With most of the group-stage matches of the current World Cup underway, a standout hard-to-miss is the resurgence of the Americas, Asia, and the Africas. While my circle of viewers that enliven each match inevitably puts me in a the seat of an "expert," I can claim none of its trappings as such. Nevertheless, we have all observed how the final round in this World Cup has really seen a levelling of the playing field. Previous pushovers have upped their game and now have to be counted as formidable rivals that could knock one out: Australia, South Africa, New Zealand,...even Korea DPR showed some flair against Brazil despite the eventual 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Portugal.
But more hard-to-miss were the traditional European powerhouses that fell really short of their mark. Last World Cup's finalists Italy and France lacked the creativity and skill to raise their game above their very pedestrian display of vapid football. France's in-house problems did not help their game either. England squeezed through to the knockout round but did it in fashionably English-football style with dollops of scrappy passes and unimaginative moves...YAWWWNNN! Slovenia, Serbia, and Greece have also fallen by the wayside.
Going by the trend, I am rooting for a winner from South America or Africa. Remniscent of Dipesh Chakrabarty's book with the same title as this post, europe no longer seems to define the standards of football in the sense that the global forum--such as is the World Cup--has to be thought of in terms of the peripheries rather than the center dominated by the West (the US team has improved but i don't think will move beyond the next stage). Hopefully India will be in one of the next editions of this global tamasha and significantly represented by its diversity [read: players from Mizoram--now that the 2006 XBox edition of the World Cup features Jerry Zirsanga].
Go Brazil!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
stet!!
Just put in the final piece of the jigsaw. Bated breath––hope the pieces stick together but more importantly, hope the jigsaw sells! This collection of essays should soon be in print by the end of this year. Our publishers have already made the announcement, which seems to say that dye has been cast.
Here's the skinny on the book. Christianity came to India in the 1st, 4th or 18th century CE, depending on which tradition you take up. The bulk of its recipients were the no-bodies of "Indian" society hoping to reinvent themselves as the some-bodies. Not so! The no-bodies remained as such for the next two centuries and more. Over the last thirty years, the no-bodies came back with a literary vengeance. Flinging their pens with aplomb, they asserted their place in religious and social discourse in a move to dismantle the societal strait-jackets imposed on them. Since this initial surge, insiders and outsiders have looked back in critical retrospect; new vocabularies, emergent investments, and discursive trajectories are being explored to map out where this assertive stance might address itself in the twentyfirst century. Some of these arrogative explorations are catalogued in this collection of essays.
To toot my horn, my contribution to the collection was as a tribal. I also took the lead on the copy editing, proofreading, and compiling the index. But readers, especially my folks, might sense a slight tokenism in my inclusion as the sole other no-body. But then again, the focus of the book--and the conference from which this collection of essays is drawn--might not have much space to be more encompassing.
If you got the dosh and the curiosity...buy!
To toot my horn, my contribution to the collection was as a tribal. I also took the lead on the copy editing, proofreading, and compiling the index. But readers, especially my folks, might sense a slight tokenism in my inclusion as the sole other no-body. But then again, the focus of the book--and the conference from which this collection of essays is drawn--might not have much space to be more encompassing.
If you got the dosh and the curiosity...buy!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
zomi nge zomia
For those with the time to indulge and the inclination to ideate, this lecture might be one that interests you and, more importantly, worth your time. In this lecture (runtime: 1hr, 17mins), James C. Scott, a professor at Yale U, previews his book, The Art of Not Being Governed (2009). The focus of his lecture is the idea of "Zomia," which accounts for hill folk that inhabit the upper elevations from northeast India down east to the coast of Vietnam. Drawing on Willem van Schendel's work on the subject, Zomia is theorized as the last few bastions of resistance in the shatter-zones of modern nation states.
James Scott's proposal for theorizing "Zomia" is informative in that it valorizes our folks's difference and helps make sense of some of what we observe as mundane. More importantly, it suggests a lateral vantage point from where particulars may be viewed. Hence, what we might percieve as an issue as peculiar to say a Mizo situation, Zomia suggests broad cultural parallels for that issue. Two instances might be helpful to sell this point.
