My friend Tim ("The Blunderer") has a great post on Gliwice, Poland. He's currently living there. Read it, you might learn a thing or two (I did). And amidst the observations on language, architecture, and everyday life in that part of Poland, he finds a way to compare Ice Cube to Noel Coward.
Also interesting is Kharin's extensive account of Prague ("Never was there a more narcissistic city").
"Just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else." --Toni Morrison
A Few Blogs, mostly Desi
There is a phenomenon called "Bharateeya Blog Mela" (Indian Blog Fair), which has linked to me a couple of times (thanks). It is good because it widens the spectrum of the blogs I know about. Also good because there are lots of blogs being written in Hindi -- maybe bilingualism in the Indian print media isn't dead after all!
Jabberwock (Jai Arjun). New Delhi Journalist. Check out his response to Philip Roth's The Plot Against America.
Patix. A Bombayite architect in Atlanta.
Wanderlust (Neha B). An NRI grad student. Going on hiatus for a few weeks... oh well.
Verbal Chameleon. A liberal U.S. blog.
Kamat Indian Blog Portal. These are always great until they become too big. When there are 300 blogs on the list, portals are wonderful. When there are 30,000, though, they become more like search engines...
Jabberwock (Jai Arjun). New Delhi Journalist. Check out his response to Philip Roth's The Plot Against America.
Patix. A Bombayite architect in Atlanta.
Wanderlust (Neha B). An NRI grad student. Going on hiatus for a few weeks... oh well.
Verbal Chameleon. A liberal U.S. blog.
Kamat Indian Blog Portal. These are always great until they become too big. When there are 300 blogs on the list, portals are wonderful. When there are 30,000, though, they become more like search engines...
Poetry Break: e.e. cummings
There's a new biography of e.e. cummings.
I think people have known for a while that there's more to cummings than a cutesy poet who didn't use punctuation properly, and who insisted on having his name written in lower-case letters. We haven't really had a solid explanation for all the strange, mysterious creations he is responsible for (there are hundreds of poems in his collected works). As a result, we are mainly stuck with "Anyone lived in a pretty how town", and this tricky little anti-war, anti-patriotism poem.
I'll look forward to finding something stronger to grab onto.
Incidentally, there are links to many of cummings's poems here, here, here (includes audio samples of cummings reading), and here.
Meanwhile, Erin O'Connor has posted a cummings poem that has quite a bit of depth and complexity to it. It is, if you'll permit the intrusion of physics, a kind of poetic tesseract: four dimensions, the extension of space, the interpenetation of space and time.
I took a stab at an interpretation in the comments. Am I right?
I think people have known for a while that there's more to cummings than a cutesy poet who didn't use punctuation properly, and who insisted on having his name written in lower-case letters. We haven't really had a solid explanation for all the strange, mysterious creations he is responsible for (there are hundreds of poems in his collected works). As a result, we are mainly stuck with "Anyone lived in a pretty how town", and this tricky little anti-war, anti-patriotism poem.
I'll look forward to finding something stronger to grab onto.
Incidentally, there are links to many of cummings's poems here, here, here (includes audio samples of cummings reading), and here.
Meanwhile, Erin O'Connor has posted a cummings poem that has quite a bit of depth and complexity to it. It is, if you'll permit the intrusion of physics, a kind of poetic tesseract: four dimensions, the extension of space, the interpenetation of space and time.
I took a stab at an interpretation in the comments. Am I right?
The Storyteller "Satisfices"
An essay in the NYTimes about storytelling computer software.
The interesting part isn't what the computers are spitting out (though you should really take a look at it). What is important is the methodology -- the algorithms being used. In Daniel Akst's essay there is precious little attention to that, only the following enticing hint about the process of compromise that human writers inevitably use. Herbert Simon, one of the people involved in Brutus, uses the word "satisfice" to describe writerly choices conceived as "good enough" to work.
The interesting part isn't what the computers are spitting out (though you should really take a look at it). What is important is the methodology -- the algorithms being used. In Daniel Akst's essay there is precious little attention to that, only the following enticing hint about the process of compromise that human writers inevitably use. Herbert Simon, one of the people involved in Brutus, uses the word "satisfice" to describe writerly choices conceived as "good enough" to work.
