love as emancipation

    My first exciting memory my freshman year of college came with a concert that I attended towards the beginning of the year. Dead Prez, an underground hip-hop duo that raps about black nationalism and Marxism, gave an excellent performance at the Red Seven venue last year. Their lyrics are extreme – they frequently describe killing police officers as an adequate resistance to state surveillance, disown family members who have joined the military, and are immediately distrustful of any ‘cracker’ that holds public office. However, I will never forget being surprised by the end of the concert when stic.man set aside the blunts and genuinely spoke to the small audience. They left us with a quotation from Che Guevara: “At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” This claim has become increasingly important to me as the semester has progressed.

dead prez

    When encountering the passage about love in Handmaid’s Tale, a previous Self would have certainly scoffed. Utilizing an abstract and universalizing concept to “understand yourself” seems extremely dangerous (237). In a world where Halmark greeting cards and awkward romantic comedies commodify our understandings of social interactions, it is difficult to envision any genuine agency in a concept like love. Taking the example given by Atwood, while it is possible to emancipate one’s self from religious dogma in love by reversing the phrase “God is love,” it is impossible to not make heterosexism, racism, commodification, or any other phenomena a new God that permeates our social relations and eliminates authenticity in love (237). Recall Bump’s claim last Thursday that language has an alienating function in our attempts to communicate emotions. Surely language is influenced by outside social norms in a way that corrupts any genuine encounter with love.

    Even more dangerous is the stigma surrounding love. In Offred’s affair with the Commander, there is a strange treatment of the relationship. Comparisons are drawn with Luke – as if the authenticity of one previous love makes a latter one inauthentic. Offred is very conscious of the alienating nature of language – they refuse to say the word ‘love’ out of a fear that they “would be tempting fate; it would be romance, bad luck” (282). In doing so, Offred is creating a static category of love that is self-alienating. Although admittedly her relationship with the Commander has many problematic elements to it that prevent it from being love, it is dangerous to deny the radical potentiality of any relationship.

    Taking these claims into account, how can love be revolutionary? Ultimately the revolutionary potential of love is only something that can be reconciled when acknowledging the positive nature of its universality. Although it, like any other ideological concept, can be seized and manipulated, it is still universally understood in some form. Between our exercises in empathizing with the Other, discussing the meaning of agape, and grappling with questions of our ethical relationships with other human beings and animals, it is clear that there is still the potential for genuine relationships between beings to pierce through ideological mystifications. I began the year denying the existence of an authentic relationship between humans termed love. When I think about it, that hasn't changed. Rather, my frame of reference has been impacted -- it is not the authenticity of love that makes it impactful, but rather the subjective point of view that the emotion arises from. It is the ability for a concept to be an aggregation of widely diverse standpoints and experiences while still retaining scope and emotion. Love is not merely a relationship between individuals, but it is also a hermeneutic necessary to transcend the hegemonic social forces that lack it.

atwood's patriarchy

The Commander’s relationship with Offred deserves deep scrutiny. Being the only major male character in the novel, the Commander’s relationship with Offred is one of the only glimpses of a directly patriarchal encounter between a male and female in the novel. Curiously, the relationship between the two characters is complex. Rather than being entirely characterized by domination, the reader gets the sense that the Commander is also a victim of the structural forces in Atwood’s fictional society. Deprived of genuine human contact and extremely awkward, the encounter is an ambivalent one to say the least. In the midst of this part of the novel, I found one of the most provocative passages of literature that I have read this year: Offred’s encounter with Serena’s garden. In Serena Joy’s garden, she encounters a wide variety of irises that were “rising beautiful and cool on their tall stalks, like blown glass, like pastel water momentarily frozen in a splash, light blue, light mauve” (153). The beauty of these flowers represents female beauty in its most empowering form. The connection between flowers and feminine power is made explicit by the observation that the irises were “so female in shape it was a surprise they’d not long since been rooted out” (153). To Offred, the garden communicates that “whatever is silenced will clamor to be heard, though silently” (153). Whether Aunt Lydia’s conception of using men as “sex machines” is an instance of this empowerment is to be debated. Regardless, the commentary can still be found that no social position is inherently exploitative. Rather, there is an inherent reversibility of power relations that can empower individuals in a subjugated position.

Atwood’s commentary on religion is pretty scathing. The connection between religion’s demand to render subjects submissive and patriarchal submission is fascinating. Aunt Lydia emphasizes the “spiritual value of bodily rigidity, of muscle strain: a little pain cleans out the mind” (194). The prayers provide an even more explicit connection: “What we prayed for was emptiness, so we would be worthy to be filled: with grade, with love, with self-denial, semen and babies” (194). Clearly the connection between patriarchy and religion is not one fostered within a specific religious doctrine – for Atwood, it is inherent in the nature of religious authority in the abstract.

freedom and sexual violence

In order to extract modern relevance from Handmaid’s Tale, it is important to examine the ideology underpinning the society described in the novel. One comment that I found particularly relevant to our society today was the dialogue about freedom. Aunt Lydia articulates two individual concepts of freedom, “freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it” (34). It is difficult to mount an absolute criticism of certain values, considering their personal and subjective nature. However, this type of criticism can begin by pointing out the moralism attached to the last comment. The value placed on order is something that one should ‘not take for granted’. It is curious that one should be thankful for the types of control that the State imposes on its citizens – a Stockholm Syndrome, at the very least. This value system also assumes a certain universal human nature that is helpless without the State. In our society, most of these assumptions about the anarchic nature of humans and the tragedy of the commons are based on a vision of ‘homo economicus’ derived from a few psychological tests that occurred in a vacuum and in no way reflect the collective human capacity to survive outside the control of an elite-sponsored state.

freedom from untried criminals

One interesting comparison that must be drawn is between the rape of Janine and Pecola. Although the characters in the Bluest Eye did not suggest that the rape was Pecola’s fault, it seemed like there was a sense of silence surrounding the issue. In Handmaid’s Tale, Aunt Lydia and Aunt Helena suggest that Janine’s rape is her fault. They suggest that Janine “led them on” in the first place (82). Janine eventually internalizes this story and suggests that it is true herself, claiming that “It was my own fault” and that she “deserved the pain” (82). The commentary about how one should not blame the victim of sexual violence is obvious. However, there is also a more complicated element when the women in Handmaid’s Tale are the ones that are initiating this dangerous viewpoint. This seems to expose how the patriarchal treatment of victims of sexual crime can be initiated by both men and women. Finally, it must be noted that these women are functionally coerced into treating Janine this way. Most agents of oppression today have been influenced by a network of discourses and institutions that both advocate and incentivize this behavior – a lesson that must also be taken from the novel.

both taboo and blame have a negative impact on victims of sexual violence

methodology of fun home

I think that some interesting discussion can be centered around Bechdel’s choice of the autography as her methodology to communicate her personal story. Most of the literature that analyzes the implications of Fun Home utilizes the psychoanalytic account of ‘trauma’ and our role to bear witness. Jenny Edkins argues that “by situating ourselves as citizens of a state or political authority or as members of a family, we reproduce that social institution at the same time as assuming our own identity as part of it. As we have seen, in what we call a traumatic event this group betrays us” (Edkins 8). The connection can easily be drawn that the main character of Fun House feels a sense of betrayal towards her dysfunctional family.

psychoanalysis is useful here

Utilizing the autographical method allows for a more creative use of visual representations of the plot to advance the story. There are numerous examples of this throughout Fun Home. A stark juxtaposition is established when comparing the main character’s “diary entries” when she was young, to the “vagaries of emotion and opinion” as she aged, until her final entry is “barely perceptible behind a hedge of qualifiers, encryption, and stray punctuation” (169).

