Jay's Public Classroom

Middle Passages: Gendered Diasporas

2009-05-01T07:12:00.001-07:00

Nomadic Identities

2009-04-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Post comments about Nomadic Identities to this entry.

International trafficking in Black women “La africana” and “la mulata” out in the world: African women and women of African descent By Marion Douglas

2009-03-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

· Douglas’s abolitionist paradigm
· Is sex work a sad situation or an empowering situation?
· Dichotomy: lady/whore
· Is poverty the force behind sex work? And if so, should all situations of sex work be considered a result of capitalism and oppression? Job vs. Dehumanizing End Result
· How should women that are “business partners” in the trafficking and prostitution arena be viewed? (In Erzulie’s Skirt a woman tricked them into leaving DR for PR, and a woman enslaved them in PR)
· Does the feminist view of the situation diminish the mental capacity of women in “3rd World" countries? Dichotomy: 3rd World Women/Western Women
· The work of Anti-trafficking advocates is often reflected in opposition to the work of Rights for Sex Workers Advocates. The language of one hurts the other. “Forced prostitution, child prostitution, and sex tourism are linked together and made indistinguishable,” which creates a situation where rights for sex workers are overshadowed by mass hysteria. How is this conflict to be solved?
· Why are there a disproportionate number of Black women involved in prostitution in modern day Europe?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfOKS22CotA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akKzsWyjL5w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Tne0Brdic&feature=related

Presented By: Amelia D. and Mariah D.

2009-03-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

Presentation: Talking Points
The co-existence of Catholicism and Voodoo and its difference from Protestantism
-“The colonized…are not swallowed up by the coercions and productions of the colonizer, but bend and adapt these facts to their own uses. Vodoun testifies to that labor of resistance and change, comprehending multiple histories in what Roger Bastide has argued to be a syncretism that defies “the logic of Western thought, which is based on the principle of identity and noncontradiction.
-Erzulie’s Skirt—understanding the difference between Mama Housin and Ligia; How is identity discerned by religion?

The many faces of Erzulie

-Virgin vs. Venus
-Erzulie-Ge-Rouge (Literally Erzulie-eyes-red) vs. Goddess of luxury &love
-Erzulie Freda(mulatto or white) vs. Erzulie Dantor (black)
Does Erzulie have the power to define a distinct kind of femininity or does she possess a façade of power under subjection to gender and social constructs? How can we make sense of her contradictory existence?

Erzulie Freda Erzulie Dantor

Finding Connections
-How does Erzulie function for Miriam and Micaela? In slavery conditions? For
homosexuality in Haiti now?

Thoughts on “Of Men and Gods” documentary
http://www.der.org/films/of-men-and-gods.html

Murray, Stephen. Roscoe, William. "Boy-Wives and Female - Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities."

2009-03-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

West African Homoeroticism: West African men who have sex with men
By: Nii Ajen

Norms in Society

Western versus African Perception of what is deemed homosexual classifications
Sex as a discussion topic
Boarding Schools in Africa- Do you feel that English Boarding schools in Africa promoted homosexual activity in Africa?

"When a Woman Loves a Woman" in Lesotho: Love, Sex, and the (Western) Construction of Homophobia.

By: Kendall

1. What are the metaphoric connections between water and Black queerness? How does it bring women in the black Diaspora together?

- The theme of struggle and oppression.

2. Language and culture: What constitutes sex? Western women verses African women. The concept of Western sexual freedom.

3. The disconnection between sex and love.

Recent news story. South African lesbian raped and stabbed 25 times in the face, chest, and legs. This story is connected to the article by M. Jacqui Alexander and the issue with heterosexual violence towards homosexuals.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/12/eudy-simelane-corrective-rape-south-africa

Presenters: Jenesha and Shantala

Imperial Leather

2009-03-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

Sara Baartman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ7mmMe4klQ

Imperial Leather

Racial degeneration in art
Munby's ethnological studies of the archetypes of female labor
Women perceived as "seducers"
Women perceived as "objects to possess"
The value Cullwick placed on her work, her "slave band"
Domestic labor and demarcation of boundary between "dirty" and "clean"
Denial of female sexuality except on terms initiated by men
Freud and Lacan's theories, how women are portrayed in each
Transformation of female work into male power

Afua Cooper

2009-02-24T06:17:00.000-08:00

Afua Cooper

1. Biography

2. The poems, "Africa Wailin" and "Negro Cemeteries":http://www.afuacooper.com/home_page.html

3. Scholarly works

The Search for Truth in history

1.The need to explore the true history of the peoples of the Diaspora

2.The erasing of the slave past

3.The gendered slave experience

4.The cost of captivity

The Door of (No) Return

2009-02-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Part 1
1. Cape Coast Castle
Link#1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZKKDnSco8c
Link#2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12rVzpXad7w&feature=related
Link#3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huYfueTz0j8
2. Cultural Heritage Tourism
3. Roots Tourism
4. Symbolic Possession of the Past

Part 2
1. The Price of the Ticket
1) Privilege
2) Identity
3) Expectation
4) Sense of Belonging in the World
5) Understanding the history: forgetting or remembering?

2. What's in a Name
--the word "obruni"

Part 3
What's in a Name
--the word "castle"

Part 4
Performing Memory, Performing Race, Performing Identity
1) Brightness vs. Darkness; White vs. Black
2) Dungeon vs. Gift Shop; Memory vs. Commodity
3) Representation
4) Authority
5) Authenticity

Part 5
1. Photographic Memories
1) Castle vs. Seashore; Horror vs. Beauty
2) the Door of No Return vs. the Door of Return

2. Choosing the perfect Souvenir
the Comment Books: Race, History, Politics, and Commemoration

Part 6
1. No Place Like Home
1) Physical Evidence of Heritage
2) Individual Acts of Performing Memory

(Presenter: Nina Fei Yang)

Paul Gilroy's "The Black Atlantic"

2009-01-27T07:54:00.000-08:00

1. Introduction

Ship imagery
The concept of the Black Atlantic
Nationalism

2. Music

Music as an example of the workings of the Black Atlantic
Music as a form of Black cultural production (see example)
The question of authenticity

Presenters: Megan and Karoline.

