It's unbelievable how fast this quarter went by, and the amount of ground we covered in that short time. I don’t think I’m very adept at deconstructing theory, because I tend to look at things from more of a cultural approach. But by discussing together in section and lecture, I was able to dig into politics of dislocation, diaspora, memory, and violence. I always find myself coming back to these themes. This whole quarter I struggled to re-adjust to reading and deconstructing English texts after spending almost five months in Japan. When I returned to America, I thought I had reverse culture shock, or what one of my friends prefers to call, “re-entry trauma.” Coming back to reading dense English texts about post-colonialism after reading all Japanese texts, I felt "in-between"---un-anchored, and I don’t think I could have asked for a better re-entry point into my academics. Even though it was challenging, I really enjoyed this class.
One of my favorite works this quarter was Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place. It really got me thinking about how histories are told. The temporalities, spaces, and perspectives that histories come to occupy and be communicated through. Memoirs and fiction call into question whose voices are being elevated, and what cultural legacies still remain. In general, I always like looking into how language plays a part in telling stories. A Small Place and The Reluctant Fundamentalistboth work from a second person perspective, while Footnotes in Gaza approaches from a visual standpoint. Through the language and the visuals, we are implicitly "there." Combined with everything we've read, we come to realize the blurring between what it means to see. That language is not necessarily geared toward neutral identification, but subject to its limitations and authenticity.
I'll end with this TED video that I found recently. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian novelist speaks about narratives. I think many of us will find commonalities with what we have studied; and it may even be relevant to our own personal stories. I remember a couple of questions that Christine posed this quarter was: "Why can't literature of imperialism be told head on?" and "What is the difference between the narrator and the narrated?" And while we wrestled with answers as a class, I think in a way, Adichie offers something for us to consider towards the end of her talk: "Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity."
One of my favorite works this quarter was Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place. It really got me thinking about how histories are told. The temporalities, spaces, and perspectives that histories come to occupy and be communicated through. Memoirs and fiction call into question whose voices are being elevated, and what cultural legacies still remain. In general, I always like looking into how language plays a part in telling stories. A Small Place and The Reluctant Fundamentalistboth work from a second person perspective, while Footnotes in Gaza approaches from a visual standpoint. Through the language and the visuals, we are implicitly "there." Combined with everything we've read, we come to realize the blurring between what it means to see. That language is not necessarily geared toward neutral identification, but subject to its limitations and authenticity.
I'll end with this TED video that I found recently. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian novelist speaks about narratives. I think many of us will find commonalities with what we have studied; and it may even be relevant to our own personal stories. I remember a couple of questions that Christine posed this quarter was: "Why can't literature of imperialism be told head on?" and "What is the difference between the narrator and the narrated?" And while we wrestled with answers as a class, I think in a way, Adichie offers something for us to consider towards the end of her talk: "Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity."
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