POSTCOLONIALISM

The first colonialism per se was the conquest of America; after this colonialism, Europe colonized mainly Africa, Asia and some countries from the Arab world (I guess, after the conquest and colonization of the American continent, and after some European countries saw that nothing of economical or material value was left, then they just focused on other continents or territories like Africa). Africa was the continent that was completely colonized at the end of the XIX century and obtained their independence between the fifties and sixties of the XX century. I found it interesting how an Algerian psychiatrist, Frantz Fanon, was the first one to establish a theory of the psychological and sociological consequences of colonization: alienation and exclusion. He introduced (coined) the term "manichaeism" that refers to function of the colonial point of view by binary opposites: good-bad, black-white, etc. Fanon started his theory from the word "negritude" created by black intellectuals like Leopold Sedar Senghor and Aime Cesaire; they tried to describe and exalt the values and culture of African ancestry that were considered many times as savages and tribals by the influence of western world thought. The intention of the colonizers was to "help" and "save" the peoples from their material and spiritual "misery", so the negritude movement is a reaction against this imposition and tries to defend the roots of the original culture. The leitmotif of all kind of colonization is economical, the colonizer justifies the action by ideological or humanitarian arguments that portray the colonized through stereotypes: if they are lazy they deserve a low salary; if they are weak, they deserve to protected and be ruled. This portrait leads to negation and the standstill of the colonized society. Then, the point of the postcolonial theory is how the other is represented in the imaginarium of the western world thought. How should we react toward the other? is he/she the same as me, worse than me, better than me or indifferent? How is the other going to lead toward me? Who is the other? Who am I?

Discontent

In The Sentimental Education, Flaubert just wanted to show the idleness and the existential conflicts of the middle classes of his contemporaries and maybe of himself, but this phenomenon extends far beyond his own XIX century French society. Frederic and the other characters in Flaubert's novel remind me strongly of the contemporary provincial Mexican middle class, who similarly criticize their society's values while continuing to participate in them -- passively depending on their parents and any available external resources without real ambition and initiative. I don't want only to reduce this naive "behaviour" or way of life only to the Mexican society. I feel that the attitudes common to these and other groups originate in their Western cultural heritage, which by its aggressiveness has become a sort of ideal with which most members of Western-dominated societies self-identify. This behaviour is reflected in the contemporary consumer mentality: constantly buying things not to meet real needs but in order to be accepted within a given social nucleus.

After Flaubert wrote this book showing the reality of their own class in France, the same phenomenon was occurring in the U.S. and other countries thanks to the Industrial Revolution. To a certain extent, this novel shows the reality of the middle classes of the XXI century: there is a parallel between the Industrial Revolution and globalization, because both of these events allow people to have access to new and different things. The power of acquisition grants these classes access to material things whether they are useful or not. Opportunist and ambitious, Frederic uses his relatives' money in precisely this way, to advance his social status through material acquisitions. The novel places Frederic's sentimental education in the context of important historical events which directly affect him, even if he isn't interested or influenced or aware of the social circumstances that he is living. Flaubert also depicts the discontent of Frederic and his contemporaries, that even once they "arrived" in the bourgeoisie, they still had the same problems, and in effect nothing changed, just as the revolution of 1848 did not change the situation of the French working and middle classes.

Myth

The thinking of Octavio Paz, in his book The Labyrinth of Solitude, reads more like historical or sociological literature, and in reading it in this way, those readers who have no notions of literary criticism or analysis tend to distort his ideas into a "truth" or into a "deterministic" and/or "positivist" thesis. Instead of giving meaning to this philosophy, it is considered an absolute truth. Here, then, the goal is not necessarily to accept or reject the idea, but rather to reflect upon what it means. From my perspective, history can be seen as that "literary artifact" which White mentions, as a carrier of ideas. These ideas can include conceptualizations of historical figures and their significance within their historical context (plot). History is also invariably oriented toward poetic thinking as it reflects certain formal realities (such as national anthems, ballads, etc.).

Literature, like history, can be interpreted broadly: history is conceptualized to include the different studies made of the history of culture, the history of beauty, the history of certain ideas, etc. Literature is similarly profiled: historical literature, scientific literature, etc. Returning to the case of Octavio Paz, we must analyze his intentions: make ourselves mediators of his work supported by an argumentative basis. Literature cannot be separated from the other dialogues within a society, as it forms part of social ideology. Octavio Paz's The Labyrinth of Solitude is inextricably related to the cultural history of Mexico. Within that cultural history is mythology, from which basis a culture is formed and transformed. This need not signify that I believe in those myths, but each culture sees daily references to them in its media of communication. For example, coming out of the two World Wars the American government created the image of the U.S. as savior of the world; the resulting belief in its ability to win any war affects its ability to reflect and make decisions, as can be seen in the war in Iraq today. From this point of view, the perpetuation of these myths makes history "deterministic".

No Introduction

Saturn Devouring His Son, by Francisco de Goya (1819)

This blog, created at Dr. Conway's suggestion, is for educational purposes only. I find the class very interesting, and write in hopes of mitigating my own ignorance. Expect strange things, and feel free to suggest and criticize in the spirit of constructive discussion.