Cultural Diversity
Cultural Archive
Shiroj Ramautar
assignment week 38
The artist is named Frank Ocean who among othe things is a singer and songwriter. Back in 2012 he made a public statement where he stated that his sexuality doesn't conform to hetrosexuality. In multiple songs he either explicitly or obscurely tells about his attraction towards both women and men. He's rather ambiguous about his sexuality. This could mean that just like with huis music he doesn't like to be put in a specific category or labeled as such and such. On the right is his debut album ´Channel Orange´ and underneath this text is his second album ´Blonde´.
Near the practice of my dentist are houses. On my way home from the dentist I passed a very beautiful arrangement of flowers on a field of grass. To me it's unknown who has created this work. I have the feeling it's done by the community in that particular neighbourhood. I have video footage of this but I have trouble trying to upload the video on my laptop.
The text on the right is a spoken word piece written by me. It's about the intolerance of and injustice done by the western goverments and a big part of the western civilisation as a whole towards refugees. The refugees are unwelcome in the west due to their ethnicity and/or culture. Of course not every single individual in the west sympathizes with these views. This piece is written as criticism towards those who do in fact embrace these views.

As I stated earlier I'm the author of this piece and I'm part of a minority in the Netherlands. I'm of 'Hindoestaans' descent. The diaspora of the 'Hindoestaanse' community in the Netherlands goes from South-Asia to Surinam (situated in South-America) and eventually ends in The Netherlands (for now).
The artist pictured on the left goes by the artist name Ab-Soul. He´s a rapper form Los Angeles (USA). He suffers from the Stevens–Johnson syndrome, a virus which causes his vision to deteriorate. Therefore he wears sunglasses most of the time and is rarely seen without in public. On the left of the text is the official music video for the song ´Terrorist Threats´. In this song he speaks among other things on being an African American male in the United States and the conspiracy theory involving mighty influential people that even surpass the power of the president.
On the right is a drawing of a young minnie mouse and pluto. Besides them there´s a cradle with a baby in it. Minnie mouse symbolizes my sister and the baby symbolizes me. This was drawn by a colleague of my mother for my birth. I was born on august 21, 1996. This drawing symbolizes for me the day I was born and thus the start of my journey. I´m the only one holding the pencil that draws my path since only I can create and walk it.
assignment week 39
There’s a coin that pictures two divine entities from the religion Hinduism. Those entities are Lakshi Mata and Ganesh(a). When I was younger my mother gave me this coin with the intend to let the coin guide me spiritually and protect me from evil or negative energy. To me the coin symbolizes this and more. It’s a special bond my mother and I have which I cherish dearly. She is relatively very religious and I’m sort of in between. You could say I’m partially agnostic and thereby uncertain of my believe. Even though my mother and I don’t share the same amount of enthusiasm and passion for the religion, I sense a higher power overtaking and protecting me whenever I touch, feel and see the coin. There’s an instant relation towards my mother and the warmth and love she’s given me and still gives me. This coin has a purpose and meaning beyond the concept of materialism and can’t be defined. How can you define the divine? To me my mother is the divine power who’s always with me whether the coin is or isn’t present near with me. But the coin represents this spiritual energy and does not need to be brought/carried along in order for it to emanate it’s energy.
m4a
assignment week 40
Inclusivity is a broad concept and can be interpreted in many different ways from a lot of different perspectives. The broadness actually describes the concept itself. Inclusivity means everyone and everything is included. Regarding the definition of inclusivity every perspective and interpretation is included into the concept. My focus is on communities that are being marginalized and how they can be included on an equal or appropiate level in the society they exist in. This could be among other things applied on policy and public spaces.
These spoken word pieces were written three to five years ago by me. Some of the discussed themes in these pieces are racism, marginalization and oppression. They are written from different perspectives and based on different events. The right piece for example is written from my own perspective and based on experiences from my personal life. These pieces are all in some way about (social) exclusion and the necessity of inclusivity in a society.