The message that Bechdel conveys is inseparable from the images present in the autography. Rather than merely being a representation of the plot, the images are instead an integral part of the broader plot. More subtle elements of the graphic novel are also communicated in how messages are conveyed. In the scene where the “tragic botanical specimen” is displayed, the textbook provides a unique method to convey the message of the plant becoming “spent and shrivelled and discoloured” (92).

A comparison must be established between the efficacy of the narrative form in the stories that we read a few weeks ago and when the autographical method is either more or less effective. The narrative form has the limitation of being fixed to one stable standpoint (recall the narratology arguments I made earlier). However, Cvetkovich argues that Fun House provides a more expansive account of a lesbian’s traumatic encounter by contextualizing it with the sexual identity of her father, paving the way for a cross-generational analysis. Graphic narratives like Fun Home “use ordinary experience as an opening onto revisionist histories that avoid the emotional simplifications that can sometimes accompany representations of even the most unassimilable historical traumas” (Cvetkovich 125). In this way, the autography provides a unique lens into both the personal trauma of the main character along with a more general historical context for these social forces.

by reading fun house, we are bearing witness to the author's trauma

Ann Cvetkovich. “Drawing the Archive in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home”. WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 36:1-2 (2008).

Jenny Edkins. Trauma and the Memory of Politics. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge (2003).

understanding the experiences of fun home's main character

    I believe Professor Bump’s framework of “emotive criticism” as he developed in his article about the Bluest Eye can help us contextualize the author’s methodology in Fun Home. Before I explain this further, I would like to begin by recalling certain members of our class’s initial reactions to the graphic novel. The graphic nature of the images presented in the novel are certain to generate diverse emotional responses. It can be uncomfortable to directly confront images of homosexual intercourse for somebody with a background that has limited his or her interactions with anything but intolerance towards homosexuals. Also considering many religious and ideological beliefs reject homosexuality on face, it is understandable that an authentic depiction of a single lesbian’s experience with her family and her sexuality could stimulate diverse responses. As a result, I think that we should be mindful when we form opinions about the content of the book. Rather than being appalled at the graphic nature of the descriptive phrase, the “walls were wet and sticky,” we should ask ourselves why the author decided to use this description (81). The author intended on posing specific provocative questions for the reader, and a retreat into moralism or cynicism could endanger our ability to answer them. The only way that we can properly engage in these questions is if we try to put ourselves in the shoes of the main character so that we can understand the type of trauma that she encountered.

    However, I will concede that utilizing the framework of “emotive criticism” places us in an awkward position in relation to the content of Fun Home. In some ways, it seems like the main character ironically deploys critical literature to describe her experience. This becomes especially self-evident with the author’s treatment of Camus, who she (admittedly apprehensively) correlates with her father’s suicide. While she notes that Camus concludes that suicide is Camus’s conclusion, she provides an image of a highlighted Camus passage describing the “exact degree to which suicide is a solution to the absurd” (47). But it is certainly an awkward disposition, considering the main character herself uses the narrator’s  voice to describe the house as the ‘simulacrum’ in reference to Baudrillard’s theories, among other theoretical references (including a huge emphasis on Greek classics). Certainly the main character seems to make use of positive instances of theories to speculate about her existence.

    However, I believe that ultimately Fun Home calls for an emotive response not relegated to a specific theory. Rather than reading it as an instance of a specific conception of queer theory or alluding to a deconstructionist account of the graphic novel, it is important to keep in mind this unique instance of portraying a queer experience in the form of a graphic novel.  By utilizing a form of novel that has been largely absent from academic analysis, surely this type of experience justifies a unique form of critique.

