...meet people of different races and ages. I find joy in listening to rap music because it tells me of the culture of African Americans who live in the lower side of the city. It tells me a similar story as to our rappers here in the Philippines who came from squatter areas. As I listen to their music, I realize the similarities of cultures. In that sense I learn about things that interest me in a way that I enjoy. I love organizing and going to events where I have the chance to socialize with new people. I was part of the security and concert committees for our school fair and co-creator of the fund raising events Vesmir and Chroma. I know that I have something unique to offer and with that in mind, I’d like to end with a quote by Frantz Fanon, “In the world through which I travel I am endlessly creating myself.” I believe UA&P is the right foundation for me so I can create a name for...
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...one of the most racially segregated school systems in the United States with the largest performance gap between black and white students nationwide. “Philadelphia’s black population, and particularly its affluent black population, lives in much poorer neighborhoods than comparable whites because they are so highly segregated by race” (Denvir). The average black elementary school student in Philadelphia is reading at the 21st percentile, while his white counterpart is reading at much higher 66th percentile. The disparity experienced within the public education of Philadelphia children is caused by rampant segregation within the school system itself. Through my own experience, as well as the writings of the renowned psychologist Franz Fanon and philosopher Paulo Freire, I have found that the solution to the public education problem begins with a narrowing of the gaps between the haves and the have-nots. The Citypaper article written by Daniel Denvir unearthed a number of unbelievable disparities between the black and white students within the Philadelphia education system. Studies indicate that “Philadelphia blacks are exposed to poverty at a rate nearly three times higher than whites. The average black person in the Philly area lives in a neighborhood with a 24.8% poverty rate, compared to just 8.4% for whites. Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis and Detroit follow close behind” (Denvir). The location within the greater Philadelphia area is the cause for the heightened exposure...
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...POSTCOLONIAL THEORY & LITERATURE Postcolonial theory: John McLeod in Beginning Postcolonialism (2000) states that it “involves the challenge to colonial ways of knowing, ‘writing back’ in opposition to such views” (32). Within a literary context it involves “reading texts produced by writers from countries with a history of colonialism” (McLeod, 33). From ‘Commonwealth’ to ‘Postcolonial’: 1950’s-60’s—Field of ‘Commonwealth Literature’: Studies of individual national literatures Late 1970’s-80’s—Theories of colonial discourse: Frantz Fanon and Edward Said 1980’s—Turn to postcolonial theory Founding Work: Albert Memmi—The Colonizer and the Colonized (1957) Frantz Fanon—Black Skin, White Masks (1952), The Wretched of the Earth (1961) Edward Said—Orientalism (1978) Notable Theorist: Homi Bhabha—The Location of Culture (1994) Gayatri Spivak—“Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988) Writing Back—Some Examples of Postcolonial Literature: Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin in The Empire Writes Back: Theory, and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (1989) express that the“…crucial function of language as a medium of power demands that post-colonial writing define itself by seizing the language of the centre and replacing it in a discourse fully adapted to the colonized place” (38). Naguib Mahfouz—Palace Walk (1956) Chinua Achebe—Things Fall Apart (1958) V.S. Naipaul—Mystic Masseur (1959) Jean Rhys—Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) Gabriel García Márquez—One Hundred...
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...Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Master slave relationship and dialectic Fanon - Black Skin White Masks Black Skin and Hegel Self Consciousness “In this experience self-consciousness learns that life is essential to it as pure self-consciousness. One (self-consciousness) is self-sufficient; for it, its essence is being-for-itself. The other is non-self-sufficient, for it, life, that is, being for an other, is the essence. The former is the master, the latter is the servant” (Hegel 189). Hegel suggests in the dialectic that there is coherence between subject and object, concrete and abstract, part and whole, and for the purpose of dialectic, master and slave. Hegel believes that “master” is a “consciousness.” The consciousness defines itself in mutual relations to what is referred to as slave’s consciousness. This occurs in a process of mutual interdependence and mediation. Hegel uses his Phenomenology of Spirit to provide his understanding and exposition of master slave dialectic as an account of both the need of recognition and emergence of self-consciousness. Hegel’s line of thought and work plays a crucial role in Fanon’s exposition of the colonization by the Western. Fanon exposition focuses more on violence and race. Violence adds urgency, complicates and is driven by the need for recognition. An optimistic and promising moment lurks in Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks. The promising moment in Fanon’s work is articulated in a humanity characterization...
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...While all struggles for political independence may involve both violent and non-violent techniques there is no genuine decolonization that has occurred without any form of violence. Decolonization refers to the indigenous people rising up against their colonial power and acquiring political independence. Frantz Fanon and Mahatma Gandhi were each thinkers who have influenced national freedom movements (decolonization) with their views on the ethics of violence and non-violence. As a psychiatrist, philosopher and ambassador in the Caribbean, Fanon became concerned with the cultural consequences of decolonization. In many ways Fanon’s thoughts followed a Marxist mentality in contrast, however; Fanon argued that struggle does not occur between...
