Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 01:52:00 -0500
From: vacirca-AT-charm.net (robert brown)
Subject: Re: real topics


>I agree with your questions on postcolonial strategies.
>
>>
>>        Dear terri,
>>                        Here are some topics for you since you don't
>>like
>>discussing the misuses of academic language. Is the whole emergence
>>and
>>ghettoization of poco lit as a separate discipline a postcolonial (
>>read
>>neocolonial) strategy of the imperialist metropolis .
>
>Yes!  This has been one of my great fears as I've been reading the
>discussion on postcolonialism.. This is merely another strategy of the
>imperial metropolis; a strategy which we, the colonized, the ones who are
>still dreaming of a true postcolonial era, live day in and day out.
>
>To be perfectly
>>clear, what is going on when US and other oppressor nation academics
>>study
>>and teach poco lit  criticism in such an intellectually rarefied way
>>that
>>only they can understand what they're talking about. How can any
>>strategies
>>for resisting neocolonialism be developed this way.
>
>This should be the central question addressed in a postcolonial
>discussion!
>
>>        Neocolonial capitalism is such a wily shapeshifter; it  tries
>>to be
>>all things to all people. The role of academia in defending and
>>perpetuating neocolonialism is critical. neocolonialism is a
>>historical
>>strategy of global Capital to mask its continued exploitation of the
>>3rd
>>world. If poco academics in the metropolis are not about
>>deconstructing and
>>dismantling neocolonial ideology, then they become unconscious
>>ideological
>>agents of neocolonialism. So one of my questions about this list is:
>>where
>>is the discussion about anti-neocolonial strategies. i see hints and
>>feints
>>in that direction but no real blows landed.
>>
>
>If we don't talk about anti-neocolonial strategies, then we have missed
>the whole point.  Good question!
>
>>        i have another related question. To what extent and how is the
>>internet  helping or hurting neocolonialism., by creating a virtual
>>intellectual world of virtual discussions, virtual political movements
>>where there's no accountability and no closure. People on these
>>mailing
>>lists  jump from topic to topic, jump in and out of discussions, go
>>off on
>>fascinating tangents,mudfests, wild intellectual goose chases, and
>>have
>>some great discussions. But at the end of the day whats the net
>>result.
>>Poco lit critics maybe need to look at internet communication as a new
>>kind
>>of neocolonial literature full of contradiction. everyone thinks we
>>are
>>using the internet but maybe the internet is using us. It is after all
>>Capital's technology. And what a great way for the State to build
>>intellectual and political profiles on EVERYONE.  i guess i'm a little
>>suspicious of the net because on the surface it seems like such a free
>>gift
>>in a neocolonial world where there is no free lunch but only quid pro
>>quo's
>>and commodifation  24-7.
>>
>
>This is a danger.  Is it worth the sacrifice?  I think so.
>       yes, true but we should have some cultural counter strategies so
>that Capital' s technology is not free to once more bend  our identities
>to its toxic will. Any ideas?
>_____________________________________________________________________
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>
>
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        Thanx for the response oscar. i will try and get this discussion of
anti-neocolonial strategy back on track. i'm also a long-time student of
Gramsci and his Quaderni del Carcere which i've read most of in italian (
my second language), and will try to post something on Gramsci and
"subaltern"soon.
         i think its an occupational disease of my birth-class that we
think we can speak for other peoples , classes and genders, ( this IS what
we're trained to do by academia).Of course life experience should teach us
that nothing but mischief and disaster ensues when we do. But then we( i
speak of white male left intellectuals/academics) often forget who we are
and what we do for a living.  As the gatekeepers of a lot useful knowledge
and ideas left intellectuals can make these resources available to
oppressed people, who will and do happily figure out what to do and say on
their own. Thats the best we can do, and if we really did just that it
would be tremendous. Gramsci has a lot to say on this question of the role
of intellectuals in the workers movement and its not what left
intellectuals have been self-servingly led to believe by Togliatti and most
Gramscian academics; but thats definitely another post.
         Curious how easily my questions got buried in a very "in"
discussion of subalterns and Spivak. now i know where the popular phrase
"its academic" comes from!

cultural revolution now!  bob brown

"A fool can ask more questions than a wise man can answer"  Long live the
fool.




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