*Commenting on religion, Scott observes, "Where, as occasionally happens, they do come to embrace the 'world religion' of their valley neighbors, they are likely to do so with a degree of heterodoxy and millenarian fervor that valley elites find more threatening than assuring(Art of Not Being Governed, 21)." With a missionary Christianity that was "foreseen" (Darphawka) and the popular currency of "last-days" religious and ethical templates, the wide frames of reference that Zomia provides might be worth a second thought. Could Mizo Christianity and its idiosyncrasies suggest the tensions of coming to terms with modernity of a colonial extract? Vanlalchhuanawma's recent Christianity and Subaltern Culture (2007) suggested so.
**Regarding oral histories of writing, Zomia stories share a striking parallel: the hill folks at one time had writing but lost it through their own improvidence or treachery (Art of Not Being Governed, 221). Our oral tradition notes that we did have alphabets on a parchment. We couldn't care less for it. A dog eventually ate the parchment and, in doing so, deprived the Mizo of a script. This theme is not so unique and recurs through many oral tradtions of other hill folk (Akha, Karen, etc.). Seen, however, through Zomia lenses, these oral traditions underscore post-literacy (rather than illiteracy) in that, "the absence of writing and texts provides the freedom to maneuver in history, genealogy, and legibility that frustrates state routines (220)."
The only preliminary caution is that the notion is, at face value, too large a metanarrative that more work will definitely be needed to highlight the variations and peculiarities of the Zomia folk. This is not so much a scraping down of theoretical structures as it is to take what resources we have and to push them further with our own work.
Postscript: what are we to make of the recent deplorable racial boycott? This is neither to condone a "crime" with verbal gymnastics nor to exonerate the tawdry response to an incident that is equally deplorable. Rather, insights from the notion of zomia are informative as they push us to rewrite our own stories not in blissful exclusion but with templates that are problematically inclusive (for instance "of-half-breeds-and-aliens"). Inarticulate xenophobia takes little to peer through façades of religion or modern sophistication.
James Scott's proposal for theorizing "Zomia" is informative in that it valorizes our folks's difference and helps make sense of some of what we observe as mundane. More importantly, it suggests a lateral vantage point from where particulars may be viewed. Hence, what we might percieve as an issue as peculiar to say a Mizo situation, Zomia suggests broad cultural parallels for that issue. Two instances might be helpful to sell this point.
*Commenting on religion, Scott observes, "Where, as occasionally happens, they do come to embrace the 'world religion' of their valley neighbors, they are likely to do so with a degree of heterodoxy and millenarian fervor that valley elites find more threatening than assuring(Art of Not Being Governed, 21)." With a missionary Christianity that was "foreseen" (Darphawka) and the popular currency of "last-days" religious and ethical templates, the wide frames of reference that Zomia provides might be worth a second thought. Could Mizo Christianity and its idiosyncrasies suggest the tensions of coming to terms with modernity of a colonial extract? Vanlalchhuanawma's recent Christianity and Subaltern Culture (2007) suggested so.
**Regarding oral histories of writing, Zomia stories share a striking parallel: the hill folks at one time had writing but lost it through their own improvidence or treachery (Art of Not Being Governed, 221). Our oral tradition notes that we did have alphabets on a parchment. We couldn't care less for it. A dog eventually ate the parchment and, in doing so, deprived the Mizo of a script. This theme is not so unique and recurs through many oral tradtions of other hill folk (Akha, Karen, etc.). Seen, however, through Zomia lenses, these oral traditions underscore post-literacy (rather than illiteracy) in that, "the absence of writing and texts provides the freedom to maneuver in history, genealogy, and legibility that frustrates state routines (220)."
The only preliminary caution is that the notion is, at face value, too large a metanarrative that more work will definitely be needed to highlight the variations and peculiarities of the Zomia folk. This is not so much a scraping down of theoretical structures as it is to take what resources we have and to push them further with our own work.
