artifice of national (or local) boundaries. by Rajnesh Chakrapani https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j en-us 2022-10-13 18:25:22 UTC 2022-10-13 22:38:53 UTC hello@padlet.com example 1 rchakrapani https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339261438 2022-10-13 18:26:10 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339261438 example 2 rchakrapani https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339261535 2022-10-13 18:26:14 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339261535 relationality rchakrapani https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339262729 2022-10-13 18:26:59 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339262729 Tokenization https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339452896 Two weeks ago, I was participating in a seminar on American racism by Mathias Risse. The opening key-note by Anna A. Akasoy was a prime example of tokenization; the organizers had invited a Turkish-German woman to open the whole event not because of her field of study or expertise but merited on the fact, that she had a history of migration, first through her parents coming to Germany and then her coming to the US. Her presentation was pretty great, but the organizers then went on to translate the keynote to the audience through explaining it and making it more relatable, downplaying the experience of being asked about your origin in a racialized way versus in a genuinely interested and friendly white people way that is used a lot in America to open up a conversation about family history and ancestry.
Confronted with criticism by the audience members, the organizers went on to defend and explain themselves rather than try to understand, what had gone wrong and how the event had participated in reproducing structures of racism rather than informing on it.]]> 2022-10-13 21:46:48 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339452896 "Asian-passing" and re: settler colonialism in Hawai'i (+ Singapore) https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339453008 Shu-mei Shih makes reference during her discussion of triangulation as a method to the "settler colonialism of Asians in Hawai'i," which as someone who was born and grew up there I instantly recognized what she was referring to. There's a sense (and maybe a disconnect) that Asians are the "majority" in Hawai'i and a (privileged) comfort in being "commonplace" that we don't notice until we go to the "mainland," as we call it. When I was in Japan, I had a friend from Singapore who felt the same way re: the position of Chinese there vs. Indonesians, the Malay. Tangentially, as people who could pass as Japanese and could speak it conversationally, we felt the same sort of "comfort" in how were viewed whenever we walked out, but also in this case a cautiousness of maintaining that passing/veil. The racial dynamic in Hawai'i and Japan are fairly different (though there are similarities) and I thought these differing but parallel experiences of homogeneity were intriguing.]]> 2022-10-13 21:46:59 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339453008 Triangulation of antisemitism, anti-Roma racism and Romanian nationalism, where the racialization of Jewish and Roma people is produced in relation (stereotypes about how one minority works too much, the other not at all; one is too religious, the other one not at all; etc). And how this travels when Romanian Roma enter various diasporas (say, in Paris or in London). https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339455955 2022-10-13 21:51:33 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339455955 racial/colonial dynamic i've experienced https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339456307 My college roommate was from Lithuania and although she had lived in the United States throughout high school, she still had to take a class that taught her about "US culture" in academia, and she also had to take another language as Lithuanian wasn't offered as a language she could test out of. ]]> 2022-10-13 21:51:59 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339456307 expansion of the "Russian empire" https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339456349 The dynamics of cultural differentiation of Ukraine from Russia (language, literature) and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and attempts at domination as well as its insistence of cultural sameness (also very in interesting to consider this in different geographic areas: Crimea vs Kyiv vs elsewhere) ]]> 2022-10-13 21:52:03 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339456349 rchakrapani https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339457170 One racial and social dynamic that I have experienced is the rise of Indian nationalism through Modi Administration in India. The present state of bigotry and discrimination towards Muslims and other minorities seems a replication of the other ways nations have risen to power including the USA, Japan, China. The difference perhaps is that there is no expansionist narrative, it's mostly trying to build an India where Hindu people are privileged. It seems like after some time the ruling class in India learned a lot about how to racialize and colonize their interior from British colonialism. ]]> 2022-10-13 21:53:01 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339457170 Performable and non-performable race https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339457789 Try speaking Mandarin, Cantonese, and English in Hong Kong for immediate self-classicization/ masquerading; The English-speaking Chinese assassin will always fail!(but he may masquerade as Asian American) "Race", as manifested 1) epidermally and unmasqueradable and 2) linguistically and a more "performable" trait.]]> 2022-10-13 21:54:00 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339457789 hiring https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339458713 That the English department is hiring more people who do race studies or African-American studies.]]> 2022-10-13 21:55:28 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339458713 Example https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339459040 My family is from Ukraine and when I told an acquaintance whose family is Ukrainian that my family is also from Ukraine, he said that his family wouldn't consider my family Ukrainian because we are Jewish.]]> 2022-10-13 21:55:51 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339459040 Angry about comparison https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339460151 In a previous colonial course, my professor told us about a dispute over using the word genocide. I can't remember the details, but I remember that a scholar compared what happened in the German colony with the Herero-Nama with the Shoa]]> 2022-10-13 21:57:33 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339460151 English domination of Scotland https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339460524 The English are keeping the Scottish from emancipating themselves as a nation and becoming closer to the EU.]]