File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_1998/postcolonial.9804, message 46


Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 15:17:49 -0500 (EST)
From: Lisa McNee <lm23-AT-qsilver.queensu.ca>
Subject: Re: poco loco, or enemies and/are us


Pradeep--Thanks for clarifying issues. In rereading your original posting,
I find that you warn us that we need to be alert! 
Best, Lisa

On Fri, 3 Apr 1998, Pradeep A. Dhillon wrote:

> I thought I was direct.  But, this is important so I will take another
> shot.  First, I am not sure why you think I am trying to delink ideology
> and postcoloniality. Second, (if I take your questions to be suggestions
> framed as questions) ofcourse, we need to precisely tease out linkages,
> events and contexts with regards issues of "purity" and "hybridity."
> However, none of this weakens the problem with thinking hard about the use
> of "hybridity."  They are "hybrid", now think about this in biological
> terms, "we" are not.  In raising this issue I am not depoliticizing the
> term "hybridity"; to the contrary  I am trying to point out how politically
> loaded this term is.  I have not forgotten Foucault; I have his reminders
> firmly in mind as I write this.
> 
> I resist this term.  "Creolization" may be another kettle of fish
> altogether, but I am quite sure that an examination of that term will raise
> similar sorts of concerns.
> 
> 
> Pradeep.
> 
> 
> >Thanks Pradeep. However, I would like to turn your question around--of
> >course, everyone is hybridized/creolized/impure, and the notion of purity
> >is as myth that has been used to colonize and dominate. However, when does
> >it become a way of masking privilege? When do we lose sight of the
> >differences between the experiences of creolization under colonization
> >that the colonizer has gained, and those that are part of the experiences
> >of the colonized? Why might certain people find it useful to ignore or
> >try to erase these differences?
> >
> >This is not to re-introduce the "us/them" dichotomy that
> >I criticized in another posting, but to question the notion that we can
> >depoliticize hybridity. And, I would add, hybridity itself seems to imply
> >a binary system (thesis/antithesis=synthesis (hybrid), while creolization
> >does not.In other words, I am not so sure that we can separate the terms
> >and discuss them in an apolitical manner. It would be helpful to me if you
> >could give me a more direct approach, or an example, of how we can
> >usefully delink ideology and postcolonial studies. Personally, I agree
> >with an earlier posting that we cannot forget Foucault...
> >
> >Best, Lisa
> >
> >On Fri, 3 Apr 1998, Pradeep Dhillon wrote:
> >
> >> Quick thought on "hybridity" (I have not yet read the texts mentioned):
> >> "Hybridity" is a naturalizing term.  If we accept its usage in descriptions
> >> of the postcolonial condition-- I for one would like to resist it-- then we
> >> do need to address the wider question being discussed here:  Who is not
> >> naturalized?  Privilege masks the mestizo nature of all.  In other words,
> >> who is "pure"?
> >>
> >> To use the terms politically, it seems to me, is a separate issue and one
> >> we can make a clear decision on.  Even if we are against the division
> >> between "is" and "ought", it seems to me "postcoloniality" might requre a
> >> generally alert attitude with regards the dangers of running one into the
> >> other.  Not to do so is to reproduce the very intellectual practices we
> >> wish to question.  "Hybridity" is a term that seems to require such a
> >> consideration.
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> Pradeep.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> >At 09:32 PM 4/2/98 -0500, you wrote:
> >> >>eg. literary studies can look at anything by considering it as text
> >> >>    geography can look at anything by considering it spatially
> >> >>    history can look at anything by considering it temporally
> >> >>    feminism can look at anything by considering it as gender
> >> >>    "postcolonialism" can look at anything by considering it in terms of
> >> >>colonization.
> >> >
> >> >I wonder about the sophistication and the applicability of this formuation.
> >> >Take the feminist/feminism line, since Terry seems quite fond of using
> >> >feminist studies as an example. I don't know that what femist studies
> >> >represents can be very well captured by "looking at anything by considering
> >> >it as gender." I have yet to meet a feminist studies scholar that thinks
> >> >that EVERYTHING is gender. Many things are not gender and the scholars I've
> >> >known who would characterize their area of research as feminist studies
> >> >haven't had a problem recognizing this.
> >> >
> >> >>Having said all that, I think the political commitment of the field is not
> >> >>inherent to the approach but reflects the people who decide to pursue it,
> >> >>for obvious historical reasons. The same is true of feminism, of gay
> >> >>studies, and the other fields which began as the study of the relationship
> >> >>between "minority" cultures and established hegemony.
> >> >
> >> >I mostly agree with this, but would also argue that the political commitment
> >> >is expressed in the very term post_colonial_, which doesn't work that well
> >> >historically (lots of people have argued this fairly well, but briefly put,
> >> >neo-colonialism still rules in many places), and covers far to many
> >> >societies (as it is practiced) to attend to much cultural specificity.
> >> >Perhaps the fact that I'm a Caribbeanist in an interdisciplinary program who
> >> >never sees poco that does much of anything with one of the central
> >> >historical, social, and cultural phenomenon of the Caribbean, the Plantation
> >> >complex and slavery, makes me more keenly aware of the limits of the
> >> >discipline.
> >> >
> >> >But I've go to run and do some teaching, so I'll have to continue later.
> >> >
> >> >Keith
> >> >
> >> >____________________________________________________
> >> >
> >> >Keith Alan Sprouse           e-mail:  kas3f-AT-virginia.edu
> >> >New World Studies            office: 804.924.4626
> >> >Department of French fax:  804.924.7157
> >> >University of Virginia               home:  804.243.4306
> >> >Charlottesville, VA 22903    http://www.people.virginia.edu/~kas3f
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> >>
> >>
> >> Pradeep A. Dhillon (Assistant Professor)
> >> Dept. of Education Policy Studies, (Philosophy Division)
> >> Room 377, 1610 S. Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61821
> >> 217-356-0363
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> 



     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005