tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82793940615896271542024-03-16T11:50:47.931-07:00The Globally CuriousWorld literature and movie reviews, with a special focus on non-Western sci-fi and fantasyChelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.comBlogger155125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-31992347586248422332018-09-14T21:40:00.001-07:002018-09-14T21:40:35.134-07:00The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUx6l0SrbQqKUuQMDezz4aCxNcUKb4j3AOUZd0wmzxf6tDRc73jc8IwNJ7qKLphMbtDuYmUkJgSLIV29lnIeH4ONhw1ffUaf1BMflnuyFu0f3qjtaMt6ivArTaoTXgpNwL9_SAtoo-U2AI/s1600/Gilda+Stories+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="307" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUx6l0SrbQqKUuQMDezz4aCxNcUKb4j3AOUZd0wmzxf6tDRc73jc8IwNJ7qKLphMbtDuYmUkJgSLIV29lnIeH4ONhw1ffUaf1BMflnuyFu0f3qjtaMt6ivArTaoTXgpNwL9_SAtoo-U2AI/s320/Gilda+Stories+cover.jpg" width="206" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26196033-the-gilda-stories">The Gilda Stories</a><br />
Jewelle Gomez<br />
1991, I read 25th Anniversary edition, 2016<br />
259 pages, speculative, LGBTQIA+<br />
Found at Borderlands Books in San Francisco<br />
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Trigger warnings: rape, street harassment, blood, sex<br />
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I picked up this book on sale while visiting Borderlands Books in San Francisco this past winter. After spending so much time in India, where speculative fiction is not big and it can be hard to find anything beyond JRR Tolkein and Game of Thrones, Borderlands felt like paradise. I asked the staffperson to recommend some diverse books, since I did not usually have access to such a collection - and this is one of his recommendations. Thanks to Borderlands Books for recommending this book.<br />
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In this episodic novel, an escaped slave is rescued by two vampires who run a brothel together near New Orleans in 1850. When she chooses, they change her into a vampire as well. What follows is 200 years of exploration of herself, her found family, and what makes her human - or not. As a black woman living on the margins of society, how does she experience social changes over time? Where (or who) is home?<br />
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The best part of this book, for me, was the emphasis on creating a family. This is not just a romantic proposition, of finding one or more partners to live with over time; this group of vampires literally creates a family based on whether individuals want to join them and have the aptitude for living in a moral way. While some of these new family members might be brought in as lovers (i.e., the longest-running couple in the book, Sorel and Anthony), others are brothers, sisters, or friends. Lovers do not always stay together for long periods of time; according to their own wishes and interests, they go their separate ways, always knowing that they are part of a family that they can return to at any time. This vision of a found family is empowering: while they miss each other acutely, each individual's wishes and interests are respected, with the knowledge that they always have somewhere to come home.<br />
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Gilda's search for a family is also wrapped up in her search for a <i>place</i>. She constantly tries to create her own place of comfort and familiarity, even though she always knows that she will have to move again. Unlike other members of her family, she does not enjoy traveling - partially because of traumatic experiences in the past, and partially because she wants to enjoy staying in one place as long as possible. This is why she carries a collection of personal items with her through the years: she feels she can make a home for herself with her quilt, her desk, and some mementos of long-dead mortal friends and family. It is this vision of creating a home and a found family on the outermost margins of society that most appealed to me.<br />
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The fantastic aspects of this book were interesting. The vampires can move around - and even walk through daylight to some extent - if they just keep some of their native soil on their person at all times. They have creative ways of doing this: embedding some dirt into the soles of their shoes or in the hem of their clothes, for example. While they don't eat food, they do drink a lot of tea and alcohol, which seem to create them same effect as on humans. The most empowering is the idea of an exchange: for the blood they take, the vampires provide a solution to a problem that the human is worried about, or a happy thought, or something else that is good and useful for their mental lives. All in all, this is a unique take on vampires that brings this book beyond the somewhat standardized version we are familiar with from the last few decades.<br />
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I want to finish this review with a few words about my preconceptions about this book. In the cover blurb of the version I read, it states that, besides being a classic of lesbian literature, "<i>The Gilda Stories</i> has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and the erotic potential of the vampire story." If you read that last point and expect this novel to be full of erotica, you will be disappointed. While sexual activities (between women and one with a man) are poetically implied at numerous points, there are no explicit sex scenes in this book. [Trigger warning] There are a few mentions of rape or the threat of rape, as well as a number of scenes involving street harassment of various kinds. Similarly, there is not much explicit discussion of radical ecology: the environment mostly plays the role of a distant backdrop for the action, even when environmental collapse causes the breakdown of human society in the future chapters. This is mostly because of Gilda's lack of interest: she is happy with her own little sphere, and doesn't often bother with things outside of it. This is not true for the other vampires; Bird, for example, is constantly working as an environmental activist in various parts of the world. While I greatly enjoyed this book, I feel that it would have been better to not have these expectations going in.<br />
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-1962474129065242322018-01-03T06:14:00.002-08:002018-01-03T06:14:39.711-08:00Ruins by Achy Obejas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDPuYpA7qrFz0go9NRbfcSvBZFqBwnYgnn5pjx0-xDB__hyphenhyphenzLrFWh9oT_BPbnBBvNM9vAcWHC03gBg7W1kLzyTuBGCbyTG0mQTT9MeI-Zxox3iXXMMGCW1nyHAoLySj2br2NxITPKOhAm/s1600/ruins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJDPuYpA7qrFz0go9NRbfcSvBZFqBwnYgnn5pjx0-xDB__hyphenhyphenzLrFWh9oT_BPbnBBvNM9vAcWHC03gBg7W1kLzyTuBGCbyTG0mQTT9MeI-Zxox3iXXMMGCW1nyHAoLySj2br2NxITPKOhAm/s320/ruins.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6072604-ruins">Ruins </a><br />
Achy Obejas<br />
2009<br />
205 pages, drama, character study<br />
Found: A signed first edition (!) at a secondhand bookstore somewhere in India<br />
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Usnavy, a proud veteran of the Cuban revolution, is as much of a straight-shooter as it is possible to be. Despite the deprivations that have made life miserable for him and his family, he refuses to do anything illegal. The other employees at the bodega (government ration supply store) may sell products out of the back before they can be parceled out, but Usnavy refuses. He is happy to do the most miserable of government jobs - and be the one who gets abused about the lack of supplies or the need to collect funds for public projects - because he truly believes in his country and the purpose of the Revolution.<br />
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Where everyone else has given up, Usnavy continues to go on, an idealist till the end.<br />
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And then one of his best friends leaves the country by boat, and recruits Usnavy's help. And Usnavy is suddenly compromised for the first time. And suddenly Usnavy becomes truly aware of the deprivations and the ways he could make money to better himself and his family's position.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Hunger and food shortages</h3>
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This book is best at getting you into the head of someone dealing with great deprivations, especially those caused by food shortages. There is no way that the government can provide enough food for people, so they are left to scrounge around for whatever they can find (or buy, or steal, or sell). Usnavy's constantly empty, rumbling stomach is an unceasing companion. The author conveys this all-consuming hunger so viscerally that I could feel my own stomach twisting as I read it:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Usnavy watched as [his wife] Lidia served up a sandwich for [their daughter] Nena that he recognized as having what looked like a reddish-brown meat. His immediate fear was that it was cat flesh. As a delighted Nena ate - complimenting Lidia, savoring the little bits of what looked like onions - Lidia kept busy, avoiding Usnavy's eye.... Of all people, of course, he knew that the only ingredient she'd gotten legally for that sandwich was the bread. (35)</blockquote>
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But no sooner had Usnavy pulled up the bread and seen the flat layer of pith covered in seasoning, than he recognized its true provenance: These were pieces of a blanket normally used for mopping floors which [their neighbor] Rosita had beaten and marinated in spices and a little beef broth.... At least it wasn't cat meat, he thought. </blockquote>
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Then he bowed his head in dismay and disbelief. (37-8) </blockquote>
What happens when basic necessities are only available on the black market, and you have to do illegal (and sometimes immoral) things to get the cash to pay for them? Especially if you believe so strongly in the rightness of the government and the society that you are a part of?<br />
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These are all moral questions that Usnavy struggles with in this book, and the constant hunger lends a sense of urgency and desperation to everything. What won't someone do when faced with such a situation?<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Fear of flight</h3>
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Usnavy spends much of the book trying to prevent his daughter from running away - from fleeing to the US, which beckons more and more with every day of starvation. It seems so close, and yet it is so far from everything that Usnavy ever wanted for her, or for them.<br />
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Usnavy has always been made fun of for being light-skinned, having red hair, and being so naive as to truly believe in the revolution. But he has also been fighting for the revolutionary values because he does not want things to change. He wants his struggle in the war to be worth something; he wants his country that he fought for to be worth something. And somewhere in his mind he worries that it is maybe not worth anything after all. What is the use of a country that can't even provide its own people with food to prevent starvation?<br />
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So he vehemently opposes the flood of people leaving the island for brighter shores, but also wonders when he will have to follow them. When he will himself turn traitor to the cause that he spent his life serving.<br />
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And of course that terrifies him.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Gender issues</h3>
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I cannot write a review without examining the very delicate but incisive discussion of gender issues in this book. </div>
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First, Usnavy's wife and daughter seem like women who have been forced to give up their desires for the sake of the man in their life (i.e., Usnavy). Lidia, Usnavy's wife, used to be a driver for a hospital, and, as Usnavy mentions, was "one of the first women to really excel at the job." However, due to budget cuts she was laid off and not provided with an alternative job that would pay appropriately. So now she is stuck in their tiny apartment, trying to eke out meals from the tiny amount of supplies that her husband brings home. </div>
