From: "Eric Dickens" <eric.dickens-AT-wxs.nl> Subject: 1) Banipal 2) The White Man's Burden Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 16:36:43 +0200 1st July 2000 Dear PoCos, 1) Firstly, a word about the new British Arab cultural magazine "Banipal". I know little about the Arab world, but I did read in the London Review of Books that a new, [English] Arts Council-subsidised magazine is going to appear, devoted to Modern Arab Literature. I quote from the advert: "Banipal is an indepedent magazine started in February 1998. It is dedicated to cutting through the cultural divide and presenting in English translation the widest range of contemporary poetry and fiction by Arab authors. Each issue of between 88 and 96 pages contains newly translated original work by more than 25 writers and poets, plus interviews, reviews and literary criticism (...)." You can obtain it from: BANIPAL, PO Box 22300, London W13 8ZQ, England e-mail: banipal-AT-compuserve.com Subscriptions vary between 20 and 30 pounds sterling for one year, depending on various factors. *** 2) Now on to the White Man's Burden. I respect Muhammad Deeb for his respecting me, but before we get into too much ritual bowing, I'd better answer his points: 1) The "people" one is easy. Surely everyone who reads these e-mails is a human being. Singular "person", plural "people". I believe "Postcolonial Studies" should wake up to more postcolonialism that the 90% post-British which it is now. So I keep riding my "hobby horse", as someone put it. I note that British Arabs must agree with me to an extent, otherwise they wouldn't have started "Banipal". Note: the word "translation" appears there. 2) If Muhammad wants to regard me as [intellectually] superior to him, that's his problem. As I've never met him, we can't possibly tell who thinks in a more balanced or subtle way. But sometimes the tone of people's e-mails provokes me into saying things like I said. 3) The third point is the most interesting. I may look in the mirror and see that the melanin content of my skin is less than that of the majority of the world's population. I may remember (via history books) the events of the 13th of April 1919 in India, plus others around 1900 in southern Africa. But should I take the guilt of my forefathers onto my shoulders and pride myself on suffering for what my grandfather's generation did? In the Christian religion, Jesus Christ is said to have suffered for the sins of the world, a very noble thing to do. But just like I do not wish every German to constantly walk around mentally flagellating themselves because some of their forefathers murdered around 6 million Jews, or the Turks for around one million Armenians, so I feel I cannot, in my humble if reasonably comfortable life, spend every day doing penance for what my forebears did. To turn the tables, surely not all Moslems are responsible for the murders carried out by fundamentalists in, say, Algeria and Egypt? Should Muhammad Deeb do penance for any atrocities committed by people who come from the country he comes from [I don't know which one this is]? The idea of collective guilt is a slippery slope. Finally, while I too can see that we should be careful not to let the superpowers dominate our countries and our lives, I do think some people are being a little disingenuous when they draw their salaries from institutions funded by certain reasonably prosperous states, while at the same time railing against every move made by these same states and their neighbours. Those who wish to change the world by violence should be prepared to fight and die next to their comrades on the barricades, rather than becoming desktop revolutionaries, perpetuating the struggle from the safe sanctuary of academe in the metropolitan countries. Best wishes, Eric Dickens --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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