Postscript: what are we to make of the recent deplorable racial boycott? This is neither to condone a "crime" with verbal gymnastics nor to exonerate the tawdry response to an incident that is equally deplorable. Rather, insights from the notion of zomia are informative as they push us to rewrite our own stories not in blissful exclusion but with templates that are problematically inclusive (for instance "of-half-breeds-and-aliens"). Inarticulate xenophobia takes little to peer through façades of religion or modern sophistication.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
healthcare...and then some!
The U.S finally pulled through a landmark bill that addresses its much pressing healthcare issues. I don’t understand the minute details of the bill but what I do glean from reports and news bytes is that the bill would place the government as a decisive guarantor and executor of basic health care. The bill itself has a long and polarizing history; previous attempts on reform were scuttled still-born by crafty maneuvers from healthcare industry lobbyist. But a determined President finally came through on his promise of change!
And change, one hopes, it will be.
One cannot help compare.
Out here, other than over-the-counter generic types, all meds are purchased only with a valid prescription signed off by registered doctor. To acquire the prescription, one needs to be evaluated by the doctor; the appointment itself could easily cost a cool $50. The only way to offset this cost would be to have health insurance for which one pays an annual premium. Even with this insurance, one would still pay something like $20 and the agency would cover the rest. Now this one is for the most basic check-up and prescription facility. Multiply the dynamics if one needed hospitalization or even surgery. For reference, a friend's son was hospitalized for a night and the charges rounded off to about $13000.00. Insurance kicked in to offset the cost.
Back home, an average family can, more or less, have access to these facilities. Quality may be abegging, waiting lines at the OPD may be long, but the basic healthcare needs are accessible. Doctors are integral components of the wider community (I still hope) rather than line-personnel in a healthcare industrial factory. Margins, I hope again, are determined by accessible and effective health services rather than corporate profits.
While not to suggest easy stereotypes in my comparison, I remember once when I fell short on my attendance in college. The only way I could enroll for the examinations that year was if I produced a medical report to validate the 30+ days I was absent. A very resourceful friend, in the same situation as I was in, took me to a rundown kiosk (!!!) near SRCC. On entering, we noticed the only thing without dust on it was the old doctor himself. Aged to a shriveled grey, he seemed to not have plied his trade for the better part of the last few decades.
“Ha beta, kya chahiye?” he asked.
“We need a medical report to make up for our attendance.”
“Achha, how much money do you have?”
We dug into our pockets and took out a few crumpled notes. “Sir, we have eighty rupees.”
“Achha, what sickness shall I give you?”
Both my friend and I did make it through the examinations that year!!
And change, one hopes, it will be.
One cannot help compare.
Out here, other than over-the-counter generic types, all meds are purchased only with a valid prescription signed off by registered doctor. To acquire the prescription, one needs to be evaluated by the doctor; the appointment itself could easily cost a cool $50. The only way to offset this cost would be to have health insurance for which one pays an annual premium. Even with this insurance, one would still pay something like $20 and the agency would cover the rest. Now this one is for the most basic check-up and prescription facility. Multiply the dynamics if one needed hospitalization or even surgery. For reference, a friend's son was hospitalized for a night and the charges rounded off to about $13000.00. Insurance kicked in to offset the cost.
Back home, an average family can, more or less, have access to these facilities. Quality may be abegging, waiting lines at the OPD may be long, but the basic healthcare needs are accessible. Doctors are integral components of the wider community (I still hope) rather than line-personnel in a healthcare industrial factory. Margins, I hope again, are determined by accessible and effective health services rather than corporate profits.
While not to suggest easy stereotypes in my comparison, I remember once when I fell short on my attendance in college. The only way I could enroll for the examinations that year was if I produced a medical report to validate the 30+ days I was absent. A very resourceful friend, in the same situation as I was in, took me to a rundown kiosk (!!!) near SRCC. On entering, we noticed the only thing without dust on it was the old doctor himself. Aged to a shriveled grey, he seemed to not have plied his trade for the better part of the last few decades.
“Ha beta, kya chahiye?” he asked.
“We need a medical report to make up for our attendance.”
“Achha, how much money do you have?”
We dug into our pockets and took out a few crumpled notes. “Sir, we have eighty rupees.”
“Achha, what sickness shall I give you?”
Both my friend and I did make it through the examinations that year!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)