Wednesday, April 18, 2012

3rd Term - task 1


After reading José Eduardo Agualusa's text "A jaca que foi comida viva" write your personal comment on the text.

16 comments:

  1. This Chronicle is both funny and interesting. It satirizes (without offending) the ignorance of some people when facing other peoples, It's really interesting to see how whe can be blind when facing something diferent of what we're used to ( Like Ma Yan's Diary).
    I especialy liked the jaca one because of the reaction of the tour guide, which was making fun of the ignorant americans that were totally off the culture of the place.

    Ps: First to complete the task, extra points!!

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  2. I enjoyed reading "A jaca que foi comida viva" by José Eduardo Agualusa.
    By telling us about the Nhambiquaras Indians or Jonas Savimbi's body guard we realize how different habits and traditions are. How people judge one another and how prejudice can cause misunderstandings and social conflicts.
    Human life is full of examples of intolerance, violence, prejudice and hatred against people. Whether it is because of the skin colour or religion, every difference seems to be a good reason to fight.
    Acceptance and tolerance should be the most important values for everybody. As Fernando Alvim said "é preciso aceitar o cheiro do outro".

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  3. When I started to read "A jaca que foi comida viva" I was shocked because of the men eating an animal that was still alive! But then, when I realized that that was not an animal, I started to understand that the major problem of societies is actually judge without even knowing well what they are judging. The next case is also a cultural problem caused by the bad judgement of writing by an Indian man.
    I think that the aim of this text is to make people understand other cultures by 'analyzing' them before judging.

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  4. I consider this text absolutely peculiar.
    I trembled when I started reading the first situation happened, but then I laughed a lot while I was thinking in it.
    The other adventures are interesting too, but I don't like them so much as the first.
    In this text there are episodes that show us different cultures in the world. But they are only a few examples of if because in our planet there are lots of people with lots of dissimilar traditions, languages, habits, wishes, beliefs, etc.
    Yes, I'm talking about the multiculturalism, something we always deal with.
    We all know there are some conflicts related with the differences between people and it is a fact they are deeply relate with prejudice. Sincerely, I hate any type of discrimination and I think there isn't any reason for it.
    I see multiculturalism as a great oportunity to learn and to understand some ideas that we probably would never have.
    Gonçalo Marques

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  5. I think that this text written by José Eduardo Agualusa, an Angolan successful writer, is very interesting, talking about a serious question but in a simple way.
    I like particularly the first situation, which happens in “Porto de Manaus”, when a tourist sees a stevedore crashing a little animal. However, this setting is completely wrong, the animal was not a animal, but a fruit – “jaca”. The American tourist and his group draw a wrong conclusion, because they judge another culture without knowing all the facts.
    Obviously, we know that we should not do this, but situations like this are very commons here, there, all over the world. Thus we live surrounded of fights, which were born of prejudice.
    But the world is made of different cultures, different peoples, different civilizations and all of us have to accept the others because we also want to be respected. So, as the author says, we should eat the “jaca”.

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  6. -> This text is really funny but alusive in the same way, because first it shows that some people don´t have the multicultural basis that they should have in the multiple individual or grouping social believes that exists also in the same country and that is what we see in here. Not really born in Angola (the reporter), but shows that everyone could learn more about a different religion and not really enbrance it has their one, but respect it because there isn´t really a perfect religion.
    -> Well if there was everyone would pick that one.
    -> But there isn´t!
    -> So we are debating has equals.
    -> It hopes to straighten up everyone´s mind in their possible path towards enlightenment.
    -> In short jackfruit should be eaten.

    xXx Tiago xXx

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  7. I liked the opinion of the author of this text. it was funny reading it and learned more from this experience.
    Beatriz Alfaiate

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  8. I personally really liked the text. Is interesting to note how "culture shock", can cause certain reactions of astonishment. But it's also funny, and when I travel to other countries or even in Portugal, I always try to notice the differences between my culture and the cultures of this location.
    Is a very interesting text!

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  9. In reading the proposed text, "That Was The Jaca Food Live", by José Eduardo Agualusa, once again I had the perception that much as a society evolves, it will never be enough to end the prejudice between different ethnicities / cultures . Whenever we find something different, our first reaction should be feel curious and try to understand the importance of what we observed in the culture in question, but, instead, we simply turn up our noses and criticize, perhaps as a matter of convenience. It is very easy to be misunderstood or misinterpret someone else. I do not think it is well done and I don't think it is normal to happen. I think if we are so evolved as we want to imply, we should show that we are trying to understand others and give us known by them.
    I loved reading the text! I think despite being simple, shows how the differences are obvious and cultural clashes exist over the years, throughout the world.
    Thank you for propose this reading! Have a rest of a good sunday!