It was Simon's ideas - particularly his notion of "satisficing" - that first got me interested in fiction-writing machines. Though in theory a person shopping for new shoes could consider all the pairs on the planet, in fact, the cost is way too high - an entire life spent shoe-shopping. So in the real world we visit one or two stores, try on a few in our size and buy a pair.
Satisficing in this way - settling, or even sensing, what is good enough - is something novelists must do as well. We think of an idea and go with it because pausing to systematically consider every plot twist, character or phrase that might come next would lead nowhere.
Conference on Secularism at NYU
It just sounds terrible. I have great respect for the participants as individuals, but this conference sounds pretty painful. What is the point of sitting around and debating in public whether intelligent people are allowed to believe in God or not?
In my view, the debates on secularism that have been happening in places like India are actually much further along conceptually than the kind of post-election hand-wringing that has been occurring amongst Disappointed Dems. in the U.S. lately.
In my view, the debates on secularism that have been happening in places like India are actually much further along conceptually than the kind of post-election hand-wringing that has been occurring amongst Disappointed Dems. in the U.S. lately.
The Absent-Minded Imperialists?
Bernard Porter has a new book coming out, called The Absent-Minded Imperialists: Empire, Culture, and Society in Britain.
According to David Cannadine's review in the Timesonline, Porter's argument seems to be that ordinary Britons knew very little about the overseas Empire even during its heyday. Also, Porter claims that even when there was a fair amount of awareness, the fact of the Empire had little concrete effect on British politics. In some sense this is a polemical book against a certain kind of postcolonial scholarship, which argues that "Empire was so pervasive that the Victorians didn't need to talk about it; or "It's all the more pronounced because it's absent." Porter is right to be critical of those kinds of arguments (I am critical of them too).
Though my knowledge about 19th century England is somewhat limited, there may be some truth in what he's saying. The 1857 Mutiny, for instance, initially caused only a small ripple in England, considering how devastating it was in India. Parliament got around to responding to it, but not for a few months (though part of this delay is certainly due to the slow dissemination of information at the time). No governments fell, no heads rolled (a little like the non-impact of the Iraq debacle in US politics, actually). The real lasting effect of the event would be seen within the colonial government in India itself, where a series of new laws would be passed in the following decade that codified, for the first time in 'black letter' law, a penal code, marriage laws, and even laws about religious conversion. (Many of which are still in practice today, believe it or not... but that's a grumble for another day)
Still, I gather that Porter's point is that very few governments rose or fell on the question of Empire. One other small objection/question: what about Disraeli in 1870? Labour ran against him, charging that he was an "Imperialist"? Meanwhile, he proudly asserted his "imperial" credentials for the first time (earlier he had been tetchy on Empire), as part of an obviously opportunistic turn to populism.
Also interesting in this particular review is the litany of dates and events that Porter is apparently saying are unimportant.
Porter apparently is in the awkward position of arguing that something obviously huge in the historical sense was actually unimportant to ordinary people. But why, ultimately is that important? And how can we be quite sure? And this is Cannadine's main objection to the book:
The reviewer, David Cannadine, is himself by no means a raving leftist-postcolonialist. In 2002 he wrote a book called Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire, where he argued that the hierarchy of imperial authority had more to do with class than race. So this is not an ideological hit. His objections to Porter above seem quite reasonable.
Still, I plan to have a look-see at this book when it comes out next month.
According to David Cannadine's review in the Timesonline, Porter's argument seems to be that ordinary Britons knew very little about the overseas Empire even during its heyday. Also, Porter claims that even when there was a fair amount of awareness, the fact of the Empire had little concrete effect on British politics. In some sense this is a polemical book against a certain kind of postcolonial scholarship, which argues that "Empire was so pervasive that the Victorians didn't need to talk about it; or "It's all the more pronounced because it's absent." Porter is right to be critical of those kinds of arguments (I am critical of them too).
Though my knowledge about 19th century England is somewhat limited, there may be some truth in what he's saying. The 1857 Mutiny, for instance, initially caused only a small ripple in England, considering how devastating it was in India. Parliament got around to responding to it, but not for a few months (though part of this delay is certainly due to the slow dissemination of information at the time). No governments fell, no heads rolled (a little like the non-impact of the Iraq debacle in US politics, actually). The real lasting effect of the event would be seen within the colonial government in India itself, where a series of new laws would be passed in the following decade that codified, for the first time in 'black letter' law, a penal code, marriage laws, and even laws about religious conversion. (Many of which are still in practice today, believe it or not... but that's a grumble for another day)
Still, I gather that Porter's point is that very few governments rose or fell on the question of Empire. One other small objection/question: what about Disraeli in 1870? Labour ran against him, charging that he was an "Imperialist"? Meanwhile, he proudly asserted his "imperial" credentials for the first time (earlier he had been tetchy on Empire), as part of an obviously opportunistic turn to populism.
