3 days Journey with professor Balaji Ranganatha sir
19, 20, 21, we had Guest lecture on postcolonial studies by Balaji Ranganathan sir from central university of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. His method of teaching is one of discussion and dialogue with the students. He started his lecture by giving the basic definition of Colonialism, Imperialism and post-colonialism. After that, he discussed some of the points which are important in postcolonial studies.
In postcolonial studies, we have the following interesting Books or essay in our syllabus.
1. Black skin white mask by Frantz Fanon
2. Imagery Homeland by Salam Rushdie
3. A Tempest by Aime Cesaire
4. Orientalism by Edward Said
He started is a lecture from one the best text Black skin white masks. So on 19th text of discussion was Frantz Fanon's Black Skin White Masks. The text centres around the psychopathological effects of colonialism. Following are the key matters the text discusses:
1. The Negro and language
2. The Woman of colour and The White Man
3. The Man of Color and the White Woman
4. The so-called Dependency complex of Colonial people
5. The Fact of Blackness
6. The Negro and Psychopathology
7. The Negro and recognition
There are also the following key points.
1. Problems of Binaries
2. Idea of desire
3. Agency of colonization
4. The concept of Hegemony
5. Cast and race
6. The idea of choosing
7. The jungle savage
8. Language or politics of language
9. Religion symbols
10. Idea of dependency
11. Self-evolution and ego-Ideal
12. Mayotte Capecia etc.
In the text, we can see that Color is something which is challenged by Fanon. He also raised following the questions.
"what does a man want? Or what does the black man want?"
This is a very interesting question. We can also ask what does a white man want? Fanon is rising the binaries. For example, you might hate the object or you might love the object. You like those things which are useful. Same way if we talking about people especially Black people you might love them or hate them. Fanon is also talking about the idea of choosing like I like them or I don't like them. The cast is not like race. Both are different ideas. In the cast, we can find the problem of untouchability. The Black people may see blackness and white people may see the whiteness.
How do you behave within the white dominant culture and white linguistic culture?
The black man considered as colonized by giving the example of 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare that
Caliban is very much a 'Jungle Savage'. Tribes are also considered as criminalize people. Fanon also talked about Creole means the mix cultures and mulleto. Structure of desire is not gendered in Colonialism. Fanon is also talking about following two main points.
1. Language
2. Interracial relationship
The black man has the following two dimensions.
1. Why we behave differently it is important?
2. Why would you behave like this with the white or black man?
We can also find the politics of language.
"The middle class in the Antilles never speak Creole except to their servants"
In the second chapter Fanon talk about the rationality between the woman of colour and the European. But desire is biological. According to Lucas,
"Desire is impossible, you can never achieve the desire."
"For after all we have a right to be perturbed when we read, in Je suis Martiniquaise"
The cast is in the centre. Like marriage, particular cast marries with their own cast. Mayotte Capecia was Martiniquaise.
Civilization is centre to colonialism. Postcolonialism is questioning civilization. We can also find the religious symbol like the white god goddess and black. We can see that we can not make the temple of Kali at home but we can make the temple of Gauri.
The idea of dependency :
Love and hate both are existence. When we hate someone, we are not hating them biologically but we might not like their actions or behaviour. You have to understand your Narcissistic within you. For example, Gandhi hated colonialism but not British people. So,
"we hate the idea, not the particular people".
Fanon also talks about a psychological state or biological state.
"Color is irrelevant it is desire."
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel talked about master-slave relationship.
I found interesting lines in chapter no. 7.
"Man is human only to the extent to which he tries to impose his existence on another man in order to be recognized by him"
So this is a very interesting text. You can find many interesting points and also you can see the condition of Black people or their thinking.
After that sir talked about the second unit Orientalism by Edward Said. This is also one of the best units to study. In this unit, there are some following key points.
# orient is western construction
# orient is mere imagination, for example, Kubla Khan by S. T. Coleridge and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
# The orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture
# orientalism is Discourse
# orientalism is constructed through an art
# Islamic orient - Said looking at Islamic orient
# Notion of free will allow you to succeed to go Back
# The three aspects of contemporary reality :
1. Pure and political knowledge
2. Methodological question
3. The personal dimension
A Tempest by Aime Cesaire :
A Tempest is written by Aime Cesaire and
It is an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest from a postcolonial perspective. In this play, we can find the following key points.