P4 Rough

    Enraged by the narrow understanding of terrorism presented in class, I shed my introverted skin and advanced an argument that took the logic of xenophobic security policies to its limit. If the improbable yet potentially destructive threat of terrorism justifies the invasion of civil liberties, then surely the politicians that could potentially initiate preemptive warfare in Middle East nations while simultaneously stirring up terrorist backlash deserve a stricter scrutiny than Muslims in an airport. After almost two semesters’ worth of developing my sympathetic imagination, I was enraged that the Otherization of terrorists forecloses an opportunity to encounter their political struggles as a political response to American empire. I was enraged by the dominant political narratives that obscured our understanding of American hegemony. I was not enraged at my classmates themselves – I have developed a profound feeling of respect towards their opinions and beliefs. Rather, I was enraged at the discursive mechanisms that misinform the public about political issues on a macro level.
    I believe that structural forces skew the media outlets’ portrayal of political issues in order to advance specific ideological goals into the masses. American ideologies of deregulation and neoliberalism have both been reliant on positive media representations of their political means. Countless examples of dangerous discourses including the black welfare queen, primitive African societies in need of IMF intervention, or even the moralistic portrayal of the abortion debate have all skewed our understandings of major political issues. The only way to counter these dominant narratives is to advance forms of counter-knowledge to stake a greater claim on advancing history. Corporate control of knowledge outlets has rendered docile any potential progressive forces in the United States political arena. These “sound-bite saboteurs” effectively “mobilize superior resources, access to powerful public and private institutions and organizations, and a loosely linked network of information professionals (…) to gradually and incessantly saturate multiple political and cultural discourses—from talk radio to news to popular publishing—with the rhetoric, anecdotes, and familiar framing devices needed to reinforce their particular vision of limited government, a government limited to national defense and punishing criminals” (Lyons 23). These dangerous saboteurs are able to manipulate political discourses in a way that shapes our understandings of political reality. Institutions that exploit these narratives are built from the bottom-up. The nature of this hierarchy necessitates a discursive resistance that focuses on the discourses themselves on both a micro- and macro-level.
    We have learned about countless examples of how dominant systems of knowledge and discourse can produce negative effects on society. One of the most provocative readings in the course anthology chronicled the anthropocentric roots of most patriarchal discourse. It concludes that “language necessarily reflects a human-centered viewpoint more completely than a male-centered one” (Anthology II 589). This exposes the necessity of devoting my attention and activism towards changing the way that individuals approach certain discourses. In order to expose the daily instances of patriarchal or anthropocentric domination, pointing out the irresponsibility of such rhetoric definitely constitutes a political moment.
    To ignore the systemic problems of misinformation and manipulation of the public sphere would be unwise. Although I could write hundreds of books criticizing certain aspects of dominant discourses, changing mindsets is a process that involves direct interactions with people. Theories have too strong of a potential to seem irrelevant in the context of a human being’s specific experiences. Even when discussing the theories and teachings of Buddha, Siddhartha remarks that he prefers “the thing itself to the words, and place more importance on his actions and life than on his speeches, more stock in the gestures of his hand than in his opinions” (Hesse 137). Ultimately the only criterion that I can utilize to measure whether or not I have successfully addressed my goal of altering public response to misinformation is the actions I take instead of the claims that I make.
    It is rather intuitive that the ability to control systems of knowledge in society could have very dangerous implications. Even in Through the Looking Glass, Alice wonders if you “can make words mean so many different things,” to which Humpty Dumpty remarks that it is a question of “which is to be master” (Carroll 269). In this way, what could easily be understood as merely linguistic power has material implications for our existence.
    While I still retain that a primary function of the university is critique, my university experience also holds the potential to share optimistic stories of success that have an inspiring function. Even the fictional Elizabeth Costello that we read about last semester used her role as a lecturer to cause individuals to ask themselves provocative questions about anthropocentrism. These questions can make one uncomfortable, Costello’s son “wishes his mother had not come” and wonders that “if she wants to open her heart to animals, why can’t she stay home and open it to her cats?” (Coetzee 83).
    Michel Foucault’s theorizing of “power” and “knowledge” elucidates on the best strategy to resist these dominant discourses. Foucault was primarily concerned with how power can be sequestered within the disciplines. Because those who wield the power over these systems of knowledge can influence how the subject is constituted within discourses, “the main point is not to accept this knowledge at face value but to analyze these so-called sciences as very specific “truth games” related to specific techniques that human beings use to understand themselves” Rabinow and Rose 146). Foucault concludes that a “relationship of confrontation reaches its terms, its final moment (and the victory of one of the two adversaries) when stable mechanisms replace the free play of antagonistic reactions” (Rabinow and Rose 142). Fortunately many of these power relations are still in flux, and aligning myself with movements that attempt to reverse these relations can translate into visible results.
    This has helped me reach a conclusion regarding the question of methodology. A major feature of the past year in world literature has been being inundated by a laundry list of structural problems in society: racism, sexism, anthropocentrism, sexual abuse, and even genocide. Although both Earthlings and Ishmael alluded to a solution involving consciousness-changing, I have repeatedly expressed my frustration about the lack of political mobilization associated with ideas. Ishmael’s prophetic claim that the survival of humanity depends not on “the redistribution of power and wealth within the prison but rather the destruction of the prison itself” reveals an embedded racialism within advocates of consciousness-change separate from Marxist understandings of developing class consciousness (Quinn 252-3). I will concede that my usual response in blog posts has been to advocate a revolutionary Leftist stance to solve these problems. Rather than conform to the State’s conception of politics, I have usually demanded that politics should change the rules of the game that constitute the State. However, Foucault has helped remedy this conundrum by problematizing the dichotomy of being either ‘for’ or ‘against’ the government. Because “working with a government doesn’t imply either a subjection or a blanket acceptance,” one can remain hopeful that the “work of deep transformation can be done in the open and always turbulent atmosphere of continuous criticism” (Rabinow and Rose 171-2). Rather than being held back by abstract questions of methodology, I now understand that every moment of resistance that arises at the local, national, or global level is a worthwhile project. In this way, every experience that constitutes my existence is connected to a broader struggle as I am dominated by and subsequently resist power relations daily. As a result, I have resolved to develop the following action plan:
    I must first be able to achieve the manageable goal of graduating college with an education that prepares me for the types of political activism that I eventually decide that I want to align with. Embedded within this goal are a few smaller goals, including determining which classes will give me the most capabilities and also how I can apply these tools in a college setting. Although I have yet to research the specific classes that I will need to incorporate to achieve this challenge, I feel like I should take some more courses in the English department that are writing-intensive. Although I feel like I am a capable writer, at times Bump’s emphasis on conciseness has caused me to realize how unnecessarily wordy my writing is at times. I feel like spending more time honing my writing skills will improve my ability to be persuasive. Moreover, I also believe it is essential for me to continue with getting my other degree in economics. With an economics background, I would have a diverse understanding of the workings of the economy from both a right-wing and left-wing perspective.
    Learning and teaching in general holds many manageable victories. I ultimately intend on attending graduate school, which could give me more opportunities to have a teaching function at a school. If I were to achieve my goal of having this type of a role in an institution, I could impart my own pedagogical beliefs onto other students in order to foster a greater sense of social consciousness.
    Bump’s course has been essential in enabling me to draw these conclusions about my passions and how I can use them to benefit society. Perhaps the most useful tool has been the idea of a sympathetic imagination, which has caused me to initially challenge many dominant narratives about political issues in the first place. Moreover, the focus on raising social awareness as a solution to both local and global problems has influenced my focus on fostering political mobilization through pedagogical education instead of normative politics. While this would not culminate into anti-statist anarchism, it would instead take every possible opportunity to engage in critique and transform society.
    Our writings about how to respond to suffering has also been useful. Rather than attempting to eliminate or ignore the suffering of the world, I have learned a sense of attunement that inevitably will impact my disposition towards the world.
    Finally, my most lofty aspiration is to participate in a political movement that awakens the American political culture from the apathy that has rendered it so docile. Even where there is genuine political activism, it seems like the media traditionally portrays it as dangerous and unwelcomed (take for example the Egypt and other Middle East revolutions). However, often the genuine nature of these political struggles are abstracted over. One day, perhaps a political culture will exist in America where disenfranchised individuals can more easily voice their political claims and enact social change. This way, the United States can live up to its potential as a genuine democracy that acknowledges the inalienable rights of all of its citizens.

Works Cited
Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking Glass. Bramhall House: New York.
Coetzee, J.M. Elizabeth Costello. Penguin Books: New York (2003).
Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. Simon & Schuster: New York (2008).
Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit. Bantam Books: New York (1995). 
Rabinow, Paul and Nikolas Rose. The Essential Foucault: Selections From Essential Works of     Foucault, 1954-1984. New Press: New York (2003).

Word count without quotes: 1474

can one critique narratives?

