Author Archives: Jazmine Vargas

Final Paper: Acknowledge the water!

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(Tesfaye The Water Will Carry Us Home – Official) 

Archives are usually known as a room with walls filled with historically rich books and documents, in other words, inanimate. Now, imagine water being able to hold history. That would be insane because our earth is mainly covered by water, what would that mean for us, humans? It could mean that there is plenty of unknown history surrounding us because no one has bothered to look into the ocean rather than see through it as a passageway to get to another location. Certain cultures use the water as a metaphorical book binder to hold their ancestral stories such as Yoruba culture. The film, The Water Will Carry Us Home directed by Gabrielle Tesfaye portrays the ocean as an archive of enslaved Africans’ memories, visually emphasized in the video still of a woman tossing white roses, and conceptually reinforced by John R. Gillis and The Penguin Book of Mermaids.

Water helps organisms survive, would that be for history, too? Yoruba culture has placed an importance on water to act as a living archive that holds memory of their myths tied in with real historical events such as the drownings of enslaved women, sometimes pregnant, and young girls that were tossed overboard on purpose during the Transatlantic slave trade. This is all shown in The Water Will Carry Us Home as Yemoja is shown discovering drowned African enslaved women and transforming them into mere beings. Yemoja is known as a yoruba water deity of the sea, fertility, and is the origin for life beginning. She provides the framework for Yoruba and other cultures to tie in History to their mythical ancestry. The sea has been around for centuries before us and will continue to be here after us, still encapsulated with the History of enslaved African Americans, that is for sure. This knowledge of having African ancestors throughout the sea isn’t well known to many because of the anglo-washed history fed to us Americans throughout our educational careers. No matter how much their truth keeps getting silenced / erased, it will be able to survive lifetimes and  be easily accessible for connection to their story. Yoruba culture embraces all of nature as capable of holding history. Americans only believe that history is valid if it’s on land and we are able to see it with our own eyes. Which minimizes our perspective of the world and lack of bandwidth to expand our knowledge. 

Water is a living archive to a whole new world of information that isn’t easily disclosed to humans. Allowing for it to be in a pristine condition that isn’t erased by anglo-obsessive historians that only believe their truth. The first step to accepting the ocean as an archive is to acknowledge that the sea exists which John Gillis mentions in his article,“What might be called the second discovery of the sea, beginning in the late eighteenth century and accelerating in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, produced a vast expansion of scientific and humanistic knowledge of the sea as a three-dimensional living thing with a history, geography, and a life all its own”(Gillis et al.). The second step is to respect the ocean while trying to explore its features as much as it allows humans to. While doing so, it will look like another world and make us realise that humans aren’t the only beings on this earth that need water to survive. Water rejuvenates the earth and allows for nature to thrive, “Given that everything we need to survive, in one way or another, depends on water, it is unsurprising that people across place and time have ascribed religious significance to water and developed water symbolism”(Bacchilega and Brown,pg.xv). These authors provide a reasoning as to why cultures assign an importance to water and the positive aura water exudes to humans that leads them to building their History around that! All water holds memory despite it being years and what keeps it alive is not only the earth but humans storytelling, as well. 

Visual media helps the audiences understand what and why the art being shown is important such as the video still I chose from The Water Will Carry Us Home. The still showcases a woman standing on a manmade ledge a few feet in the ocean tossing white roses onto the sea water. The significance behind this simple action is her acknowledgement of her Yoruba enslaved ancestors in the ocean still having their roots be able to envelop the roses she tossed into the water. She is paying tribute to those lost lives that haven’t been acknowledged by mainstream anglo-history on the transatlantic slave trade. Her choice in white roses and clothing reminds the viewers that this ritual isn’t demonic or negative in any form, it’s just a celebration of their memory that continues to live on through the water. Without water, their memory could not live on to show another generation the truth of their ancestors. As long as the sea exists, so will their History. 

Water holds space for memories and histories of life as we once knew it. The film, combined with Gillis’s and Bacchilega/Brown’s writing assist that claim because they acknowledge water is another realm in which we aren’t too familiar with. It is filled with real and metaphorical skeletons of past lives that don’t seem acknowledged on land to the majority of humans that don’t have a cultural connection to the water. If humans broadened their understanding of archives and acknowledged the sea as one, it would broaden their knowledge of the world and their neighbors. 

Works Cited: 

Bacchilega, Cristina, and Marie Alohalani Brown. The Penguin Book of Mermaids. Penguin Books, 2019. 

Gillis, John R., et al. “The Blue Humanities.” National Endowment for the Humanities, www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/mayjune/feature/the-blue-humanities. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025. 

Tesfaye, Gabrielle. “The Water Will Carry Us Home – Official.” YouTube, 24 June 2021, youtu.be/dGlhXhIiax8?si=oKM6G0EAxTSiP-4z. Accessed 13 Dec. 2025. 