1. Identities
2. Colonial resistance
3. Language
4. Rebellion
The main characters are
1. Arial - slave (Mulatto)
2. Caliban (A black slave)
3. Eshu (A black devil)
4. Prospero
5. Miranda etc.
There is a difference between political dominance and intellectual dominance and in this play, we can find both things. Freedom is based on hegemony. Prospero asks Caliban that don't speak your native language. So your native language becomes a barrier for you. We can also see the colonial dominant here. Like in the Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe, in this text we can find master-slave relationship. Like Prospero ask Caliban that you have to work and Prospero teaches him his language like Robinson Crusoe teach Friday. There is one following dialogue in which we can find this.
CALIBAN: Uhuru!
PROSPERO: What did you say?
CALIBAN: I said, Uhurul
PROSPERO: Mumbling your native language again! I've told you, I don't like it' You could be polite' at least; a simple "hello" wouldn't kill you'.
Like in Robinson Crusoe, Prospero gives him name Caliban.
CALIBAN: I'm telling you that from now on I won't answer to the name Caliban.
PROSPERO: Where did you get that idea?
CALIBAN: Well, because Caliban isn't my name. It's as simple as that.
We can also find racism in this text. Prospero asks Caliban that you are ugly or not good looking. But Caliban also give him reply that just look at your self you think you are good looking but you are not. In the Shakespearean play, we can not see Caliban like this.
PROSPERO: Gracious as always, you ugly ape! How cananyone be so ugly?
CALIBAN: You think I'm ugly. well, I don't think you're so handsome yourself. With that big hooked nose' you look just like some old vulture' (Laughing) An old vulture with ascrawny neck!
So this is also an interesting play by Aime Cesaire.
on third day, sir discussed about another unit Imaginary Homelands. This is the best work by Salman Rushdie. In this work we can find Following key Points In his all the Essay we can find this points.
Forms of conflict :
We make choices especially to address the problem and choices you make you might not necessarily agree with it. For example, in your life, you have one big problem so how you handle the problem? Specifically existence problems. So sometimes we make choices to face big problems and as we know that,
'problems have solutions'
But you may not like the solution. This type of conflict we can find in Diasporic writing.
Why is Diaspora important in today's term :
Diaspora term comes from an ancient Greek word "To Scotter about" but originally referred to the Jews diaspora. The definition of the diaspora is different for first generations who emigrate but for second and third generations the definition of diaspora change. For example, one French or Indian group of people settled in Abroad and they are part of the first or second generation. But the third generation who born in the UK they definitely not looking at India as a space of the home. So we have to read Diasporic categories.
Force notion of Exile :
The traditional understanding of diaspora it means force exile. Force to move on for Ecological reasons, for political reasons or for social reasons. You force by your own country. This happened after the Second World War.
Diaspora Matters :
Indian Diaspora :
The Indian Diasporic movement began around 200 years back with problems like labor during the Colonial period. There are many Indian who move to other countries but this was not a forced migration. Indian writers like Bharati Mukherjee, Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul and many other writers are part of Indian Diaspora. So the movement or migration during the colonial period would require separate categories. Most of the Diasporic writers like Rushdie belong to the second generation or the third generation. So that they have new strategies of looking at Diaspora. In Rushdie's one of the best easy 'Imagery Homeland' he talking about late 18th and early 19th period. The whole thing is change. We have to relocate Diaspora because Globalization has changed the entire notion of migration and remove the economic agencies of the past.
For example, today it is not difficult to find or to purchase the electronic machine from other countries. It is easy to get it because we have the Internet. You just order or get it.
Longing for your homeland :
For the Diasporic community, the problem is not a longing for homelands but racism and social equality within the multicultural conflicts. Rushdie is looking at Race and he understands the race. He also talks about longing concept. We find the following major problems.
1. Racism
2. The problem of integration (Cultural integration)
3. Emotions of your community
4. Social inequality
The idea of homeland :
The idea of homeland is a literal idea. So being first, second and third-generation your subject matter is your own country. There are very few Indian origin writers who write on the western culture without any reference to India. For example, Vikram Shekh and his famous book 'an equal Music' is the best example to understand this. He is looking at white culture as white. Salman Rushdie focuses on Indian problems. V. S Naipaul is a third-generation trinitarian writer and his famous book 'an era of Darkness'.