> 2022-10-13 21:58:06 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339460524 Color, trustworthiness, cultural capital https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339461171 A Japanese waiter refusing to speak Japanese to my Japanese-speaking white friend and only talked to me despite my lack of proficiency; A French waiter refusing to speak French to me despite my proficiency in French and only talked to my non-French-speaking American friend.]]> 2022-10-13 21:59:03 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339461171 comparison https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339461307 When I was younger, my elementary school hosted an "immigration assembly" where people "dressed up" as their ancestors (performing their ancestors, quite literally) and had to walk across the stage as though we were crossing into the US. Naturally, this experience was quite different for those who were children of recent immigrants and it was very strange to be performing something on a stage that it was our job to downplay the rest of the time ]]> 2022-10-13 21:59:20 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339461307 Growing up in a small village where most people were white. It was very uncommon to see people who weren't. Especially in schools, it seemed like there weren't any other people than white people. The own grandparents (who had come themselves many years ago from another country) warning about the non whites, that they tend to steal, that they are dangerous etc... Later on discovering the early learned racial thinking in oneself, trying to unlearn things one has heard so early in life. Unlearning the things which were presented to one growing up as "reality". https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339461933 2022-10-13 22:00:08 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339461933 Comparison https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462119 this reminds me of how my department in undergrad underwent a name change to reflect the ways in which we study literature and the literature that we study

]]> 2022-10-13 22:00:24 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462119 "Brown Skin, White Masks" (Dabashi) https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462864 Dabashi riffs off of Fanon's work, but writes about the way that Arab immigrants - specifically intellectuals that go West - facilitate American imperialist domination. It's all about the negative impact of intellectual migration. ]]> 2022-10-13 22:01:29 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462864 Being the One https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462942 In my MFA program, every year, there was 1 new Asian student out of 20-25 new students.

]]> 2022-10-13 22:01:38 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462942 rchakrapani https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462965 Cultural capital around language, the idea that language and nationhood are linked. I think a little bit about this with the idea of native English speaker. How someone, even though they were born outside the USA and speak fluent English, will always be untrustworthy as a teacher of English. Many international schools and job applications say "you have to be a native speaker."]]> 2022-10-13 22:01:40 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339462965 the racial identity of the newly hired https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339463561 Is it "implicitly" expected that the newly hired belong to a minority group? If so, this is also a type of discrimination and also violates employment regulations]]> 2022-10-13 22:02:47 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339463561 Connection/example? https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339463748 I've had this happen in a taxi in a HK -- speaking Cantonese automatically made the driver much friendlier (and an economic benefit in that he charged less...)]]> 2022-10-13 22:03:02 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339463748 But what if you are an existential "negation"? https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339463822 Fanon's Africans in Paris. The plain upon which recognition/méconnaissance is accomplished is shaky or simply does not exist. The precondition for masquerading is not even there.]]> 2022-10-13 22:03:12 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339463822 relationality https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339464148 in this comparison, it would be interesting to note the ways in which these examples are taking place. who are the voices that are being amplified? what changes are being made? what systems are being worked within?]]> 2022-10-13 22:03:46 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339464148 Adaptation https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339464261 The academic institutions are trying to adapt to the demand for work on the issue of racism.]]> 2022-10-13 22:03:59 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339464261 relationality https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339465940 What are the cultural/political/economic dynamics of nationhood vs. absorption in these contexts? Nationhood offers access into the EU in the Scottish case; how does access to these international groups produce a particular kind of incentive for autonomy? How are the contexts and stakes of Scotland and Ukraine different? How are these different forms of domination different? ]]> 2022-10-13 22:06:43 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339465940 Comparing this to tokenism https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339466577 The "shuffling" (?) off of African-American/African diaspora literature to the realm of one professor vs. changing syllabi systematically ]]> 2022-10-13 22:07:51 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339466577 relationality rchakrapani https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339466695 This is interesting because in both these examples it comes down to a sameness in language. English/Scottish and Russian/Ukrainian, also the perceived ownership of the language by the dominant and colonizing nation]]> 2022-10-13 22:08:03 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339466695 Chinese "modernity" and the neurosis of fetishization https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339467042  Chinese Modernity as deeply entrenched within the binary mode of following vs rejecting the West. The entire parcel of modernity is a negotiation with the West. (?Maybe)
Is it possible not to be neurotic in a world whose cultural capital is determined by paradigms and discourses initiated eastward and southward? (ex. Chinese scholars must publish in English for any notable recognition and hence the neurotic Chinese who is a "model English speaker/writer)]]> 2022-10-13 22:08:34 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339467042 https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339468774 Arab migrants to Brazil (and many other countries) have generally been racialized as white - a whiteness that was swiftly linked to a Christian identity and led to the erasure of Muslims that migrated, too. The repercussions of this are tangible in many ways now.]]> 2022-10-13 22:11:30 UTC https://padlet.com/rchakrapani/klci38ou54yakl7j/wish/2339468774