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Their daughter, Nena, is in a similarly stuck position. Not only will Usnavy not allow her to break any of the oppressive government rules, but she is stuck between school and home because he will not allow her to access his bicycle - not even as a loan! </div>
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While Usnavy does give some thought to his family's position (especially in terms of hunger), his thoughts are mostly on himself. He never asks whether Lidia and Nena are ok with giving up opportunities to follow his principles. Usnavy spends most of his time outside of the house, whether at the bodega or playing dominoes with his friends; when he is not at home, he still takes up most of the space with his large stained-glass lamp (more on this below). It is a very claustrophobic situation for the two women, and there seems to be little thought on Usnavy's part about whether they really want a life like this.<br />
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Second, the novel masterfully details how relatively uneducated, ordinary people deal with trans issues. The "son" of one of Usnavy's friends is in the US, where "he" is reportedly doing well. When "he" comes to visit, however, it turns out that she has transitioned. While her father knew (and seems accepting), he had been ashamed to admit that his son was now a daughter. And his fear appears to be justified when another friend reacts violently to the news. But Usnavy does not seem to have a problem with the situation; sure, it is a bit unusual, but then as a kid she was always different. I would be very interested to hear the thoughts of a trans individual on this aspect of the book, particularly how they read Usnavy's reaction to her transition. </div>
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A jeweled mystery</h3>
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Usnavy's life is consumed by a large piece of his family heritage: a beautiful glass lamp that not only provides some comfort and beauty to his otherwise bare, meager life, but also inspires him to make changes to that life later in the novel.<br />
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To relieve the gloom, the family's room - a breadbox, a shoebox - was illuminated by a most extraordinary lamp. Were it not for the sheer size of it, Usnavy could have built a second floor - a barbacoa - like many of his neighbors. Made of multicolored stained glass and shaped like an oversized dome, the lamp was wild. Almost two meters across, the cupola dropped down with a mild green vine-and-leaf motif that flowered into luscious yellow and red blossoms, then became a crimson jungle with huge feline eyes. (In truth, they were peacock feathers, but Usnavy had never seen or dreamt of peacocks, so he imagined them as lions or, at least, cats.) The armature consisted of branches at the top, black and fat to resemble the density of tree bark. They narrowed as they neared the edge, until they were pencil thin and delicate. The borders were shaped with the unevenness of leaves and eyelids, petals and orbs, in a riotous yet precise design. (17)</blockquote>
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This glorious lamp is the source of Usnavy's greatest joy. He knows it has something to do with his family's past; it was a feature at his mother's house in his childhood, but she had never explained its provenance or how it had come into their family's possession. He spends hours just looking at the lamp, polishing it, making sure it glows with all possible intensity. This obsession seems to take precedent over everything else in his life, including his family members.<br />
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It is only when a chance encounter shows him that there are other lamps like his (although smaller, less elaborate, not as beautiful) that he realizes he is sitting on a goldmine. He begins to use his knowledge of the lamp and its brothers to make some money, to improve the family's state of living. He sells the other lamps and the glass from the other lamps, but he is reluctant to touch his own unless absolutely desperate. And so he begins to walk a fine line: neglecting his official work in favor of an alternative industry of selling glass, while also refusing to allow anyone to see his own lamp. Eventually all of this has to catch up with him, somehow.<br />
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I absolutely loved this novel, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is both a good literary investigation of life in Cuba during the early years of the Special Period and a brilliantly written and paced novel.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Further Reading</h3>
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<a href="http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=122225">"Was the 'Special Period' a Cuban Invention?"</a> by Dmitri Prieto (Havana Times) </div>
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<a href="http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=102373">"Cuba’s 'Special Period' Remembered"</a> by Irina Pino (Havana Times) </div>
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<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/how-cubans-health-improved-when-their-economy-collapsed/275080/">"How Cubans' Health Improved When Their Economy Collapsed"</a> by Richard Schiffman (The Atlantic)</div>
<a href="http://translatingcuba.com/the-maleconazo-cubas-first-popular-revolt-happened-23-years-ago-ivn-garca/">"The Maleconazo, Cuba’s First Popular Revolt, Happened 23 Years Ago"</a> by Ivan Garcia (Translating Cuba)<br />
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<b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-84740150269878074812017-08-15T06:14:00.002-07:002017-08-15T06:14:15.750-07:00Alif, directed by N K Muhammed Koya<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQO2h9eycVBZhRW3YgKMh2nYMCv0OflWJ_EoWVSqJHfLblmQMiqMPfxBaKk3L8LvbT0LpZ5BYuMkg4RHbz6F6vDMeGMS7hyphenhyphenab0x0_UAUQM5rFymhKVA31duMi7FIf315OLVNSwkIWKtG7Y/s1600/Alif.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="417" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQO2h9eycVBZhRW3YgKMh2nYMCv0OflWJ_EoWVSqJHfLblmQMiqMPfxBaKk3L8LvbT0LpZ5BYuMkg4RHbz6F6vDMeGMS7hyphenhyphenab0x0_UAUQM5rFymhKVA31duMi7FIf315OLVNSwkIWKtG7Y/s320/Alif.jpg" width="204" /></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4835658/">Alif: The First Letter of Knowledge</a><br />
India (Malayalam), 2015<br />
101 min, drama<br />
Directed by N K Muhammed Koya<br />
<br />
This movie focuses on a Muslim family in Kerala, India, which had been important in the past but had fallen out of power because of the death of the patriarch. At this point there are four generations living together from this one family. For simplicity’s sake I will refer to them as the grandmother, the mother, the daughter, and the granddaughter. There is also a grandson who is younger than the granddaughter, and who is the pride and joy of this otherwise poor family.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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The plot of the movie concerns these four generations of women and how they deal with the patriarchal Muslim and Malayali society that they live in. They have to realize their own autonomy while still being circumscribed by the men in their lives, specifically the dead grandfather and the young boy.<br />
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Social ostracism</h3>
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At the very beginning of the movie, the daughter is summarily divorced by her husband with the support of some village elders. Even before this, he had not been contributing to the family, and they were suffering because of this. Not only are they having trouble because of not being able to afford food, etc., but they are treated badly by the other members of the community because of their poverty. For example, when the grandson visits a friend from a wealthier house he is forced to sit on the floor to watch TV; he is not allowed to sit on the furniture.<br />
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Read the rest of this review at <a href="http://theasiancinemablog.com/cinema-of-india/alif-movie-review-malayalam/">The Asian Cinema Blog</a></div>
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<br />Further Reading: </h3>
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"<a href="https://scroll.in/article/835761/understanding-triple-talaq-and-domestic-violence-through-the-stories-of-three-muslim-women">Understanding triple talaq (and domestic violence) through the stories of three Muslim women</a>" by Aarefa Johari (scroll)<br />
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-62220622468761664382017-04-11T23:10:00.001-07:002017-04-11T23:26:59.702-07:00Moogavani Pillanagrovi (Ballad of Ontillu) by Kesava Reddy, translated by the author<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGe5cPg4W98TmTsXrA9_13gx5uUiFkYdD4aCaWnBH1R4PM_hj8R-3MhQ2NM4XQd8Yxtv0A7SLWXh0sPnm4RhrjXB3cBDhjvAV2CRX6ckb7T18K6SxDxaKovV8ykNj_Xy4r83iV7QHsE-s/s1600/Moogavani+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSGe5cPg4W98TmTsXrA9_13gx5uUiFkYdD4aCaWnBH1R4PM_hj8R-3MhQ2NM4XQd8Yxtv0A7SLWXh0sPnm4RhrjXB3cBDhjvAV2CRX6ckb7T18K6SxDxaKovV8ykNj_Xy4r83iV7QHsE-s/s200/Moogavani+cover.jpg" width="137" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20663297-moogavani-pillanangrovi">Moogavani Pillanagrovi (Ballad of Ontillu)</a><br />
Kesava Reddy<br />
Translated by the author (Telugu)<br />
First published 1993, I read 2013 translation<br />
114 pages, common man's tragedy, mental illness<br />
<br />
<i>Many thanks to <a href="https://india.oup.com/">Oxford University Press India</a> for providing a review copy of this book.</i><br />
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After being forced to sell his land, an elderly farmer faces a mental breakdown that finally ends in his death.<br />
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This is my first video review! Watch it here:</h3>
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References: </h3>
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<i style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://ncrb.nic.in/StatPublications/ADSI/ADSI2014/ADSI2014.asp">Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2014</a> </i><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">(National Crime Records Bureau)</span><br />
"<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/centre-must-step-in-to-stop-farmer-suicide-madras-hc-says/articleshow/58005606.cms" style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Centre must step in to stop farmer suicide, Madras HC says</a>" by A Subramanil (Times of India)</div>
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"<a href="https://stirringthepyramid.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/how-many-farmers-does-india-have-or-what-percent/">How many farmers does India really have? Or, what percent of the population does farming?</a>" (Stirring the Pyramid)</div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />Further reading:</h3>
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"<a href="https://www.facebook.com/thewire.in/videos/1350197911721202/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED">Why Farmers are Protesting with Human Skulls at Jantar Mantar</a>" (thewire.in) (video)<br />
"<a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bjp-ignoring-farmer-suicide-by-pushing-for-stricter-cow-slaughter-laws-shiv-sena/story-JlepwPiQPxMZXEmYYD2FXL.html">BJP ignoring farmer suicides by pushing for stricter cow slaughter laws: Sena</a>" (Hindustan Times)<br />
"<a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/west-bengal-potato-farmers-suicide-burdwan/1/912087.html">West Bengal: Potato farmers commit suicide even after bumper harvest</a>" by Indrajit Kundu (India Today)<br />
"<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/01/india-sugarcane-farmers-cycle-debt-suicide-170115102045731.html">India's sugarcane farmers: A cycle of debt and suicide</a>" by Janos Chiala (Al Jazeera)<br />
"<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/10/stories-survival-widows-india-farmer-suicides-161004061039461.html">Stories of survival: Widows of India's farmer suicides</a>" by Deepti Asthana (Al Jazeera)<br />
"<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.in/village-square/why-bihar-sees-fewer-farmer-suicides-than-more-developed-states/">Why Bihar Sees Fewer Farmer Suicides Than More Developed States</a>" by Sanjiv Phansalkar (Huffington Post India)<br />
