In Dirlek's attempt to pinpoint the era of postcolonialism in his essay "The Postcolonial Aura", he suggests three definitions: "literal description of conditions in formerly colonial societies [...] "global condition after the period of colonialism" and lastly, "a discourse on the above-named conditions" (563-64). Over the last weeks, we have focused on the last, learning …
The word I keep coming back to is assimilate. Like a long ago episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “assimilate” is not only the command of The Borg, it is, in their mind, the inevitable duty of all species in the galaxy. And in both Pérez-Sánchez and Puar essays, I felt that assimilation was …
If this were a film blog, I'd love to talk about the sound design in Persepolis. The ominous sounds of the tanks as they moved in, the wheels of the bicycle as the children chased after it, the frantic footsteps as the young men were chased across the roof; if you weren't wearing headphones while …
Continue reading It’s not about the head scarf, it’s about who decides the head scarf must be worn.
Note: I apologize to my classmates for missing last week's discussion. My time management skills apparently had not yet returned from break. I have since forcibly extracted them from the void and, battered as they are, am working diligently to get them ship-shape. Considering the time-stamp on this post, they are still a little...disgruntled. Language is like …
Your listening for this post: When I read Dr. Clemens' post about this week's reading, I was worried that "the most depressing book they have read" consensus of Nawal El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero would unduly influence me. It prepared me, in some ways, to build up a wall against what I might find. Thankfully, Saadawi's …
Another post, another disclaimer. I am an atheist and have been all my life. I come away from this week’s readings troubled with how I can explain my distrust of indoctrinating children into religion without being disrespectful of an adult’s choice in their personal faith. In many ways Gyasi’s “Inscape” spoke to me, trying to …
It may seem disingenuous, or at worst mocking, to say that I have to work at decolonizing my mind. As the beneficiary of generations of imperialism, I have to continually unravel my automated thoughts about other peoples and cultures to not only better understand them but to better understand myself. I believe that if you …
When I saw “hybridity” as one of our concepts this week, I was troubled, thinking that its association with biology may cloud its association with people living in contact zones, but Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin had that covered. As well when I approached “binarism” I felt an assumption of meaning but the book helped sharply …
My thesis work and my postcolonial readings collided again this week. As I read an article about, of all things, the attitudes of Victorians toward the Japanese wearing Western clothes, Hami Bhaba and his assertions on mimicry and ambivalence came into play. The Victorian's deprecating comments and attitudes toward people attempting to assimilate part of …