New Elect president

2008-11-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

November 4^th was indeed a monumental day that signified a new beginning of hope and change for many. Barack Obama became the first African American presidential elected in the history of America. With his campaign of hope and change for the American people it was pretty easy to understand American fondness of him.

Barack Obama as we all know was a senate before running for president. A new comer, whom many if under different circumstance and time period would express their hesitance about his lack of sufficient experience to become president. With his 4 years experience as an Illinois senator Barack as few has stated is “quite new to the game”. Yet his powerful, well-spoken speeches have provided many Americans the chance to hope that a change (for the better) can occur.

After election night many students in Albany gathered at the campus center expressing their joy for the new change that was bestowed on America that night: a change not only in the face of leadership but also in the way of leadership. Barack’ s distinctive perspective on what is need in order to bring back the trust and hope citizens had in government is what people admire about him so much, along with the fact that he was an uncommon presidential candidate.

Barack during his presidential campaigned he emphasized a lot about rapidly ending the Iraq war, energy independence, and providing universal health care, and also plan to offer middle class tax cut to help the economy. He has started to work on his plan for a better economy even before being sworn in. His team of economic advisor has devised couple of plans that hopefully will go in effect by the time of his inauguration.

As a face of hope for citizens of America I hope that our expectation of him is not set a standard where is it unreachable. We often loose sight that he is a man coming to lead to undo the years of damage done by others, and he even said it himself “things will have to get worse before they get better.” Hopefully Americans will understand his point of view and provide what ever aid is need to help bring back our country to it top shape.

By Joyce

Maya Lin

2008-11-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

When Maya Lin came up with the design for the Vietnam Wall she had a vision to have the wall focus on people and not war. In a way she created a counter narrative to the general idea of the Vietnam War. Most people would think that the memorial dedicated to a war would be generally focused on the war and the scenes of the war. Maya Lin changed this around by having the memorial focus on the lives lost in the war and only that.

I think that Maya Lin's vision is a very unique one. You would often expect a war memorial to be about the war and the faceless soldiers in it, but Lin changed that. She made the memorial about the soldiers who lost their lives during the war. By having the names of each person who died etched into the wall, Lin made these soldiers no longer faceless. You always hear the number of causalities in a war but when you see the names on the wall it effects you in a different way. It shows that these soldiers who died were people not nameless, faceless fighters.

Lin's memorial is also has meanings represented by the nature around it. Her intention was to make a wound in the earth to represent the loss of the soldiers. Maya Lin said that she wants her memorial to help the people who have personal feelings about the Vietnam war to accept and admit the pain that they feel. The set up of the memorial helps show the loss of the soldiers and how big of an impact it has.

Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial is a very unique one. What stands out most to me is the simplicity of it. It's just a plain black wall with names carved in it. This is what makes it so great. All that it focuses on is the names. It's about the people who gave their lives in this war and nothing else. It's such a simple structure but it sends such a strong, direct message.

-Becky Berger

Portrayal of women in the media and pornography

2008-11-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hip Hop Honeys and Da Hustlaz

Mireille Millers tries to explain that hard core porn and videos has played a positive and compelling role in the black media

industry. She explains that it offers a compelling narrative about the black sexual subjects to define their authority, legitimacy,

and power. She also states that Hip Hop pornography provided black women and men with an arena for labor and accumulation, as well as self respect, mediation, and mobility.

Women, Pop Music, And Pornography

Meredith LeVande Argues that women in the media and music have become extremely Hyper-Sexualized. She Believes that the new pop industry is portraying all women in the same, in a highly sexual light. She thinks that these types of images is what cause pornography to be mainstream, mainly surrounding the images of women. She thinks that the the people who own the media are the ones that cause pornography and the new hyper- sexualized view of women to be so mainstream.

Women in the Media and Pornography

Are women in music videos and pornography being liberated or degraded? I think it can go both ways. I agree with both Miller and Levande. The women that chose to be in businesses such and porn and music videos want to do that. Most of those women are very comfortable with their sexuality and their bodies. Like Miller explains in her article videos such as "Baby Got Back" commodified and commercialized the images of a beautiful black women. Before these images and the media view of black women were non existent. The media mostly portrayed images of the beautiful white women with barbie doll figures. Now there was a new norm of black women with thick bodies and curves. It now liberated African Americans to have strong and power figures in the media.

It can also have a degrading affect on women as well. Although the women in these spots may feel liberated, powerful and beautiful, the average woman in America may not. The video vixens and the playboy models do not show the actual norm and beauty of the everyday woman. Although the average women is sexy, you don't always see those women walking around everyday, half naked. I think that the media makes it too mainstream, at times, and makes the average women have to compete for the way their suppose to look. I agree that Sexiness of a female artist can play a role the success of that artist. Most young, sexy female artist have a lot of fans and success because of their looks. Looks however, does not always determine success, there are a lot of successful female artist who do not go with the mainstream view of women, and dress however they please.

Both Millers and LeVande's point makes sense and are very relevant. I think it really depends on opinion. Everyone has a different opinion on what's normal, sexy, liberating, and degrading. What America chooses to be mainstream is what the majority of America likes. Miller's point of view and the mainstream view of women it is the dominant narrative. The counter narrative would be Levande's point which a lot of people may agree with but still stays in the background.

