Thursday, December 17, 2009
Engaging Structures
One of the key elements of the CCA is the concept of structure (Dutta, 2008). Structures refer to forms of social organization that create as well as constrain access to a wide range of resources. These resources not only include basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education etc., but also the communication infrastructures necessary to participate in the dominant public spheres. Based on empirical evidence documented in health communication scholarship for instance, the CCA notes the correspondence between the absence of communication infrastructures and the lack of health infrastructures. These correlations narrate an underlying economic dimension where being poor gets constituted in the realm of being unable to secure access to a plethora of resources necessary for life. Having noted this economic base of structures then, CCA raises questions about the role that communication scholars could play in challenging and transforming structures. In other words, now that we have noted that structural disparities also play out communicatively, what are the entry points that can be created for enabling access to these structures and also for creating possibilities for transforming structures?
Friday, September 18, 2009
Feminism, Afghanistan and Imperialism
One of my earlier blogs talks about US intervention in Aghanistan and the earlier support for Taliban offered by the US. This blog continues that conversation thread further.
One of my students is studying the portrayals of "freeing Afghan women" that circulated in the US media during the US intervention in Afghanistan, further exploring the ways in which women in/from the Middle East construct, participate in and resist these images. In recounting a story of one of her interviews, she shared with me how a feminist scholar from the Middle East discarded postcolonial theory, stating that "Afghanistan really is backward. They don't even have a railway system." This statement stayed with me the entire evening, and here I am posting this message after much thought.
When I begin with the notion, what really is backward, I also have to ask myself who gets to define the discursive frame of advanced/backward. The dominant logic of Western empires have historically scripted the spaces from elsewhere in terms of absences, marking them as Third/primitive/backward, in need of liberation. Of particular interest are the ways in which the question of the woman serves as the site for the enactment of colonialism/imperialism. The desire to liberate the women of the Third World is central to the scripting of Third World spaces, and is intertwined with the desire to gain economic and strategic control over Third World Spaces. In such contexts, the term "feminism" gets uprooted from its emancipatory politics and instead gets situated under the logic of colonialism. What gets ignored is the agency of real women from marginalized contexts that participate in day to day practices of resistance to change dominant structures.
It is within this context that I wonder about the role of the elites from indgineous spaces who are often complicit with the agendas of the West? In my own work, I argue that these elite sectors have as much to gain from West-centric interventions as do the colonialists. The colonial intervention serves the political economy of the elite classes in indigenous spaces, who then become the conduits of governance for the dominant structures.
Questions of feminism in the context of Afghanistan do not lie in making judgments about the backwardness of the space, but rather in listening to the agency of Afghan women who stand in resistance to the practices of local patriarchy and Western imperialism. The promise of feminism lies in exploring those spaces of solidarity that fundamentally seek to invert the logic of colonialism that scripts Afghanistan as backward.
One of my students is studying the portrayals of "freeing Afghan women" that circulated in the US media during the US intervention in Afghanistan, further exploring the ways in which women in/from the Middle East construct, participate in and resist these images. In recounting a story of one of her interviews, she shared with me how a feminist scholar from the Middle East discarded postcolonial theory, stating that "Afghanistan really is backward. They don't even have a railway system." This statement stayed with me the entire evening, and here I am posting this message after much thought.
When I begin with the notion, what really is backward, I also have to ask myself who gets to define the discursive frame of advanced/backward. The dominant logic of Western empires have historically scripted the spaces from elsewhere in terms of absences, marking them as Third/primitive/backward, in need of liberation. Of particular interest are the ways in which the question of the woman serves as the site for the enactment of colonialism/imperialism. The desire to liberate the women of the Third World is central to the scripting of Third World spaces, and is intertwined with the desire to gain economic and strategic control over Third World Spaces. In such contexts, the term "feminism" gets uprooted from its emancipatory politics and instead gets situated under the logic of colonialism. What gets ignored is the agency of real women from marginalized contexts that participate in day to day practices of resistance to change dominant structures.
It is within this context that I wonder about the role of the elites from indgineous spaces who are often complicit with the agendas of the West? In my own work, I argue that these elite sectors have as much to gain from West-centric interventions as do the colonialists. The colonial intervention serves the political economy of the elite classes in indigenous spaces, who then become the conduits of governance for the dominant structures.
Questions of feminism in the context of Afghanistan do not lie in making judgments about the backwardness of the space, but rather in listening to the agency of Afghan women who stand in resistance to the practices of local patriarchy and Western imperialism. The promise of feminism lies in exploring those spaces of solidarity that fundamentally seek to invert the logic of colonialism that scripts Afghanistan as backward.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Neoliberal trade
As we wrap up our discussions of the culture-centered approach, I am drawn to the question of the role of dominant social institutions (academia, funding agencies, global agencies, NGOs) as tools for neoliberal trade.
The other day, I found myself in the midst of this meeting where the people assembled were talking about how there is a lot of funding now for doing things related to poverty and inequality. What struck me was the dishonesty of the conversation.