Also interesting in this particular review is the litany of dates and events that Porter is apparently saying are unimportant.
And when Joseph Chamberlain sought to enlist the nation to join him in his great imperial crusade of Tariff Reform, the Conservative party was roundly defeated in the general election of 1906. For much of their lives, Chamberlain and his small group of co-imperial zealots — among them Lords Curzon and Milner, Rudyard Kipling and Leopold Amery — despaired of rousing the British to a full appreciation of their imperial reach and global responsibilities. Neither the Diamond Jubilee of 1897 nor the Imperial Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 made any lasting impact.
Porter apparently is in the awkward position of arguing that something obviously huge in the historical sense was actually unimportant to ordinary people. But why, ultimately is that important? And how can we be quite sure? And this is Cannadine's main objection to the book:
One of the hardest things for a historian to do is to try to demonstrate that something was not important. And unimportant compared to what? It may be true that most 19th- and 20th-century Britons did not know much about their empire; but it is not clear that they knew much about anything else. Where does that get us? Despite the book's subtitle, there is little discussion of Scotland or Ireland, and, as the author coyly admits, his conclusions might be very different if he had extended his discussion to encompass those two nations where empire did bulk larger in the popular consciousness. And even if his argument is correct, it might still be the case that there was more "imperial culture" in Britain than in, say, imperial France or Spain or Russia or Austria-Hungary.
The reviewer, David Cannadine, is himself by no means a raving leftist-postcolonialist. In 2002 he wrote a book called Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire, where he argued that the hierarchy of imperial authority had more to do with class than race. So this is not an ideological hit. His objections to Porter above seem quite reasonable.
Still, I plan to have a look-see at this book when it comes out next month.
The Cross-dressing Imam
There is a novel waiting to be written about this. Are you paying attention, Tahar Ben Jalloun?
World Cup Kabaddi
This sport is both very fun and very wild. And India has won the world cup! O frabjous day.
Kabaddi has some of the sadism of American Dodgeball, but without the irony or retro-connotations. It's a game that you don't need much stuff to play; kids, including very poor kids, play it on the streets all over India.
Kabaddi has some of the sadism of American Dodgeball, but without the irony or retro-connotations. It's a game that you don't need much stuff to play; kids, including very poor kids, play it on the streets all over India.
Evolving Hybridities: Further DJ Notes
As I've mentioned before, DJing Bhangra parties is fundamentally an exercise in hybridity. The music is almost always a mix of distinctly Indian melodies and chord structures, Hindi and Punjabi lyrics, and of course western dance beats. In contemporary Indian music, if the influence isn't hip hop, it's definitely house.
Some years ago it seemed like hybridity of this kind was a diasporic invention. DJs in England and North America were imposing their need for western dance beats upon their interest in Indian songs. Also, early practitioners in this genre were generally invisible in India. People like Bally Sagoo so dominated the “imported diaspora” market that he owned the brand: any Hindi song with a hip hop beat would be called a “Bally Sagoo type” song.
Now the Indian producers themselves are using hip hop and house beats in their original film songs. Audiences are becoming younger, and better sound-systems in cars and homes in India means a demand for higher production values in the music. (That's one possible explanation... there may be others.) In the case of movies like Dhoom and Musafir, the studios are releasing official remixes (Musafir apparently comes with two versions of each song, on two CDs).
This would seem to be paradise for a DJ. No more crude DSNY-type remixes – which often ruined great music in the interest of 'adapting' it. (I mean 'ruin' in a technical rather than a conservative ideological sense. Since remixers rarely have access to studio masters which would enable them to isolate the vocal tracks in the Hindi/Punjabi songs they remix, they have to achieve that isolation manually, using software like ProTools. Even if it's done well, the remixed vocals are usually a little thin or tinny. And they are lower in the mix – the beat dominates.)