I found many problems with the messages conveyed in these narratives. I felt like the Luckett narrative was not effective in accurately representing the Asian-American experience. There was a significant focus on how she was a victim of sexual abuse. When complaining about the foster parents’ complicity, she claims that “for some perverted reason I thought that I might have deserved treatment like that” (423). From the standpoint of the narrative, the blame is displaced on the parents for her sexual abuse. However, perhaps the parents were fearful of the potential for the government to intervene, label them as unsafe parents, and then the immigrant gets deported. Perhaps the institutions are the real perpetrators of precarious situations by making immigrant life so precarious. Moreover, the Johnny Lee narrative has a limited view on religion in the United States. He claims that “God HATES the gay. They are all bad” (433). However, it is difficult to deny that more progressive Christian groups are more accommodating. It would be more useful to incorporate them into a political solidarity against fringe Christian groups (by labeling them as fringe, you destroy their ethos). Finally, the Ng narrative has a limited description of psychoanalysis by depicting all of them as accusing him of “simply going through phases” (447). Again, labeling radical instances of psychology as fringe would destroy their ethos and help acknowledge the progressive forms of psychology that does not treat homosexuality as an illness.

anti-gay christian groups face dissent

Most striking is that the above critiques seem extremely inappropriate. The narrative form makes their experience seem authentic, so I seem heavy-handed criticizing their honest standpoint. However, this performatively reveals the problems with narratives.

it is difficult to speak when overwhelmed by the narrative's artificial ethos

The major danger with giving preference to narratives when examining race in the United States is that the narrative form “subdues the reader’s “urge to produce rival interpretations of the events,” thereby foreclosing contestation over meaning” (Disch 264). Retaining this ability to place a critique on the narrative is important considering the limits that the narrative form can have. These narratives seem to be an attempt to learn about an individual’s identity through their autobiographical narrative. However, many people warn that this ‘narratology’ can apply a “disproportionate broadness” to analysis. “Nothing is differentiated here, neither life, nor narrative,” which run the risk of incorporating homogenizing analysis about certain experiences (Tammi 26). Jumping to quick conclusions can reinforce the very stereotypes that we are attempting to fight in our exploration of diversity.

Lisa Disch. Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. 2003. “Impartiality, Storytelling, and the Seductions of Narrative: An Essay at an Impasse”. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political. Volume 28. Pages 263-265.

Pekka Tammi. University of Tampere, Finland. June 2006. “Against Narrative (“A Boring Story”)”. Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas. Volume 4. Number 2. Page 26.

barbara jordan

On the top floor of the Bob Bullock museum, there was a series of small exhibits in the most extreme corner of the floor. Hidden behind an airplane (which I never explored the significance of), several profiles of different faces were shown in the museum. I was immediately drawn to the beaming face of the right-most African American woman. It looked strangely familiar.

hammering barbara jordan into unity

It was none other than Barbara Jordan. Although we had briefly discussed the significance of Barbara Jordan when our class took a picture beside her, I honestly had forgotten her achievements. The plaque by her face emphasized that she was the first African-American member of the Texas Senate since 1883 and the first Southern black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. As I attempted to use my sympathetic imagination to reflect on how her political experience must have been, it was interesting to speculate on how it must have felt to be the first post-reconstruction African-American Texas Senator while simultaneously being the first black African-American Texas Senator in that time period. Books such as the Bluest Eye reveal the intersectionality of certain hierarchies (a concept that I have devoted significant attention to in previous writings), and knowledge of this complex experience makes her achievement even more significant.

babara jordan, truly an american patriot

While significant discussion has been devoted to the diversity in quantities of people and animals, there has been a lack of discussion in how political representation has corresponded with this change in diversity. Theoretically, a just democracy should have an equal representation of every ethnicity. Obviously this was not the case in Barbara Jordan’s time period. However, I examined the racial breakdown of the current Texas Senate in the context of the distribution of different ethnicities within Texas. African-Americans comprise of just over 10% of Texans, while there are only two black males and zero black females in the Texas Senate. There were six Hispanic males and zero Hispanic females, while Hispanics represent over one-third of the Texas population. The Texas Senate has 31 seats, showing both are not on-target. There were zero naturalized citizens on the list, although immigrants are a major demographic in Texas.

I drew two major conclusions from this analysis. First, Barbara Jordan’s election was a major achievement for diversity. Even in the 21st century, when the United States lauds itself for having elected an African-American president, there is still a lack of female minorities in the Texas Senate. Second, it would be useful to imagine the election of non-natural born citizens to public office. Certain citizens do not have any greater right to the social contract simply due to their place of birth if all citizens must participate and be subjected to the same political system equally. Moreover, immigrants probably need more representation than other citizens due to structural inequalities that they frequently must overcome.

queering citizenship

I found the specific responses that the individuals writing the narratives had to their status as the Other particularly compelling. A unifying theme within the narratives was to refuse assimilating into American culture and instead to embrace their difference as an object of empowerment. Ramirez notes that he has “always had to deal with outsider status and I have accepted the benefits that come from it” (402). From my privileged position as a white-male-middle class-citizen, it is difficult to envision what types of benefits could be received from social exclusion. However, Ramirez reminds us that he has “never felt [his] identity was uncertain” (402). There is a clearly established boundary that establishes the Self for Ramirez, and he is always able to take refuge with this. Moreover, this identity is frequently empowering considering it can establish a sense of individuality. However, there is also a common theme of the need for solidarity within excluded communities. Andrade discusses the power of groups working together in order to “appear as a strong force against the white American society that always tried to oppress them” (410). I have a feeling that many individuals in our class would object to the radical rhetoric invoked by Andrade here. However, any negative response is merely the result of an incapability to utilize a sympathetic imagination in order to view the forces of racism in America. Keep in mind that Andrade is criticizing the oppressive forces of society that privilege white Americans, not the individual white Americans themselves. Whiteness has established a cultural hegemony that has infiltrated our understandings of beauty (as evidenced in the Bluest Eye), consumption habits (Ishmael reveals how our society ignores the plight of animals), and religion (eastern philosophies are stigmatized in light of Western Enlightenment and the religion of rationalism). Melendez also expresses concern about his identity, considering students knew him because he “was the only dark-skinned Latino among them” (417). In this way, Melendez attempts to assimilate within his school, but can never completely fit in.

machete provides a controversial depiction of migrant empowerment

I believe that the theoretical category of the “abject” as outlined by Julia Kristeva is useful in explaining this point. For Kristeva, the abject is “something rejected from which one does not part.” Using a psychoanalytic framework, she notes that the abject is something that can never be completely banished from society, and instead its presence constantly challenges the existing social order. The United States was swept with immigrant protests in 2006 against Congressional threats of major crackdowns against immigrant societies. Nicholas De Genova likens these movements with the methodology adopted by queer political movements – “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.” The message was similar: “literally millions, abruptly altered the balance of forces, and migrants emerged as a force that could assert: We are here—in spite of our “illegality”” (De Genova 105). This is a type of obstructionist politics that “seeks not to be integrated within an existing economy of normative and normalizing distinctions, but rather to sabotage and corrode that hierarchical order as such” (De Genova 106). While one could respond to this analysis by claiming that the narratives are largely apolitical, I would argue that this is simply impossible. Their attempt to mediate their identities within a web of power-structures is intimately tied with political forces that determine which individuals are fit for society and which are not. All of the narratives feature an impossibility to fully integrate, and ultimately articulate an empowering result.

2006 immigrant protests

Nicholas De Genova. Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago. 2010. “The Queer Politics of Migration: Reflections on “Illegality” and Incorrigibility”. Studies in Social Justice. Volume 4. Issue 2. Pages 104-106.