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...color have become the primary victims. Frantz Fanon argues that “I, the man of color, want only this: That the tool never possesses the man that the enslavement of man by man ceases forever. That is, of one by another. That it be possible for me to discover and to love the man, wherever he may be” (Fanon, 2008). In his work “Black Skin, White Masks,” Franz Fanon examines how the black Americans are isolated and treated differently based on their skin color. According to Fanon, the whites have more advantages than the blacks in a racist society (Fanon, 2008). Racism has dominated many institutions, in this case, the CPS, which has resulted in different treatment within the society. A large number of parents have been affected by the measures associated with child protection. For instance, Felix, a mother of three lost her job as a home healthcare aid after being placed on the state’s child-abuse registry (Goldberg, 2015). The worse part of it is the fact that this ended her dream career of becoming a nurse. According to her lawyer, the child protection services have gone too far since Felix even fears to send her son anywhere outside the house (Goldberg, 2015). This has raised a significant concern whether the child welfare has become too intrusive and hence denying the parents their rights over their children. According to Fanon, imperialism leaves behind germs of rot that we must detect and remove from both our minds and our land (Fanon, 2008). This will help solve such issues...
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...Homi Bhabha and His “The Location of Culture” Homi Bhabha, who was born in 1949 in Mumbai, India, is the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English and American Literature and Language. He is also the Director of the Humanist Center at Harvard University. As one of the most important figure in contemporary post-colonial studies, he has coined many neologisms and key concepts, such as hybridity, mimicry, difference, and ambivalence. These concepts describe ways in which the colonized people have resisted the power of the colonizers. As David Huddart claimed in his book, because “its histories and cultures constantly intrude on the present”(Huddart,2006:1), being considering the present situation, for example, violently proclaimed cultural difference is combined paradoxically; the globalization has complexly interconnected networks, colonialism could not be understood as something only existed in the past. When people attempts to understand it, Homi Bhabha suggests that transformation of the understanding of cross-cultural relations is demanded. Some Honi Bhabha’s writing on, for example, colonialism, race, identity and difference, are collected into the volume The Location of Culture. This essay will focus on several issues that Bhabha has mentioned in his book. At the very beginning of the introduction of The Location of Culture, Bhabha says “It is the trope of our times to locate the question of culture in the realm of the beyond” (Bhabha, 1994:1). So, what does beyond...
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...Postcolonialism By Patricia Waugh Summarized by Syed Saad Mukhtar M.Phil English Literature 1st Semester The Islamia University of Bahawalpur An academic discipline and theory featuring the methods of intellectual discourse that analyze, explain and respond to legacies of colonialism and imperialism, to the human consequences of controlling a country and establishing settlers for economic exploitation of native people and their land. The term postcolonialism addresses itself to historical, political, cultural and textual branches of colonial encounter between West and Non-West dating from 16th century to present day. Postcolonialism is thus a name for a critical theoretical approach in literary and cultural studies but it also designates a politics of transformational resistance to unjust and unequal forms of political and cultural authority which extends back across 20th century and beyond. The two very different traditions of Postcolonial thinking — the theoretical Post-Structuralist and Practical Political are thus linked in so far as some of the key concepts in postcolonialism. Postcolonialism therefore refers to those theories, texts, political strategies that engage in such questioning that aim to challenge structural inequalities and bring about social justice. It is often helpful to view Postcolonialism in comparative framework alongside political practices, with which it shares key objectives and expressions: Feminism. It is possible broadly speaking to trace three...
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...Assignment #3 By Rajiv Ravishankar One month after Gamal Abdel Nasser (President of Egypt from June 23, 1956 – Sept 28, 1970) took presidency, he overlooked the nationalization of the Suez Canal by issuing Law No. 285 of 1956 (Nationalization of the Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal). The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, which in turn also provides access to the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The Suez Canal greatly shortens the travel distance between Africa and Asia. This made it extremely important for the export of goods, especially oil. France and Britain had invested a lot in the Suez Canal Company and when Nasser had wanted to take over control, they saw it as a threat against them by the Egyptian Regime. Nasser knew fully well that nationalizing the Suez Canal would cause a mighty disruption in the oil industry as the Suez Canal was and is the only connection between Asian and Africa that ships could access. Nationalization of the canal affected most of the oil exporting countries in the area. However, his assumption that Egypt was impervious to attack from Britain, France and Israel however was completely amiss. The UK, France and Israel had an agreement to overtake control of the canal back and prevent Nasser from expanding his territory over Sudan. Nasser’s ploy of using the Suez Canal as a power play shows his dominance and leadership ability. Moreover he used the abrupt retraction of funding for the Aswan...
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...Decolonization in the Battle of Algiers In Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, violence was a cornerstone in the very heart of Decolonization. The proletariat in The Communist Manifesto was recognized as people with the right to congregate and bring up issues for their class to be recognized. However the proletariat class of the colonized countries was not given the same opportunity because their class was determined by race and was perceived as an inferior that can be denied basic human rights because of their inferiority. This is coupled by the fact that the settlers are completely thriving in all aspects of life while the native people are left to barely scrape by in crowded neighborhoods for an extended period of time. Regardless...
