between brackets are the teacher’s comments that need to be modified…Also in the end there is feedback.
My Reflection: A look through My Past
“Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it.”
–Ernest Holmes
One cannot separate (my name) the scholar, from Rahmah Alosaimi the young Saudi lady who grew up in the beautiful streets of Jeddah City. With that in mind, I am a young Saudi woman who is deeply passionate about human rights and especially women rights. I did my elementary schooling in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) and then went on to a great high school in the same nation. I was then fortunate enough to secure a great scholarship because of my stellar grades to come study in the United States. I saw the opportunity as a way to gain additional cultural exposure and to learn in a new country. I pursued my undergraduate degree and excelled at it. Consequently, I enrolled into a Master’s program here at ……….University and it has honestly been a challenging yet fulfilling journey.
Coming to The United States of America fanned my conviction on equal human rights as I met many women that were passionate and vocal about women’s rights. To best understand who I am as a scholar, you must appreciate what I hope to achieve with my education. I do not intend to write these papers on feminism and then not practice or advocate for what I am preaching, I do not intend to rest on my laurels. At home in Saudi, I hope to agitate for women equality within the limits of our law, this means that I will use registered local organizations to help agitate for equality. The research that I have been conducting in my Masters classes, for my thesis and even before in my undergraduate degree are all equipping me with the skills that will empower myself and my organization to assist women in Arab nations to enjoy the same level of rights as our male counterparts.
As a Saudi Woman feminism to me means equal treatment for men and women before the law. Interestingly, my brand of feminism is not influenced by the books we read in our class. Instead, it is dictated my experiences as a Muslim lady who grew up in Saudi. I always wondered why my mother could not drive a car yet her sons were allowed to, or why my younger brother could go to the mall by himself but I needed a chaperone.
The ENGL 737 Literary Criticism and Theory course were particularly exciting and useful. In that class, I learned to read and more importantly to question what I have read (I believe this needs key clarification. I’m not sure what you mean by learned to read)For example, my research for have exposed me to the different struggles that women have faced over the years in different cultures. Further, the idea that men and women deserve equal protection and benefit of the law as discussed in our classes has always been a fundamental belief of mine and is the bedrock upon which I have written this paper. Not only do I agitate for equal benefit and privilege but also for equal responsibilities. Further, one of the more profound texts that I read in the literature criticism and theory classes is Euripides’ Medea. The play is an ancient Greek piece conducted by Dionysus. The play makes me understand that although ancient Greece is considered as one of the most developed countries with a vibrant democracy and great architectural marvels it lacked in many human rights areas. For instance, the book shows that women were relegated to childbearing, they had no political or economic rights.(I am not sure how this relates to the overall conversation and how this made you a great scholar)
Everyone who hopes to agitate for equal human rights among different people must learn to critique what they are told by mainstream media, by educators and by those that benefit from systems built on inequality such as patriarchy. Seminars in World Literature was an equally educative class that allowed me to grasp different cultures and the effect of these cultures on their local systems of equality.
I believe that I am an ambitious scholar as I hope to study up to the Doctorate level. There are not too many female Doctors of Philosophy in my culture. I would love to become Dr. (my name) as I think it would encourage young Saudi girls that they too can achieve academic success and other forms of success. What I am saying is that as scholars, it is important that we motivate as many people as we can. I am a feminist from a culture where the term “feminist” is more of an insult than a title, thus I hope to demystify the misconceptions around it. The title is misconstrued as an insult because many people use the term feminist to refer to a woman that is non-conformist, a woman that is a rebel and does not respect her culture. To some people in my country a feminist is a troublemaker who wants to have women up in arms against our conservative culture. I disagree, a feminist is an enlightened man or woman who wants equality. hope to show the conservatives in my life that you can be a feminist and still be a good Muslim. To be a feminist is not to be a rebel. This in a nutshell is who I am as a scholar.(I’m still not seeing who you are as a scholar.keep pulling on the specifics,not just what you hope to be.)
I have studied various works of art in a bid to write this portfolio paper. These papers and works of art have similar themes but are markedly different in their stories. The first book that I read was Toni Morrison’s A Mercy, Her Speech titled Cinderella’s Stepsisters, the book is set in the early Racist 17th century where Black people were owned by white landowners. Morrison delves into issues of race but also shows that in that day women even among the slaves were usually at a disadvantage as compared to men. The role of religion in the slave era and how various colonies interacted with their people is examined at length in the book.
Toni Morrison’s Cinderella’s Stepsisters is a speech that she presented to a graduating class at the prestigious Barnard College. The speech centers on the theme that all too often powerful women use their power to harm other women instead of helping and empowering them. The speech uses the popular fairy tale Cinderella and her relationship with her sisters to drive the point home. Arguably, the most important take away from the speech is that women’s rights ought to be compared not just to women’s rights but to fellow women. Some women are not more equal than other women!
feedback:
you have to spend time telling us really who you are as a scholar. I need to know how these three essays and how being a feminist really matters to you. Finally, there is a great deal of proofreading needed here. I’m still not seeing who you are as a scholar.keep pulling on the specifics,not just what you hope to be.
Present yourself as scholar: Think about your research interests. What is your particular research focus and why? Why did you make specific decisions, such as your paper topics? How does your positionality inform you as a scholar? Is there something you want to achieve through your academic work?