Race and Family Systems Therapy

I fortunately read Bluest Eye a few weeks ago for my TC class. As a result, the major themes discussed in the book have been in the back of my mind for a while. I am extremely ambivalent about what the final message is that we should take from Bluest Eye. I’ll describe this internal dialogue through a response to Bump’s papers on Bluest Eye.

One of the most moving moments in Bluest Eye was definitely the internal split dialogue that occurs at the end. Pecola’s insanity is described in a somewhat disturbing manner as the novel draws to a conclusion. When talking to a seemingly imaginary friend, Pecola exclaims, “don’t go. Don’t leave me” (Morrison 203). This insanity was caused by Pecola’s desire for the “bluest eyes in the whole world” (203). It must be determined what Morrison is attempting to argue is the cause of Pecola’s neurosis. When attempting to describe what caused the family problems in Pecola’s family, Bump draws from Family Systems Therapy. Using this framework, he argues that “family therapists support the claim that “white society finds it difficult enough to have traditional, nuclear, stable families itself” (Bump 154). This claim is used to create universality when responding to family issues. There is a universal struggle that exists regarding family systems that is not limited to specific racial experiences.

one must be careful to avoid the dangerous fallacies of the moynihan report

However, the afterword seems to argue that there is a racial element to Morrison’s argument. She seems to argue that Bluest Eye is an attempt to “transfigure the complexity and wealth of Black American culture” into an empowering force (Morrison 206). When taking into account the origin of Cholly’s patriarchal behavior, we must remember that it began when Cholly had a racist encounter with white people. However, Bump is quick to remind us that “research has demonstrated that the average black family is healthier than the average white family” (Bump 159). Moreover, perhaps a different reading of Bluest Eye is more strategic for addressing issues of race. If we have a more universal response to Pecola’s insanity then we can “enable the reader to experience the suffering of such a victim of racism and fear of ugliness” (Bump 162). While this is a reasonable argument about strategy, I am still uncomfortable abandoning the racial lens entirely. Family Systems Therapy may be useful in explaining clinical cases of family problems, but a closer reading of specific narratives (such as the fictional one posited in Bluest Eye) reveals a different experience within black families that is different from white families. Considering many aspects of psychological theory were developed with predominantly white patients and case studies, it seems only fair to attempt to build empathic coalitions through a universal understanding of family problems while simultaneously being mindful of unique racial experiences.

pecola views her own (lack of) beauty in a racial context

Jerome Bump. “Family Systems Therapy and Narrative in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye”. Reading the Family Dance: Family Systems Therapy and Literary Study. Rosemont Publishing Danvers Massachusetts. 2003.

Jerome Bump. “Racism and Appearance in the Bluest Eye: A Template for an Ethical Emotive Criticism”. College Literature 37:2. 2010.

intersectionality and internalization

Cholly’s experience with racism is extremely revealing about the ways that racism operates within the community that Morrison is describing. Cholly’s abuse of his wife (and poor relationship with his daughter) is attributed to a flashback that occurs in the first chapter of the book. Cholly is “surprised in some bushes by two white men” (42). It would seem logical for Cholly to use this experience to develop a hatred for racists and perhaps an irrationally negative disposition towards white people. However, Cholly instead responds to this by adopting patriarchal attitudes. He takes it out by hating women, because in his view, by “hating her, he could leave himself intact” (42). In this way, Morrison gives insight to the complicated ways that racism exists. Rather than merely existing in a white/black binary, patriarchy also adds a more complicated dimension to this hierarchy. The experience of black women in Bluest Eye is vastly different from the experience felt by black men. Many of the black women have a more complicated struggle with ideas of beauty and the expectations of how their physical appearance should be, as well.

the dick and jane books alluded to in the opening pages of bluest eye

The dialogue that exists regarding Maureen also provides commentary on the internalization of racism. Maureen is a light-skinned black girl, and it seems that Morrison is implicitly making the argument that she is regarded as beautiful because of her relative likeness to white girls. Maureen “never had to search for anybody to eat with in the cafeteria” (63). When she gets a locker next to Claudia, she then indulges her “jealousy four times a day” (63). Here Morrison provides a different account of racism than usually found. Rather than racism occurring through the subjugation of one group by another, instead racial understandings of beauty have been internalized by the black girls such that they impose them upon themselves. The social relations of black women with each other have been influenced by an understanding of beauty imposed by a largely white-dominated culture. Clearly Morrison is attempting to open our eyes to a more dynamic understanding of the role that race plays in our society. We all participate in a network of power relations that have the potentiality to improve or worsen the lives of those around us.

beyonce is a living example of norms that exist with what is and isn't considered beautiful

rat race: antropocentrism in maus

In regards to the metaphors present in Maus, it is interesting that Spiegelman describes them as self-destructing. Although this statement is not qualified in the discussion board prompt, it seems safe to assume that the author of the quotation is implying that Maus exposes the absurdity of dividing different lines between races. However, it is unclear what relationship Maus has to the anthropocentric lines that exist in society today. While mice are used to represent Jews, the dialogue and characterization of these individuals are no different than humans, and there does not seem to be any clever analysis regarding the author’s decision to substitute mice for humans. Does Maus help us advance our metaphor of animals to the holocaust? When articulating the experience in Maus, much of the exploitation is contextualized with labor. The camps demanded “200 workers tomorrow” while the camp that the main character was present at only had “180 still registered” (35). Although the graphic novel later also discusses starvation, the analogy of the forced extraction of labor from animals is not apparent. The choice of mice is one reason, considering that mice are not usually used to extract labor (as opposed to horses or mules). Moreover, the mobilization of labor for the ends of the state is a relatively human phenomenon.

the labor market

the nazis also depended upon military labor

Also problematic within Maus is the ability for the main character to have agency. When the main character claims that he is a tin-smith, the officer exclaims, “A tin-smith! I’ll see what I can do!” (36). I am not going to speak of the likelihood of people getting special treatment from officers for teaching them languages (I was not there) but it goes without saying that animals never receive as much agency in their own personal enslavement. However, Maus does provide some useful commentary. Despite the injustices that the Jews faced, the old man describes a time when he “first came to New York” that was free of blacks (100). However, now he laments that “if I put down only for one second my valuables, they took” (100). In this way, Maus can be read as exposing the hypocrisy of being intolerant of racial injustice while still tolerating the poor treatment of animals. While this does nothing to excuse the lack of an explicit consideration of anthropocentrism, it still advances the theoretical ability to interrogate a variety of hierarchies simultaneously.

diversity and harmony are not easy goals

 

 

 

 

things done changed

it's raining cats and dogs

I woke up and arose when several strangers walked into the room where I was being kept. Strangers are nice enough, but they can be so fickle at times. As usual, the strangers immediately walked past the three black cats in cages next to me and went straight to my cage.  They opened it and held me.  I used the first opportunity I had to extend my limbs and escape their grasp. Strangely, the visitors were surprised that I wanted to roam around the floor after being trapped in the same cage all day. As I played with many of the toys lying around the floor, I recalled the days when I was able to play with toys at any time I wanted to.