By, Ariel Emmanuel

Meridians

2008-11-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

Hip-hop music has become a huge part of the music industry today. It was first recognized as the work of the poor and working-class blacks and Latinos in the late 1970’s to the early 1980’s. It has at least four different parts to it, including graffiti art, break-dancing, DJ-ing, and rapping, but often times is only thought of as rapping and rap music.

Now when looking at mainstream hip-hop or rap, there seems to be an obsession with material possession, power, women, sex, and violence. All these obsessions are typically seen in the lyrics and music video’s, which causes many to argue that they don’t want themselves, or their children to be exposed to negative messages. Even with people going against it, hip-hop has become extremely popular listening, especially these last couple of years.

Calypso and the Objectification of the Female Body

Calypso is a style of music that is African American/Caribbean and is traditionally male dominated. Along with the music is a dance, referred to as “wukking up”. More often than not, male calypsonians objectify women in their lyrics. An example from Meridians is, “focus on de bumper/ target practice/ get ready to fire/ hold tight/ lock on de bumper/ cause you are de hunter.” This refers to the men as being “the hunters”, and the women as being “the hunted.” The woman becomes just an object to be pursued.

In the Barbados, the male “wukking up” is not as controversial as the female “wukking up.” Many citizens feel it is disrespectful, overly sexual, and shameful. Other’s feel that it is an art that is part of the culture. What’s your opinion?

I’ve just focused on two parts in this book. What did you find to be interesting? What sticks out in your mind?

M.I.A. : Kala

2008-10-29T19:35:00.001-07:00

M.I.A., born Mathangi Arulpragasam, is a highly polarizing artist of Sri Lankan descent. Arulpragasm, orginally an acclaimed visual artist, essentially stumbled into the music industry. Her first album, Arular, is critically acclaimed by several media outlets for its mix of pulsating beats, unique style, and symbolic lyricism. The main themes of that album are politics and society. With Kala, M.I.A pushes even further.

After listening to the Kala, I could clearly tell that M.I.A intended several main themes. Oppression, feminism, and politics are the key topics of the album. The album is a true counter-narrative; the song "Mango Pickle Down River" is mostly filled with raps from Aboriginal youths known as the Wilcannia Mob. The chorus, sung by these youths, talks about going to swim when it's hot and going fishing. I'm fairly sure that no mainstream musician would even consider children, let alone Aboriginal youths, basically have their own song.

M.I.A. continues the theme of making a voice for the unheard and neglected with many other songs.

"I don't read, yeah I just guess,
As the world turns, don't bother me with your mess"
-"The Turn"

"Sick of all the shit that's keeping me down,
If you're dead from the waist down, it's easy staying down,
I never thought about it twice,
But you do pay the price"
-"World Town"

While the two songs have similar messages, they take different approaches. "The Turn" is probably the closest thing that M.I.A. will have to a ballad. Its sparse beat already leads you to the conclusion that it is a sad song. The idea of the song is to learn and move on from ignorance. On the other hand, "World Town" is an extremely catchy and fun song that challenges oppression with the chorus of, "Hands up, Guns out, Represent, The World Town".

"How many no money boys are crazy, how many boys are raw,
How many no money boys are rowdy, how many start a war"
-"Boyz"

"People judge me so hard cause I don't floss my teeth set"
-"$20"

Both "Boyz" and "$20" have feminist points. Her words on "Boyz" in essence state that rich men start wars. Her lyrics on "$20" proclaim feminism and challenge the ignorance of popular culture with the lyrics such as,
"Like do you know the cost of AK's up in Africa, $20 ain't shit to you but that's how much they are."

The song I caught the most meaning from was "Bird Flu". While I didn't find the actual music and beat catchy or particularly interesting, I saw a ton of symbolism and messages in the lyrics. There are many examples, such as:

"Big on the underground, what's the point of knocking me down,
Everyone knows I'm already good on the ground"
-This alludes to the fact that she thinks she deserves mainstream stardom but gets pushed back.

"I need a man for romance,
Streets are making em hard, so they selfish little roamers,
Jumping girl to girl, making us meat like burgers"
-This is truly feminist; it speaks on the sexism of men

"Bird flu gonna get you, made it in my stable,
From the crap you drop on my crop when they pay you"
-We created our own problems as a society

Almost every song had a thumping, crazy, throbbing beat. M.I.A.'s use of many unusual instruments and sounds make Kala extremely different from normal hip-hop or dance to the point where it is fairly difficult to even classify it. From rare Indian samples to unusual Jamaican instruments, M.I.A. did her best to be truly distinct. When you combine it with her lyrics, M.I.A. is beyond a counter-narrative, alternative musician; she is in her own class.

Class, please let me know what you thought of the album. I didn't think it would be right to go through each song one by one and point out narratives so I just picked the ones that were most appealing to me. Overall, I enjoyed "World Town" the most.

Post by Eric Samaniego

The Language You Cry In

2008-10-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

The film "The Language You Cry In" was a powerful film that portrayed the journey home for a woman from America, and the people of Sierra-Leon. Their connection: an ancient funeral song passed from mother to daughter for generations. The damage the slave trade did to the African culture and its people, is being felt today. Music was a man source for the slaves to express themselves and helped them endure life.

This incredible journey began with Amelia Dawley in 1931, a 50 year old woman, singing an African song with a haunting melody. It was the longest African text in the United States at the time. The words contained Mende dialect. Anthropologists went throughout Africa playing the song to many tribes looking for recognition of the melody. Finally they found a small tribe in Sierra-Leon, where a woman, Bendu Jabati, remembered the song that her grandmother had taught her. She had told Bendu that one day an individual would come to the village that would know the songs of their family and they would be her brother and sister. The uniqueness of this situation stems from the fact that it is extremely hard to trace one's lineage if you were brought here as a slave. Very few know which tribe or where in Africa they originated. The only reason that anthropologists were able to trace Mary, Amelia's daughter, to Sierra-Leon was because of the song Amelia taught her. Mary as a child treated it as a game, as a rhyme that she would sing to herself.

