Jolly, Noor

Hello, everyone! My name is Noor Jolly. My full name is actually Paramnoor, but everyone calls me Noor, and that’s my preference. My pronouns are she, her, and hers. I was born in Palo Alto, and because I mostly grew up there, I learned, from an early age, how people are often unaware of their privilege. I am a third year student at UCLA, double-majoring in World Arts and Cultures (WAC) and Psychology. I knew I wanted to major in WAC from when I first started at UCLA because I've been fortunate enough to travel extensively and I spent five years living in India (age 6-11), which made me keenly aware of different ways of life. As an artist, an Indian-American, and a self-declared global citizen, I wanted to continue to learn more about the cultural roots of various art forms. Even though in today’s political climate, it’s clear that the world is becoming more divided, my travels taught me that we are really much more alike than different from one another. My interest in WAC is based on both my own identity as an artist and my belief that global progress requires us to embrace cultural diversity. My interest in Psychology is based on my curiosity about people, their thought processes, behaviors, and why humans are the way that they are.

I wanted to explore this class on Chicana/x/Latina/x Art and Artists because most of my previous coursework has focused more broadly on the study of cultural 'others,' but this class is focused specifically on the development of art forms within a particular cultural group, while still dealing with abstract issues such as activism, spirituality, sexism, and so on. I have very little familiarity with Chicana/x/Latina/x culture and am interested in gaining insight into these issues through exploring how they play out as a culture changes and evolves over time. I'm also curious about the subtle (or not-so-subtle?) distinctions between Chicana/x and Latina/x and what these identities potentially reveal.

Looking at the readings, Alicia Gaspar de Alba's book immediately grasped my attention because my previous classes have dealt so much with what being an insider or outsider means for an individual is treated, and with the oppression of people that the dominating class considers inferior. I am also drawn to Guisela Latorre’s book on empowerment, which I would  imagine goes in depth into how a person or culture can use art as a tool for empowering themselves. The third reading I am drawn to is Laura Perez’s book on Chicana art because it appears that it will be a discussion of how differences in spiritual and aesthetic values are grounded in politics.

Upon graduation, I hope to combine my interests in art and culture into a life-long journey that explores my hyphenated identity in its many manifestations.