A major problem that diaspora writers face is capturing the past. They may also re-correct the past and write in a different way.
Cosmopolitanism and Multiculturalism :
There is a difference between Multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. Multiculturalism is part of the sate policy. You cannot say any city as Multicultural city or country. For example, Canada is the Multicultural Nation and part of state policy. New Zealand and America is also part of Multiculturalism.
Imagery homeland :
In Rushdie's essay, we can find the notion of nostalgia. In this essay, Rushdie is not talking about the geographical space of the present and physical movement. Past is impossible to capture. So he is talking about Imagery Homeland and vivid imagination of the mind. He constructed his narrative for his self conformable. In this Essay I found Following Interesting Lines.
" The broken mirror may actually be as valuable as the one which is supposedly unflawed."
" The broken Glass is not merely a mirror of nostalgia."
" Literature can, and perhaps must, give the lie to official facts."
"Literature is not in Business of copying certain themes for certain gropes."
" The Indian writer, looking back at India, does so through guilt-tinted spectacles."
The Idea of Commonwealth :
In one of the Essay, Rusdie said that,
"Commonwealth Literature does not Exist"
The Commonwealth literature is unhelpful and even a little distasteful.
In this essay, Rushdie said that Indian society and Indian literature have a complex and developing relationship with English Language. English Literature has its Indian branch it means literature of the English Language. There are Following Indian writers who uses English language.
# Mulk Raj Ananad
# Rabindranath Tagor
# Anita Desai
# Raja Ram Mohan Roy
# Salman Rushdie and many other.
Rushdie is most controversial writer. He also said that there is no such thing like commonwealth literature. South Africa and Pakistan are not member of the Commonwealth but their authors apparently belongs to that literature. The term 'Commonwealth' has long history and this term first used by Oliver Cromwell. So Commonwealth literature should not exit, if it did not, we could appreciate writers for what they are, whether in English or not. we Could discuss literature in terms of its real groping.
overall, we enjoyed a lot with sir and I would like to Thank our professor Dilip Barad sir for organizing this wonderful session for us.
19, 20, 21, we had Guest lecture on postcolonial studies by Balaji Ranganathan sir from central university of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. His method of teaching is one of discussion and dialogue with the students. He started his lecture by giving the basic definition of Colonialism, Imperialism and post-colonialism. After that, he discussed some of the points which are important in postcolonial studies.
In postcolonial studies, we have the following interesting Books or essay in our syllabus.
1. Black skin white mask by Frantz Fanon
2. Imagery Homeland by Salam Rushdie
3. A Tempest by Aime Cesaire
4. Orientalism by Edward Said
He started is a lecture from one the best text Black skin white masks. So on 19th text of discussion was Frantz Fanon's Black Skin White Masks. The text centres around the psychopathological effects of colonialism. Following are the key matters the text discusses:
1. The Negro and language
2. The Woman of colour and The White Man
3. The Man of Color and the White Woman
4. The so-called Dependency complex of Colonial people
5. The Fact of Blackness
6. The Negro and Psychopathology
7. The Negro and recognition
There are also the following key points.
1. Problems of Binaries
2. Idea of desire
3. Agency of colonization
4. The concept of Hegemony
5. Cast and race
6. The idea of choosing
7. The jungle savage
8. Language or politics of language
9. Religion symbols
10. Idea of dependency
11. Self-evolution and ego-Ideal
12. Mayotte Capecia etc.
In the text, we can see that Color is something which is challenged by Fanon. He also raised following the questions.
"what does a man want? Or what does the black man want?"
This is a very interesting question. We can also ask what does a white man want? Fanon is rising the binaries. For example, you might hate the object or you might love the object. You like those things which are useful. Same way if we talking about people especially Black people you might love them or hate them. Fanon is also talking about the idea of choosing like I like them or I don't like them. The cast is not like race. Both are different ideas. In the cast, we can find the problem of untouchability. The Black people may see blackness and white people may see the whiteness.
How do you behave within the white dominant culture and white linguistic culture?
The black man considered as colonized by giving the example of 'The Tempest' by William Shakespeare that
Caliban is very much a 'Jungle Savage'. Tribes are also considered as criminalize people. Fanon also talked about Creole means the mix cultures and mulleto. Structure of desire is not gendered in Colonialism. Fanon is also talking about following two main points.