This is common in history with children's songs and rhymes and even stories. Ring-around-the-rosy is a famous children's song but its root are more morbid than a simple child's song. It is from medieval times when the black plague was ravaging more of Europe. Another less known piece of music that has a double meaning within it are the Shostakovich piano concerts. Shostakovish wrote them during World War II where his village began learning of the horrors that were occurring to the Jews and to his countrymen. The themes within the music have an almost crazed, forced happiness about them with an underlying sinister bass line. As the music reaches its peak of forced joyfulness and psychotic cheerfulness, there is a climbing bass of impending doom.

Musicians use music to express their pain, their life experiences, and their sorrow. The most memorable pieces that have survived the ages are the ones with the most profound meanings, and most of the time, these meanings are no longer remembered just as Mary did not understand the words she was singing only the significance of the history surrounding it and her ancestors.

2008-10-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

October 21st 2008
We Choose to Only Use
Today in class we were asked if we use the internet as a source of getting information. Everyone raised their hand. Then when we were asked if we have ever made a web page, very few could say they have. It made me think.....why is it that we choose to use the internet multiple times a day for numerous reasons, yet never take the time to contribute to it? Today the world wide web is one of the most powerful sources in the media. Anyone can put almost any type of information out there for people to receive. Why is it that we will take what people give us, but not so often give it back. Then again, there are many aspects of life that are similar to this idea. I believe the idea is known as "paying it forward." When someone does a kind or considerate thing for you, it is only right to commit a self-less act for someone else. Now, don't get me wrong I don't think creating media outlets and posting things on the internet can really be considered self-less,everyone has their own agenda,but the concept is similar. Someone is putting information out there that you use on a daily basis and you don't have to do a thing in return. I know personally, I don't have the time/patience/knowledge/ability to create a portal of information for someone else to use. But in most cases, could it be the fact that it is so easy to choose to only use?
So...
I'm gonna throw a huge ball of honesty out there and say that this blog is actually a bit embarrassing because writing is definitely not one of my strong points, so I'm sorry guys,hope this wasn't too unbearable to read and I hope you understand the point that I was trying to get across. Thanks!

Free Enterprise

2008-10-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Free Enterprise: A Novel of Mary Ellen Pleasant by Michelle Cliff was focused on the story, rather the history of Mary Ellen Pleasant. While reading this novel, I found myself focusing on other characters, rather than just Mary Ellen such as, Annie Christmas, Clover Adams, and other minor characters in the book. I have heard of Mary Ellen Pleasant before reading this novel but I did not know her exact roles and contributions with the abolishment of slavery. Michelle Cliff displays Mary Ellen as a strong woman fighting for the slaves to become free and to be treated humanely. As I was reading I focused my attention to the character Regina, who later abandons that name for the name of Annie Christmas which Mary Ellen gave her. Annie Christmas was supposed to be a fierce woman. She would get dressed up and go into fights , when she died her and her twelve sons floated on a barge down the river into Caribbean (pg 26-27). She lived with the lepers and shared her story with them and they shared theirs with her. In a way I believe Annie Christmas followed the footsteps of Mary Ellen. She was an abolitionist and was capture while she was in disguise and was chained with a bunch of men, until they realized she was a woman. From there she was chained separately from the neck and was passed around. Clover Adams was a photographer who did take the picture of Mary Ellen Pleasant. While I was reading I found that Clover was a pure innocent soul searching for answers. She unfortunately did not find those answers and committed suicide by drinking chemicals which caused her heart to paralyze. Mary Ellen Pleasant’s presence in this novel was not as much as I would assume it to be. For the novel to based upon her I would wish there was more information about her and her accomplishments throughout the stories. I personally would have thought the book was about Annie Christmas if it wasn’t for the subtitle.But to understand her you have to understand the time period with the background that is involved.

Harper's Ferry

Mary Ellen Pleasant

Clover Adams

John Brown

2008-10-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

The Body Beautiful

After watching this film, I began to think about how incredibly obsessed our society is with beauty and the idea of the perfect female body. We obsess over fitness magazines and dieting, we idolize the celebrities who starve themselves to achieve the "ideal" body, and we over-analyze our bodies, picking apart our "flaws." This has somehow become the price we must pay for beauty. In many cases, these women whom we have put on such a high pedestal are so thin that they are unhealthy and malnourished. But this is beautiful. This is what we have been taught to be perfection. Somehow the body of the average woman is not even considered to be worthy of beauty anymore and therefore the deformed body takes on an even lower status than ever before.

Our generation has been brought up in a overly-competative social environment where perfection is always the number one goal. To many, deformation seems like the absolute end of the world. Plastic surgeons make millions of dollars a year "fixing" peoples bodies. From liposuction, to nose jobs, to botox, to breast enhancements, all people seem to want is to stay young and "perfect" forever or to achieve that much-desired level of "perfection" that they have not been given by nature. "Flaws" are not tolerated or accepted in our society and therefore must be eliminated. Hundreds of thousands of dollars go into the beauty industry a year to create new products to prevent and diminish wrinkles and regain the appearance of "youth" and "beauty," which always go hand in hand. It also seems like almost every week there is some new extreme, super-restrictive diet developed to help us attain the perfect body. Subsequently, more and more people are being diagnosed with eating disorders or suffering from malnutrition.

The fact of the matter is, that instead of embracing our bodies, embracing our age and our differences and our "flaws," we strive for this uniform look. We live under the belief that beauty and perfection and youthful are interchangeable terms and that they have very strict guidelines. To stray from these guidelines even in the slightest way, puts you at a sub-level of beauty, making you unable to be a part of the "elite bread of women" as we hear about in the film.