Poverty now has become a hot topic area that could draw a lot of funding. So the same people who were running after these other things when the wind was blowing in another direction are now running after poverty because this is fundable. What I find problematic here is not that academics/agencies etc. have now become interested in issues of poverty (in fact, this could be a great thing), but rather what is disconcerting to me is the mercenary logic underlying the renewed emphasis on poverty. And what lies this mercenary logic is the desire to use poverty as a tool for actually increasing the disparities between the haves and have-nots, not really decreasing them. The status quo stays intact, the structures stay in place, and neoliberal agendas are further propagated under the veneer of buzz words such as poverty and democracy.
The other day, I found myself in the midst of this meeting where the people assembled were talking about how there is a lot of funding now for doing things related to poverty and inequality. What struck me was the dishonesty of the conversation.
Poverty now has become a hot topic area that could draw a lot of funding. So the same people who were running after these other things when the wind was blowing in another direction are now running after poverty because this is fundable. What I find problematic here is not that academics/agencies etc. have now become interested in issues of poverty (in fact, this could be a great thing), but rather what is disconcerting to me is the mercenary logic underlying the renewed emphasis on poverty. And what lies this mercenary logic is the desire to use poverty as a tool for actually increasing the disparities between the haves and have-nots, not really decreasing them. The status quo stays intact, the structures stay in place, and neoliberal agendas are further propagated under the veneer of buzz words such as poverty and democracy.
Why I won't shut up.
No
I am not going to shut up
And pretend
That I agree with
Whatever it is
That you
Shove down my throat.
No
I am not going to shut up
And sing praise
to your cross
and white coat and
Whatever it is
That you
Want me to memorize.
No
I am not going to shut up
And sing
Praises for
Whatever it is
That you
Throw at me as aid.
I am not going to shut up
And pretend
That I agree with
Whatever it is
That you
Shove down my throat.
No
I am not going to shut up
And sing praise
to your cross
and white coat and
Whatever it is
That you
Want me to memorize.
No
I am not going to shut up
And sing
Praises for
Whatever it is
That you
Throw at me as aid.
The Last. The Simplest.
Today is our last class of the semester. Last readings of the semester.
What stands out? What would be the meta analysis of what I have learned here? What would be the key ideas that have come up on Culture and Health?
Based on all of our reading from the semester, and the discussions, I feel these are the things that stand out to me:
- I know nothing. So much more to learn and know and apply.
- Articulating questions, concerns, and opinions can be tough when the materials are so interesting.
- Is everything hegemonic in nature? Is everything Eurocentric in its core?
- What are the legitimacy of efforts that are good at heart but are wrong on the approach?
- How can I really make a difference that is beyond discursive space and entry points?
Let the journey begin.
Purdue should make everyone take a class like this one.
my 2 pence...
they told me to participate
& took my thumbprint
while I clutched at the soggy food packet
& scuttled to my field
my baby wailing
its a lot hotter now
the fields are wilting
like my aged mother
Her partner....
My father speaks of glorious days
of yore..
and I wonder
shouldn't our dreams be glorious too?
My baby's father..
strong and wise
but he too gets scared
with these men and women from town
shiny white skins
fancy clothes, talks, ways
why do they come here?
our good doctor is scared too..
even the school master
they come more now,
regularly
I store some food for them
give them local things
after all government has posted them for my baby
I do not mind the hardships
only they're increasing
how much can I do?
and then these visitors
almost everyday..
interested in us
our lives are so interesting
they're good people
they talk of dreams
of glorious futures
unlike my father..
It was better when I was a child
my needs were few
I knew little
& did not have to repeat
simple facts of village life
again and again
before these white, car borne people
this world is so big
wonder if my baby
will wear these clothes someday
if she lives...
the problems are increasing
so many diseases
so many deaths
and so many people from towns
all intelligent, wise
our lives are the thoroughfares
so many pictures taken
of me, my baby, my pontificating father...
market day is coming
I have nothing to sell
how will I buy the food
Maybe I will go to the rally
and speak at the meeting...
at least food for a day
& some money
will they count my baby as one?
the other day, a wise man had come
a big teacher, somewhere
smiled a lot, saw us, our house
saw our broken fields, empty vessels
an enquiring gaze
and put us into his notebooks
I asked him if he could give me one
for my baby..
he called us
made us talk
listened to our dreams
did he know we were awake then?
those were daydreams that we shared
he wanted to know about us
we told him...
shared our food, our lives
danced in the evening
that was the evening my father died
and took his glorious dreams with him
he will not see my fourth
the first two had died in his arms
this time I feel weak
maybe all those injections
the good doctor gave me
& marked his coloured papers..
my brother had bought once
town medicines, cost a month's wages
but they did not work on him
he suffered till the end
a bad disease...
thats what the doctor said..
tomorrow I must pray
a special prayer for my baby
I am a good singer
so, God listens to me
I will ask him..
take us further away
away from these gazes...of inquiry
I can sing more to you.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
