FYS: Border Crossings

Tuesday November 10th

Homecoming with Turtle – Diaz Discussion

v Where you’re born vs. where you live

Ø Which matters more?

v Need for acceptance by native culture

Ø Diaz kept going back to Dominican Republic

Ø He felt the need to be one of them, and not to be American

v Disconnection from heritage

Ø Expectations are unreal, he thought he would be warmly welcomed as a lost son

Ø He was called white by his own people

Ø He was ripped off by natives

Ø Taxi cab driver laughed when he said he was native

v The language barrier

Ø He couldn’t even speak Spanish,  “his” language, correctly

Ø This pushed him away from natives

§ This offended them, he claims to be one of them and doesn’t know the language

§ Like a slap in the face

v The Girlfriend metaphor

Ø One could make the connection that he was cheating on both his girlfriend and his country

Ø As a result he is having rough times with both.

v Pushing his home away

Ø Diaz seems to be trying to get away from is American background

Ø Then his “own” people are pushing away from him

Ø He is lost between two countries

v Salman Rushdie

Ø Exile from Iran for ten years

Ø Wrote “satanic verses”

§ Greatly upset Islamic community

Ø Diaz compared himself to Rushdie

Wamba Discussion

v African Americans returning “home”

Ø Black Africans are not totally accepting of the African Americans that return

Ø The Africans expect them to assimilate very quickly and easily

§ In the end they still end up calling most of them “white”

v Ignorance on both sides

Ø Americans are mainly oblivious to the African traditions and culture

Ø The Americans are expecting to find home.

Ø Africans are expecting assimilation and them to know the culture

Ø Africans are also oblivious to the American position in the world

v Diaz vs. Wamba

Ø The Africans are more accepting of the Americans than Dominicans

Ø Dominicans have more recent history of people “leaving them behind”

§ This leads to a resentment of those returning

v Leaving homeland

Ø Hold on or let go of culture

Ø You can know your heritage or live your heritage

v Cultural vs. Ethnic

Ø Diaz seems to face a cultural barrier more than ethnic

§ They say he is white not because of his skin color but because of his culture

Ø In Wamba’s stories he seems to identify with a ethnic barrier

§ The Africans were more accepting simply because they were black

Thursday November 12^th

Nita Chavez – on Ecuador

v Quick Facts

Ø Capital – Quito

Ø Language – Spanish

Ø Religion – Roman Catholic

Ø Ethnic layout – 20% Indigenous, 80% Spanish Influences

Ø Influences – Spanish colonization, Inca

Ø Diet – lots of corn, beef, chicken, potatoes, Guinea pig, and fruit juices

v Geography

Ø 3 main regions

§ Amazon: Native culture

§ Highlands: Native/Spanish culture

§ Coast: Spanish/black culture

Ø Hometown

§ Otavaio

§ In the La Sierra mountain range

§ Culture native Inca

v Mestizos

Ø They are indigenous people who have abandoned their native roots.

Ø They choose to do this because they are looked down upon as natives

Ø They move to a more Spanish culture

Ø Many natives leave comeback and abandon their native roots

v Berlin wall exhibit

Ø The tormented soul

§ Communist propaganda collogue

§ Person seemed to be greatly conflicted or tortured by something not physical like the wall but mental, like the separation it creates

Ø The invisible wall

§ Wall of racism, and sexism

§ Not always seen but always present

Ø Quotes from the wall

§ “The experience of oppressed people is that the living of one’s life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers…being caged in” – M. Frye

§ “If I can’t be free I can’t be me”

§ “I want my home”

§ “Words can build walls”

v Puro Border

Ø Border: La frontera

§ Empty place of passage

Ø The frontier is gone

§ Buffer zone gone, now only border is left: liminal space

Ø Walls and words

§ Walls can tear down walls as well as build them

§ Hates leads to hate, love leads to love

Ø Lock the door

§ Manifest destiny has moved to the Chicano people

§ They are taking their land back

§ America is trying to keep them out with laws and walls

Mexico: so far from God, so close to the United States

Weekly Summary: November 3-5, 2009

BY Amanda Weeks and Jasmine Verreen

November 3, 2009

Analyzing Cultural Communities

· Blog Reviews:

o Collectivist versus Individualist Cultures

§ Collectivist: a “group” is the center of political, social, and personal values

· Example: Jamaica and Mexico

§ Individualist: a political, social, and personal vale system emphasizes the “individual”

· Example: America

o High Context versus Low Context Cultures

§ High Context: A culture where people mainly communicate via non-verbal means, because they have an unspoken understanding of their society’s expectations.