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-19651369667965996452017-03-16T20:10:00.000-07:002017-03-16T20:12:35.594-07:00Behind the Painting and Other Stories by Siburapha, translated by David Smyth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidF1WGoB0-o79ZqPNoO1bzcS3I23TKulR5-BPPCTF90oMK-pgGekYMK31h1PwdTCfIFKxxxdSaEjAVs-A2sjJr6jlbjm_bwDxodugT6f3fwCS7VIkiHESPlLVG1UYKf2giy5cHQjjZKJcp/s1600/Behind+the+Painting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidF1WGoB0-o79ZqPNoO1bzcS3I23TKulR5-BPPCTF90oMK-pgGekYMK31h1PwdTCfIFKxxxdSaEjAVs-A2sjJr6jlbjm_bwDxodugT6f3fwCS7VIkiHESPlLVG1UYKf2giy5cHQjjZKJcp/s320/Behind+the+Painting.jpg" width="210" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1327071.Behind_the_Painting">Behind the Painting and Other Stories</a><br />
Siburapha (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulap_Saipradit">Kulap Saipradit</a>), 1905-1974<br />
Translated by David Smyth (Thai)<br />
Translation first published 1995, I read 2000 Silkworm edition<br />
160 pages, psychological drama, romance, plight of the poor<br />
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<i>Many thanks to <a href="https://silkwormbooks.com/">Silkworm Books</a> for providing a review copy of this book. </i><br />
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<i>Behind the Painting</i> is Siburapha’s most acclaimed novel, a tale of the repressed romantic feelings between a young Thai student studying in Japan and an older, married Thai woman on holiday there. According to the introduction, this novel is the best example of Siburapha’s early writing: romantic stories based on the upper classes of Thai society during the interwar period.<br />
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His later stories, however, draw upon his Communist politics to portray the plight of the poor and working classes. The three short stories in this collection provide a sample of his later work, which contrasts with the novel in almost every way. Because of these differences, I will review the novel and the stories individually.<br />
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<i>
Behind the Painting </i>(serialized 1937-1938)</h3>
<br />
When an elderly member of the Thai nobility contacts him, the young Thai student Nopphon agrees to arrange their travels in Japan, where he is studying. The elderly man is accompanied by his younger wife, Mom Ratchawong Kirati, and Nopphon’s quick friendship with her soon blossoms into love. When he reveals this to her, she refuses to respond in kind and requests that he hide his feelings. However, it is evident that her actions are bound by her difficult circumstances - and therein lies the essential tragedy of this short novel.<br />
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There are several important cultural insights that can be gleaned from this beautifully written novel. First, Mom Ratchawong Kirati is stuck between a rock and a hard place: she feels like she must preserve her looks to be liked in the society; at the same time, she is prevented from going out into society because of her rank as a member of the nobility. At this time, nobles were required to act in specified ways that marked their difference from the peasantry - they were not allowed to pursue certain careers, interact with certain lower-class people, travel to certain places or in certain ways, and so on. (I will discuss this further in my forthcoming review of<i> Many Lives</i> by Kukrit Pramoj.) These restrictions and enforced isolation from society prevent her from living as she desires, and prevent her from even looking for love. This leads her to agree to marry a man who is significantly older than her, whom she does not love and who does not love her.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Second, Nopphon’s residence in Japan is fascinating, because it provides an opportunity to see Japan from a different perspective than the English-speaking world is used to. This description is based on the author's own experiences and gives the reader access to the Thai impression of Japan (the girls are beautiful, etc.) from the early 20th century.<br />
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Finally, Nopphon's narration specifically highlights the prevalent cultural idea that it is better for upper-class Thai men to study abroad. By studying in another country, they are supposed to learn things that will benefit their homeland, allowing them to improve or develop it in some way. As Nopphon points out, however, this is a very high expectation to place on students who are no more intelligent or studious than their counterparts in Thailand itself. It is not helpful to put them under such stress, and it is not good to expect them to miraculously save the country; doing so, in fact, serves to remove any expectation for improvement from Thai society itself.<br />
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One of the best parts of this novel is the narrator’s description of the minute negotiations between Nopphon and Mom Ratchawong Kirati, especially in their mutual pursuit of love. As with most confessionary tales, the narrator here is unreliable: it seems that he may actually have gone further than he’s willing to admit. The hidden parts of the narrative are apparent, greatly increasing the repressed sexual tension between the two.<br />
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This novel is very worth reading for the depiction of a deep friendship/love between people in an exotic location dealing with basic incompatibilities – and the fickle nature of this love when they are finally separated. I also recommend it for its discussion of the restrictions on Thai nobility and the cultural ideas about studying abroad.<br />
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“Those Kind of People” (1950)</h3>
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A rich girl begins to question her parents’ love of luxuries and wonders whether the poor really do want more than they currently have. This is partially spurred on by her friendship with a boy about her age, the very studious son of her family’s driver.<br />
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This story hit close to my heart because of the current immigration issues in the US, about which I have very different ideas than my parents. However, I did not think it was very well written; not much actually happens except a girl questioning the assumptions she has held since her childhood.<br />
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“Lend Us a Hand” (1950)</h3>
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When a poor laborer falls deathly ill, he needs some money for Western medical treatment. He sends his wife to request a loan from a wealthy neighbor, who has asked for his help many times in the past - only to find that his needs are dismissed and the value of labour itself is called into question. After the laborer recovers thanks to the efforts of his friends, the wealthy neighbor has his own health crisis. When he calls upon the laborer for help, he finds that the poor man is less than willing to lend a hand.<br />
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I like the contrast of this story, and the fact that the poor people realize on their own that their labour is worth more than the rich man would have them believe. That was quite refreshing, if extremely, obviously, communist.<br />
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“The Awakening” (1952)</h3>
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In this story, the author examines the situation of a poor family who lives in a small shack and makes a living by driving a rickshaw. This family’s struggles and problems are analyzed and, after the husband talks to an anonymous communist, they realize how their own actions are related to those of the government and the wealthy.<br />
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Of the three stories, this one was the most interesting to me. It demonstrates the difficulties of people who live hand-to-mouth, and what they have to do to just keep living. But it also demonstrates some of the joys of their lives: children are given sweets, plans are made to take them out. Their lives are not just about suffering. And then the father realizes that he is also a citizen of the country, and that he has the responsibility to shape the society's future - regardless of his income or social status.<br />
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Communism in the stories</h3>
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Rather than being compelling stories on their own, these short stories really focus on the political ideology of the author. I wouldn't really call them great literature, but they did demonstrate the plight of the poor when it was needed.<br />
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The contrast with the novel could not be more clear. Instead of the everyday struggles of the poor, the novel discusses the intimate but repressed romantic feelings of two members of the privileged classes in a foreign setting which only the wealthy have access to. It is interesting to see such a contrast between the works of a single author which are about 10 years apart.<br />
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In the end, it was the author’s communist tendencies that got him in trouble: he was imprisoned for several years and later died in exile in China because of his writings against the government. It is fascinating that this man’s best writing contrasts so strongly with his political convictions.<br />
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<i style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Sorry for the lack of updates over the last month or so. I've been busy helping my husband launch his new business <a href="http://heritagewalkcalcutta.com/">Heritage Walk Calcutta</a>! </i></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-8456508444942278842017-02-12T07:39:00.002-08:002017-02-12T07:39:22.119-08:00Dangal, directed by Nitesh Tiwari<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aaDD-1CrpE9s0IInXEgexKWUmyFak7ArQqd1LQLBn4pE8WYZBbViLDlRB-NM87WTC3UJ9bASluRS6dQdEkpWyjGwVj5a_9pldcmmOgl_Q7HGnewR1pwgX4R_cyg4aIEeCiRxbleZsj5Q/s1600/dangal+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aaDD-1CrpE9s0IInXEgexKWUmyFak7ArQqd1LQLBn4pE8WYZBbViLDlRB-NM87WTC3UJ9bASluRS6dQdEkpWyjGwVj5a_9pldcmmOgl_Q7HGnewR1pwgX4R_cyg4aIEeCiRxbleZsj5Q/s320/dangal+poster.jpg" width="228" /></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5074352/">Dangal</a><br />
India (Hindi), 2016<br />
161 min, sports movie, biography<br />
Directed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitesh_Tiwari">Nitesh Tiwari</a><br />
Starring Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Sheikh/Zaira Wasim, Sanya Malhotra/Suhani Bhatnagar<br />
<br />
After he is forced by financial circumstances to give up his own wrestling career, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavir_Singh_Phogat">Mahavir Singh Phogat </a>plans to train his future son(s) so that they will win a gold medal for India on the international stage. When he ends up having four daughters, he thinks his dream is lost – but then he has the radical idea that girls can be wrestlers, too. After many years of intense training, he manages to bring two of his daughters, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geeta_Phogat">Geeta</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babita_Kumari">Babita</a>, to the international level. But will his old-fashioned, village methods work against athletes from around the world?<br />
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This movie tells the true story of Geeta Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth games (in 2010), her sister Babita Kumari, also a gold medalist, and their father who coached them to greatness.<br />
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<b>The Cultural Context</b></h3>
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This film does a good job of showing the cultural context and why, exactly, this family is so remarkable. Mahavir and his family live in a village in rural Haryana, India – a state <a href="https://qz.com/304509/how-women-are-fighting-back-against-harassment-in-indias-most-patriarchal-state/">known for its poor treatment of girls, and high rates of female infanticide</a>. Haryana has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_states_and_territories_ranking_by_sex_ratio">one of the worst sex ratios of any Indian state</a>: 861 women for every 1000 men in the whole population, and 835 girls for every 1000 boys aged 0-6 years. Patriarchy, especially the wish for male children to carry on one’s legacy, is particularly strong. The movie demonstrates this cultural pressure for male heirs through a humorous sequence, in which Mahavir receives innumerable bits of advice on how to conceive a male child. In the end, it seems to be a catastrophe for the entire village when all of these efforts fail and Mahavir’s wife continues to have girls.<br />