But the embrace of western beats and western production styles has actually produced some new problems. For one thing, the old formula of the familiar Hindi song and the cool (but also familiar) hip hop beat doesn't work if the beat is new and the song is new. And a lot of people here in the U.S. -– especially people who are a little older, or not living in an area densely populated with South Asians -– generally don't keep up with the latest music as much as they might. Last night, for instance, I sensed that the crowd didn't recognize the latest rap/reggae songs (no response to N.O.R.E. and Nina Skye's “Oye Mi Canto”!) or the latest happening Hindi songs. Nothing much on Dhoom, Musafir, Naach, Yuva, Humraaz, etc. etc.
With such problems, the best thing to do is to take refuge in Bhangra, which very few people – even amongst Punjabi speakers -- 'know' in any conventional sense. The range of variation in the beat in Bhangra is fairly limited (or more cynically, the songs all sound a little bit the same). So people –- even folks who don't have any direct connection to India -- are likely to dance to Bhangra beats even if they don't recognize the song. Last night, my best bets (after the predictable success of “Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe” and “It's the Time to Disco”) were Punjabi songs. I've written a bit about the power of Punjabi music in a club before. Here I would only add: it's worth noting that Punjabi music is the only desi pop music that has its own recognizable -– and unique –- beat. Part of its power comes from its distinctive branding (sorry to use marketing speak), even when remixed or grafted onto hip hop. In contrast, Hindi film music sounds, musically, not so different from pop music anywhere in the world. One exception to this rule is A.R. Rahman, who is unique except perhaps when he copies himself. (Which, lately, he is prone to do.)
Below are some further notes on individual hits and misses from last night. It's ordered not by sequence but (loosely) by genre. I went back and forth between Hindi and Punjabi throughout the evening. And I had so many requests that the ordering of my songs was a bit random. Also: I had to repeat a few big tracks (when you're on for 3 hours or more, it's kind of inevitable).
Bally Sagoo, “Jugni” with the “Billie Jean” beat
DJ Rani, Daler Mehndi, “Jalwa” with the “Everyone falls in love some time” beat
A.S. Kang “Aish Karo”
Panjabi MC, “Dhol Jageero Da”
Tigerstyle, “Nachna Onda Nei”
Essential Asian Flavas, DJ H & Punjabi Outlawz, “Yaar Dha” (track 3)
Tigerstyle, The Rising, “Put Jatt de Shakeen”
“Aaja ni Aaja (Tenu Nachna Sikadia)”
Stereo Nation “Apna Sangeet”
Hunterz, Phat Trax "Dil" (track 2)
Urban Bhangra Hype, Ama Ni Ama (track 6)
Hunterz, Phat Trax, Dil Karda eh (track 4)
DJ APS Return of the King, Punjabi Girl (track 3)
The Jump Off, “Nach Le” Daler Mehndi/A.R. Rahman remix
Stereo Nation, Oh Laila, “Nachangeh Sari Raat” (track 3)
Dhoom, “Dhoom Machale,” “Dhoom Dhoom,” “Shikdum (Bedroom Mix)”
#1s Item Hitz! “Dekh Le” remix from Munabhai MBBS
Baby Doll, Come Fall in Love! “Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar” remix
Kal Ho Na Ho, “It's the Time to Disco” -- anthem
Dil Chahta Hai, “Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe” -- anthem
Panjabi MC, “Mundian to Bach Ke” -- anthem
Instant Karma, “Dum a dum Mast Kalandar”
Special Appointment Club Hits, “Inhi Logon Ne” remix
Asha Bhosle, “Sharara”
DJ Karma “Chaiya Chaiya” remix from Dil Se
Monsoon Wedding, "Kawa Kawa/Aaj mera jee karda"
It's the Time to Disco Dance Dhamaka, “Jaa re jaa staying alive mix” (track 8)
DJ Kucha, “Rang Barse” Amitabh remix with Rob Base, “Its takes two”
Some years ago it seemed like hybridity of this kind was a diasporic invention. DJs in England and North America were imposing their need for western dance beats upon their interest in Indian songs. Also, early practitioners in this genre were generally invisible in India. People like Bally Sagoo so dominated the “imported diaspora” market that he owned the brand: any Hindi song with a hip hop beat would be called a “Bally Sagoo type” song.