1. Language
2. Interracial relationship
The black man has the following two dimensions.
1. Why we behave differently it is important?
2. Why would you behave like this with the white or black man?
We can also find the politics of language.
"The middle class in the Antilles never speak Creole except to their servants"
In the second chapter Fanon talk about the rationality between the woman of colour and the European. But desire is biological. According to Lucas,
"Desire is impossible, you can never achieve the desire."
"For after all we have a right to be perturbed when we read, in Je suis Martiniquaise"
The cast is in the centre. Like marriage, particular cast marries with their own cast. Mayotte Capecia was Martiniquaise.
Civilization is centre to colonialism. Postcolonialism is questioning civilization. We can also find the religious symbol like the white god goddess and black. We can see that we can not make the temple of Kali at home but we can make the temple of Gauri.
The idea of dependency :
Love and hate both are existence. When we hate someone, we are not hating them biologically but we might not like their actions or behaviour. You have to understand your Narcissistic within you. For example, Gandhi hated colonialism but not British people. So,
"we hate the idea, not the particular people".
Fanon also talks about a psychological state or biological state.
"Color is irrelevant it is desire."
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel talked about master-slave relationship.
I found interesting lines in chapter no. 7.
"Man is human only to the extent to which he tries to impose his existence on another man in order to be recognized by him"
So this is a very interesting text. You can find many interesting points and also you can see the condition of Black people or their thinking.
After that sir talked about the second unit Orientalism by Edward Said. This is also one of the best units to study. In this unit, there are some following key points.
# orient is western construction
# orient is mere imagination, for example, Kubla Khan by S. T. Coleridge and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
# The orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture
# orientalism is Discourse
# orientalism is constructed through an art
# Islamic orient - Said looking at Islamic orient
# Notion of free will allow you to succeed to go Back
# The three aspects of contemporary reality :
1. Pure and political knowledge
2. Methodological question
3. The personal dimension
A Tempest by Aime Cesaire :
A Tempest is written by Aime Cesaire and
It is an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest from a postcolonial perspective. In this play, we can find the following key points.
1. Identities
2. Colonial resistance
3. Language
4. Rebellion
The main characters are
1. Arial - slave (Mulatto)
2. Caliban (A black slave)
3. Eshu (A black devil)
4. Prospero
5. Miranda etc.
There is a difference between political dominance and intellectual dominance and in this play, we can find both things. Freedom is based on hegemony. Prospero asks Caliban that don't speak your native language. So your native language becomes a barrier for you. We can also see the colonial dominant here. Like in the Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe, in this text we can find master-slave relationship. Like Prospero ask Caliban that you have to work and Prospero teaches him his language like Robinson Crusoe teach Friday. There is one following dialogue in which we can find this.
CALIBAN: Uhuru!
PROSPERO: What did you say?
CALIBAN: I said, Uhurul
PROSPERO: Mumbling your native language again! I've told you, I don't like it' You could be polite' at least; a simple "hello" wouldn't kill you'.
Like in Robinson Crusoe, Prospero gives him name Caliban.
CALIBAN: I'm telling you that from now on I won't answer to the name Caliban.
PROSPERO: Where did you get that idea?
CALIBAN: Well, because Caliban isn't my name. It's as simple as that.
We can also find racism in this text. Prospero asks Caliban that you are ugly or not good looking. But Caliban also give him reply that just look at your self you think you are good looking but you are not. In the Shakespearean play, we can not see Caliban like this.
PROSPERO: Gracious as always, you ugly ape! How cananyone be so ugly?
CALIBAN: You think I'm ugly. well, I don't think you're so handsome yourself. With that big hooked nose' you look just like some old vulture' (Laughing) An old vulture with ascrawny neck!
So this is also an interesting play by Aime Cesaire.
on third day, sir discussed about another unit Imaginary Homelands. This is the best work by Salman Rushdie. In this work we can find Following key Points In his all the Essay we can find this points.
Forms of conflict :
We make choices especially to address the problem and choices you make you might not necessarily agree with it. For example, in your life, you have one big problem so how you handle the problem? Specifically existence problems. So sometimes we make choices to face big problems and as we know that,
'problems have solutions'
But you may not like the solution. This type of conflict we can find in Diasporic writing.