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<a href="http://theasiancinemablog.com/cinema-of-india/dangal-movie-review/">Read the rest on the Asian Cinema Blog</a></h3>
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<b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-81910969944757723162017-01-13T19:14:00.001-08:002017-01-13T19:14:30.851-08:00Bale Bale Magadivoy, directed by Maruthi Dasari<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZklD38JtfW9VC6sC6YjrIq8BsA_Cu1HzTNI4zCZ6znjqPfyIdrcpZSNbHh2bonhI7c_8OqXQTWALzZ6e0lgcznoV8WwevQerBq-u15GnznWRXM6wuOb0aRuWrdAPFVptDqX4fcna9VSl/s1600/Bale+Bale+Magadivoy+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZklD38JtfW9VC6sC6YjrIq8BsA_Cu1HzTNI4zCZ6znjqPfyIdrcpZSNbHh2bonhI7c_8OqXQTWALzZ6e0lgcznoV8WwevQerBq-u15GnznWRXM6wuOb0aRuWrdAPFVptDqX4fcna9VSl/s400/Bale+Bale+Magadivoy+poster.jpg" width="281" /></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4992086/">Bale Bale Magadivoy</a><br />
India (Telugu), 2015<br />
137 min, romantic comedy<br />
Directed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruthi_Dasari">Maruthi Dasari</a><br />
Starring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nani_(actor)">Nani </a>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavanya_Tripathi">Lavanya Tripathi</a><br />
<br />
Lucky is a young, good-hearted plant scientist with one major flaw: a mental disorder that makes him get distracted incredibly easily. This interferes with his life in various ways, and now it is interfering with his ability to find a girl and get married. When his father arranges for Lucky to meet the father of a prospective bride, Lucky gets distracted by a series of random events in full view of his prospective father-in-law – leading him to believe that Lucky is a terrible human being.<br />
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When Lucky accidentally runs into the girl, Nandana, he falls in love and tries to conceal his problem of forgetting everything. Many of his actions turn into (or are passed off as) incredible philanthropy, and Nandana falls in love with him partially because of his apparent goodness. But how long can he keep this up? Will he ever get the girl?<br />
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Disability</h3>
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Lucky’s habit of forgetting things is treated as a disability throughout the film – and not just because he thinks he has to hide it. Throughout his life, his father has told him that he will never amount to anything, or be able to get married, because of his forgetfulness. And it does significantly impact his life - he has trouble carrying out the simplest tasks because he forgets about them halfway, and he has a lot of trouble with accidentally giving away his belongings – including his father’s car!<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
Once he finds Nandana, who trusts him, he begins to realize that he is more than his forgetfulness. He will never have a mind like a steel trap, but when others understand his problem it significantly improves. Once he has something important to focus on – i.e. someone he loves – he is able to do so. The moral, of course, is that you should try to understand people who have disabilities, rather than criticizing them for what they cannot do.<br />
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Comedy</h3>
<br />
While many of the comedic aspects of this movie come from Lucky’s memory lapses (such as when he accidentally gives his motorcycle to a beggar…), others come from how his family and friends play along with his attempts to disguise his problem. One memorable scene involves his mother dealing with a marriage proposal from Nandana’s father while Lucky and his father hide in the bathroom. Lucky and his father then have to pretend to be their own next-door neighbors – hard to do when Nandana is introducing the real Lucky to all of her relatives!<br />
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Another source of comedy is the truly ridiculous song-and-dance numbers, which play on standard themes for Indian romantic comedies. I <i>need</i> to share this clip with you:<br />
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This is just one of the songs that take the comedy to a different level. </div>
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The good person</h3>
<br />
Something that I really appreciated about this movie was that Lucky is actually a good person. Yes, he does not mean to be so philanthropic, but when given the chance actually shows the good parts of his character. When he hears that Nandana is sick, for example, he risks the possibility of detection by her father to comfort her.<br />
<br />
This is strongly contrasted with her other suitor, a police officer that Nandana is not interested in at all. When he can’t get her by normal means (since she refuses to marry him), this officer becomes incredibly manipulative. He even gets her arrested “for prostitution” so he can “talk her out of jail.” These tactics follow the standard tactics used by heroes in commercial Indian films (like I discussed in my review of the Telugu film <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2015/02/eega-directed-by-s-s-rajamouli.html">Eega</a>, also starring Nani), and it is significant that in this film these are viewed in a negative manner.<br />
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Don't get me wrong - this is not a feminist film, and Lucky also does his share of manipulation and stalking. When contrasted with the actions of this police officer, Lucky’s attempts at deception seem relatively innocent: his motive is hiding what he sees as one of his flaws, rather than forcing Nandana to marry him. Lucky does this out of a fear of not being loved. This does not, of course, make it morally sound, and in fact risks painting Lucky's problematic behavior as ok.<br />
<br />
While the plot of this movie doesn’t always hold together and the acting is sometimes not as good as it could be, I recommend this movie for its comedy and because Lucky and Nandana are such a cute couple.<br />
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<i>Also see my reviews of the similar Indian commercial films <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2015/02/eega-directed-by-s-s-rajamouli.html">Eega</a>, directed by S. S. Rajamouli and <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/06/sardaarji-by-rohit-jugraj.html">Saardarji</a>, directed by Rohit Jugraj. </i><br />
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<b><br /></b><b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-6318436035380337642017-01-05T17:34:00.000-08:002017-01-15T22:09:50.670-08:00Jeevichirikkunnavarkku Vendiyulla Oppees (Requiem for the Living) by Johny Miranda, translated by Sajai Jose<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPAY7mTYahqS_VeZhmoY1q8YN-gwzfxNj3NmDNwKYV2kTyfFlqd-JzOwukifPoeFL9YJcXGznxM83RncM677bdvJpcRh3QoP49_H63lW4EzZbHrZKYqusTlO2i1-5Cs1fAZtqVHS93gmNe/s1600/Requiem+for+the+Living.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPAY7mTYahqS_VeZhmoY1q8YN-gwzfxNj3NmDNwKYV2kTyfFlqd-JzOwukifPoeFL9YJcXGznxM83RncM677bdvJpcRh3QoP49_H63lW4EzZbHrZKYqusTlO2i1-5Cs1fAZtqVHS93gmNe/s1600/Requiem+for+the+Living.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20663301-jeevichirikkunnavarkku-vendiyulla-oppees?ac=1&from_search=true">Jeevichirikkunnavarkku Vendiyulla Oppees</a><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20663301-jeevichirikkunnavarkku-vendiyulla-oppees?ac=1&from_search=true">Requiem for the Living </a><br />
Johny Miranda<br />
Translated by Sajai Jose (Malayalam)<br />
2013<br />
87 pages, ethnography, family drama<br />
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<i>Thank you to Oxford University Press, India for providing a review copy of this book. This is part of the Oxford India Novellas series, which translates short works from Indian languages into English. </i><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
An oppees is a prayer for the dead. This novella tells the story of a people who are eligible for an oppees in every way, while yet alive. - Author's Note</blockquote>
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Josy (Osha) Pereira is the latest in a line of church sacristans in a village near Kochi, Kerala. His family belongs to the Parankis - a Christian group with mixed bloodlines due to centuries of Portuguese rule and trade in the area.<br />
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In a winding narrative, Osha tries to explain his life to the reader: his grandmother Mammanji's almost magical religious/traditional healing abilities; his father's desertion of the family in order to go on pilgrimage; his own hapless marriage and inability to connect with his wife; and, most importantly, his unique community and the religious and cultural values that it reveres.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Women and Men</h3>
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As noted by J. Devika in her fantastic introduction, one of the central issues in Osha's story is the struggle between men and women in this community, and in Kerala as a whole. While Kerala is widely regarded as one of India's most developed and progressive states - with the highest rate of female literacy in the country and a higher percentage of women in the population than men - the actual story is much more complex. Keralite women <i>do</i> work outside of the home, and many have jobs that are considered "man's work" in the rest of India. Historically, several of the ruling groups have also been matrilineal, tracing their lineage through the female line and placing the elderly women in the family in a position of great power (but limited mobility).<br />
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Perhaps related to this history of female power and (limited) autonomy, Keralite society brims with an existential crisis of masculinity. This is reflected in many ways: restrictions on women's movement and strict gender separation in some public places and transportation; high rates of crimes against women; and a tendency toward machismo on the part of men, who feel that they must prove their manhood. This last aspect (expressed primarily through the need to be right at all times, even if demonstrably wrong) that has been particularly pronounced in my dealings with Keralites during the year I lived in a village near Kochi.<br />
<br />
This novella does a great job of depicting these ideas and attitudes. Osha's life is dominated by powerful and influential women, and he does not know how to deal with this. He feels emasculated: why does he have to rely on his mother or grandmother, and why are his male relatives so ineffectual in comparison to them? Osha's existential angst, which he treats with alcohol and laziness, highlights this major problem in Keralite society.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Ethnographic Details</h3>
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This novella is unique in that it is written by a member of the Paranki community from Kochi, a forgotten and marginalized group that does not fit into Kerala's highly stratified and purity-conscious society. As the translator notes in his introduction, much of the culture depicted in the novel is unfamiliar even for Malayalam readers: the "extremely local references" to Kochi Creole/Paranki culture and religion call for a detailed glossary of terms and rituals, provided at the end of the book. </div>
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Osha also seems to be aware of how marginal his community is; he often stops to explain the significance of various rituals, terms, or clothing. This adds an additional flavor to the narrative: he is evidently addressing someone outside of his group, and wants to reveal something about his heritage and life. Luckily for the reader, this provides a detailed look at this fascinating religious, cultural, and ethnic minority, the history of which is further elucidated in J. Devika's introduction. </div>
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While I did not like this story, per se, I do recommend this novella for the ethnographic information it provides about Keralite society and this particular community. If you are at all interested in cultural mixing, Indian Christians, or minority communities, I highly recommend this book. </div>
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<br />Further Reading: </h3>
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"<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/Tribute-to-Cochin-Creole-Portuguese/article16048595.ece">Tribute to Cochin Creole Portuguese</a>," an interview with Dr. Hugo Canelas Cardoso by K. Pradeep (The Hindu)</div>