Sadly, deformation makes many people very uncomfortable. Its hard to see, its hard to understand and so we make our own assumptions to make ourselves more comfortable. Just as the women in the sauna do in the film, we turn away and we avoid it. Most people are so quick to judge others, to see only the outside without even bothering to look in. The director herself, when speaking about her mother, even admits that, "The truth was...that if i hadn't come from inside that body that everyone wanted hidden away, then I would have turned away too."

In our society's beauty standards, Madge Onwurah and her daughter are at opposite ends of the spectrum. In our world, women who do not fit into what is "normal" are forced to see themselves as inferior to others, as Madge explains by saying that the "sliding scale of beauty...stops at women like me." This is how she has come to understand the world, a world that has made her feel sub-human and undesirable. Madge is made to believe that cancer has not only taken away her left breast, but that it has also stripped her of her beauty and sexuality as well.

It is in her fantasy about the man at the bar we see her wishes to regain "the right to be desired for my body and not in spite of it" and says how "one caress from him would smooth out the scars." We realize here just how much she wants to be normal again, to feel beautiful, to feel like a woman. She is a woman who has been made to feel ashamed of her "sexless" body, and to believe that she is unworthy of sexual attention, and unworthy of love.

I thought it was particularly beautiful how we are able understand just how unbreakable the bond is between Madge and her daughter at the end of the film. We come to realize that these two women, although opposites in appearance, share one spirit. Madge's beauty is reflected in the image of the daughter, through the beauty which she has been able to create. In her daughter's own words, "She lives inside of me and cannot be separated....I may not be reflected in her image, but my mother is mirrored in my soul."

Submitted By: Tara Scalesi

Will the Body Ever be Home?

2008-09-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

Suzanne Pharr had me scared of what I was about to read with her foreword. I was unsure how I was possibly going to find interest and a connection with the author. How was I possibly going to connect with a cerebral palsy queer? Beginning with the metaphor of a mountain I continued through the first few pages and I instantly was able to obtain an interest much to my suprise. I was able to relate to her narrative in a personal way along with finding understanding in her message, although I'm not sure Eli Clare would agree with my opinion of Exile and Pride. I did enjoy it. I actually see Clare's counter narrative of her body as a dominant narrative to everyone elses emotions.
In the beginning Eli Clare recalls the climbing of Mount Adams with her friend Adrianne. Clare mentions Adrianne's unconscious mental defiance of the "cript" stories". Clare scripts on page nine "You made the right choice when you turned around". Adrianne never understated Clare's ability as a person. In fact Clare and Adrianne often talked of hiking trips and before they even reached the bottom of the mountain they were discussing their next trip to Mount Adams. I relate to Adrianne's desensitization to the physical disability of Eli Clare. My sister has cerebral palsy but yet I never recall extending my hand to help her. In fact people make things more difficult in helping her. She tells me it throws off her balance. That's why I thought the descriptions of the different tactics in walking she took to climb the mountain.
Clare is aggravated at the way she is mentally labeled with all of these seperate identities and life makes it impossible for her to connect one another. The seperate identities place her in a personal exile whether it is the past identity of a tomboy from the lumbering town of Port Orford or the identity she has become as urbanized queer. She is unable to find acceptance of her sexuality in a rural area nor is she able to be present for her deteriorated past home. She has lost the childhood moments of running through the woods and smelling fresh cut lumber. Even though she has lost those moments the knowledge she gained about trees and the life cycle of salmon has become apart of who she is in her queer identity. Still the identity or home she gains from being queer exiles her from the home or identity she felt from Port Orford. "But is it exile?" Clare asks. In leaving her small town of Port Orford she can find relief in her queerness and move past the awful sexual abuse she endured. She won't see the men who did unspeakable things to her and in a rural area ahd won't be the local gossip if she holds hands with another woman.
"We decide to climb that mountain, or make a pact that our children will climb it" Clare dictates an ingenious metaphor which explains basic human nature. People set goals in life and when these goals become unaccomplished or distant we seek to impose them on future generations. I have yet to become a musician and the day that I become one is not in the near future, but I know that I will relay the importance of learning to play an instrument on my children. I have reached higher education in hopes of creating a trail up the mountain for my future generations. If I become stuck in the "middle-class scramble" as Clare calls it and do not reach the summit I hope to indulge my children in the fact of moving further in their endeavors to reach the summit. Eli Clare asks, "Did my parents become middle-class in their scramble?" (p36) However Eli Clare's summit was a world where her different ability did not only label her with her inability but also label her as heroic. Her summit included urban improvement for gays and lesbians. Her summit was conquering her exile. When all of this circulated her body would become home. She climbed the mountain to conquer her physical ability and gain her mental summit.
Clare wants people to look at her without pity, that I can do. Clare also would also like us to not see her as heroic, but when she writes I find that hard to do. Exile and Pride was metaphoric narrative for the way life goes and the equilibrium imbalance many people endure. That may be because I am a person who would rather pay no attention to the very details Clare work to protect. I like to look at the more general idea or the big picture. The hunt for the summit will never end but if a person doesn't try they will end up at the bottom which Clare says for her would be the nursing home. I think its the nursing home for all of us. I must say on a pompous note to Eli Clare that she is not alone no one reaches their summit and escapes their exile. Everyone must endure the imbalance of their different identities whether it be single-mother, waitress, black, or ex-victim. Eli Clare you are the same as everyone else is that what you wanted to hear?

Freakshows

2008-09-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

The second half of Exile and Pride by Eli Clare discusses language, bodies, gender and sexuality.

