What's is Mamebassine?

Source: quickmeme.com 

Me on June 9th.

My name is Mame Bassine . I was named after my grandmother, Bassine on my father's side. The first part of my name, "Mame", means grandparent in Wollof/Jollof (my ethnic group) which is commonly used in my culture when naming someone after their grandparent or elder (i.e me being named by my grandmother!). And Mame is basically pronounced as: "Maam". The second part of my name has an even deeper meaning, Bassine is rooted from the Arabic name, "Basma" in the Wollof translation. (Bassine is also a name in many different European countries with a different meaning). This came to the Senemali region when Islam was introduced by the Arabs. In this context, Bassine means smile or friendly/friendship.

As I did further research, some philosophers say that someone with the name, Bassine is one who is just simply honest and fair because that’s the only way they believe something can be achieved. And when I read this, I just said, “that is so Me!”. I related to this so much, this is my mindset all the time, it is influenced by my Islamic religious beliefs and my set morals (which are intertwined many times). Ironically, at the same time, I don't really believe in superstitions or predictions made by philosophers. For me, a name is a name. I believe that what you do with that name you carry is what really defines you.

I have very mixed sentiments about my name, I sometimes like it and sometimes don’t. I “like” my name when I’m out of school. But during school, I have always struggled with my name. It is the name every teacher stops at during roll call or apologizes before they say it because it’s a very hard name to pronounce. Because of this, MIMI was created by my kindergarten teacher, it was also her grandmother's name (It's so easy to pronounce, and if you forget it, just think of yourself!). I am actually kind of envious of my FIVE sisters who ALL have easy names to pronounce, I guess my parents stuck me with the hard name.

In terms of duality, for sure! I have two personalities, Mimi and Mamebassine. Mimi is only at school and now, at work too. At school and work, I'm an introvert, quiet, reserved, and very passive. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that I come from two very different cultures, Senegalese and American. I don't connect so much or as quickly with a lot of my peers, because of my mixed culture, my experiences differ very much theirs which can sometime cause confusion or misunderstanding. In the past, I've kind of left out my Senegalese culture when meeting new people and introduced it later. Out of school, I am a very different person (I guess this is when I'm Mamebassine) I'm outgoing, talkative, borderline extrovert (dare I say!), and funny. My non-school friends are mostly Senegalese and other African people. They understand me more because most of them are like me, first generation Americans. We've have had a lot of the same type of experiences, including the one I mentioned above with name pronunciation. I don't know I'm just really weird lol. 

"Othering" 

  

http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/p929219206/h6c0be626#h637941a4

Photographer: Wing Young Huie | University Avenue Project: The Language of Urbanism, A Six Mile Photographic Inquiry (2007-2010) | Saint Paul, Minnesota

Little Picture:

On the surface level, the most eye-catching detail of the photograph is the small black board the young man is holding and the statement, “I feel like a fish swimming around in my thoughts”. Then, of course there is the young white man himself sitting, who seems to look like he is in the lower to middle class; he has rigid hair bangs that cover his eyes , a tightly clenched jaw, he is wearing a casual neutral mediocre tee shirt, There seems to be no emotion on his face, which is an emotion in itself. And, backing away from the foreground, everything else in the photograph is blurry and unfocused. The man is in a room which to me looks like a college dorm or an office space even. To the left of the photograph there is a table in front him with a book on it, a counter with empty containers of food. Moving to the middle of the background, there is what appears to be a small television or computer and a cup on a table. Also, the room has many different papers plastered and hanging loosely on the walls which could be for reminders.

Big Picture:
Diving deeper in the photograph (haha, I’m so punny!), the audience begins to make a connection between the color of the photograph and the emotion of the young man holding the small chalkboard, which are both nonexistent. The photographer, Young Huie may have staged the photo in this manner in order for the audience to pay more attention to the statement on the chalkboard. The statement itself seems to imply that maybe the man may have some kind of mental disorder that has great effects on his cognition such as schizophrenia and in which he cannot control, which is why he feels like a fish when dealing with his thoughts. Furthermore, because of his haircut and body language as well, the man is very much lacking identity. The audience cannot see his eyes, which can often inform a lot about a person. He makes no type of engagement with the camera, the young man is turned away from the camera, as if he wants to hide things about himself from the audience. His hair also implies that he might be of the emo, scene, or Gothic group who are often perceived as antisocial and mentally disturbed.

Connection to the Handmaid’s Tale:
Based on the statement presented on the chalkboard by the man and the many statements of Offred in the Handmaid's Tale, the audience can conclude that the man and Offred are both fish swimming around their thoughts. This may be due to the fact that they are both of groups that experience "othering" because of their societal position. For Offred, she experiences "othering" because she is a handmaid, they are rare, and as individuals, they are treated very poorly (from the perspective of the modern Western reader). And for the man, he may experience "othering" because he is a white male who is not of a high class who probably does live in a neighborhood where POC are the majority, in which he doesn't fit in very well because of it. Also, he might experience "othering" because of his scenic/emo appearance, who are often groups mainstream society tends to heavily isolate and ridicule.