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"<a href="https://feminisminindia.com/2016/09/01/decline-matrilineal-society-kerala/">What Led to the Decline of the Matrilineal Society in Kerala?</a>" by Sheryl Sebastian (Feminism in India)<br />
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-82025907860876796032017-01-02T19:13:00.002-08:002017-01-02T19:13:35.409-08:00Mini Review: "Egg" by Priya Sharma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://mithilareview.com/sharma_08_16/">“Egg”</a></div>
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<a href="https://priyasharmafiction.wordpress.com/">Priya Sharma</a></div>
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Fantasy, horror</div>
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From <a href="http://mithilareview.com/issue_5_6/">Mithila Review 5+6</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
July/August 2016</div>
<br />
<i>This is the first of what I call "Mini Reviews:" short reviews of short stories by diverse authors that are (usually) available for free online. My New Year's Resolution is to post two of these Mini Reviews per month in 2017, in addition to the usual long post per week. Wish me luck! </i><br />
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After failing for years, a woman will do anything to have a child. An old hag offers her the opportunity to do so – if she is willing to face the consequences. <i>All </i>of the consequences.<br />
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This story considers two interconnected issues. First, the significance of having a child of one’s own, especially for women. The narrator is willing to go to any length to have her own child, and will not even consider adoption. Is this because of the social pressure to have a child? Or because of some deep, internal yearning? Some combination of the two? The source of this desire is unclear, but it comes through strongly in this narrative.<br />
<br />
And second, the difficulties of having a child with special needs. To care for her child, Chick, the narrator needs to do things she would never have considered. Just one example is that Chick will not breastfeed; instead, she will only eat worms that have been chewed up and placed in her mouth! Despite her disgust, the narrator puts the child’s needs before her own and does what is needed. However, this puts an immense strain on her, especially after Chick fails to grow and is unable to show any affection. Is all of this care worth it if she never receives anything in return?<br />
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You can read the story for free online <a href="http://mithilareview.com/sharma_08_16/">here</a>. I'd love to hear your thoughts below. <br />
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-79058056253698112702016-12-31T05:48:00.001-08:002016-12-31T05:48:27.504-08:00Year in Review: 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This year was bad. Really bad.<br />
<br />
That's why I put off writing this post. Who really wants to revisit such a bad year?<br />
<br />
But then I thought it would be a disservice to the really good books I read and movies I saw this year. So this is for you, the authors, directors, actors, and other artists who created these works.<br />
<br />
In no particular order, these are the novels I enjoyed this year:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHQm1t2Dht8jKtaevHF0daWZMQvMOwDw2wej-lsRoXtmGgfSK80gl4_-cmK8-NmN4FA5mW2_vgwBeKDOQJCQq73enGYwE2ymu7Vjr9TCNDeVvCSLb4OTWu6Ok4uPhJH9wOBzuLSadYXMz/s1600/Sorcerer+to+the+Crown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHQm1t2Dht8jKtaevHF0daWZMQvMOwDw2wej-lsRoXtmGgfSK80gl4_-cmK8-NmN4FA5mW2_vgwBeKDOQJCQq73enGYwE2ymu7Vjr9TCNDeVvCSLb4OTWu6Ok4uPhJH9wOBzuLSadYXMz/s320/Sorcerer+to+the+Crown.jpg" width="212" /></a> </div>
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Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (review forthcoming)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjYAnquwVSlynQuhNVIYyQnR-KriPO_rZqCJ6TQEiLHYD0PvbF0I-MNHWpfin1GP3zmAsTpTiJmZL8mZvSv_2O-HOIIdQ87PNpR0TVOoTYbrt_ODa0ariVZ9bIhuAufk7b0MsfUvWtzld/s1600/Rosewater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjYAnquwVSlynQuhNVIYyQnR-KriPO_rZqCJ6TQEiLHYD0PvbF0I-MNHWpfin1GP3zmAsTpTiJmZL8mZvSv_2O-HOIIdQ87PNpR0TVOoTYbrt_ODa0ariVZ9bIhuAufk7b0MsfUvWtzld/s320/Rosewater.jpg" width="208" /></a> </div>
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Rosewater by Tade Thompson (review forthcoming)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJ7FtZCT8Lo8wQ4FBYEOYNYa6HBvrFL-0XDpAe9y1BRgH08hCrlzm0UewvxAuFEphaWD-mnzTrz14NmaNjQHXIOB0pER4kkxSXR3whIL4HduYVxfveey_t_T88egJOxDdRud2vzHcW9M5/s1600/Labyrinth+Lost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJ7FtZCT8Lo8wQ4FBYEOYNYa6HBvrFL-0XDpAe9y1BRgH08hCrlzm0UewvxAuFEphaWD-mnzTrz14NmaNjQHXIOB0pER4kkxSXR3whIL4HduYVxfveey_t_T88egJOxDdRud2vzHcW9M5/s320/Labyrinth+Lost.jpg" width="206" /></a> </div>
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<a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/06/like-mule-bringing-ice-cream-to-sun-by.html">Labyrinth Lost</a> by Zoraida Córdova</div>
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ7RLGexP8kcYQ7xUAmno_Z282i8O_aR-D-i5z6pQ6myhQNNtnSMu3NnFLo21pTrzlDE6ttDsp462kRIwtypTwv9bLqvK0qZS7Jj_tfUZ2_1zghnxF5MvVTN9v2pjekAkZrHUm5LOEIPVI/s320/Hurma.jpg" width="206" /></div>
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<a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/04/hurma-by-ali-al-muqri-translated-by-tm.html">Hurma</a> by Ali Al-Muqri, translated by T.M. Aplin</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGvbCMFwaseMxU1gbjTD9B0mCLSUnwFNGSxVLrS0Oa8oqVhze5mjYIjYNh1AeCfUrmVwJBBwPGDRepMkBGxLNk_8HybqNBbeZ8LcOADfeOaNetinKJ3-8sk7eMhlR3cRNGjfeAUciLq5xC/s1600/Like+a+Mule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGvbCMFwaseMxU1gbjTD9B0mCLSUnwFNGSxVLrS0Oa8oqVhze5mjYIjYNh1AeCfUrmVwJBBwPGDRepMkBGxLNk_8HybqNBbeZ8LcOADfeOaNetinKJ3-8sk7eMhlR3cRNGjfeAUciLq5xC/s320/Like+a+Mule.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/06/like-mule-bringing-ice-cream-to-sun-by.html">Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun</a> by Sarah Ladipo Manyika</div>
<br />
The diverse movies I enjoyed this year:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKY0KS7Q7OPoQKBKnnVJT8fUOvgTXrYkJgaKuH2h1ORdxYF_L9vV_0cBGdSB9gPo2QfatfDR5_zv2lHYnWQxffHlFDsUtrWXYBBcLB8mDxf28yT-2WINDIA6f2CaBZEmrCijz1Ri6qXSZM/s1600/AdaminteMakanAbu.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKY0KS7Q7OPoQKBKnnVJT8fUOvgTXrYkJgaKuH2h1ORdxYF_L9vV_0cBGdSB9gPo2QfatfDR5_zv2lHYnWQxffHlFDsUtrWXYBBcLB8mDxf28yT-2WINDIA6f2CaBZEmrCijz1Ri6qXSZM/s320/AdaminteMakanAbu.JPG" width="215" /></a></div>
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Adaminte Makan Abu, directed by Salim Ahmed (2011) (review forthcoming)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHMbDHbi2-bv0U_SxLVTAN7XwFk_7FPiJLc_wh6uRS0vIBHGYR9sYmUGUJ43jMP9uG-oCY3O8AXbPIyrQnzTeR-bPhppKLYwxhzgIWF04xi5lgxhfGUEzsCkV6Q3kTzYqeUQbfDzGlTB9M/s1600/Neerja_Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHMbDHbi2-bv0U_SxLVTAN7XwFk_7FPiJLc_wh6uRS0vIBHGYR9sYmUGUJ43jMP9uG-oCY3O8AXbPIyrQnzTeR-bPhppKLYwxhzgIWF04xi5lgxhfGUEzsCkV6Q3kTzYqeUQbfDzGlTB9M/s1600/Neerja_Poster.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/05/neerja-by-ram-madhvani.html">Neerja</a>, directed by Ram Madhvani (2016)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-95jew65PXsK3wBgzQGMzJECP04LkjtG5ezWO9MSWjINtYyxoZUtkQrVHRjCBJY6zV6OzIfAWjfFijFaDfrtqBbu3nEKibv8Weo3H37DO8j4NOuzzT4GGFkSZd5pI7IFn5ij65gFXNGfS/s1600/Sardaarji_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-95jew65PXsK3wBgzQGMzJECP04LkjtG5ezWO9MSWjINtYyxoZUtkQrVHRjCBJY6zV6OzIfAWjfFijFaDfrtqBbu3nEKibv8Weo3H37DO8j4NOuzzT4GGFkSZd5pI7IFn5ij65gFXNGfS/s1600/Sardaarji_poster.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/06/sardaarji-by-rohit-jugraj.html">Sardaarji</a>, directed by Rohit Jugraj (2015)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmJY_tEIH0ZXba5-eTDMHDjrgU11tU-xNiGBqFStJO25646cRmS9nuECInJtNk3y7N_mb2DBhvfoRRxCKaVPMszDe54z-gxwfJfVKGjK4Twg36anIo_iUyQYOVHLLUX1ByZZPqzcafC2_/s1600/Te3n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmJY_tEIH0ZXba5-eTDMHDjrgU11tU-xNiGBqFStJO25646cRmS9nuECInJtNk3y7N_mb2DBhvfoRRxCKaVPMszDe54z-gxwfJfVKGjK4Twg36anIo_iUyQYOVHLLUX1ByZZPqzcafC2_/s1600/Te3n.jpg" /></a></div>
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Te3n, directed by Ribhu Dasgupta (2016) (review forthcoming)</div>
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As you can see, for lots of reasons I have been unable to review as much as I would have liked this year. Here's hoping for a somewhat more settled 2017. </div>
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<br /><b>Want to see more articles like this? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>twitter</b></span></a><b> or like </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>The Globally Curious on Facebook</b></span></a><b>. </b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-67952330085976033222016-12-22T21:25:00.002-08:002016-12-22T21:25:21.619-08:00Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwqoaLQUJTHgVUJe20LhFP-kkH7OgzrCIERDomWuXx3uJHN-VjPKu34XAty7zCSgR8CAqWLLK91jbePR99d7aPFetpfCpFA5qN_WMuSbhIWUKdebI1my52h6VVaUcqSwvbT_MdapA82sx/s1600/Labyrinth+Lost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwqoaLQUJTHgVUJe20LhFP-kkH7OgzrCIERDomWuXx3uJHN-VjPKu34XAty7zCSgR8CAqWLLK91jbePR99d7aPFetpfCpFA5qN_WMuSbhIWUKdebI1my52h6VVaUcqSwvbT_MdapA82sx/s320/Labyrinth+Lost.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27969081-labyrinth-lost">Labyrinth Lost</a><br />
Zoraida Córdova<br />
2016, I read digital review copy<br />
336 pages, YA fantasy, LGBTQIA+<br />
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<i>Many thanks to <a href="http://www.sourcebooks.com/">Sourcebooks Fire</a> for providing a review copy of this book! </i><br />
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Alejandra, or Alex, is a bruja, one of a long line of magical people. While her family is all-important, she’s hiding a secret from them: she does not want to be a bruja. When she tries to escape from her power and ends up sending her family into exile in an alternative realm, it’s up to her, her hired guide Nova, and her human best friend Rishi to save her family and the magical realm of Los Lagos.<br />
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Highlight the black sections to reveal spoilers.<br />
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Latinx Culture, Religion, and Magic</h3>
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One of my favorite parts of this novel was the worldbuilding. Set in contemporary Brooklyn, the brujas are both very much a part of New York society and a secretive group that follows different laws. While they perform seances and healing sessions, they still have to pay the bills. The best example of this is Alex's mother, who has healing powers but also works in a gynecologist's office - as a secretary. This made me question why she never went into medicine herself; my guess is that her family did not have enough money to afford medical school. This indicates that the bruja community is very much subject to the same restrictions and racial/income discriminations that others experience, including Latinx communities.<br />
<br />
Where do the brujas get their magic? It seems that it comes from two sources. First, their own families, living and dead. The importance of family - the full, extended, complicated and difficult family - is emphasized throughout this book. Despite fighting with her sisters (like everyone does), Alex is fiercely loyal and protective of them. Her decision to remove her own magic is a misguided attempt to protect her family from what she can do; when she accidentally banishes them to Los Lagos, she is wracked with intense guilt for what she sees as her betrayal of the ones she loves.<br />
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What Alex does not realize at first is that much of her power comes from her family - both from her long lineage and from the love that her family has for her. Setting aside the magical aspect for a moment, this is an incredibly powerful statement: your family's love for you can give you the strength to do things that you would never be able to do on your own.<br />
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On the other hand, in Nova we see the flip side of this importance of family among the brujas. Nova does not have a family, as such: he was abandoned and abused by his remaining relatives. <span style="background-color: black;">This results in his inability to have a Deathday, and therefore his inability to contain and control his power - which is slowly killing him.</span> Nova's abandonment is not his fault, but in this world - both among the brujas and in human society - he is punished for it.<br />
