File spoon-archives/sa-cyborgs.archive/sa-cyborgs_1996/96-08-21.230, message 21


Date: Sun, 07 Apr 1996 14:06:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: BINA MITTAL <bmittal-AT-TrentU.ca>
Subject: Re: a quick qs re. Himani Banerji


Hello,
I'm not sure if you are still searching for the year of Bannerji's 
birth.  It is 1942, Bangladesh.  Though she was educated in Calcutta and 
came to Canada in 1969.  
The story you mentioned written in Fireweed #30 and reprinted in _Pens of 
Many Colours_ is an excellent entry point into discussing the 
transmutation of language and relationship to ancestral roots carried 
forth into the experience of the "immigrant."  However, I wonder how this 
is internalized into the "second" generation, those whose lives are less 
affected by "myths" and symbols.  Or rather, the "myths and symbols" are 
constructed by North American and European Christian "white" ideals.  How 
does that tension change and manifest itself in the construction of a 
non-white identity?
My inquiry on seminar-13 some time ago is still my inquiry today.  My 
thesis has not progress very far since then.  In fact I am thinking about 
making a few changes... Maybe someone out there can shed some thoughts on 
"acculturation" and how different South Asian _women_ writers express 
this in their work.  I am looking specifically at Canadian writers, not 
Bharati Mukherjee.   :-)  
I know some people have a real problem with the word "acculturation," 
which is fine!  Any insight into why or why not?  
I am curious about the ways in which people experience acculturation as 
expressed through their writing.  Is it "violent" in the way that 
Bannerji speaks of or a process of integration and assimilation in the 
way that Uma Parameswaran writes about?  (sorry, not a very good sentence 
construction!) 
Very interested in people's thoughts on this topic.
Sincerely,
Bina



   

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