Life needs change.

CONSPIRACY THEORY #20041201 (+3)

identity politics et al. well, i’m less than an asian other here in the uk. well, in the land of binaries then i’m non-white therefore i’m black. odd eh? i just had a EUREKA i can relate!!!!! when i was reading up on black british feminism for my big G paper. “Yet, the usage of the term ‘black’ other than with reference to specific campaigns falls into a binary opposition trap that artificially separates ‘black’ from ‘whites’ – as if racism confined to these categories alone.” (Magdalene Ang-Lygate, “On theorizing diaspora” in Black British Feminism. Heidi Safia Mirza ed. London: Routledge, 1998. 172)

aside from the fact that the author is Malaysian-born, and educated in the uk, and i tink living in scotland, but at least there’s SOMEBODY in the academic field that sees that the binary of black/white racism itself is racist because it excludes us ‘Others’.

i don’t even count as an ‘asian’ here because ‘asian’ here refers more to people from the indian subcontinent – india, pakistan, sri lanka, bangladesh. i don’t count. they still like to refer to me as ‘oriental’ sometimes (well of course, they’re still imperialists!) and it will be interesting to see what will arise in my postcolonial course next semester. funnily enough sometimes these uk ‘asians’ are considered ‘black’. but us ‘orientals’ still don’t fit in anywhere.

ah yes. so my big G paper is finally coming into being. the big G is a study of binaries. i’m arguing against that. i hope she never reads it though because she’s still teaching at u of leeds. ugh!

i don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. the slob is moving out!!!!! i don’t have to be his maid anymore!!!!! subsequently though, i might have to be somebody else’s maid. so i’m not going to get too happy. he’s taking the phone line with him though. so i don’t know what we’re going to do about that. perhaps i will put it under my name…

went out for a pint with michelle and ileana… iliana… i don’t know how to spell her name. michelle is portuguese and when she speaks to her husband it sounds SO SO SO beautiful. it’s a BEAUTIFUL language. ileana is from mexico and she’s actually going back home the same day that i am. they’re both VERY naice people and we’ll be in the same course next term too.

16 days. i can’t believe it. that means i have to write 10000 words until i leave. ugh!

i go to write now.

agent orange

posted by: conspiracytheorist at 15:31 | link | comments (2) |

Comments:

#1  02 December 2004 - 17:14

 

five thousand times four. by next wednesday equals twenty thousand. can she do it? stay tuned.

I'm writing a comparative paper about identities and dreams among young Koreans in Japan, and young Chinese in Indonesia. If you can find it, Avtar Brah has an essay called "Diaspora, Border, and Transnational Identities" you might find useful. It's in a book called "Cartographies of Diaspora" and also in "Feminist Post-Colonial Studies: A Readed" (ed. Reina Lewis and Sara Mills).

I know you have the Cultural Studies reader--is there anything by Judith Butler? "Gender Imitation and Insubordination" is a good one for breaking down binaries.

"Borderlands: negotiating boundaries in post-colonial writing" (ed. Monika Reif-Hülser)

From a theoretical perspective, you MUST check out "Borderlands: La Frontera" by Gloria Anzaldúa. It's a bit older, and has to do with Mexico mostly but it's absolutely seminal. Everyone writing on cultural interfaces quotes her.

Good luck!

Anonymous

#2  06 December 2004 - 16:00

 

oh oh. correction, i only have 2 term papers to write! even better!

Anonymous

Comments: