Otherwise Occupied

Dorothy M. Figueira

Description

Tracing the historical development of recent identity-based trends in literary theory to their roots in structuralism, Dorothy M. Figueira questions the extent to which theories and pedagogies of alterity have actually enabled us to engage the Other. She tracks academic attempts to deal with alterity from their inception in critical thought in the 1960s to the present. Focusing on multiculturalism and postcolonialism as professional and institutional practices, Figueira examines how such theories and pedagogies informed the academic and public discourse regarding September 11. She also investigates the theories and pedagogies of alterity as crucial elements in the bureaucratization of diversity within academe and discusses their impact on affirmative action.
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. Critical Background to Postructuralist Theories and Pedagogies of Alterity

2. Multiculturalism

Simulated Battles
The Institutionalization of Multiculturalism
The Methodology of Multiculturalism
Marketing the Margin
Masking the Metanarrative of Race

3. Postcolonial Criticism and Identitarian Politics
Definitions and the Scope of Postcolonial Criticism
History and Postcolonial Subjectivity
The Postcolonial Critic
The Repressive Allure of Postcolonial Criticism

4. The Brahminization of Theory: Commodity Fetishism and False Consciousness

Introduction
Postcolonial Criticism’s Disciplinary Roots
Commodifying Postcolonial Theory and Type-Casting the Critic
False Consciousness
Commodity Fetishism and Brahminization

5. The Romance of Exile

Introduction
Spokespersonship
The Exile
The Nomad
A Wand’ring Minstrel I, A Thing of Shreds and Patches

6. Occidentalism

Theory Confronts Reality
Rhetoric
The Fallaci Affair
Final Beliefs

7. Gestures of Inclusion

Introduction
Positive Discrimination in India
Affirmative Action in the United States
Cosmetic Enhancement

Conclusion: The Collecting of the Other

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 23 octobre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791477601
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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O THERWISE O CCUPIED

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O O T H E RW I S EC C U P I E D

Pedagogies of Alterity and the Brahminization of Theory

D O ROT H Y  M . F I G U E I R A

State U n ive r s i ty of N ew Yor k P re s s

Cover photograph: Duncan Searl,World Trade Center, 1974

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2008 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic,magnetictape,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Figueira, Dorothy M.  Otherwise occupied : pedagogies of alterity and the brahminization of theory / Dorothy M. Figueira.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-0-7914-7573-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)  1. Criticism—History—20th century. 2. Postmodernism. 3. Multiculturalism. I. Title.

PN94.F49 2008 801'.950904—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2008000119

Acknowledgments

Introduction

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C onte nt s

Critical Background to Poststructuralist Theories and Pedagogies of Alterity

Multiculturalism  Simulated Battles 15  The Institutionalization of Multiculturalism 16  The Methodology of Multiculturalism 18  Marketing the Margin 24  Masking the Metanarrative of Race 27

Postcolonial Criticism and Identitarian Politics  Definitions and the Scope of Postcolonial Criticism 31  History and Postcolonial Subjectivity 34  The Postcolonial Critic 36  The Repressive Allure of Postcolonial Criticism 43

The Brahminization of Theory: Commodity Fetishism and False Consciousness  Introduction 50  Postcolonial Criticism’s Disciplinary Roots 53  Commodifying Postcolonial Theory and Type-Casting  the Critic 59  False Consciousness 64  Commodity Fetishism and Brahminization 68

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C ONTENTS

The Romance of Exile  Introduction 71  Spokespersonship 72  The Exile 74  The Nomad 83  A Wand’ring Minstrel I, A Thing of Shreds and Patches 89

Occidentalism  Theory Confronts Reality 91  Rhetoric 94  The Fallaci Affair 101  Final Beliefs 104

Gestures of Inclusion  Introduction 107  Positive Discrimination in India 109  Affirmative Action in the United States 113  Cosmetic Enhancement 117

Conclusion: The Collecting of the Other

Notes

Bibliography

Index .

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C ONTENTS

Ac k nowle dg m e nt s

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Thirty years of personal experience within academe have gone into the composition of this volume. My career as a literary scholar was marked by my initial formation in France as a student in the social sciences. I began my studies attending the lectures of Lévi-Strauss in Paris and ended in the States as a student of Ricoeur and Gadamer. I came to comparative literature relatively late, after training as an historian of religions. This initial formation, perhaps, made me particularly insouciant regarding the theoretical gods for whom literary scholars were establishing altars in the 80s. Having already studied truly powerful deities, I remember thinking what paltry gods critics were now worshiping. As an Indologist, I witnessed with amazement the movement of India as a site of academic inquiry—from Harappan seals to the English novel. My experience as a first-generation “Hispanic”-American female has afforded me first-hand knowledge of affirmative action protocols and inspired interest in the politics of recent trends in identity studies. As a New Yorker, I was deeply effected, as we all were, by the events of September 11. As a critic, however, I was struck by how the ensuing discourse reflected themes that had become commonplace in the literature classroom. Moreover, all these experiences inform how I conceptualize my work and decode the profession. They also permit me to acknowledge how important itstillto is have a “face that fits” the establishment. Woe to those who don’t! I want to thank colleagues who have encouraged me and allowed me to present my thoughts in their classrooms and conferences—Jüri Talvet, (Tartu), Monika Schmitz-Emans (Bochum), Sergio Perosa (Venice/NYU), Satish Alekar (Pune), Manfred Schmeling (Saarbrücken), Koji Kawamoto (Tokyo), Chandra Mohan (Delhi), Meng Hua (Beijing), Jean Bessière (Paris), and Jasbhir Jain (Jaipur). I also want to thank colleagues such as Ronald Bogue and Farley Richmond (both of the University of Georgia), Gerald Gillespie (Stanford), John Burt Foster (George Mason University), and Alfred Lopez (Purdue University). I am deeply grateful to Jenny Webb for all her assistance in helping me clean

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A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

up the manuscript and check sources. I am also indebted to the comments of diligent anonymous readers and the most able editorial staff of the SUNY Press, especially Laurie Searl. I would also like to thank Nancy Ellegate of SUNY Press with whom I have had occasion to work in the past. I much appreciate how the SUNY Press has supported and marketed my work over the years. I would also like to thank my daughters Lila and Mira for their understanding. My husband John has been my ideal reader—insightful and constructive. I dedicate this book to my brothers, Thomas and Robert, who were born too early to benefit from their liminality.