I had started out in a normal home like any other domesticated feline. The humans that fed me always gave me generous amounts of food. The younger humans also played with me on a regular basis, which gave me great exercise and kept me entertained. While I lived with this family for as early as I can remember, this would not be my last family. Eventually these humans were forced to move away to another place where they said that they could not take me. As a result, they found me another home.

This home was not as kind. There were no children in the household to play with me. The owners had no toys to keep me entertained. And to make matters worse,  I was only fed on an irregular basis. Some weekends I would find myself quite hungry due to the lack of food in the food bowl. After spending a solid year in this household, an event occurred that I am quite ambivalent about. I woke up and the family was missing. Not only that, but all of their possessions were gone too. They completely vacated the house. With my future uncertain at this location, I immediately left out of fear. I was unsure about what I should do. How would I get food? How would I get shelter?

I spent a few tumultuous days roaming the streets, incapable of finding a stable place to exist. I roamed the streets of Austin looking for bits and pieces of scraps of food to eat. While this was enough to keep me alive, it was a bare life, at best. My diet was incredibly unhealthy, and I began smelling quite foul due to my lack of a bath. Eventually, some adults found me and took me to a place called Austin Pets Alive.

This is basically the story of how I arrived here, being held by a few humans who clearly do not have very much experience holding cats of their own. Since my arrival at Austin Pets Alive, I have been given the name Blanco for my white coat. Most of the other cats at this institution have dark, black coats. For some reason, all of the visitors that come into APA head straight for my cage. It was the same when we had another white cat in the room, for some reason the humans were attracted to cats with white fur before they paid attention to the darker cats. Why do the humans think that white cats are more beautiful? Although this might be a subconscious desire, it is nevertheless unfair. I can’t help but feel ambivalent about receiving more attention but still knowing that many of my friends in the APA will live the rest of their lives here.

However, this privilege that I possess is relative. Regardless of the attention, I am still stuck inside of this cage like all of the other cats. Many of the workers here have mentioned that enough attention has been paid to me that It is likely I will find a foster home within a week. Yet, my future is uncertain. Many of the homes that other cats have come from homes where they were physically mistreated and abused. I myself have suffered malnutrition due to my previous home. Ultimately, only time will tell if this future home will be a place of safety or a new cage that I will long to escape from as well.

While I can only speculate about the past life of Blanco, I know for certain the impact that my encounter with him had upon me. I was initially nervous when I first decided to visit APA. This is not because of a fear of Austin public transportation. But rather, because I had never attended an animal shelter before and was warned by my mother about the dangers of contagious animals. “They could be diseased. Don’t touch them, you might get rabies.” Obviously these fears were dispelled by the friendly reminders from APA staff that the animals at Austin Pets Alive do not have any contagious diseases.

I began by looking at the cats in the cat building at the Manchaca location. The workers at the location directed us to a room where the cats were kept. The room was a little messy, and the cages that the cats were kept within were quite cramped. Moreover, as I entered the room, all of the cats’ eyes immediately turned to me.  Their facial expressions made it clear that they were longing for attention. As a result, I could not help opening each of the cats’ cages individually and spending a substantial amount of time with each one. I was moved by what seemed to be a great amount of appreciation and gratitude that was communicated to me merely as a result of me showing attention to the cats. This is something that I realized that I take for granted in my daily life, the ability to be listened and loved by people around me on a daily basis.

Blanco was an especially affectionate cat. Many of the other cats were somewhat irritable, and understandably so. However, Blanco seemed extremely peaceful lying in my lap and being held in my arms. As I watched Blanco play with the toys in the room happily, I understood the importance of the biography that I would write for him. In my hands I held the power to influence whether or not Blanco would ever have the opportunity to live in a household where he is able to play with toys like this on a daily basis. I immediately began taking notes about the unique characteristics that made Blanco unique in order to try to improve the biography that I would eventually write.

After visiting the cats, I proceeded to go outside and visit the dogs. I visited many of the dogs’ cages, and I noticed a somewhat similar response to my foreign presence. Each of the dogs was clamoring for my attention. When the worker at APA unlocked the cage of a dog that I was going to walk, all of the other dogs would bark vigorously, seemingly demanding to be given attention themselves. It was difficult to walk very many dogs, but I had time to walk a few. One of the dogs that I walked was particularly old and sick, and barely walked much on his own. It reminded me of the only pet that I have ever owned in his later years, a dog named Munchy that my family had when I was in elementary school. This was a dog that my parents took in when they found her living in the junkyard next to their house when they were in graduate school. I had never given much thought to their act of taking a random stray dog into their home. But as I saw many dogs wishing to have the same opportunity, I felt both a feeling of admiration for my parents but also a feeling of dissatisfaction that many dogs would never encounter such a friendly home themselves.

As I rode the bus back to campus, I reflected on my visit in the context of a discussion that we had in class. Professor Bump challenged us to prove that animals could talk. But in a way, I felt that all of the animals at the Austin Pets Alive shelter were communicating with me every second that I interacted with them. Many of them visibly felt pain and despair. Many of them had hopeless looks on their eyes. If only the rest of the world could hear these animals’ cries too.

can the black elk speak?

When it was mentioned during discussion that Black Elk Speaks is not a firsthand account of Black Elk, but rather the result of spoken word tradition and translation, I was skeptical. It is difficult for me to imagine that an authentic encounter with American Indian culture could be mediated by a third party. Moreover, the author of a work that is not autobiographical has an incentive to structure narratives that are easily digestible by white culture. William Powers argues in an academic journal that historical evidence actually points to Black Elk as a historical figure converting to Christianity. However, this did not consist of an exclusive acceptance of Christianity. Rather, “Black Elk, like so many other medicine men, was participating simultaneously in both religious systems, drawing upon the protocol and ritual of traditional Lakota religion, as well as on Christianity to help meet daily problems as they arose” (Powers 46). This is vastly different from the dichotomy posited in Black Elk, where the “Wasichus have put us in these square boxes” (in reference to white influence) (319). As a result of this, American Indian “power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more” (319). It seems that this more accurate historical evidence indicates that Black Elk would have a far more ambivalent response to white influence, considering he identified with it in strategic instances.

black elk speaks

Perhaps most problematic is the claim that “Neihardt was clearly aware of the old man’s participation in the Catholic church” (Powers 49). Neihardt’s storytelling method is also troubling. Black Elk Speaks is focused around the visions that Black Elk encounters. In his “own words,” Black Elk recalls “a very great vision, and I should have depended only upon that to guide me to the good” (342). This is contrary to Lakota tradition. Powers argues that in real Lakota society, “there is no interest in Black Elk on the reservation as a philosopher or spokesman for the traditional way of life, at least not by his living contemporaries” (53). This calls into question the methodology of giving preference to one individual’s account of his or her experiences as a Lakota. Perhaps this singular narrative format is fundamentally incompatible with traditional Lakota understandings of recalling experiences. Moreover, the series of visions that Black Elk sees have specific morals tied to them. However, Lakota society would not focus on Black Elk’s visions as a universal lesson, but rather a personal ethical observation that is subjective.

subaltern studies

In light of this analysis, it becomes important to determine where this leaves Black Elk Speaks. Echoing Spivak’s original question, perhaps Black Elk has no voice within this text. Nevertheless, I am reluctant to believe that this means the text should be abandoned entirely. Rather, I look forward to the class discussing on Tuesday where these historical discrepancies leave us in relation to the text.