Eli discusses the reclaiming of words like "queer", "cripple", and "gimp", while explaining why the word "freak" has not been reclaimed. Through an extensive history of the "freakshows" of the late 1800's to mid 1900's, Clare expands on how those with disabilities, people of color, and people with atypical gender expressions, were exploited for the profit of white men. Many of the "freaks" that participated in freakshows were actually kidnapped from colonized parts of the world, or purchased from their parents.

Clare takes the politics of the freakshow and compares them to that of current day treatment of people with disabilities. In the freakshow many of the participants made decent money (while not as much as those running the show) because this was at many times the only form of employment that those with disabilities could find.

Through the freakshow, they also found a community of other people like themselves that were considered to be abnormal. Today, people with disabilities have had their bodies medicalized. They are considered victims of birth defects, viruses, accidents, etc. Worst of all, the freakshow still exists for them, only the freaks aren't getting paid anymore. Medical textbooks feature nameless, faceless, naked disabled bodies to be gawked at. Walking the streets people with disabilities are often exposed to gawking and staring. Clare was often called a retard growing up, not only by peers, but by doctors. Unemployment for those with disabilities is at 70%, and often benefits such as Social Security Income can be taken away if the person is to marry. Large medical organizations make millions of dollars for research (not civil action) while using the disabled body as a pitiful, helpless, dependent.

This part of the book really stuck out to me. I often consider too much of our everyday life medicalized in our allopathic healthcare system. Clare is arguing that while the freakshow was exploitative in many ways, we have only transitioned to another system of exploitation. Biological and scientific arguments have been used throughout our history to prove difference, create power structures, and define normalcy. From the dissection of Sarah Baartman, the study of cranial capacity by Morton, to the Victorian concepts of the female skeleton, biology and science have been considered the end-all of understanding. While the sciences are important and valid subjects to our lives, it is important to take a critical lens at what science is doing to people, and people's bodies. I feel society wrestles with disability because we have this idea of "birth defect", "freak of nature", engrained into our mind that it is hard to look past it and see that the

disabled can live full and productive lives. Personally, I think that one of the reasons people with disabilities are ignored and marginalized is because they make people feel uncomfortable. They don't follow the social norms of clear speech, or socially appropriate movements and gestures, or maybe they are just in a weelchair and you have to look down when talking to them. This makes mainstream society uncomfortable, so we ignore their disabilities (often to their detriment) instead of acknowledging who they are and their particular needs.

--Christine Cretser

Woman, Native, Other: Free Verse

2008-09-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

Life is not a (Western) drama
of four or five acts
Sometimes it just drifts along

My climax arrived at birth
falling into actions of childhood
Resolving the tragicomedy
of adolescence

I have no exposition
for my youth
nor could I execute
a rising action
into adulthood

My life spirals
like an infinite sequence
unplanned
unscripted

Woman, Native, Other: Haiku Series

2008-09-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

Tribute to Trinh T. Minh-ha

There is no catching
No pushing, no directing
No breaking through, no

This story flows free
As my mind imagines space
Deeper than black holes

She says to unsay
Others so that others may
Unsay her and say

“We will silence you”
Your voice does not matter here
Your words mean nothing

A conversation
Of “us” with “us” about “them”
In which “them” is silenced

I want “them” with me
In my words and my silence
Loosed, untied, and free

Mr. Fighter Man

2008-09-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

This story is in response to the Newsgaming.com, September 12. (Shockwave needed to view)

I wake up in the morning at quarter to four just hours before a top secret mission destination unknown. I suit up in my flight gear. I tighten the laces on my boots. I eat a quick breakfast, drink my coffee, and out the door I go. After the briefing at the command center, I head out to the flight line along with my co pilot and initiate the starting sequence on my Apache Helicopter. The air turbine engines fire up. The fuselage begins to shudder, and the rotor blades begin to turn. I increase the rpm and we lift off in flight. I think to myself just another day of killing terrorists. I wonder how many I can kill today? My copilot and I scan the Northeast sector of Blue town from above and spot 3 terrorists trading weapons in a field. We are hovering over a small village just out of site from the terrorists. I think to myself these guys are toast and they don’t even know its coming. The apache helicopter has a kill radius of 2 miles. They never see or hear it coming.

As certain death waits for the terrorists my copilot calls the command center. We report our situation and patiently wait for the frag order. Command gives the order. “Shoot to kill.” It’s easy my co pilot sets the range, aligns the crosshairs with the target, and squeezes the trigger. No more terrorists. Nothing but grease marks left on the ground. It’s almost like a video game. We kill terrorists on a daily basis. They seem to never go away. They keep multiplying. At times I wonder what becomes of the civilians that get killed in the crossfire. I’m sure there families are not happy. They may even become enemies. They may turn to terrorism. I can only imagine what it must be like for those people who live in fear every day with bombs going off, and their loved ones dying. It must be really horrible. But it’s really not that bad for me I’m not the one with crosshairs pointed at me. I just know it’s my job and ill wake up tomorrow and do it again.

Oh and we take videos just to prove we can kill terrorists really really well. Check out the video attached. It’s kind of graphic but it shows how calm and cool the pilots are about killing and how it’s almost like a videogame.

By Jason Siska

World Peace

2008-09-11T13:15:00.001-07:00

As I read Come September and Area Studies, Gender studies and the Cartographies of Knowledge I was drawn to Come September because the language was easy to understand. Come September is interesting in that it gives examples on how many Americans are oblivious to what’s happening both inside and outside America with politics, economics, and war. Come September describes the conflict between power and the powerless. It describes several incidents that happened on September 11 throughout history just as two planes slammed into the World Trade Center on September, 11, 2001. Many Americans do not know, or probably do not care, or are too busy with work to concentrate on what is going on in the world.

