Arizona Controversy

So we talked in class on Wednesday about all that is going on in Arizona right now and which novel some of this related too. I feel that this situation is best represented in The Book of Not with Tambu and the other other African girls, but not that she would for this. I feel that if this law was put into place while Tambu and the other African girls were there it would somehow have a reverse affect and end up hurting them more than the white girls. If the law were to be put in place in order to help the discrimination of the African girls, as this novels always tends to go, I think the African girls would end up suffering from it. This would be a law and I law applies to everyone. So if the white girls have to follow it so do the African girls. I can just see Miss Plato lurking around every corner waiting for one of the African girls to say something bad about the whites and then all hell would break loose! As the trend seems to be: the oppressed never get a break. Plus I cannot imagine that if this law was enacted that the white population would he happy about it. Since they think ofthemselves as superior, they would take every chance they could get to turn that law around on the Africans and make them suffer because of it.

Ngugi’s book is easily the most overlooked book of this semester. No Ngugi’s book certainly isn’t fun nor is it light-hearted. The arguments Ngugi makes are difficult to swallow, but his ideas, to me, are brave in the face of towering issues that not a lot of people are clamoring to address. I once again wanted to try and make light of this book with my own lived experience. On page 16 Ngugi says about Colonialism, “Colonialism imposed its control of the social production of wealth through military conquest… But its most important area of domination was the mental universe of the colonized, the control, through culture, of how people perceived themselves and their relationship to the world.” What this brings to mind is my own education in the Texas public school system, especially when it comes to the history of the Alamo. Being a native of San Antonio, the narrative of this conflict between the Mexican Government and those who fought for Texas Independence is dear to our city. But for young Mexican-Americans in Texas, how does the Alamo make us look at ourselves, and our people’s contribution to the state? What kind of effects does it have on the “mental universe” of these young Americans to read about a conflict that occurred in their own state in which they can’t really relate to any its of its heroes? Ngugi asks this very question when it come to African writers and intellectuals. How do they view themselves when they have nothing in common with their heroes? For me the construction of the narrative of the Alamo was used as an “area of domination.” The white men who fought for the side of the Texas republic are made to look like nothing more or less than brave, righteous warriors, the roles played by the Tejanos (Mexican-Texans) in the revolution are downplayed, and the Mexican side and its leader Santa Anna are made to seem like one-dimensional haters of freedom. Now of course if you are able to take a college level course on the Alamo and Texas history, or you able to get your hands on some more recent books, you will get a more complicated and honest picture of what happened. The reality is that for most Mexican-Americans living in Texas, they won’t ever get that chance. I’m not an expert on the Alamo and I’m not going to argue over what happened, I just think to teach kids in elementary (this when I remember my first Texas history lessons which included a trip to the Alamo) this complicated historical event as if its this clear cut battle between good and evil, could definitely affect psyches in ways Ngugi alludes to.

to the end

Snehal brought up a very interesting point (or better yet, reiterated a point that he made in the beginning of the semester); we would be able to look at our own education and being to question the influence that it has had in our lives, and how much we are affected by our education. I thought it was interesting that you can connect it in that way. I mean, obviously, we are not being colonized by an outside force, but education can cause a tension within ourselves.

I know I have most definitely changed since I began my journey into "higher education". Some of my opinions have altered, as well as the way I communicate and the way that I interact with others. And there have been times when I will meet someone that I used to know, and not really know how to interact with them anymore. And as was brought up in class today, is that really because we "outgrow" people, or is that a result of our education? I personally think that we naturally progress as we grow older. But at the same time, education can cause tensions around us and within us. But if we realize that education can cause tension within/around us, isn't that in a way overcoming it?

Joyce vs Gandhi

I find the differences between these two books to be very interesting. One is an actual autobiography, the other is loosely autobiographical. Both Gandhi and Joyce have to experiment with “sin” or experiment with acts that go against the religious/philosophical beliefs held by either themselves or those of their family members. With Joyce’s Stephen Dedalus, we see a young man seeking out prostitutes. Dedalus then throws himself back into Catholicism to the point that he is on the verge of taking orders and joining the priesthood. But then he rejects the priesthood in order to start living the life of an artist, which seems to him to be the only way that truth is really attained. Gandhi, on the other hand, is a vegetarian, but begins to experiment with eating meat. He then rejects meat eating and returns fervently to vegetarianism, which seems to him to be part of living a truthful life.

First off, it’s interesting to see this notion played out in literature that one must experiment with “sin” in order to come out on the other side with some “hidden knowledge” that they lacked before, or some new attitude. Secondly, it’s just crazy how differently these men “experiment”. One turned to meat, the other turned to prostitutes. But they were both on a quest for something to call their ultimate truth. But isn’t truth a relative term? I mean, what is truth to me, may not necessarily be truth to someone else.

Things Fall Apart

Today we mentioned that Things Fall Apart is now being taught as THE leading multi-cultural novel. I think this is GREAT. As wonderful as Joyce is, and as much as I don't want to downplay the complexity and pain through which Ireland has gone, I think that the younger generation will benefit for reading about Africa as compared to Ireland - bluntly, to break down racial barriers some more. Ireland of course has its own culture and is definitely unique and valuable to any multi-cultural category, but with America's past (and still fairly present) racial problems, the study of Africa, even in fiction/novel form, can only be a good thing. Granted, racism as a whole has improved enormously, but there is still so much prejudice in our societies. Fredericksburg, Tx, for example, has virtually no black families. If the students are mixing with different races in person, at least they can do so in books.
If this came across as rude or anything, I'm sorry. I know it is a touchy subject and we have to be careful with the words we choose, but it's all in good faith and with the best intentions. :-D

More Gandhi please

I would like to suggest, first of all, that this class have more Gandhi in the future. His biography is supposed to be a really great work of our time, and I wish we could have read more than just to page 87. I do plan to read more of it this summer and possibly finish it (out of sheer interest and enjoyment), but I thought it was really important that we talked about him during class since he is such a famous figure. I know I wasn't the only one, so this means to me that it's all the more true - reading his biography really opened my eyes to his human-ness. It is well known that Gandhi has been held high on a pedestal. I know that my own vision of him was as a saintly, altogether good person. Reading this broke down those silly generalizations and proved to me that Gandhi was really just a normal guy.
I wanted to mention this in class and was surprised that no one else did - but I was totally reminded of Jesus. If a person has never read the Bible, it is likely that they have this image of Jesus as being a perfect human being, but once the Bible is explored, it is seen that he, too, is only human as can be deducted for all of the mistakes he made in his youth. (Note: I am not religious at all, and I'm sorry for the vagary, but this is generally true, yes?)

Final Post, I swear!

I might be crazy but I actually really liked My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Tutuola. Alyson did make a great point in one of her posts that they are ghosts and the connection experience is weaker than the connection made with other authors, like Desani. Even though Tutuola uses fiction in a ghost word and there was just not enough time to go through each metaphor. With this novel I feel it could reach a wider audience and I would recommend it over some other novels from this semester. Not that they weren’t great, but if certain ones weren’t assigned, like Gandhi, I would never think to read them. I really got absorbed in the ghost world and it was busting through the seams with so many connections to colonialism. I saw he had written The Palm-Wine Drinkard in some of the other book versions. Maybe when this class is back on the market on the course schedule, I think more of Tutuola would be a great addition to the reading load. For me, I am totally going to shell out the green to get that version because I enjoyed Tutuola’s writing.

*While it may/may not be relevant, there is a closed rhetoric class over Harry Potter for the upcoming fall semester. Ahem, I think there should be an English professor to host the first Literature of Harry Potter in conjunction with the movies. Just a thought . . .