William Powers. “When Black Elk Speaks, Everybody Listens”. Social Text 24 (1990).

perspectives on diversity

Although many of the texts that we have encountered recently are extremely relevant to discussions of diversity, when recalling Alice in Wonderland, it is difficult to isolate explicit examples in the story that deal with racial difference. However, one can examine the way that Alice in Wonderland approaches difference in the abstract in order to provoke discussion. Alice encounters many strange animals and creatures throughout the story, but one of the most telling encounters occurs in the pool of tears. In this scene, Alice encounters a mouse and begins to try to speak to it. Alice changes the way she talks, trying her best to mimic “the right way of speaking to a mouse” (41). When the mouse fails to respond, Alice speculates that “perhaps it doesn’t understand English” (41). Alice then proceeds to make a generalization due to her lack of her historical knowledge when she proclaims, “I daresay it’s a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror” (41). A significant debate is to be had here regarding whether Alice’s approach to difference is innocent or dangerous. Alice seems to represent the innocence of a child throughout the story. Taking this into account, should we treat Alice’s assumption that the mouse is French as benign? Or is the William the Conqueror reference an ignorant generalization? These questions are difficult to answer, but I think that it is at least safe to say that Alice is good-intentioned. She always intends to treat the animals with utmost respect. Nevertheless, this does not guarantee a neutral effect of her discourse.

french = william the conqueror?

Much of this discussion of Alice’s character can be resolved by examining the growth of Alice’s character in Through the Looking Glass. She seems to treat other characters more sensitively as she becomes more familiar with her surroundings. When she meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, she “laughed loud: but she managed to turn it into a cough, for fear of hurting his feelings” (242). While Alice is still somewhat insensitive, she ultimately takes actions to avoid offending other individuals. When Tweedledum asks her if he looks pale, Alice claims “well—yes—a little,” but does so “gently” (242). Here again, Alice makes a proactive attempt to treat other individuals who are dissimilar to her in a respectful manner. Perhaps we can retroactively examine her comments to the mouse through this lens of the progression of her character.

we should show people more respect

Ishmael provides some interesting and mostly unrelated commentary on racial diversity. When providing commentary on the contents of hierarchies within modern society, Ishmael notes that “white males—have called the shots inside the prison for thousands of years, perhaps even from the beginning” (252). While Ishmael goes on to later argue that there are other more important political goals than increasing racial consciousness, it is still worthwhile to note that Ishmael subscribes to the belief in forces of white hegemony in society.

ishmael sees these advocates as distracting from more important struggles

INFP

After taking the personality tests, I was immediately drawn to the famous personalities that my personality (INFP) is associated with. Being associated with the likes of Immanuel Kant, William Shakespeare, and Ludwig Beethoven makes it interesting to speculate about the personalities behind the various works of these individuals. Keirsey’s qualification of my personality was that of a ‘healer’. This seems to make sense to me due to the role that I frequently take in the friendships that I maintain.

i'll take his personality over his hairline

Although I had heard some of the more general ideas about my personality in tests that I had taken before, the association of this personality with certain learning and writing habits was interesting. Due to my introversion, the information in the anthology argued that I like “autonomy and choice-interested in discovery tasks” (249). This seems pretty true from my own observation, I enjoy having autonomy in my behavior in general. However, I disagreed with one of the other bullet points. I don’t think my introversion necessarily makes me inclined to “independent study” (249). I’ve had many successful experiences studying with groups on certain subjects. The information about writing was also revealing. The only time I’ve ever really felt like I produce a good work of writing is when I map out my ideas on paper (usually with visual diagrams). The anthology seems to allude to my inclination to “anticipate ideas before writing” (252). One other aspect of my writing processes is my nature to “guide writing decisions by sense of flow,” which is a tendency that I was not self-aware of (252).

awesome dude

affect

In recent years, the humanities and social sciences have taken what has been labeled a ‘turn to affect’ in an interdisciplinary fashion. In general, this has been described as a heightened interest in “the non-verbal, non-conscious dimensions of experience” by engaging “sensation, memory, perception, attention and listening” (Blackman and Venn 8). This runs contrary to many hegemonic paradigms that cause the academy to fixate its gaze on solely ideological and discursive analyses. Ultimately this affective turn has made reflection upon individual emotions and passions at the forefront of the social sciences. Before you write this analysis as more of Mantis’s pontificating about the academy, I would like to explain the intimate connection between a focus on affect in social analysis and the strategies of experiential learning deployed in Bump’s world literature course.

body & society's issue on affect studies

The fundamental problem that seems to have been recurring within the course readings is suffering. While many courses that address social issues are oriented towards alleviating suffering, much of the literature’s focus has been the response to the suffering of others. Perhaps the most memorable moment in the curriculum thus far has been the graphic documentary Earthlings. Being inundated by images of violence inflicted upon animals caused a wide range of emotional responses during the viewing. Our class had several discussions where we attempted to sort out what these emotions meant. An affective dialogue was thereby opened, where we attempted to interpret the meaning of our immediate emotional responses to Earthlings.

images of suffering in earthlings induced Trauma

A major challenge that we must overcome when confronted with the suffering of other beings is to avoid the process of psychic numbing. Psychic numbing is “a psychological process by which we disconnect, mentally and emotionally from our experience” (Anthology 365). This is the most comfortable way to respond to suffering, because it justifies no response or obligation. Continuing with the example of encountering animal suffering, the observation is made in Elizabeth Costello that “what we really aspire to know is what it is like to be a bat, as a bat is a bat; and that we can never accomplish because our minds are inadequate to the task – our minds are not bats’ minds” (Coetzee 76). The implication of this observation is that it is impossible to ever fully be capable of empathizing with the suffering of others in a perfect manner. That is, there will always be some gap preventing us from entirely understanding another being’s standpoint.

oh, the irony

As a result, it is easy for one to get frustrated with their difficulty responding to suffering. This can translate into material deprivation that propagates poverty if it escalates to compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is “typically attributed to numbingly frequent appeals for assistance, especially donations” (Anthology 347). As a result, one must be mindful of how suffering is communicated to them and whether it is via a medium mediated by third parties. Third parties could have motivations to essentialize certain instances of suffering. Moreover, it can be overwhelming with suffering being present everywhere in society. I was forced at this point to continue searching for ways to develop effective responses to this suffering.

that dude looks pretty fatigued, huh?