One point that the author of Come September makes about control is Saddam Hussein and how he was a puppet under control of the United States. Saddam Hussein before the first gulf war in the 90’s received weapons and traded with the U.S. Saddam constructed towns and small villages to test out machine guns and biological weapons thus slaughtering thousands of people meanwhile the U.S was funding him. According to the essay Sadaam Hussein took it upon himself to act independently from the United States and invaded Kuwait thus the first gulf war resulted. The point is that the U.S knew about the slaughtering and ignored it until Sadaam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait. Thus the U.S. went to war with Iraq to remove Sadaam from power.

Another example the Author brings up is that there are three institutions that run the world today. That’s The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, and The World Trade Organization. The author describes them as secretive and are primarily dominated be the U.S. The point I believe the author is trying to make is that the current Governing system is going to break because there are too many poor people that have nothing to lose. These people will strap bombs to them and blow up civilians’ just too combat democracy and capitalization. There are many people in this world that feel bullied by the United States. According to the essay the U.S. funds Israelites with weapons and money. The Israelites in return exterminate the Palestine’s from their land so the U.S. can use the Gaza Strip for strategic purposes. They are treated as second class citizens and live in fear every day. Not a good way to treat humans. Is the United States being looked at in a good way by the world?

Many Americans are oblivious to what is going on in the world. America is sheltered and the government and its secret organizations are making power moves in the world that may have long-term negative effects not only for America but for everybody. The problem is the status quo of our current governing system is a distorted democracy. It is an illusion to blind people from seeing the truth. The United States Government which is considered to be a democracy “for the people, of the people, by the people” is more or a dictatorship with capitalism, control, and power as the primary objective, not the welfare of people. Our government t is set up to repress citizens with the burden of debt, credit cards, mortgage loans, and outrageously high interest rates. Credit card companies prey on our vulnerable youth. What a genius plan. Don’t educate people, apply a heavy financial burden and make them work their entire lives supporting the madness. The point here is that not everybody in America can focus on what is happening with the world and the government wants to keep it that way. The government has to maintain control somehow and not educating people is a good way to control them.

The Author says “It’s hard for me to say this, but ‘the American Way of life’ is simply not sustainable. Because it doesn’t acknowledge that there is a world beyond America. Fortunately, power has a shelf life.” I believe this to be true.

I hope one day the world will be a paradise where greed, money, and power are not the objectives and peace, love and happiness are. Always remember the golden rule “treat others as you would want to be treated.”

By: Jason Siska

From the Rubble of Forgotten History

2008-09-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone I’m sure has heard that history is written by the victor. Stories recovered from the rubble of a historical battle are told by those with enough strength to stand amidst those who have perished. Gerda Lerner and Ella Shohat display the often narrow view of the master narrative of history and allow that which is forgotten to peak through.

Gerda Lerner’s article “Why History Matters,” is incredibly relevant when you consider the large gaps in the history of women and many races. She exposes the creation of the dominant narrative as she writes, “these stories of the brave and good deeds of powerful rulers serve both to legitimize power and to maintain it by establishing the official version of events as the dominant version” (202). “Doing history” is unfortunately only given to the powerful as the disadvantaged groups in society are ignored and often stereotyped as a result.

The two articles seek to continually remind the reader that history cannot be stopped and is also doomed to be repeated. The formation of history is a continual process of forgetting and remembering. However, in society today we choose to remember when it suits our needs. As Mark Twain once said, “It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man’s character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.” Maybe because of the timing or merely the unfortunate example it provides, the selfish nature of what is remembered can be illustrated with the attacks on September 11, 2001. Human rights issues occurring in the Middle East surrounding the oppression of women were largely ignored by mainstream media until after the tragedy, and the targeting of terrorists. Discussions of the “heroic” nature of suicide bombers in parts of the Middle East were overshadowed by the often overwhelming loss of life of men, women, and children. The “forgetting” of certain topics and issues in the history of the world allowed for the construction of a new "story" viewing Muslims as “fundamentalists,” and “terrorists” working against the ideals of democracy which the United States was founded on.

But another dilemma surrounding the act of remembering is the possibility of remembering too much. Acknowledging the oppression of women in other countries, Americans would be forced to look back into history to witness the struggle for women to gain a voice and have the right to rule over their own lives. Remembering the use of suicide bombing on kamikaze flight missions carried out by the Japanese in World War II, we would have to acknowledge the subsequent use of the atomic bomb, to end a war which was quickly losing momentum anyway. The power of history is not solely in the hands of the victors, but rather in the selective nature of the way we write our own history in a positive light.

Remembering history is an endless cycle if those in power allow the cycle to take its course. The forgetting of events in World War II and the oppression of women in the history of America allowed society to overlook the suffering of women in other societies and the possible “terrorist” actions of our own country.

There is no mourning for the history that is forgotten and rarely a celebration for that which is remembered. Being connected to history and being allowed to play a part in its creation and remembrance, will allow the present to be transformed and affect the future in a positive way.

Blog Post Written By: Jennifer Kowalski

Pictures Courtesy of Flickr- "Flawed Fathers"- "Inside Afghanistan"

Creolization of Religion in Haiti

2008-09-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

Traditional Haitian religion, a creolized or African and European influenced religion, Vodun, is stigmatized in many parts of the world as "devilish" because of its worship of spirits, its redefining of Catholic iconography, and its "catching of the spirit" dance rituals. Because Vodun is a combination of Europe and Africa, it's best to break apart the elements contained from both continents. I'll start with Africa, the most influential of the two.

Describing the African elements in Vodun is much easier when comparing the religions of countries of similarly displaced Africans. The French and British Caribbean were colonized with African slaves. Having a bit of knowledge of traditional Jamaican religion helps to explain Haitian religion.