Now the Indian producers themselves are using hip hop and house beats in their original film songs. Audiences are becoming younger, and better sound-systems in cars and homes in India means a demand for higher production values in the music. (That's one possible explanation... there may be others.) In the case of movies like Dhoom and Musafir, the studios are releasing official remixes (Musafir apparently comes with two versions of each song, on two CDs).
This would seem to be paradise for a DJ. No more crude DSNY-type remixes – which often ruined great music in the interest of 'adapting' it. (I mean 'ruin' in a technical rather than a conservative ideological sense. Since remixers rarely have access to studio masters which would enable them to isolate the vocal tracks in the Hindi/Punjabi songs they remix, they have to achieve that isolation manually, using software like ProTools. Even if it's done well, the remixed vocals are usually a little thin or tinny. And they are lower in the mix – the beat dominates.)
But the embrace of western beats and western production styles has actually produced some new problems. For one thing, the old formula of the familiar Hindi song and the cool (but also familiar) hip hop beat doesn't work if the beat is new and the song is new. And a lot of people here in the U.S. -– especially people who are a little older, or not living in an area densely populated with South Asians -– generally don't keep up with the latest music as much as they might. Last night, for instance, I sensed that the crowd didn't recognize the latest rap/reggae songs (no response to N.O.R.E. and Nina Skye's “Oye Mi Canto”!) or the latest happening Hindi songs. Nothing much on Dhoom, Musafir, Naach, Yuva, Humraaz, etc. etc.
With such problems, the best thing to do is to take refuge in Bhangra, which very few people – even amongst Punjabi speakers -- 'know' in any conventional sense. The range of variation in the beat in Bhangra is fairly limited (or more cynically, the songs all sound a little bit the same). So people –- even folks who don't have any direct connection to India -- are likely to dance to Bhangra beats even if they don't recognize the song. Last night, my best bets (after the predictable success of “Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe” and “It's the Time to Disco”) were Punjabi songs. I've written a bit about the power of Punjabi music in a club before. Here I would only add: it's worth noting that Punjabi music is the only desi pop music that has its own recognizable -– and unique –- beat. Part of its power comes from its distinctive branding (sorry to use marketing speak), even when remixed or grafted onto hip hop. In contrast, Hindi film music sounds, musically, not so different from pop music anywhere in the world. One exception to this rule is A.R. Rahman, who is unique except perhaps when he copies himself. (Which, lately, he is prone to do.)
Below are some further notes on individual hits and misses from last night. It's ordered not by sequence but (loosely) by genre. I went back and forth between Hindi and Punjabi throughout the evening. And I had so many requests that the ordering of my songs was a bit random. Also: I had to repeat a few big tracks (when you're on for 3 hours or more, it's kind of inevitable).
Bally Sagoo, “Jugni” with the “Billie Jean” beat
Worked. This one always works, even though the remix is crude and Malkit Singh's voice is a little tinny (see above).
DJ Rani, Daler Mehndi, “Jalwa” with the “Everyone falls in love some time” beat
I often suffer with this one. Maybe “Jalwa” isn't as popular as I thought.
A.S. Kang “Aish Karo”
This Punjabi song is great. Can't go wrong. “Eat, drink, have fun, my friends...” Also a nice message. A.S. Kang, I think, has a great voice -- too bad he often gets stuck with second-rate producers.
Panjabi MC, “Dhol Jageero Da”
This is slower, traditional Bhangra from Panjabi MC. It's one of the best Bhangra tracks in years. Can't go wrong.
Tigerstyle, “Nachna Onda Nei”
This is a great song (“I don't know how to dance”), but the beat is sometimes a drawback. The extra-heavy bass sounds good on a nice stereo, but it wreaks havoc in a club. I had to turn the bass way down half-way through the song.
Essential Asian Flavas, DJ H & Punjabi Outlawz, “Yaar Dha” (track 3)
Tigerstyle, The Rising, “Put Jatt de Shakeen”
Great Punjabi tunes, and genius hip hop beats.
“Aaja ni Aaja (Tenu Nachna Sikadia)”
Another song about learning how to dance (“Come on, I'll teach you how to dance”). Seems to be a popular theme...
Stereo Nation “Apna Sangeet”
Fast Bhangra in the breakbeat style. This sounds great in the car or at home, but for some reason it didn't move the crowd as much as I'd hoped. Maybe a little too fast?