Final Takeaways

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I had never been in this discussion based atmosphere throughout my academic career. I found it nerve wracking and indulgent because every session was filled with rich conversation from my fellow classmates and professor Pressman. My three takeaways from this class are: the patriarchy keeps trying to ruin women (even fictional ones), the ocean is a living archive, and real life context clues of when an author wrote a piece of merefolk literature will be subtly imbedded within their story (it helps connect the dots easier).
I’ve learned so many new techniques to analyze text and now images! In hindsight, this was daunting but I’m so happy to have experienced this course with my fellow classmates!

Thank you Professor Pressman for everything and being so supportive, kind and helpful!
Thank you to my fellow classmates for always having such an inviting environment with rich discussions!

Week 15 Reading Response

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In chapter 5 of The Deep by R.Solomon, there is emphasis showing how being in the sea is prison-like for Yetu. “She needed to go closer to the surface yet if she wanted to escape her people entirely (p.68)”, she is painted as a prisoner escapee trying to flee law enforcement (her fellow waijinru’s). This quote provoked for me to think of the ocean as a restraint (negative) rather than a museum of history (positive) because Yetu has actively showed her disdain for being in the sea with her people. The only way to escape because they will find her in the darkest parts of the ocean is to breach the border between land and sea, where no waijinru would dare to go. Yetu having to leave to uncharted and potentially dangerous territory to escape her life as a Historian reminds me similarly of an immigrant needing to cross a border to a new unknown land trying to escape their past and rebuilding from scratch a life that they are in control of. The thought of having to physically move oneself from their current environment to a new one is a debilitating one that evokes so many emotions to rise out of the person because they have nothing and no one and are placed in a survival mode to not succumb to moving back to their old life which is stagnant and draining.

Final paper idea

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For my final project, I’d like to focus on the short film The Water Will Carry Us Home and how it greatly supports the claim that water holds history, in particular the history of the transatlantic slave trade acknowledging the often silenced side of history which is the victims side. I just know that I want to focus on that general idea, I need to fine tune it a bit more but I will certainly include film stills to help my argument. 

Week 13 reading response

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Regarding the short story of Aganju and Yemaja from The Penguin Book of Mermaids and how Yamaja death/life is a sacrifice for birthing life and multiple dieties, due to her spreading water on earth. This only occurred from being pushed to the extreme because her son raped her and was chasing her. Yemaja was overcome with fear for her life having to potentially face her son again ,“Then her body immediately began to swell in a fearful manner, two streams of water gushed from her breasts and her abdomen burst open”(169). It plays into a patriarchal role that Yemaja’s death had to occur for life to jumpstart and for the environment to thrive, given that she is “the goddess of brooks and streams, and presides over ordeals by water”(168), she seems to have had all-mighty powers that weren’t used to defend herself. Another factor that embraces a patriarchal side is that Orungan, a male, noticed a clear amount of power imbalance between the two, when alone he felt he had “liberty” of Yemaja’s body without her consent. Takeaway from this story is that when men see a far more powerful woman in their presence, their need to control and tame their uninhibited nature is strong, and make them their subject, which leads to women getting abused and reinforcing gender roles and harmful patriarchal ideas.

Discovery #2

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(Škarnulytė Sirenomelia) Frame@4:36

For my discovery I want to highlight the short film Sirenomelia by Emilija Škarnulytė. The post-apocalyptic setting emphasizes how nature, and the mermaid as its symbol, endures beyond human collapse, turning the abandoned man-made facility into proof that humanity is gone but the natural world continues to adapt and survive.

In the short film, the man-made building is a decommissioned NATO submarine base above the Arctic Circle that seems abandoned by humans on land, but underwater there is plenty of marine biology thriving. According to the photo above from the film, the facility proves that it is decaying because the equipment on both decks have some rusting beginning to occur and not to mention there is no upkeep on the cleanliness of their flooring. Notice the lack of human appearance? That’s on purpose to decenter humans and focus on how resilient nature is that it has outlasted them in this post apocalyptic world. Again referring to the film still, the mere-being is swimming along the surface of the water, meaning that they aren’t shy of their appearance and no human can push back against their species.Throughout the film, no humans appear, which we aren’t used to. Have you noticed that even nature documentaries that are supposed to focus on wildlife still have human influence because they manipulate the camera and what they want to show, with an occasional shot of a filmographer trying not to interact with the approaching wildlife to “maintain” authenticity of the animals behavior. Sirenomelia has introduced us to a new perspective of viewing species which is allowing the mere-being to be autonomous about what they want shown and controlling their own narrative. Something that is truly unique and adds to the post apocalyptic sense of the world.