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...storytelling within the Canadian court system. The author shows many ways of supporting why indigenous storytelling in courts should be used in the Canadian legal court system through colonial legal violence, the competing conception of law, restoring history through narrative, and the role of Canadian law in decolonization. First the author supports the reason of making the Canadian courts involve indigenous storytelling through colonial violence. Manley-Casimir speaks of how many theorists have distinguished the violence fundamental in the state legal systems. Similarly she states that indigenous theorists conjointly implicate the formal system within the colonial violence directed toward endemic peoples. One of the many theorists Frantz Fanon argues that colonial law is directly concerned within the violent suppression of endemic revolution and resistance. Another theorist by the name of Taiaiake Alfred states, “Recognizing that violence is the foundation of state power and that vio- lence is expressed implicitly in all of its institutions, we must acknowl- edge that social peace is not a benign situation. Social stability, as it is commonly conceived, is in fact a relation of force, of acts and threats of violence, of a coercion of Onkwehonwe to silent surrender.” () Here Alfred talks about how the Canadian state is based on violence due to coercive force and how its included in Canadians courts this is because of the governments maintaining hegemonic power by them using...
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...statistics showed the impact of imperialism, 3,186,800 slaves were exported over a span of 100 years. 17,267,000 died in the years 1451-1870 and the numbers kept rising after and during the imperial reign. Imperialism's cons outweigh the pros. While there may be some cases of modern imperialism, it just isn't as popular as it used to be. Slavery is immoral and cultures were being ignored, while the country colonizing was reaping the benefits. In the 20th century, several countries have sought out independence. So far, it has proven to be beneficial. Therefore, we can come to the conclusion that imperialism is not a very efficient policy and results in rebellion, death and the harboring of anger and sadness that effects generations to come. Frantz Fanon believed, “Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as...
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...IRWLE VOL. 7 No. 2 July 2011 1 Arundati Rai’s The God of Small Things – A Post- Colonial Reading Rajeev. G The adjective “post colonial” signifies the notion that the novel or be it any piece of writing for that matter, goes beyond every possible parameters of the locality, region and nation to participate in the global scenario today which is an aftermath of European colonization. The God of Small Things written in the post colonial Anglophone by Arundhati Roy does reveal a decisive post colonial condition; through its dialogues, characters and various events and instances it encompass. Ms Roy refers to the metaphor “the heart of darkness” in the novel which is a sort of ridiculous reference to Conrad’s novel the heart of darkness. She says that, “in Ayemenem, in the heart of darkness, I talk not about the White man, but about the Darkness, about what the Darkness is about.” (Frontline, August 8, 1997). The God of Small Things tells the story of one family in the town of Ayemenem in Kerala, India. The temporal setting shifts back and forth from 1969, when Rahel and Estha, a set of fraternal twins are 7 years old, to 1993, when the twins are reunited at age 31. The novel begins with Rahel returning to her childhood home in Ayemenem, India, to see her twin brother Estha, who has been sent to Ayemenem by their father. Events flash back to Rahel and Estha’s birth and the period before their mother Ammu divorced their father. Then the narrator describes the ...
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...158) because of the fact that the neo-colonial powers have no social responsibility to the people of the citizens of the controlled state. Chikowore (2002: 43) agrees with this notion, adding that a cultural and economic dependence is created, so as to keep the oppressed nation in that state. Both scholars agree that there is exploitation of the people without the neo-colonial power having to show any social responsibility (Nkrumah 2012 [1965]: 158 and Chikowore (2002: 43). Martin (1982:227) believes that the control is exerted subtly through “domination by political, economic, social, military or technical means.” Another aspect, that of intellectual and cultural control, apparent in neo-colonial condition is explored by Frantz Fanon and Ngugi wa’Thiongo Fanon believes that neo-colonialism starts to manifest itself during the period of decolonisation. During this period, the colonial bourgeoisie form alliances with the colonised...
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...| Social characteristics of Poverty, Illiteracy and the Civil War in El Salvador: | EL Salvador | | BY: Yvette Rodriguez | | While El Salvador is the smallest nation in Latin America, it has been plagued with a myriad of issues that affect many third world countries. The social issues stem from a long history of violence and government mandated reforms. Civil unrest for decades led to a twelve year civil war, this being the most defining issue in El Salvador’s history. The affects of the war are still present today, such as high poverty rates, illiteracy, high crime rates, and public health concerns. Michael Ring, director of U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities is quoted saying; Since the January 1992 signing of the historic United Nations-sponsored Peace Accords, El Salvador has experienced a series of dramatic changes-some contributing to peace and development, other’s threatening the lives of El Salvador’s majority. The sociological perspective of El Salvador is formed by these effects, as that they are still prevalent today. Conflict and revolution are significant factors in shaping a national consciousness in third world countries; consequently the consciousness of the people of El Salvador is still divided. Externally, the large group of migration to the United States in the last two decades has added to the sometime rocky relationship between the U.S. and El Salvador. Aid from the United States influences current practices in the struggling nation and have...
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