UCSD Library Reserves)
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/women-04202012182126.html
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Chinese Mardi Gras bead factory women vs. women in New Orleans flashing the camera (probably for more beads) ∥ https://blog.etsy.com/en/mardi-gras-made-in-china/
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