The only way for an educator to ‘teach’ students about certain emotional responses to the suffering of others is by placing the students in situations where they must have a personal encounter with suffering. In this way, the students learn through experiencing (also known as “experiential learning”). Experiential learning “allows students to practice roles unfamiliar to them and fully immerse themselves in experiences that generate authentic knowledge” (Anthology 44). The authenticity derived from using lived experiences to learn about suffering is invaluable. This form of education is guaranteed to have a more lasting impact. In our readings of Ram Dass, we concluded that we must “look anew at how each situation can teach us, how it can help us evolve in our ability to confront and help alleviate suffering” (Dass 72). By including a focus on experiential learning, a unique educational experience is possible. In this way, world literature has given me the opportunity to confront many difficult instances of suffering. These are the lessons that I will carry with me forever as I face ethical dilemmas in my daily life.

how should we respond to the suffering of others?

One by-product of this experiential learning that I have personally observed is a greater awareness for diverse modes of intelligence. Rather than viewing intelligence solely in context of IQ, I have developed a greater sense of emotional intelligence as the course has progressed. My experiences witnessing the suffering of animals both in Earthlings and in my own personal experience attending the animal shelter made me acutely aware of the impact that emotions have on my general outlook. Due to the “power of emotions to disrupt thinking itself,” I have been learning to use emotionally intelligence to “harmonize head and heart” (Anthology 333-5). The focus on mental outlook has also been discussed in the abstract with great detail. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People argued that “success became more of a function of personality, of public lubricate the processes of human interaction. This personality ethic essentially took two paths: one was human and public relations techniques, and the other was positive mental attitude” (Covey 18). The importance of emotions and mental outlook is not merely due to the powerful nature of those thoughts. Instead, becoming conscious of our affective relationship with our surroundings can make it easier to achieve goals that alleviate such suffering. Much to my surprise, I have found myself persuaded about the importance of including emotions and preventing them from being subsumed by cold rationality.

It can be concluded that all of the aforementioned themes of experiential learning and emotional intelligence has fostered both a dialogue and reflection about broader questions of affect. Due to our witnessing of Earthlings, much of our association with suffering is bearing witness and reading the facial cues of animals in pain. In this way, my encounter with animal suffering and anthropocentrism has been grounded in an interrogation of my affective relationship. Even in some animal literature’s depiction of the Longhorn, the focus is on how the animal is “full of the pride and energy of life” (Anthology 116). We have learned to relate to animals on the level of mutual emotions and passions. Moreover, it seems that Siddhartha also teaches us about affective relationships. Although Siddhartha preferences the recognition of the unity of all life as being an important component to Enlightenment, he also grants significant validation to people’s passions and affective relationship to their surroundings. “He saw life and that which is alive—the indestructible Brahman—in each of their passions and actions” (Hesse 121). Feelings of passion and emotion seem to be a unifying trait of humans. Moreover, closer examination of physical responses to disturbances by animals also reveals more affective potential. Ultimately the class is an attempt to reinsert analyses regarding emotion and experience into an academy that has long abandoned such strategies. Although we might not have contextualized the class with ‘affect studies’ in academic literature, perhaps it is useful to conceive of our world lit class as an ‘affective turn’ in educational styles. Regardless, the focus on emotions and passions has certainly made for a unique and valuable learning experience.


Lisa Blackman and Couze Venn. “Affect”. Body & Society 16:7 (2010). Sage Publications.

govinda's face

As Siddhartha reaches its conclusion, Siddhartha assumes the role of the ferryman. The scene where Govinda is seeking to attend the funeral of Gotama Buddha is particularly revealing. I feel like the scene where Govinda kisses Siddhartha’s forehead upon request epitomizes the way that we have described compassion within the class. When discussing his quest to find Enlightenment Govinda concedes, “I confess that I haven’t found it” (Hesse “Govinda”). Rather than responding by pontificating about his own unique focus on the Self (as opposed to being beholden to ideologues – Buddha in Siddhartha’s view) Siddhartha extends empathy towards Govinda. This is important to acknowledge considering that Govinda has taken his “refuge with the exalted Buddha” (Hesse “By the River”). Just as our response to animals is contextualized with an infinite obligation to the face of the Other, Govinda’s face expressed emotions of “yearning, suffering, and the eternal search” (Hesse “Govinda”). Even in his old age, Govinda’s face still expressed the same “zeal, faithfulness, searching, timidness” (Hesse “By the River). In response to this anguish, it is easy to assume that Siddhartha saw his own previous discontent with his lack of Enlightenment in Govinda’s face. The deepest form of empathy is one where you feel the pain of another. In response, Siddhartha commands that Govinda should kiss his forehead. Govinda mutually understands this act as being out of “love and expectation” (Hesse “Govinda”). Empathy borne out of a mutual experience of pain is the only way to rationally explain an empathy extended to animals. By analyzing facial expressions and understanding that all living beings feel pain, empathy can be inclusive towards animals. I think that the way that Hesse understands empathy in this context is intentional. This compassion is based on the most primordial understandings of pain and suffering, and in that way it is inclusive.

buddha - didn't grant enlightenment to govinda

siddhartha overcame religious difference

buddha and siddhartha

Siddhartha operates with a strange paradox where, despite the main character’s ultimate rejection of Buddhist teachings, the biographical details of his life still mirror many of the details surrounding the legend of Buddha. The original story of Buddha features an affluent individual giving up his wealth in order to pursue Enlightenment. Siddhartha adopts a similar approach, giving “his robe as a gift to a poor Brahmin along the road” (Hesse 15). After making this sacrifice, “Siddhartha wore only a loincloth and an unstitched, earth-colored shawl” (Hesse 15). Buddha also only reached Enlightenment after fasting, making it worth noting that Siddhartha also “fasted for fifteen days” (Hesse 15). Madison Brown observes that one can easily conclude that these “elements are important to the plot or that these "parallels to Buddha's life are contributing factors to the legendary quality of the novel"” (Brown 194). It is difficult to deny that Hesse is intentionally attempting to draw similarities between Siddhartha and Buddha. However, towards the end of the assigned passage, Siddhartha rejects Buddha’s teachings. Siddhartha “left him, parted from him, and was not able to accept his teachings” (Hesse 39). Siddhartha ultimately rejects Buddha due to his shying away from authority and his focus on Enlightenment only coming from an interrogation of the Self. In this way, Siddhartha has a complex relationship with Buddha, one where he follows many biographical details yet diverges philosophically. Siddhartha also proceeds throughout the novel with the same goals as Buddha originally had, in an effort to seek Enlightenment. It is merely his methodology that has been altered after he rejects Buddha’s influence.

herman hesse

buddha

 

 

buddha - showing more skin

Madison Brown. “Toward a Perspective for the Indian Element in Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha”. The German Quarterly 49:2 (1976).