Hunterz, Phat Trax "Dil" (track 2)
Urban Bhangra Hype, Ama Ni Ama (track 6)
Hunterz, Phat Trax, Dil Karda eh (track 4)
DJ APS Return of the King, Punjabi Girl (track 3)
The Jump Off, “Nach Le” Daler Mehndi/A.R. Rahman remix
I was happy with all of these tracks, which came off of some new CDs I'd purchased in Queens. Especially good were the remix of “Nach Le” (from Lakeer) and the DJ APS track. Too bad I didn't think to play these until the evening was beginning to wind up. Next time they go in earlier.
Stereo Nation, Oh Laila, “Nachangeh Sari Raat” (track 3)
“We'll dance all night.” Playing this track was wishful thinking on my part! Ok, just kidding, actually it worked just fine.
Dhoom, “Dhoom Machale,” “Dhoom Dhoom,” “Shikdum (Bedroom Mix)”
Surprising – not as successful as I'd thought. This soundtrack has been in my head for the past two weeks. But maybe that's just me. If or when it catches on in the diaspora community, it might work better.
#1s Item Hitz! “Dekh Le” remix from Munabhai MBBS
Complete disaster. Had to abort after one minute. Why? Such a nice song, remixed from a popular movie. This sounded fine at home, but a little garbled coming through the sound system. Maybe I had the levels off? Or maybe I should listen again.
Baby Doll, Come Fall in Love! “Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar” remix
This was a hit in India this past summer, with a nice funky swing to it, and sort of a naughty tone. Seemed to work here too, though it's a little on the slow side for my tastes.
Kal Ho Na Ho, “It's the Time to Disco” -- anthem
Dil Chahta Hai, “Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe” -- anthem
Panjabi MC, “Mundian to Bach Ke” -- anthem
These never get old... yet. I will mourn when I have to retire these.
Instant Karma, “Dum a dum Mast Kalandar”
Euphoric house music. More people should listen to Instant Karma; they are good.
Special Appointment Club Hits, “Inhi Logon Ne” remix
Seemed to work.
Asha Bhosle, “Sharara”
Funky, upbeat. Still works.
DJ Karma “Chaiya Chaiya” remix from Dil Se
This song is a bit of a quandary. The original is actually a little slow for my tastes, but it's still a huge anthem for people nonetheless. Perhaps it's the recognition factor? The memory of the film, where Shah Rukh Khan is dancing on a moving train? Sukhwinder Singh's voice? I don't know. Can someone tell me what is so great about "Chaiya Chaiya"?
Monsoon Wedding, "Kawa Kawa/Aaj mera jee karda"
Same question about this song. It's slow, but you have to play it.
It's the Time to Disco Dance Dhamaka, “Jaa re jaa staying alive mix” (track 8)
I got this CD in India. It's kind of a party compilation, but it's produced by Sony. Anyway, the song sounded great. They are reproducing in studio (not sampling) The Bee Gees' "Stayin Alive." I should have played this earlier in the evening.
DJ Kucha, “Rang Barse” Amitabh remix with Rob Base, “Its takes two”
This remix takes one of the best hip-hop songs ever, and mixes it with one of the best Hindi songs ever. And it kicks butt.
Reforming Islam from within and without: Irshan Manji
Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble With Islam, in an Op-Ed today's Times.
She highlights the difference in the experience of religious minorities in North America vs. in Europe. In North America, the idea of people of faith who are liberals or reformers is seen as acceptable. In Europe, however, it is seen as a contradiction in terms:
In an odd way, Europe's brand of secularism is more narrow and 'protectionist' than what one finds in the United States or Canada, where Bush-ian "Godliness" and multiculturalism have achieved an uneasy balance. The result, uneasiness aside, is a a somewhat healthier blend.
She highlights the difference in the experience of religious minorities in North America vs. in Europe. In North America, the idea of people of faith who are liberals or reformers is seen as acceptable. In Europe, however, it is seen as a contradiction in terms:
Because [North America] has long been a society of immigrants seeking religious tolerance, religion itself is not seen as irrational - even if what some people do with it might be, as in the case of terrorism. Which means Muslims in North America tend to be judged less by what we wear than by what we do - or don't do, like speaking out against Islamist violence.