Why is Diaspora important in today's term :
Diaspora term comes from an ancient Greek word "To Scotter about" but originally referred to the Jews diaspora. The definition of the diaspora is different for first generations who emigrate but for second and third generations the definition of diaspora change. For example, one French or Indian group of people settled in Abroad and they are part of the first or second generation. But the third generation who born in the UK they definitely not looking at India as a space of the home. So we have to read Diasporic categories.
Force notion of Exile :
The traditional understanding of diaspora it means force exile. Force to move on for Ecological reasons, for political reasons or for social reasons. You force by your own country. This happened after the Second World War.
Diaspora Matters :
Indian Diaspora :
The Indian Diasporic movement began around 200 years back with problems like labor during the Colonial period. There are many Indian who move to other countries but this was not a forced migration. Indian writers like Bharati Mukherjee, Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul and many other writers are part of Indian Diaspora. So the movement or migration during the colonial period would require separate categories. Most of the Diasporic writers like Rushdie belong to the second generation or the third generation. So that they have new strategies of looking at Diaspora. In Rushdie's one of the best easy 'Imagery Homeland' he talking about late 18th and early 19th period. The whole thing is change. We have to relocate Diaspora because Globalization has changed the entire notion of migration and remove the economic agencies of the past.
For example, today it is not difficult to find or to purchase the electronic machine from other countries. It is easy to get it because we have the Internet. You just order or get it.
Longing for your homeland :
For the Diasporic community, the problem is not a longing for homelands but racism and social equality within the multicultural conflicts. Rushdie is looking at Race and he understands the race. He also talks about longing concept. We find the following major problems.
1. Racism
2. The problem of integration (Cultural integration)
3. Emotions of your community
4. Social inequality
The idea of homeland :
The idea of homeland is a literal idea. So being first, second and third-generation your subject matter is your own country. There are very few Indian origin writers who write on the western culture without any reference to India. For example, Vikram Shekh and his famous book 'an equal Music' is the best example to understand this. He is looking at white culture as white. Salman Rushdie focuses on Indian problems. V. S Naipaul is a third-generation trinitarian writer and his famous book 'an era of Darkness'.
A major problem that diaspora writers face is capturing the past. They may also re-correct the past and write in a different way.
Cosmopolitanism and Multiculturalism :
There is a difference between Multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism. Multiculturalism is part of the sate policy. You cannot say any city as Multicultural city or country. For example, Canada is the Multicultural Nation and part of state policy. New Zealand and America is also part of Multiculturalism.
Imagery homeland :
In Rushdie's essay, we can find the notion of nostalgia. In this essay, Rushdie is not talking about the geographical space of the present and physical movement. Past is impossible to capture. So he is talking about Imagery Homeland and vivid imagination of the mind. He constructed his narrative for his self conformable. In this Essay I found Following Interesting Lines.
" The broken mirror may actually be as valuable as the one which is supposedly unflawed."
" The broken Glass is not merely a mirror of nostalgia."
" Literature can, and perhaps must, give the lie to official facts."
"Literature is not in Business of copying certain themes for certain gropes."
" The Indian writer, looking back at India, does so through guilt-tinted spectacles."
The Idea of Commonwealth :
In one of the Essay, Rusdie said that,
"Commonwealth Literature does not Exist"
The Commonwealth literature is unhelpful and even a little distasteful.
In this essay, Rushdie said that Indian society and Indian literature have a complex and developing relationship with English Language. English Literature has its Indian branch it means literature of the English Language. There are Following Indian writers who uses English language.
# Mulk Raj Ananad
# Rabindranath Tagor
# Anita Desai
# Raja Ram Mohan Roy
# Salman Rushdie and many other.
Rushdie is most controversial writer. He also said that there is no such thing like commonwealth literature. South Africa and Pakistan are not member of the Commonwealth but their authors apparently belongs to that literature. The term 'Commonwealth' has long history and this term first used by Oliver Cromwell. So Commonwealth literature should not exit, if it did not, we could appreciate writers for what they are, whether in English or not. we Could discuss literature in terms of its real groping.
overall, we enjoyed a lot with sir and I would like to Thank our professor Dilip Barad sir for organizing this wonderful session for us.
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