I used to feel so lost and was searching for my identity. It felt like a never-ending quest in order to find myself. I am born into a home of South-Asian descent where I was brought up with the norms, values and traditions of the Hindoestaanse culture. Hinduism played a big part in my upbringing. The Hindoestaanse culture has both South-Asian and Surinamese characteristics. It all started with my parent who both migrated with their families from Surinam to The Netherlands. They are coincidentally both born in 1963 and both moved to The Netherlands In 1976, a year after the independence of Surinam. Surinam has a huge history of slavery, colonization, oppression and so much more suffering. My grandparents from both sides believed, like many other Surinamese citizens back then, that after the declaration of independence there was a greater chance of having a better future by migrating to their 'former' colonizer's nation. My parents never had the privileges and therefore opportunities in life that I have been given. Just like their parents they wanted me to have a better life than they have ever had. They have managed this and so much more. I can't bring the feelings of gratitude and blessing into words.
However, I have not always been grateful and satisfied with my life. In search of my identity I've gone through multiple phases. During my life on primary school I believed everything my parents said and entrusted them with my life. During my life in highschool, specifically during puberty, I started to rebel. I rejected everything that had to do with the Hindoestaanse culture and simply didn't acknowledge my roots. I felt like the Western perspective and ideals were the best way of life. There was no reasoning with me. In the course of time I started to come to my senses. When I was nearing graduation in highschool I became more in touch with my roots than i had ever been. I came to the realisation that I have this rich history of culture. The diaspora of my ancestors dates all the way back to South-Asia via Surinam. I have this rare identity that embodies a fusion of South-Asian and Surinamese norms, values and traditions. I'm fully embracing it now.
The spoken word piece on the left is about the racial slur 'koelie'. It's often used to discriminate against and patronize people of Hindoestaanse descent. The defintion of this word is 'a slave who is used as a carrier'. But the definition goes deeper than that. It's rooted in systematic racism and opperession. Till this day we, Hindoestanen, are still confronted with our past including the use of this word. I myself have been called this slur a lot of times in my lifetime roaming this earth. This piece is written by me in Dutch roughly a year ago. I'm expressing my sentiments towards this word, its history and the deeper meaning behind it.
This is a song from the bollywood movie 'Kabhi Khushi Kahbi Gham' and this is one of the classics. It brings me in touch with a part of my roots.
This movie is called 'wan pipel' meaning 'one people'. The aim of the movie is to unite between the Hindoestaanse culture and the Creole culture in Surinam. It was and in a part of both cultures sadly still is a taboo to fall in love with someone from the "other" culture. An interracial love like this was very groundbreaking and controversial in that period of time. It has paved the way to start and engage in the discussion. additionally, it loosend the strict narrow-minded believes. To me this movie represents the struggle with traditions, cultural conventions, breaking through stereotypes and shapin your own identity. The message of this movie comforms to my firm believe that we are all equal since we're part of the same race, the human race.
During the group project we've had a lot of ups and downs. Multiple ideas of a concept came to light but never stayed in the sun. We discussed a lot about our aim and what we wanted to bring across. In week 41 we presented our rough draft with an emphasis on 'rough'. We were very enthusiastic about all the concepts we thought of and tried to make them concrete. The biggest obstacle was the fact that the term 'inclusivity' is so broad making it tough to narrow it down. We had to come up with a focus in order to make it feasible and logical without losing the essence of inclusivity. On the left and below this text are two of our previous concepts visually showcased.

The illustration on the left is based on the concept of a magazine. The illustration below the text is based on a storybook which would compile among other things poems, fictional and non-fictional stories.
group project: inclusivity
Eventually we came up with the concept of creating and printing posters for our project and presentation.We decided to pick four themes/subject matters that we could in some way relate to and could do proper research about. We chose the following themes/subject matters: Ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender and beauty standards. It has been a rough journey but we came a long way. Our aim is rto start the conversation and let people engage in it. inclusivity revolves around countless themes in society that construct our frame of reference. Every individual percieves reality differently and has his/her/their own definition of to it.

On the right and below the text you can see the posters we've created. By clicking on any of the four posters you'll find yourself on our collective hotglue.