But there's something else going on. The mass immigration of Muslims is bringing faith back into the public realm and creating a post-Enlightenment modernity for Western Europe. This return of religion threatens secular humanism, the orthodoxy that has prevailed since the French Revolution. Paradoxically, because many Western Europeans feel that they're losing Enlightenment values amid the flood of "people of faith," they wind up sympathizing with those in the Muslim world who resent imported values that challenge their own. Both groups are identity protectionists.
We see such protectionism playing out in the debate about whether Turkey may join the European Union. Reflecting a sizable segment of public opinion, European Union commissioners have argued that Turkey is too "oriental." And let us stay that way, proclaim some Muslim puritans who fear the promiscuity of pluralistic values. But is Turkey all that different from Europe?
It's a longtime member of NATO. Its so-called Islamist government has updated the country's human rights statutes to conform to the standards of the European Union. It's home to an astonishingly free press. Recently, a left-wing newspaper questioned the Koran's origins, a right-wing newspaper wrote about gays and lesbians lobbying for sexual orientation to be included in anti-discrimination laws, and a centrist newspaper editorialized that the education system should be reformed to promote diversity.
In an odd way, Europe's brand of secularism is more narrow and 'protectionist' than what one finds in the United States or Canada, where Bush-ian "Godliness" and multiculturalism have achieved an uneasy balance. The result, uneasiness aside, is a a somewhat healthier blend.
Damn clever: Google scholar
Scholar.google.com: Damn clever. Scholars are increasingly prone to googling subjects before going to library catalogs, World-CAT, or the MLA Bibliography. Google is just faster, simpler, and more up-to-date than slow, CD-ROM based databases that require log-ins and proxy servers. If you can find a book on a topic you're looking for through Google, why go to the library website?
Of course, that short-cut often creates a problem, which is that you get a lot of personal websites when what you really want to know is: who's published something serious on this? As much as I enjoy doing this blog and am pro-blogging in general, sometimes you want books, not blogs. Scholar.google fixes that problem, and cuts out anything that isn't a journal or a book pub.
Also: one neat thing about scholar.google is, it gives you links to the people who cited each entry.
I tried Secularism: see the 3000 hits? That's why my book is taking so long to finish. I'm happy to say I've read most of the books on the first page, though. Interesting how many of the top hits relate to Turkey and India!
Of course, that short-cut often creates a problem, which is that you get a lot of personal websites when what you really want to know is: who's published something serious on this? As much as I enjoy doing this blog and am pro-blogging in general, sometimes you want books, not blogs. Scholar.google fixes that problem, and cuts out anything that isn't a journal or a book pub.
Also: one neat thing about scholar.google is, it gives you links to the people who cited each entry.
I tried Secularism: see the 3000 hits? That's why my book is taking so long to finish. I'm happy to say I've read most of the books on the first page, though. Interesting how many of the top hits relate to Turkey and India!
Documentary on James Baldwin, writing and living in Turkey
I went to see a documentary on James Baldwin by Sedat Pekay today. It's called From Another Place, and it's essentially an interview with Baldwin as he hangs around his room, smokes cigarettes, and walks around Istanbul in 1973.
It's kind of hypnotizing. According to Baldwin scholar Magdalena Zaborowska, Baldwin spent quite a bit of time in Turkey in the 1960s and early 1970s. His time in Paris I knew about, but Turkey? What was he doing there? According to Zaborowska (drawing on David Leeming's biography, I think), it was mainly a refuge where he could write.
Baldwin was actually the subject of three documentaries, and though he tried to make films himself on occasion, they always fell through:
I'm curious to see these other documentaries too.
It's kind of hypnotizing. According to Baldwin scholar Magdalena Zaborowska, Baldwin spent quite a bit of time in Turkey in the 1960s and early 1970s. His time in Paris I knew about, but Turkey? What was he doing there? According to Zaborowska (drawing on David Leeming's biography, I think), it was mainly a refuge where he could write.
In his third, best-selling novel, Another Country (1962), Baldwin explored some of the lasting effects of slavery on the national psyche through interracial romantic entanglements. As his intensely social and political life made writing difficult, he finished Another Country in Istanbul, Turkey, visiting actors Engin Cezzar and Gülriz Sururi. Located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Istanbul became Baldwin’s writing haven for about eight years. He directed plays there and tried screenwriting with Cezzar. Turkey is not much referenced in his writings, perhaps because he never learned the language or connected with its culture.