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  10. This text is about culture shock.
    First of all we have to think that we aren't the only ones living on this planet. There are lots of people with different cultures. We have to accept and respect them, because something we think is unacceptable for us, might not be to another culture. Words and attitudes, body language, can have different meanings in different countries.
    José Eduardo Agualusa wants to make us realize that behaviours and attitudes are different from culture to culture. We have to learn how to live with this.
    But, in my opinion, there are things in other cultures that are unacceptable, like excision (female genital mutilation). In these cases I think we should allert people to the risks of some behaviours.
    Multiculturalism has lots of good aspects, but it has bad things too. Above all we have to learn how to balance things. And one very important thing is that we can't push anyone to completly change his culture, we might be taking something to the brink of extinction.

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  11. A glance at the globe makes us conclude that there is a large number of countries, spread across different continents and to suppose that each country has its culture, its traditions, its customs and its tastes.
    However, in modern societies, in the same country there are different people sharing the same space. This is multiculturalism - the coexistence of different cultures in the same country or in the same area.
    If each country has its own practices, traditions and in the same country we can find different people, from different parts of the world, one of the most important things to do is respect each other, respect others' beliefs, their habits and their routine, so that we can live in a world with harmony and make the most of this friendship, such as cultural enrichment and personal growth.
    In the text "A jaca que foi comida viva" we can see the different practices of different countries, which is one thing for some and for others is a different one.
    This makes us see that when we cohabit with other people, with a different culture, we have to try to understand their customs, respect the space of one and "accept the smell of another".

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  12. Carla Mata:

    Nowadays is very common to find people of cultures different from ours, wherever we are. But do we really know anything about their costumes? If our costumes are in any way disturbing to them?
    As I read the text I easily found myself in the same position of the American tourist... At fisrt I was shocked to find out they were eating a living "animal", but easily got over it by setting my mind that, after all, they were American natives and it was probably common around there. However, after learning that the jaca was a fruit and not an animal, I concluded that I had been too quick in forming the wrong idea about natives, because I didn't know a thing about them.
    The text presents a current situation that could happen to any of us. To tell the truth, how many of us knew that walking in front of someone in that region of Angola, mentioned by Mr. Agualusa, was an offense? I didn't.
    Misunderstandings born from prejudice and lack of knowledge by ordinary customs, may lead to serious consequences. Many politics already fell preys to those consequences, either for standing in the shadow of a Prince or refusing to eat something offered by their host, and were judged as rude people.
    Worst things happened in History that maybe could have been avoided, if people knew more about other cultures and didn't limit themselves to the customs from their origins.
    If there's anything we should have learnt after reading this small story, is that whenever we're confronted with a situation we can't quite understand, before letting prejudice and wrong ideas cloud our judgement, we should find out if it's common within their culture and try to learn about the reasons that make it so.

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  13. The first impression I had when I started reading the text was: Oh my god how is it possible? Probably I will never be able to eat an animal in these conditions. I was in shock, but after reading the text I thought that perhaps for some people it is normal, so the conclusion that I get is that we should think more about others and how they live.
    It is necessary that multiculturalism has importance in society so that people try to understand the reasons that everyone has to act differently, and the world will certainly be more peaceful.

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  14. I liked this text! It shows us that sometimes culture shock can be shocking and that we should look for the good things that the are cultures have instead of looking for their bad things.
    The best culture doesn't exist, there are different cultures and all of them have its characteristics. That's a fact that we need to accept.

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  15. I think that this text by José Eduardo Agualusa, is very interesting, it's about a serious question but exposed in a insteresting different way: Stereotypes! and Cultural Shock!:
    First I thought that "jaca" was an animal and for that reason coudn't understand why eating it in that conditions however I conclude that its for the american natives do it. This Thread happens all over the world: What for some people can be normal for others, can not be understand and for some cultures, even punished! WHen i found that Jaca was a fruit I laught with my self because I took advance and quick conclusions that were wrong(stereotypes). Finnaly with this text i understand that people have some pre consepted ideias about a culture or a race that in the major of times are wrong!

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  16. I found this text really interesting and excellently written. It is about funny, sometimes ridiculous, episodes of cultural divergences. This scenery is more frequent in tropical countries, where many different ethnicities come together, but it isn’t hard to imagine a cultural confront between European people. Sometimes, although Beatriz Bento and I are thinking about the exact same thing, we express ourselves in different ways and that’s when the (innocent) argument begins… And this is a communication problem, not a cultural one.
    My opinion on this subject is the same as the author’s: in order to live in peace, we must try to understand the other person before any judgment, because different peoples have different ways of living and acting. If there was this concern, many current conflicts would not exist. As we are all humans, all cultures should be accepted, unless they violate human rights or other ethical statements.

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