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The second source of bruja magic is their religion, a polytheistic and ancestor-worship belief system inspired by the <a href="https://books.google.co.in/books?id=vQozAQAAQBAJ&dq=saint+veneration+latin+america+christianity&source=gbs_navlinks_s">veneration of saints in Latin American Roman Catholicism</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead">Day of the Dead</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santer%C3%ADa">Santería</a>. In addition to revering departed members of their family, brujas worship numerous deities named after natural elements - El Fuego, La Ola, etc. - who bless them with magical powers. The worship of these gods is complex, involving personal altars, offerings, prayers, and spells.<br />
<br />
Cordova takes time to flesh out these religious practices: Alex compares her relatively unkempt altar with those kept by her family members, for example. The images and offerings on each person's altar indicate their values and powers. Since each deity grants a specific type of magical ability, each person generally prays to the deity associated with their power. The level of detail provided for these religious practices indicates just how intimately intertwined they are with the daily life of the brujas.<br />
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One other thing that I wanted to note is that bruja society is matriarchal: the women are the ones who are usually most powerful and who make most of the decisions. This is quite refreshing.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Positive bisexuality</h3>
<br />
Another thing that this book does really well is representing bisexuality in a positive way. From the very beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Alex’s as-yet-undiscovered feelings towards her human best friend Rishi. Then she also starts to fall for the hunky and mysterious Nova. Both of these relationships felt like equally valid possibilities.<br />
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Importantly, Alex's family is also supportive of queer relationships. This is first indicated by another lesbian relationship in her family (in an older generation)<span style="background-color: black;">, and then by the way her family acts when she finally chooses Rishi.</span> Not only does this book provide an excellent example of bisexual attraction, but it shows a positive response from the main character's strong family unit.<br />
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I loved this book for its mythology, its characters, and its worldbuilding. If you haven't read it yet, go read it now.<br />
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-63330871618784091572016-12-16T19:45:00.001-08:002016-12-16T19:45:25.946-08:00Two Webcomics: A Redtail's Dream and Anu-Anulan & Yir's Daughter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Today I'm going to do something a little different and review two webcomics that I recently finished. Both are complete stories that combine fantasy and mythology in a unique way, with gorgeous artwork.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.minnasundberg.fi/kuvat/sealkiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.minnasundberg.fi/kuvat/sealkiss.jpg" height="640" width="398" /></a><a href="http://www.minnasundberg.fi/artd.php">A Redtail's Dream</a></h3>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Minna Sundberg</div>
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Finnish and English</div>
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Completed, 2011-2013</div>
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556 pages, fantasy, boy and his dog</div>
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<br /></div>
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When the residents of a village in rural Finland are accidentally sent into the Realm of Dreams (by the Puppy-fox Spirit, who is left in charge while his elders have a meeting), the loner Hannu and his friendly dog Ville must perform tasks to release their friends and neighbors. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The story is broken into chapters. In each one, Hannu and Ville find themselves in a different part of the realm of dreams, where they must complete a random task to convince the main villager in that area to return home (and take the others with them). Each main villager is accompanied by an ancient animal spirit; Ville, to his delight and sometimes dismay, takes the same form as the animal spirit while they are there. Hence you have a dog that becomes everything from a squirrel to a moose to a seal. </div>
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And did I mention that Ville can talk?</div>
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<br /></div>
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According to everything I have read, this tale draws heavily on Finnish mythology. Puppy-fox is a classic trickster character, Hannu and Ville's tasks feel like something from a folktale, and so on. However, I was unable to find a detailed breakdown of the mythological elements of this work online. Perhaps it is so close to the original tales that it isn't worth analyzing? I would love to read an in-depth article on the similarities and differences to the myths. </div>
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Most importantly, the art of this webcomic is absolutely stunning. It is well worth reading just for the beauty of it. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4sJ8iLW3NPsDewakgBXwWJRUmbkWEszkfFjw7ntjTmTW-3LXZWJcArcr-e5eGk_Id4lNpkPQAa6n-bQ49raKvGNiHmDhzDhAV1jKkhgXwcij3tAq8wSbS-u4iPnCBnhxd1W-WnZcmcg5o/s1600/aRTD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4sJ8iLW3NPsDewakgBXwWJRUmbkWEszkfFjw7ntjTmTW-3LXZWJcArcr-e5eGk_Id4lNpkPQAa6n-bQ49raKvGNiHmDhzDhAV1jKkhgXwcij3tAq8wSbS-u4iPnCBnhxd1W-WnZcmcg5o/s400/aRTD.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQU9qnXlK0hN6bwKWfd9A4UMfVIv4LqGMN0cifXpCjlIDHmSJBZNbhvgt6Jsk2mMR3LcW_pTHnuXsqHQf5ezPS30w4dcMeiP0bg9Y9JbXPRsjGnK4cXd5LC9sYit7Ntoaax3P3TzfLEDf3/s1600/aRTDmoose_hunter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQU9qnXlK0hN6bwKWfd9A4UMfVIv4LqGMN0cifXpCjlIDHmSJBZNbhvgt6Jsk2mMR3LcW_pTHnuXsqHQf5ezPS30w4dcMeiP0bg9Y9JbXPRsjGnK4cXd5LC9sYit7Ntoaax3P3TzfLEDf3/s400/aRTDmoose_hunter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Further Reading: </h4>
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<a href="http://molly.kalafut.org/mythology/Finnish/pantheon.html">"Finnish Mythology"</a> by Molly Kalafut</div>
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Read <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/index.htm">The Kalevala</a> from Sacred Texts</div>
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<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://emcarroll.com/comics/anu/page01.html">Anu-Anulan & Yir's Daughter</a></h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hnydKIEjeHIQibFpj3ez2B_7-Uwy1yNKHIC0k37cokGnO9gfBjVNiqIawfhumG3_sCkocEPziTElEcTZcgTM8REBTvycVK9D1zZDwTqo1k9bY5Gmt_JRaeHAo9Mk7WPy39aSeaHTPNzR/s1600/Anu-Anulan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7hnydKIEjeHIQibFpj3ez2B_7-Uwy1yNKHIC0k37cokGnO9gfBjVNiqIawfhumG3_sCkocEPziTElEcTZcgTM8REBTvycVK9D1zZDwTqo1k9bY5Gmt_JRaeHAo9Mk7WPy39aSeaHTPNzR/s400/Anu-Anulan.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div>
Emily Carroll</div>
<div>
English</div>
<div>
Completed, 2011</div>
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3 pages, fantasy, LGBTQIA+</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
In this very short comic, the goddess Anu-Anulan requests a woman (Yir's daughter)'s bright, silvery hair. But after she receives it, she realizes something is missing. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
I am not sure if Anu-Anulan is based on any particular deity. Rather, Carroll uses mythlike storytelling to convey a very sweet tale. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The artwork used for this story is relatively simple, but incredibly expressive. It's only three pages - go read it now! </div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Want to see more articles like this? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>twitter</b></span></a><b> or like </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>The Globally Curious on Facebook</b></span></a><b>. </b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-52351385856040270462016-12-08T19:19:00.000-08:002016-12-08T19:19:03.165-08:00Queen, directed by Vikas Bahl<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUim2NaVkZjwp2ZSjGF15AIrLCmcpyMJxVyFWJQ0CZrZV4CnTxw4vtSEl32EZyqDqS7UAZJ_L7QzydjrV-N0vNo4TTN8Cq1S2OTHGRQG0cHV4albkyfqo4yyKJhOgRBdQiCkS1WHbdmA47/s1600/Queen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUim2NaVkZjwp2ZSjGF15AIrLCmcpyMJxVyFWJQ0CZrZV4CnTxw4vtSEl32EZyqDqS7UAZJ_L7QzydjrV-N0vNo4TTN8Cq1S2OTHGRQG0cHV4albkyfqo4yyKJhOgRBdQiCkS1WHbdmA47/s320/Queen.jpg" width="223" /></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322420/">Queen</a><br />
India (Hindi), 2013<br />
146 min, comedy, self-exploration, travel<br />
Directed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikas_Bahl">Vikas Bahl</a><br />
Starring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangana_Ranaut">Kangana Ranaut</a><br />
<br />
When Rani’s fiancée breaks up with her two days before their wedding, she decides to go on the honeymoon by herself. Her first time outside the country, and her first time really alone, gives her the opportunity to explore who she is and what she wants from life.<br />
<br />
While in many ways this film draws upon problematic stereotypes of “life in the West,” it still provides a good example of a sheltered young woman steering her own life for the first time. <br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Self-exploration</h3>
<br />
In Delhi, Rani lives a sheltered and protected life. Her younger brother acts as her chaperone, especially when she meets Vijay, her fiancée. It seems like her match with Vijay was only partially of her own accord: she wanted an arranged marriage, and this marriage seems to be half-arranged. I’m not sure she really considered any alternatives before making the decision, since she just took marriage as a matter of course.<br />
<br />
When Vijay dumps her, she is devastated. She curls up in a ball and cries in her room for a whole day. But she emerges with a decision: she was really looking forward to going to Paris, and had even spent all of her life savings on the ticket – so she wants to go. At this point, she still gives her parents the veto decision, but her father realizes that she needs to do this for herself. Hesitantly, they drive her to the airport and send her on an adventure without them.<br />
<br />
At first Rani is incredibly overwhelmed, lonely, and just wants to go home, but then she makes friends and begins to enjoy herself. As she does so, she realizes that she doesn’t need a man to have fun or to travel. She also realizes that some of the assumptions she was making about other people were wrong. For example, although she has been taught that all men are scary, she ends up befriending her three male roommates at a hostel in Amsterdam. Over the course of the film, as she continues to try new things, she becomes less afraid and more independent.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
The Indian jerk boyfriend</h3>
<br />
This film directly addresses one of my pet peeves about Indian movies: the valorization of abusive (even stalker!) boyfriends. After Vijay dumps her suddenly, with no thought about her feelings, Rani accidentally sends him a picture. Seeing this selfie, Vijay suddenly realizes that he actually still loves her. He begins calling her repeatedly, and even goes to Paris and then Amsterdam to track her down.<br />
<br />
At first, Rani doesn’t know what to do about this. She is angry, but society has taught her that she should forgive him. When he suddenly appears in Amsterdam, she is willing to talk to him privately - even after he tries to beat up one of her new friends in a fit of over-possessive stupidity! Finally, at the end of the film she realizes that his behavior is not acceptable and that he does not deserve her. <br />
<br />
I was happy that Rani, unlike many Bollywood heroines, comes to the realization that<a href="https://bitchmedia.org/article/all-too-often-films-stalking-seen-romantic"> stalking and over-possessive behavior is not romantic</a>.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Buying into stereotypes of the West</h3>
<br />