The quiet power being depicted by the mere-being and the shots of aquatic flora sets the tone for how deceiving it can be assuming everything will end once humans die off, but instead they flourish without limitations. Referring to the film still again, while recognizing how evident it is to point out the mere-being in the water swimming. We have to acknowledge the sentiment behind this simple action, it’s their habitat now. Despite it being a decaying submarine base, nature will evolve and will continue to outlive humans, who are insistent on destroying their habitat for personal gain. Adapting is their power of persevering through all the man-made inventions on their land and in their water.

The mere-being is the symbol of nature and how it will always persevere because that’s what they’ve done for millions of years. Their evolution won’t stop and as long as the postapocalyptic world continues to exist, they will too. The mere-being is living proof that outliving humans pushes us off that pedestal thinking the world revolves around us, but rather really focuses on the incredible evolution of nature and how when their world changes so do they. Throughout the film, there is a quietness that can seem eerie to us, humans, but it’s natural for the mere-being and other marine biology living there. It’s an emphasis on how taking humans out the equation can bring calmness and balance to nature. It’s a noisy world when humans are involved and with the proof of this film it shows how great the world will continue to thrive with humans being extinct. 

Sirenomelia has executed the idea of humans being temporary but nature is adaptable. Their lens is a wake up call that humans aren’t at the top of the food chain and a new order has been instilled, which is that nature will always succeed us.  

Works Cited:

Škarnulytė, Emilija. “Sirenomelia.” YouTube, 2 Aug. 2017, youtu.be/foH0QGuC3kY?si=aO7_SCVfklfcKI1c. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025. 

Week 12 Reading Response

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“ plangent harps of the Babylonian bondage,
as the white cowries clustered like manacles
on the drowned women, “

In the poem, “The Sea is History” by Derek Walcott the excerpt above caught my attention because it shines a light on lost history of slaves while on ships, especially the enslaved women who were often thrown overboard while being pregnant.

Dissecting the first line, “plangent harps of the Babylonian bondage,” with finding the meaning of each word. Plangent definition, according to Cambridge English Dictionary, is a deep/low sound expressing sadness. A Harp is a large wooden stringed instrument. The phrase, Babylonian bondage, is closely referencing The Holy Bible and when the enslavement of Jews occurred in Babylon. So, the author is comparing the sorrowful music of Jewish people being enslaved to black people being enslaved as well. Suffering the same, if not worse, fate like them. It’s a bitter way of showing how history tends to repeat itself and colonization and superiority never dies.

The second line, “as the white cowries clustered like manacles on the drowned women,” is more focused on the enslaved females being drowned and forgotten that upon discovering their corpses their shackles seemed to be lined with white cowries. White cowries are a shell for a sea snail. During the TransAtlantic slave trade, cowries were used as currency to purchase slaves. So there is a heavy negative connection to this sea made item and it’s still in control of deceased slaves by having something concrete and constricting on their body.

In the ocean, the manacles of white cowries will remain as evidence and a makeshift tomb embedded with history in the sea, because even if human bodies disintegrate over time, the history of our truth is there where no white man is willing to explore and manipulate.

Week 10 reading post

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“Beginning in the late eighteenth century, people began to come back to the sea in search for a quality they felt to be missing in the new industrial environment, that something called wilderness.”(John R. Gillis, HUMANITIES, May/June 2013, Volume 34, Number 3)

Humans crave nature because of the manmade world filled with fumes and concrete has deprived them of being in their natural environment.

The sea, for the most part, has been ignored by humans and just used transactionally, never acknowledging the sea as an “it”. When industrial revolution begins to rapidly spread across land, nature is being destroyed. The coexistence of land plants and animals lived beside humans, with a life cycle. Now, that technology is involved, natures life cycles have run short due to humans at fault. Some humans sensed that emptiness and crave an outlet of purity, which is the sea. Humans didn’t dare to enter the sea but watched entrancingly the waves come and go from a dry distance on their land. The sea has now become an “it” in their eyes, an embodiment of “wilderness” that no man can tame. Rather to admire from afar the power she has and no manmade revolution will harness her. Humans crave nature because we all came from the same place, water. The ginormous sea being at the edge of our land, alluring us to keep seeking for “wilderness” that will fill our missing pure/untarnished quality,we humans crave.

Discovery #1

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“File:Edmund Dulac – The Mermaid – The Prince.jpg.” 

PREFACE:

Background on the artist Edmund Dulac, his artwork is featured for The Little Mermaid tale from Stories from Hans Andersen by H. C. Andersen published in 1911. He was born in France during 1882 and passed away in the United Kingdom during 1953. According to Diana Frank from Once Upon a Canvas exhibit, his arrival in London helped cultivate his drawing technique. Additionally, a new mass printing method allowed for Dulac to publish his watercolor paintings and he ventured towards “orientally influenced color palette”(Students). During this century, the European obsession with Orientalism started booming and many artists were entranced by exotic visual traits of the east. Therefore, another layer is added to the artwork considering the oriental influence on the Prince’s attire and the intricate pillar design, seen above. 