Baldwin was actually the subject of three documentaries, and though he tried to make films himself on occasion, they always fell through:
In the fall of 1981, Baldwin and David [Leeming] spent two happy months with Engin and Gülriz in southern Turkey, working on a screenplay. Like several others, this attempt at making movies failed. Baldwin fared better as a cinematic subject: from a powerful short by a Turkish director, Sedat Pakay, James Baldwin: From Another Place (1973), through an English documentary on the trip to the South by Dick Fontaine and Pat Hartley, I Heard it through the Grapevine (1982), to Karen Thorsen’s The Price of the Ticket (1990). In 1982, he took several trips to Atlanta to research a case of children’s murders for an article that later became a book, The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985).
I'm curious to see these other documentaries too.
Zakaria on Fallujah
Welcome to ZakariaWatch, the official Fareed Zakaria stalker blog.
The latest -- a meditation on the likelihood of success in Fallujah, and a consideration of the possible outcomes. This is more a news summary than an opinion piece; helpful bits of information on what has actually happened in the battle thus far. Zakaria's argument is, if things go well as a result of the offensive, things look good for elections, for Allawi, and for the overall success of the U.S. operation there.
If things go poorly, then elections probably won't happen on time, confidence in Allawi will erode, everything goes to hell. Or better: stays there.
My question is, on what basis should one claim the operation to be 'successful'? If many of the fighters, and certainly all of the insurgent leaders, left the city before the re-invasion, what can the U.S. hope to gain? I suppose it is pessimism, but I think Fallujah will change very little in the dynamics of the ground war. The fighters will vanish -- as they did at the time of the initial invasion -- only to resurface again somewhere else. Meanwhile, the battle has been very costly to the U.S., both in terms of U.S. soldiers killed (about 40), and a pretty vast number injured (about 400).
The latest -- a meditation on the likelihood of success in Fallujah, and a consideration of the possible outcomes. This is more a news summary than an opinion piece; helpful bits of information on what has actually happened in the battle thus far. Zakaria's argument is, if things go well as a result of the offensive, things look good for elections, for Allawi, and for the overall success of the U.S. operation there.
If things go poorly, then elections probably won't happen on time, confidence in Allawi will erode, everything goes to hell. Or better: stays there.
My question is, on what basis should one claim the operation to be 'successful'? If many of the fighters, and certainly all of the insurgent leaders, left the city before the re-invasion, what can the U.S. hope to gain? I suppose it is pessimism, but I think Fallujah will change very little in the dynamics of the ground war. The fighters will vanish -- as they did at the time of the initial invasion -- only to resurface again somewhere else. Meanwhile, the battle has been very costly to the U.S., both in terms of U.S. soldiers killed (about 40), and a pretty vast number injured (about 400).
Another South Asian Literary Festival
I got email from someone involved with South Asian Literature and Theater Festival; people in or near the DC area this coming weekend might be interested in attending. The full agenda for the conference can be found here. Some up-and-coming desi academics are involved, including Karni Bhati and Lalitha Gopalan. It looks like they've eschewed glamorous appearances in favor of interesting little discussions. Good: it makes for a more lively conference.
"Please join us for the 2004 South Asian Literary and Theatre Arts Festival (SALTAF) entitled Scripts, Stories, and Syllables of South Asia, on November 20-21, 2004 at the Baird Auditorium, National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution from 10am-5pm. This event is sponsored by the Network of South Asian Professionals of Washington DC (NetSAP-DC) and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program.
"This two day event will include literary panel discussions, author readings and book signings by renowned authors such as Bharati Mukherjee, Ved Mehta, Anita Rau Badami, Indu Sundaresan, Samina Ali, T.S Tirumurti, Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, Neela Vaswani, Tim Ward, and Vijay Lakshmi, as well as a slide show with Robert Arnett and Smita Turakhia featuring India Unveiled, the highly-acclaimed travelogue illustrated with award-winning photography. The festival will also include four one-act plays; an award-winning South Asian feature length film, Bhavum, written and directed by Satish Menon, as well as a short film by Rohit Rao followed by a media arts panel discussion with Geeta Citygirl and the filmmakers. This artistic extravaganza is free and open to the public.
For complete agenda and further information please visit www.netsap.org/saltaf2004 or email saltaf@netsap.org.
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