My biggest problem with this film is the incredibly stereotypical depiction of the West. As usual, Rani’s character exploration is accompanied by large amounts of drinking, clubbing, and visiting red light areas (in Amsterdam, of course). Like other films of this genre, it seems like the only way Rani can loosen up is by literally wearing less clothes and drinking. Obviously, this isn’t all that happens in the West – but if you watch Indian movies you would be forgiven for thinking so.<br />
<br />
Rani has two potential love interests in Amsterdam, one an Italian restaurant owner and the other one of her roommates. Of the three roommates, the one who catches her eye is the only white person; the others are a black Frenchman and a small Japanese man. The depiction of the Japanese character fits into the <a href="https://mic.com/articles/116626/6-dating-myths-about-asian-men-that-just-need-to-go#.t45tWYn5K">racist depiction of Asian men as cute but sexually unattractive</a>; the Black character has barely any speaking lines. It is the hot, emotional, artistic, very white Russian who catches her eye. This reinforces the idea that the only foreigners worth dating or marrying are white people – an idea that is quite prevalent in Indian society.<br />
<br />
Despite these rather significant problems, the powerful portrayal of Rani’s voyage of self-discovery makes this movie worth watching. I recommend it as an exploration of how being alone teaches you about who you really are.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KGC6vl3lzf0" width="560"></iframe></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-76238150345772224052016-12-01T05:26:00.001-08:002016-12-22T20:21:40.542-08:00Islamicates: Volume I, edited by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFk-ST7tbLddtpslGVGP6vzzXvKrEJPgMv8KbUsZNyLyZ9KIabqjuX29Pzz3kF8FrS8YdOlb5JVbTqLe23TNNLbDVCVGCyoLJ2KpSJ3GCDaYS1IGCCWntq557gg3vSy6GtHQP-OVV2-Zvu/s1600/IslamicatesVol1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFk-ST7tbLddtpslGVGP6vzzXvKrEJPgMv8KbUsZNyLyZ9KIabqjuX29Pzz3kF8FrS8YdOlb5JVbTqLe23TNNLbDVCVGCyoLJ2KpSJ3GCDaYS1IGCCWntq557gg3vSy6GtHQP-OVV2-Zvu/s320/IslamicatesVol1.jpg" width="210" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31774242-islamicates-volume-i">Islamicates: Volume I</a><br />
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31774242-islamicates-volume-i">Anthology of Science Fiction short stories inspired from Muslim Cultures</a><br />
Edited by <a href="http://www.aurumahmad.com/">Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad</a><br />
2016, available for free <a href="http://www.islamscifi.com/islamicates-volume1/">here</a><br />
236 pages, speculative<br />
<br />
<i>Personal note: </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>It seems appropriate that my first post after the election concerns a book inspired by Islam and Islamic cultures. Among the many, many evils that have been drawn out of the woodwork by the new president-elect's policies, I am the most worried about the marked increase in Islamophobia. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This freely available book presents many different perspectives on Islamic people and societies. In some stories, religion is outlawed and people must fight to continue following their beliefs. In others, religion is the problem that people are fighting against. But in all of them, Muslims are shown as they truly are: people trying to make their way in the world, fighting against circumstances outside of their control, just like everyone else. </i><i>Many of these stories draw upon events that are currently happening: the war in Syria, the Refugee Crisis. Some reverse the flow of migration so that Europeans become the migrant workers. All of them speak to parts of Islamic society that many people in the West are unaware of. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I encourage everyone to read through some of the stories in this collection, and to share them with friends who might have doubts about this religion and the people who follow it. At this historical moment more than ever, I consider it a moral duty to spread diverse literature in order to combat the prejudices, xenophobia, and, yes, White supremacy that is growing like a cancer in many parts of the world. Please join me by supporting works that combat stereotypes about People of Color and other minorities. </i><br />
<br />
In this collection published by the excellent website <a href="http://www.islamscifi.com/">Islam and Science Fiction</a>, authors from around the world have created science fiction short stories inspired by Islamic cultures. The works presented are the 12 best of those submitted for the first <a href="http://www.islamscifi.com/islamicate-science-fiction-short-story-competition/">Islamicate Short Story contest</a> run by the same website.<br />
<br />
Since there are so many stories, I will only provide an analysis of the ones that really spoke to me. However, I highly encourage you to read the others as well.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Calligraphy” by Alex Kreis (USA)</h3>
<br />
After a rivalry between two tile makers turns dark, the remaining one laments his actions.<br />
<br />
This story uses the formal and slightly stilted language of Victorian translations from Arabic, which I quite enjoyed. Unlike the rest of the stories in this collection, it is set in the past. On the first reading I was confused about its inclusion in this collection, since it didn't seem very much like science fiction. But then it struck me that it taps into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_the_medieval_Islamic_world">history of scientific exploration and discovery</a> in the Muslim world during the medieval period. The narrator sees something that he does not understand, but which was created through advanced scientific and artistic skills, and voila: a fascinating science fiction story set in the past.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Insha’allah” by <a href="https://twitter.com/dunhamwriter">R.F. Dunham </a>(USA)</h3>
<br />
It seems like a normal state of affairs - an adult child is more comfortable with a new technology than her parent is - but in this case the technology allows one to know the future, and the father Khafid is the inventor who has since forsworn his creation.<br />
<br />
This story deals with the lack of intergenerational communication that can happen based on the life experiences of older family members, as well as whether all inventions are necessary. What criteria would make a technology bad (not evil, just extremely misguided)? After much reflection, Khafid has decided that his invention was a bad idea for several reasons, not least because of his faith, but he has trouble expressing that to his daughter in a way she would understand. Anyway, his daughter refuses to listen and has instead decided to improve the device by increasing its temporal range. As you can probably guess, this is a bad idea.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<a name='more'></a><br />“Operation Miraj” by <a href="https://twitter.com/samiahmadkhan">Sami Ahmad Khan</a> (India)</h3>
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Time-traveling assassins are sent by Pakistan to alter the course of Indian history.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />“Connected” by <a href="https://twitter.com/mariannedwards">Marianne Edwards</a> (France)</h3>
<br />
<br />
Twenty some years from now, a survivor of the war in Syria and the refugee crisis now works creating “shared mindfields” – using biofeedback data to influence what an audience sees and/or feels.<br />
<br />
I was surprised and delighted by how up-to-date this story was. The narrator’s background as a survivor of the current war and refugee crisis – as well as later natural disasters caused by global warming – bring an immediacy to the narrative that urges the reader to do something about the ongoing calamity. This is very different than the standard apocalyptic scenario, in which something catastrophic happens at some point in the near future: in this version, it has already started, is happening now, as we read it. The result is an extremely powerful narrative that casts a different light on the current human rights catastrophe(s) by highlighting the lasting psychological trauma that it will cause.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“The Day No One Died” by <a href="http://www.gwengetsglobal.com/">Gwen Bellinger</a> (USA)</h3>
<br />
Asiya is a resident of Old Earth, which has been colonized by people from New Earth. The New Earthers consider themselves much more advanced, indications of which include: they never wear clothes, they have no religion, and they have an extra eye in the middle of their chest.<br />
<br />
This story is a fascinating examination of the perils of religious and colonial oppression, using the example of extraterrestrial colonizers. The New Earthers not only do not follow religion themselves: they have outlawed it for everyone else as well. This story reminded me of some of the best writing by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin">Ursula LeGuin</a> (especially her Hainish Cycle) and <i><a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2015/09/a-planet-for-rent-by-yoss-translated-by.html">A Planet for Rent</a></i> by the Cuban author Yoss.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Searching for Azrail” by <a href="https://twitter.com/Nick_Nasr">Nick ‘Nasr’ Pierce</a> (USA)</h3>
<br />
In a steampunk-inspired setting, Hani is the very young heir to the sultanate. His father has just died, and he is trying to understand what is happening.<br />
<br />
I have wondered, in the past, about the emotional implications of <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/12252/11-monarchs-crowned-while-they-were-diapers">becoming a ruler as a small child</a> – especially if there is an ensuing civil war. This story does a good job of exploring this situation from the eyes of the child, who cannot comprehend where his father has gone or why there is suddenly fighting all around him.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />“Watching the Heavens” by Peter Henderson (UK)</h3>
<br />
Aliens have begun using the Earth as a stop on their trade routes, with their bases in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa. Our narrator has joined the flood of undocumented immigrants from Europe looking for jobs in these Muslim countries after the collapse of the global economy.<br />
<br />
I liked this critical take on undocumented immigration/migration: in this version, the flow runs opposite to the Syrian refugees and other current migrations, and the White migrants are treated about the same way the black and brown migrants are treated now. This leads to a question: do you feel worse about these White migrants' predicament? And what does that say about your implicit racial biases (which everyone has, because we have been <a href="http://www.vox.com/2014/12/26/7443979/racism-implicit-racial-bias">conditioned that way by society</a>). However, I thought it was problematic that the Muslim countries had chosen to collude with aliens for financial reasons and the Christian countries are leading the resistance. This does two things: a) it leaves out a lot of people who do not fit into either of those categories, and b) it re-entrenches the idea of an ongoing cultural/religious war between Islam and Christianity. It would have been nice to see a little more nuance.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />“The Answer” by <a href="https://ui-ir.academia.edu/NiloufarBehrooz">Niloufar Behrooz</a> (Iran)</h3>
<br />
The narrator is kidnapped by people who are made out of concrete, and must discover why.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />“The Last Map Reader” by Sazida Desai (UK)</h3>
<br />
Zeb’s grandmother has died, and his cousin has started her first period – so in the space of a day, he has lost the two most important people in his life. During the funeral, his services are enlisted by the police, who need a special skill that he has learned from his grandmother: the ability to interpret a map.<br />
<br />
I really liked this story about how using too much technology can make us lose important skills. One thing that could use more discussion was the cultural situation that Zeb’s cousin is encountering. They are related, so why would menstruation mean that they could no longer communicate in any way? <br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“The End of the World” by Nora Salem (Middle East/USA)</h3>
<br />
After a huge environmental catastrophe, Nouari Tarkou is fending for himself in an abandoned city only to be caught by a gang of young hooligans. His only hope for survival is making contact with others outside of the disaster zone.<br />