For my discovery, this artwork critically engages with the patriarchal subtext of Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’. It presents the Prince as a figure embodying the patriarchy– standing tall and powerful, owning the space and towering over the Little Mermaid. The painting promotes reading the story by paying attention to and how the narrative exposes and perpetuates sexist dynamics. 

Noticing an obvious difference between the Prince and The Little Mermaid is the attire. The Prince has oriental royal garments compared to The Little Mermaid’s seaweed-like scraps barely covering her body. Despite them both coming from royal backgrounds, he is heavily clothed with barely any skin being shown and donning a head piece. The Little Mermaid doesn’t have any physical evidence that she is from Mediterranean sea royalty, so it was easy for the Prince to assume he is above her in status. But, also note that in the artwork, the Little Mermaid is lower and cowered inwards while sitting on the steps of the palace. Meanwhile, the Prince is standing with a relaxed stance leaning. He is touching the pillar and his demeanor seems confident and comfortable. He is making a clear connection to his environment. With the following quote, it helps solidify the Prince with a dominant role throughout the story, “She was now dressed in costly robes of silk and muslin, and was the most beautiful of all the inmates of the palace; but she was dumb, and could neither sing nor speak”(Bacchilega, 124). The Little Mermaid isn’t a guest in his palace, she’s a prisoner who is trapped there. She can’t entertain him, and for that very reason she isn’t highly valued in the eyes of the Prince. The Prince assumes The Little Mermaid’s lack of intelligence based on her disability of having no voice is accurate and none can rebuttal that, especially her, since she sacrificed her voice to be on land. Nobody would dare be against the Prince on his domain. 

Revisiting the postures comparison in the artwork and it being a visual representation of the patriarchal hierarchy going on the entire time! This became more solidified with the following quote, “The prince declared that he would never part with her, and she obtained leave to sleep on a velvet cushion before his door”(Bacchilega, 124). The Prince had The Little Mermaid sleeping on the floor by his door, like an animal. It’s clear that the Prince sees her as a disposable toy that has his attention for now. The degrading nature of having her, a mute disabled young girl, sleep without basic human respect. 

In conclusion, The prince is a man at the end of the day, he will become a king, he is a prince. He is gonna look out for himself and make his life easier and benefitting him. The prince is a spitting image of the patriarchy and speaks volumes to what men think of women. That is why this fairytale is timeless.

Works Cited:

Bacchilega, Cristina and Marie Alohalani Brown. The Penguin Book of Mermaids. Penguin Books, 2019.

“File:Edmund Dulac – The Mermaid – The Prince.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons. 20 Aug 2025, 12:27 UTC. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Edmund_Dulac_-_The_Mermaid_-_The_Prince.jpg&oldid=1075432655> 19 Oct 2025, 03:20.

Students in the German Studies course Grimm Reckonings: The Development of the German Fairy Tales (Professor Elio Brancaforte). “Once Upon a Canvas: Exploring Fairy Tale Illustrations from 1870-1942.” Tulane University Libraries , 19 Apr. 2013, exhibits.tulane.edu/exhibit/fairy_tales/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025. 

Week 7 close reading response:

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“Damsel in distress” is a key trope throughout “The Day After the Wedding, from Undine” passage . The beautiful and spirited Undine is “saved” by knight Huldbrand because she isn’t complete without a man saving her and removing her from her natural environment. No female heroine is found in this story, just shows how men are “complete” human beings that “need” to save a woman who are born “incomplete”. “She really loves him, and after the wedding she reveals to him she is really a water princess who, thanks to their marriage, now has a soul”(penguin 101). A water princess is in need of saving by a mortal man? This is a perfect depiction of how men paint women as helpless and innocent, no matter their upbringing. In the eyes of a man, every hero needs to be a male to help enforce the patriarchal gender norms that help men thrive and keep women deprived. Notice the phrase, “thanks to their marriage”, Huldbrand is the key to Undine’s salvation, that even her father, a Mediterranean Sea water prince, wished for her to marry a human. Undine is automatically portrayed as “baggage” to Huldbrand, despite him willingly marrying her and accepting her as she is or was. Undine was never able to save herself by gaining a soul on her own, her life was set to be doomed without a human man involved. How does the environment come into play? Well, in correlation to the quote and the passage ,the author is assigning nature as feminine. Hence, the nickname “Mother Nature” and the incessant need of man invading her space, in the name of “bettering” her. Our natural environment won’t be left alone as long as man lives.