[Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context

[larry smolucha]

Message from Francine:

Aria,

I appreciate your definition of decolonialism, but when I look
om the internet I find the term used different ways.



> From: arazfar@uic.edu
> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2015 13:21:34 -0600
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
> 
> Francine,
> 
> "Postcolonialism" and "Orientalism" definitely demonize the West, and self
> proclaimed "subalterns" do all the speaking and the "West" does all the
> listening. Decolonialism is the realization that this stance might have been
> necessary but it clearly isn't sufficient. The cases you mention illustrate
> that, where so-called "oppressed" become oppressors themselves. I am
> espousing continued two-way communication and dialectic interaction on more
> symmetrical grounds. There is no need to undermine "the West" or "save the
> East" or vice versa. I am imagining the outcome of "going East" for the
> "Western" intellectual the emergence of a West that see itself as East, and
> an East that sees itself as West otherwise it is perpetual antagonism and
> "culture wars" as you describe. I'm not sure about your characterization of
> the roots of the internet.  
> 
> Aria   
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of larry smolucha
> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2015 12:46 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
> 
> Message from Francine:
> 
> How can you have a dialectic or a discourse with the 'other'
> (i.e. the so-called Western intellectual) when the rhetoric of
> postcolonialism, decolonialism, and  Orientalism demonizes the West?
> At the very same time, that ISIL, el Shabbab, Boko Haram, are the oppressors
> massacring thousands of Christians and Muslims, - and it is the West that
> has to intervene to save these innocent lives. 
> 
> You are espousing a one way communication in which self-labeled subalterns
> want to do all the speaking, and have the people they have designated as
> their oppressors do all the listening. 
> 
> There is also the irony, that the internet is a product of Western
> technology
> - wasn't the world wide web designed by the U.S. military? If it is O.K. to
> use  Western 'tools' to undermine the West , then this is not decolonialism
> but merely culture wars.
> 
> 
> 
> > From: arazfar@uic.edu
> > To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> > Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2015 11:44:30 -0600
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
> > 
> > Greg and Annalisa,
> > 
> > The question you raise, and a point made earlier by Peter, seems to me the
> > outcome of post-colonial literature. This is why there is a need for the
> > "Western intellectual" to "go East." This was the conclusion of Edward
> > Said's "Orientalism" and other post-colonial theorists. Since the time of
> > Napoleon, the "Western intellectual" had been going east, engaged in
> > "subaltern studies" for the purpose of conquest and cultural domination.
> > He/She must now "go East" to hear/listen to the "other" in order to
> reclaim
> > its self and embrace a pedagogy of "decolonization." If the "Western
> > intellectual" is the oppressor, then "going East" to "hear" is his/her
> > pedagogy. I believe this was at the at the heart of Freire's "Pedagogy of
> > the Oppressed" as well. A pedagogy that is just as "critical" and
> liberatory
> > for the so called "oppressor" as it is for the so called "oppressed." This
> > is a dialectic missing in today's critical, ethnic, and "subaltern"
> studies
> > programs.   
> > 
> > Aria    
> > 
> > Aria Razfar, Ph.D.
> > Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture
> > Director of Graduate Studies, Curriculum and Instruction
> > University of Illinois at Chicago
> > 1040 W. Harrison St. M/C 147
> > Chicago, IL, 60607
> > 
> > Director of English Learning through Mathematics, Science and Action
> > Research (ELMSA)
> > www.elmsa.org
> > 
> > Webpage: http://education.uic.edu/personnel/faculty/aria-razfar-phd
> > Tel: 312-413-8373
> > Fax: 312-996-8134
> > 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> > [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Annalisa Aguilar
> > Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2015 11:02 AM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
> > 
> > Hi Greg,
> > 
> > You know, I think you are on to something there. 
> > 
> > As long as there isn't a subsequent Oppression of the Pedagogy of the
> > Oppressors, I think it could work!
> > 
> > Kind regards,
> > 
> > Annalisa
> > 
> > 
> > On Jan 3, 2015 9:21 AM,  Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Seems to me that Spivak's "Can the subaltern speak?" is just as much a
> > question of "Can the Western intellectual hear/listen?"
> > 
> > Makes me wonder about articulating a Pedagogy of the Oppressors.
> > 
> > -greg
> > 
> > 
> > 
>  		 	   		  
>