From: TABRON-AT-BINAH.CC.BRANDEIS.EDU Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 12:46:59 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Diaspora >On Sun, 16 Mar 1997, donna matahaere wrote: > >> >> Yes but words do leak and metaphors have power. It is just not possible to >> contain meanings and if we do then I think we can start to talk about what >> is being privileged. My example of intra-diaspora was not simply an >> historical period Bruce but also part of the postcolonial present of >> settler communities. Why are you uncomfortable? > >i agree - and yes this has always been a place to start examining and >re-examinining my (inevitable, but necessarily self-conscious) complicity >within structures of meaning making, power etc. what is the source of >discomfort? the source of "guilt", even - the source of anger and >confusion. > > >but we can take that anywhere, and like Bruce suggested earlier, make the >"word" work to justify almost anything . > >so let's have more conflict, i say!:-) > >Radhika Hi Radhika and Donna, While wholeheartedly supporting conflict, :-) I'm not sure that addresses Bruce's point, which was that, certainly, overdetermination is a fact of linguistic life, and yet from an analytical or critical point of view a word that means everything means nothing. "Diaspora" needs to mean something describable, even if the description is very complex, otherwise it's just a buzzword. I'm NOT comfortable locating my own "guilt" or "discomfort" and writing critically or analytically from there, because that's psychoanalysis, not literary studies. So I for one would still like a stab made at what "diaspora" means -- I think it would be very useful and interesting. Judith Tabron ******************************************************** homepage:: http://www.pitt.edu/~gajjala/ ********************************************************
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