Jamaican religion is heavily influenced by dance as Haitian religion is. They have traditional dances called ring shouts, and possession of dancers occurs-- usually the spirits are ancestors. Both Jamaica and Haiti's dance rituals include pocomania dancers: "the young paying homage to ancestors through dance" (Sign of the Loa). Do not be fooled by the word dance. Their religious dance rituals are very serious. An integral facet of African religion worth noting is the role of music. Drums in particular in African religion. Without the drums, one would be hard pressed to witness a possession as the rhythmic beat create an almost trance-like state in the dancers. Ancestor worship is present in both Haiti and Jamaica. In contrast to Jamaica, dancers can be possessed by ancestor spirits and by Loa, spirit gods in Haiti.

Loa symbols are where the European influence is. The Haitian spirit gods generally have a Catholic equivalent. For example, a Legba or spiritual guide is a powerful symbol in all of African religion. Haitians characterize their Legba spirit god as a St. Peter standing at the pearly gates. Besides the Legba, Erzulie Dentor represents the Virgin Mary. There are many others. The use of Catholic icons for their spirit gods was necessitated to safeguard their religion from slave masters, who would have attempted to destroy their foreign religion, regarding it as evil black magic. Each Loa has a sacred symbol designated to it made with ash, dust, or the like.

"The Sign of Loa" stated that the African slaves had to create their cultural religion with what they had. They were versed in their traditional African religions, and they also had a limited knowledge of other religions, particularly Catholicism from their slave masters. However, they had no scripture on which to found their religion. This means their main interest wasn't to be scripturally accurate. Their interest was in saving their African religious traditions and heritage. Three terms summarize the development of their creolized religion Loa.

Haitians had to resist Christianity in order to salvage their religion (Negation). They then had to incorporate Christian symbols to hide their spirit gods from slave masters (Appropriation). Then they had to reconcile both religions and bring them together in a cohesive form (Syncretization).

What we have is an African religion with Catholic iconography. Besides the Legba, Erzulie Dentor represents the Virgin Mary. There are many others.

The feared spirit of the dead, Baron Samedi, is featured as the possessor at a real Vodun ritual in this informational National Geographic video on Vodun (they're calling it voodoo). The video explores the role of the Haitian Shaman/Priest who has great spiritual, economic, political, and medical power in Haiti (The Sign of Lao). A Haitian Shaman's attributes are ironically highlighted by the fact that this Haitian Shaman is also a business man, a former mayor, and in this video, he attempts to heal a mentally insane or spirit plagued person.

By Chris Porteus

Art Without Boundaries

2008-09-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Judy Baca and Lorri Nandrea uses the medium of writing to reframe graffiti. In their essays, we were able to envision graffiti as something other than vandalism - we saw art, a metaphoric expression of socio-political injustice, and an underground restructuring of property and boundaries.

In my reading of "Our People Are the Internal Exiles" and "Graffiti Taught Me Everything I Know About Space," I was drawn to the shared theme of "borders." Baca's affection towards murals due to the communal element of ownership (artwork that is not purchased by an individual and assigned as personal property), and Nandrea's dismay at the visible and invisible barbed wire surrounding the urban neighborhood and its inhabitants were two feminine voices acknowledging the contrived politics of society. We live in a world of differences, and the borders drawn because of these differences are the gaping valleys between cultures, classes, and races. As society continues to maintain the "frontier" 's mystique and distance from entrenching onto the so-called "civilized" and safe world, it is the dialogue that emerges from individuals like Baca and Nandrea that gives a much needed voice to the counter-narratives of the silenced.

I would like to hear what everyone's approach was in reading and analyzing the two women's narratives - mine was to read Baca's essay under the lens of the artist's identity and Nandrea's under the lens of the artwork's identity.

In Baca's case, her multifaceted character and experiences were mirrored in her career as an artist that fought, recruited, and breathed life into the culture of muralism channeled through the gritty genre of "graffiti." Her identity as a Chicana of the 50's, set apart from Americans and even fellow Mexicans because of her background and upbringing formed a personal battle to bridge the gaps between her different worlds. Paying no heed to the invisible, yet powerful gates, she forged a connection between art/graffiti, Americanism/culture... even between gang leaders and the community! Her refusal to yield to the societal expectations (from every aspect of her life) is alive in her art that yields more power and authority displayed in an ordinary street than in a halls of a well-respected gallery.

Nandrea, on the other hand, observes a work of graffiti with the analytical eye of someone keenly aware of the potency in art. Her description of the organic, raw quality of the weathered children's mural, and her perception in marking it as an evolving piece (something alive) rather than a loss makes one rethink the deceptively simple and commonplace works of graffiti found in any city. Unexpected aestheticism occurs through Nandrea's eyes as a feminist narrative, transforming the wall of a city cemetery into a poignant work that cries out an urban neighborhoods tragedy without a single spoken word. The space of a chipping elementary school project being invaded by the tags of a local urban gang reiterates the forcible reassignment of territory and placement, upheld by those on both sides of the fence.

Boundaries are often unpleasant things - they restrict, forbid, and deter. Then we have lessons from history books and fiction novels that tell us that venturing into new frontiers and crossing borders is for heroes. After all, not everyone can boldly go where no man has gone before... but should that really be the case? After reading the words of Baca and Nandrea, I feel as though all of us should make an attempt to bridge a gap in our own realities, brandishing weapons - be it a spray can or a pen - and make a heroic attempt to create a narrative of our own.

Blog Post Written By: Clara Cho
Picture Credits: Courtesy of Flickr - "Barbed-Wire Fence" and "11 Spring"

First Day of Class!

2008-08-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

The Fall 2008 semester gets underway today! Stay tuned for more blog posts.

Upcoming Fall Semester

2008-07-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

I am assigning this blog to my students enrolled in the course "Feminist Narratives and Racial Politics" at the University at Albany for the Fall 2008 semester. The course is cross-listed between the Women's Studies and English departments. Please stay tuned.