· Example: Mexico; Japan

§ Low Context: A culture that is mainly operates by external rules that already set expectations on how people should act within society.

· Example: United States

Anzaldúa & Takaki: “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza”

· Group Discussions

o Amanda, Duncan, Racheal: What is “mestiza consciousness”? How is it different from either Mexican or North American consciousness?

§ Supporting Quote: “Because I, a mestiza,/ continually walk out of one culture/ and into another,/ because I am in all cultures at the same time,/ alma entre dos mundos, tres, cuatro,/ me zumba la cabeza con lo contradictorio,/ Estoy norteada por todas las voces que me hablen/ simulaneamente.”

o Henry McGee & Ian Schoultz: Throughout her essay, Anzaldúa “code switches” between English and Spanish. Why does she do this?

§ Analysis: Gay and lesbian communities must also embrace multiple cultures because the communities hold peoples of all nationalities and races

o Kim, Jasmine, Luke: In addition to ethnic and linguistic hybridity, Anzaldúa considers questions of gender and sexuality. How does she see the relationship among gender, sexuality, and culture?

§ Supporting Quote: “…machismo” is an adaptation to oppression and poverty and low self-esteem. It is the result of hierarchical male dominance. The Anglo, feeling inadequate and inferior and powerless, displaces or transfers these feelings to the Chicano by shaming him.”

o Katie Crawford, Katie Shull, Josh Lewis:

§ Analysis: The difficulties as well as the benefits of being a mestiza; the future of the culture, must incorporate learning to balance the cultures.

November 5, 2009

Anzaldúa Discussion (Continued…)

o Women’s Work: Female minority writers are using new ways to talk about their work and their identities by describing “feminine” activities to define their experiences.

Female	Male
o Braiding (Danticat) o Quilting (Morrison) o “Girl” (Kincaid) o Kneading Bread (Anzaldúa)	Stallion Riding (McCarthy) Hunting (Faulkner) Fishing (Faulkner)

o Normalization: Some symbols and ideas have been popularized for so ;long they have grown to be considered the “norm.”

Binary Opposition due to Normalization
Mainstream	Unconventional
o English o N. American o Male o Pure Race o Heterosexuality o Life o Control	o Spanish o Mexican o Female o Creole o Homosexuality o Death o Chaos

Paz: “The Pachuco and Other Extremes” and “The Day of the Dead,” from One Hundred Years of Solitude

· Day of the dead

o Talks about contradictions

§ Political and religious

§ Fiesta is chaos

§ Saying that binary oppositions are intertwined

· Pachuco

o Cultural differences

o North America attitude about death

§ Doesn’t speak of death

§ Shun death

§ Don’t shun death in Mexico

o Compare north America to Mexico

§ Mexico thinks vs. America wants to understand

§ Mexico accepts complexity vs. America wants to conquer and control

o Universal human condition of being alone

o Individual identity

§ Connect to nations

o Talk about national identity in relation to United States

§ Border identity

o Pachuco—a Mexican who is attempting to imitate the Americans

o Analyze Pachuco identity

§ Liminality

§ doesn’t know what he wants

§ lost history, language, beliefs

§ not Mexican but not American

o call to action

· Connections Between Anzaldua and Paz

o Anzaldua—hybrid

o Paz—liminal

o Difference—gender issues

§ Paz—does not care about females

Anzaldua—gender is important

Tuesday, October 27

• Liminality: in an in-between space, on the border, between worlds
  • Comes from the word Limen which means threshold

