ASB 311 Fall 2003 Koptiuch  Weeks 4-5

---

SOME BIG-PICTURE QUESTIONS TO HELP GUIDE YOUR READING

Make an informal quiz for yourself—can you answer these questions?

Readings from syllabus on date given:

9/11    

Pandian—What does he mean by the “invention of human others”??  How is the “Invention of the Black Human Other” in the European imagination related to the history of enslavement of African peoples?

9/16  

Clifford—According to surrealists, of what idea is this the (in)famous definition: “the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on an operating table”??  In the Museé de l’Homme (Museum of Man) in Paris, was the West on display with the rest of the world? What does Clifford mean by “defamiliarization” and why does he suggest that ethnographers today should adopt this e20th C surrealist strategy?

Young—How is colonialism the underbelly of humanism?  How does Conrad’s Heart of Darkness illustrate this understanding?

Rosaldo—Say a new subdivision goes up in the Phoenix area, following the usual pattern of a) bulldozing the desert landscape for more “efficient” colonization, b) assigning the new streets such names as Saguaro Road, Desert Quail Path, etc.  The new residents plant cacti in their front yards and join a No-Growth or Save-Our-Desert activist group.  What concept would Rosaldo apply to this situation?!

9/18    

Lappe & Collins—So, why can’t people feed themselves?  Be able to give three or four good reasons.  What methods did plantation owners come up with to get local people to work for them at a time when people provided their own subsistence use?  Note: this is perhaps THE most important article you may read all semester!!!

Escobar—a little more complex version of the above; How might we see  his notion of the “invention & management of the Third World” related to Pandian’s notion of the “invention of human others”?

TABLOID (Franco et al)—I thought New York City was in the US!  How could it be a Third World city?  What “signs” of this does Franco “read”

Davis—how cool is this article! If LA is a Third World city as well as NYC, how can we use the analyses developed by Lappé & Collins, and Escobar, to understand the “reinvention” of First World cities as Third World cities? If you’ve never seen the movie Blade Runner, watch it asap (any video store will have it)—tell your family & friends that it’s “homework” so you MUST see it!!

9/23    

Gould—How was Western fascination with “the Hottentot Venus” related to e19th C (mis)understanding of human evolution, “race,” and their belief in the superiority of Western “civilized” society?  How did the display of human Others work to confirm those beliefs?

Hall—Question to be made up

Lispector—Note: this is a fictional story (by a well-known Brazilian writer)!  How can it be read as an allegory of colonial relationships that we’ve been reading about?

Okay, enough for now.  I hope this helps to guide your thinking through these materials. Dr. k.