I’m right: race is at the center (of the colonial drama). Of course one knows this but my questions all started out with these novels being taught as examples of literary movements, the issues they raise not addressed at all, and with the fact that I assumed, from my education, that racism was something we’d … More More Mbembe
And I won’t reproduce it all here. Point 1 was that Sommer says romance makes nation, but the families in the novels she discusses aren’t stable; they’re unhappy, disintegrating, and so on. Family is not peace and conciliation. Examples: Ma.: ella muere y Efraín se va a la nada; C.V.: los personajes mueren y las … More A paper on Sommer and da Silva I had sketched out in longhand
Race is about politics. The concept of race was invented in Spain in the 14th century. Originally this was about religion (the Jews) but then it became about social and political power — the idea being not to share power with the conversos. So otherness then became about genealogy, not current religious difference, and Jewishness … More Spain, race as a global construct, and lagniappe
So now I’m a council member of ERIP, LASA’s section on ethnicity, race, and indigenous peoples, and you can’t say I don’t do service. Ergo, 2020-2022: President, Louisiana Conference of AAUP; Vice-President, Feministas Unidas; Council, ERIP. The university does not value my views but these organizations do. On being treated with disrespect: people who are … More ERIP, and Disciplined Minds
Here is a very good article critiquing contact theory. Here is Martí on New York. Here is Posternak. Lagniappe: Here is a book on Lorca I should get from ILL. Here is a review of it. In my paper: Sommer is heavily under the influence of happy mestizaje theory (which has the flaws of contact … More That darned presentation, again
I have been working on this whole thing for so long that it is disheartening, but I have to make PROGRESS this time. I am finding so many notes, so many half-done things. Anyway, I am digging it all out. I will remember that article on Schwarz, the phrase “the most specific feature of Brazilian … More “This thing of darkness” (more for Ferreira da Silva)
I’ve had a headache all day. It has to do with allowing myself to be colonized by fear, and not wanting to recognize that yes you do have to fight back. I will have to find a way to resist these things and perhaps also strengthen my back. And in case we wondered, slavery IS … More Putting my head on
There are so many ways to start everything, so many points of entry, that I have become one of those who wants to write prefaces and prefaces to prefaces. But I think the starting point to push on for this is that DFS’ book is one of those that attributes racism — at least, the … More A starting point — or two, and a half
There is an article by Quijano and Wallerstein, Americanity as a concept; or the Americas in the modern world system: “La americanidad y la colonialidad estuvieron íntimamente ligadas desde un principio. La singularidad de América reside en los diversos borramientos que acompañaron la expansión colonial europea: el imaginario territorial indígena, y mucho más.” (Mignolo 2005: … More What are research and writing, and what is productivity?
coldhearted scientist وداد 