This is an archive. The forum is not taking new registrations or allowing new discussion, despite what the buttons might suggest.
Towards a global cultural citizenship
Sunday, Jul 03, 2005
Towards a global cultural citizenship
SACHIDANANDA MOHANTY
continue reading: http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/07/03/stories/2005070300020100.htm
Towards a global cultural citizenship
SACHIDANANDA MOHANTY
"Homi K. Bhabha speaks on his theoretical constructs, the place of aesthetic life in late capitalism, and his exploration of the issue of global culture and cultural citizenship. "
Homi K. Bhabha is one of the leading post-colonial theorists. He is the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English and American Literature and Chair of the Program in History and Literature at Harvard University. He is the author of The Location of Culture (Routledge, 1996), and editor of the essay collection Nation and Narration (Routledge, 1990). At the Radcliffe Institute, Bhabha will finish his book titled A Global Measure. Excerpts from a conversation.
What is the significance of the persistence of the category called Nation?
To say that there is a narrative aspect to the creation and construction of a nation is not to deny that it has a material and historical persistence as a form of political and social life. After all, territorial societies are most commonly seen as national politics. Histories of nations and narratives of nations have always been woven together and have created this compelling social form.
How are terms such as mimicry, hybridity, and interstitial categories related to semiotics and psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalysis, connected to the issue of identity, suggests that all forms of identification are partial and ambivalent. All subjects are constituted in a liminal place. Ambivalence is thus very important in my understanding of social processes and social relations. Similarly, semiotics, the theory and understanding of signs, suggests that a particular sign has a set of meanings, based on a systemic location and a discursive use of that sign. Every sign gains its meaning in a particular language system. Words have to be read in a given social context. Thus, for me, semiotics suggested that you could not ascribe universal values to literary texts. You had to understand the burden of interpretation and the burden of representation on those specific texts. (.....)
continue reading: http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/07/03/stories/2005070300020100.htm
Howdy, Stranger!