• Those of the Caribbean live in a liminal space. They have a hybrid identity
  • Hybridity: draws on two or more cultures; can be a strength

• Hybridity as a strength
  • Sam and Boon in The Bear
  • Walcott; keep Caribbean tradition
    • Huge strength for him; famous drawing on two traditions
  • Denver in Beloved
    • She can get an education and a job
  • Sethe and Paul D; liminality, not hybridity
    • No man’s land, can move forward, assimilate with northern culture

Danticat

• Was born in Haiti. Spoke French in school and Creole at home

• Parents moved to Brooklyn when she was 12, she was hazed about her accent
  • People were very resentful of Haitians moving in neighborhood because they were taking jobs etc.
  • New Youth Connections allowed Danticat to find her voice

History and Facts on Haiti

• Poorest country in Western Hemisphere
• 30,000 Haitians massacred by Dominicans in the River on the border
• Ton Ton Macoutes
  • U.S. helped train them
  • Given free power
  • 100,000 people killed, to keep “peace and stability” in a cemetery
  • American’s could do big business with them
• There were two options for Haitians: hopefully take a boat to U.S. or stay in fear
• Haiti was the only country that became independent because of a successful slave rebellion (gained independence during the Napoleonic era).
  • Slave rebellion; how has the mentality changed then vs. now?

Krik? Krak! (page reference 14)

• Is a story telling tradition: call and response
• The novel puts readers in the Haitian mind (unlike Kidder’s novel) so it is more powerful
• The people in the novel were so matter of fact about their current situation

Danticat’s writing

• Writing style = more emotional
• Silly dreams, when have to focus on how to stay alive

What creates the law?

• Ton ton macoutes kill neighbor. Could not go to the “law” and tell them to arrest the militia people because they are in power

Missing Peace

• Journalist claims she is not a journalist, but says she is when she and Lamort are looking for her mother’s body and the macoutes questions her
• Image of mother looks Haitian (p.111)
• Both Lamort and journalist have missing mothers
• What allows her to move on?
  • Quilt finishing her mother’s work (p.114)
    • Piecing it together to find herself
    • Baby bib, wedding dress etc.

Thursday, October 29

Krik? Krak! Epilogue = Dark hope

• Prohibitions her mother gave her
• Writers don’t leave any mark on the world (p. 221)
• She is replacing God with the past/females (p. 223)
• Find a way to let go
• Found calling in life
• Death is not the end

New York Day Women; her mother really impacted her

• Laced collar on the softball jersey
• Separated life and communities; 20 years collecting things for Haiti

Metaphors associated with women

• • Quilting
  • Braiding hair
• Mother has some double consciousness and she passed it on to her daughter

Danticat brings a woman’s voices into these perspectives

1937

• Mother crossed Massacre River; did she fly?
  • Flight = freedom and escape
  • River = line between horrible past and what would be freedom
    • Liminal space = river
• Examples of liminal spaces
  • River
  • Sea
  • Hot air balloon

Flying Africans

• When things couldn’t get any worse, they would all fly back to the homeland
• Song of Solomon; jumps at the end
• Wall of fire rising (hot air balloon) but we see the end of the leap of faith; the woman is left to carry on.

Reggae presentation: Unique genre of music that originated in Jamaica

Jamaica

• Population 2.6 million
• Independent since 1962
• Second happiest people in the world
• Strong sense of unity and sense of community because the government does not have resources to help people, so they have to help one another.

Reggae was developed in the 60s

• Uses African and British instruments
• Influences
  • Ska (old type of reggae from 50s, upbeat)
  • Rock steady (slow, music from early 60s)
  • Reggae is middle ground between the two
• Bob Marley
  • Did not come up with reggae; just the most famous artist during the time when reggae became popular
• Luciano
  • Gospel reggae artist
• More secularized types of reggae tend not to be liked by Jamaicans
• Lyrical content
  • Political distress
  • Social conditions
  • State of living