<br />
This story is set in an abandoned Spain, and features a highly educated Muslim main character. If that is not enough to make you interested in reading it, then I don’t know what else I can tell you.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />“Congruence” by <a href="https://muslimreverie.wordpress.com/">Jehanzeb Dar</a> (Pakistan/USA)</h3>
<br />
A South Asian teenager makes an appointment with a South Asian therapist in an overwhelmingly white part of the US. It turns out that they have some kind of relationship in the future, and the younger woman has come to enlist the therapist’s help in escaping from a time loop.<br />
<br />
I loved the interaction between these two characters and the therapy setting. Although this story uses several tropes that have become somewhat cliché (time travel, trying to prevent a war-torn future), I enjoyed their relationship and the way they worked together to figure out a solution.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />“Pilgrims Descent” by<a href="https://twitter.com/jpheeley"> JP Heeley</a> (UK)</h3>
<br />
Muslim pilgrims make their way across the lunar surface in the hope that they will survive and be chosen to continue.<br />
<br />
This is one of my favorite stories in this collection: a truly original use of Islamic practices combined with living in space and environmental catastrophe. If you do not read any of the other stories in this collection, please read this one.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />Overall thoughts</h3>
<br />
One of the recurring themes in this collection is environmental destruction and the demographic shifts and migrations caused by it. We should choose to take this as both a warning and a critique: the current changes in the environment will cause a lot of upheaval, and not just in the Global South. How we choose to deal with both the environment and population shifts will determine the course of the future. Based on the <a href="http://qz.com/846957/trumps-climate-change-denial-will-lead-to-thousands-maybe-millions-of-deaths/">policies of the new president-elect</a>, this message cannot come at a better time.<br />
<br />
I appreciated the idea behind this collection: let’s encourage more people to write speculative stories based on/in Islamic societies. This is a wonderful idea, especially because Islamic societies make up a <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/04/02/397042004/muslim-population-will-surpass-christians-this-century-pew-says">huge part of the world’s population</a>. This can help people understand the current crisis that Muslims are dealing with, and hopefully thereby fighting against the growing Islamophobia.<br />
<br />
That being said, I noticed that a majority of the writers are from or currently live in the West, particularly the US or UK. In the future (and more volumes of this collection are planned!) I would love to see more writers who are originally from <i>and</i> currently live in historically Islamic or Muslim-majority countries.<br />
<br />
Something that the grammarly obsessed might want to note: this is obviously an amateur project, so the proofreading is not as good as it could be. Don’t be too frustrated by the typos or grammar mistakes, since the content more than makes up for it.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Further Reading</h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"<a href="http://www.islamscifi.com/qa-with-the-winners-of-islamicate-short-story-contest/">Q&A with the winners of Islamicate Short Story Contest</a>" from Islam and Science Fiction<br />
Also see my reviews of <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/07/goat-days-by-benyamin-translated-by.html"><i>Goat Days</i></a>, <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/04/ghosts-by-curdella-forbes.html"><i>Ghosts</i></a>, and <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2015/10/from-empty-harbour-to-white-ocean-by.html"><i>From Empty Harbour to White Ocean</i></a>, which deal with similar themes</div>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-4990007858547700712016-11-02T21:28:00.000-07:002016-11-02T21:28:36.055-07:00Ajjiit: Dark Dreams of the Ancient Arctic by Sean A. Tinsley and Rachel A. Qitsualik<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1345150385l/15010463.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1345150385l/15010463.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15010463-ajjiit">Ajjiit: Dark Dreams of the Ancient Arctic</a><br />
Sean A. Tinsley and Rachel A. Qitsualik<br />
Illustrated by Andrew Trabbold<br />
2011<br />
191 pages, speculative fiction, indigenous<br />
<br />
<i>Many thanks to <a href="http://inhabitmedia.com/">Inhabit Media</a> for providing a review copy of this book, and to my mother for sending it to India as a Christmas present last year! </i><br />
<br />
This collection includes nine innovative speculative fiction stories that are inspired by traditional Inuit society and folklore.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To a degree, our point, in crafting these fantasy stories, was to draw upon Inuit culture and lore, writing original fiction utilizing the unique creatures and concepts that Inuit once (and, in some cases still do) fear or revere [sic]. Our main purpose, however, was to illustrate a sort of cosmological thinking particular to Inuit culture - a mystic tradition, if you will, that is not unlike the Arctic itself: barren to the superficial eye, yet filled with riches for those willing to fix a deep and non-judgemental stare. - <i>Authors' introduction</i></blockquote>
<br />
<h3>
“Elder”</h3>
<br />
Pigliq, one of the Humble Folk, is a poor sleeper – he can’t fall asleep properly, and his friend has to dream clothes for him. This leads to ridicule and complaints. But when his people awake from their latest slumber to find a terrifying new threat, it’s up to Pigliq to save them all.<br />
<br />
Besides tapping into a fantastically unique race of humanoid beings from Inuit mythology, Pigliq’s unique plight – not being able to sleep, and therefore to dream – is compelling. He is considered disabled and is bullied for his differences from his peers, but in the end his "disability" is what allows him to fight when no one else can.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“The Qallupiluq Forgiven”</h3>
<br />
The Qallupiluq is a terrifying shapeshifter from Inuit mythology, who has the prerogative to kidnap and eat anyone who says its name.<br />
<br />
This story was one of my favorites in <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/01/moonshot-indigenous-comics-collection.html">Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Anthology Vol. I</a>.<br />
<a name='more'></a><h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br /></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Oil”</h3>
<br />
Suqqivaa, as the elder of two wives, cooks and cleans and maintains the family's lamp while her husband wastes all of his attention on the younger wife. How did things come to this state?<br />
<br />
In traditional Inuit society, the women of the family were in charge of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjjxUE6XSdQ">large soapstone lamps fed with blubber</a> or oil (video link), which were used for light, cooking, and drying clothes. Suqqivaa's job of feeding oil to the lamp is a central image in this story. How does she follow or flout women's traditional role? This story has a great twist ending that demonstrates Suqqivaa's self-sufficiency and creativity. This is probably my favorite story in this collection.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“The Final Craft”</h3>
<br />
One of the last members of an immortal race has created a machine that will save his people from their enemy, the Drillers. But in his last moments he turns his attention towards the humans, who have always worshiped his race. What will happen to them if he activates the Final Craft?<br />
<br />
More science-fiction than other stories in this collection, this tale brings up a great moral dilemma: should the Gods save themselves, or should they save those who have always worshiped and relied on them? What makes a race worth saving? While there’s not much new material here, it was an enjoyable read.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />“The Moon Lord’s Call”</h3>
<br />
The Animal Folk have been called to a gathering on the moon, and have sent four of the Bee Folk as their representatives. One, Tuki, is more foolish than the others – but she may be the one that can save them all.<br />
<br />
This is one of several stories in this collection that deal with the Animal Folk, a piece of Inuit folklore stating that animals are also people and can even take on human form when necessary. The Animal Folk have a close connection with the power of the land. Using their special powers (or just their brains), the Bee Folk are expected to provide a solution to a puzzle that threatens the very makeup of the universe.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“The Wolf Wight’s Dirge”</h3>
<br />
A group of Wolves who had known Human form suddenly find their <i>innua</i>, or humanity, draining from them. While struggling to retain the little that is left, they go on a desperate search to discover the reason for this sudden reversion into normal wolves.<br />
<br />
The descriptions of these constantly shifting creatures caught between wolf and human form are truly haunting. The reader feels the urgency, the desperation, that makes the pack track down the source of their despair. But their current condition does not come from their enemies: the source is much closer, maybe even within themselves…<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Slippery Babies”</h3>
<br />
Pilaaq, she is told, has been very sick for a very long time. Her husband is caring for her. She does not even remember when she wasn’t sick. Her fevered dreams have melded into reality so she cannot tell what is real anymore. And are those strange noises just in her dreams?<br />
<br />
This was a terrifying story. At first, I liked that Pilaaq’s husband was caring for her; it was a nice moment of gender equality that I don't see often enough in literature. But then I realized that his “care” might be causing her illness, the source of which is truly frightening.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Ghost Flesh”</h3>
<br />
When Saala arrives on a strange beach, food-less, tool-less, and in a stolen boat, he must struggle to survive. The beach is empty of life, filled with thousands of seashells and blockaded by impenetrable cliffs. How did he arrive here? And where is here?<br />
<br />
This story has a great twist at the end that I did not see coming at all. You need to read it for yourself.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Drum’s Sound” </h3>
<br />
Kavinnguaq is the mute, adopted son of two elderly <i>Angakkuq,</i> or shamans. When his father dies, his mother is taken by some sort of dark creature. As the entire camp is slowly taken over by this menace, the young boy finds himself alone in the arctic wilderness.<br />
<br />
This story explores the dimensions of emotional pain - an adult's and a child's - and what can happen to a whole community if it gets out of hand. The monster that takes over the camp struck me as a good metaphor for depression.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Loneliness </h3>
<br />
Many of these tales convey a sense of loneliness (or alone-ness) and isolation, of living in a very small and remote community with only a few others. The characters have a sense of independence and an ability to take care of themselves if they are alone in the wilderness. In “Drum’s Sound,” for example, a small child flees his camp and lives by himself for several days. However, his actions are constrained by the emptiness of the landscape: the strange sickness has taken over his entire community, but he does not have the ability to travel to another one by himself. He is truly alone with no possibility of help from outside. This places him in a situation that is very different from the protagonists of much of Western speculative fiction (especially Tolkein-esque fiction), where there is usually an army or some other backup waiting in the wings to appear when needed. The crisis in this story is thus both more urgent and more accomplishable by one person.<br />
<br />
This theme of loneliness also appears in stories about being the last of the characters' kind. “Elder,” “The Final Craft,” and “The Wolf-Wight’s Dirge” all deal with what must be very terrifying to people who live in small communities: something has placed the entire community in peril, and there is no way to solve it. I can only imagine how a small community would deal with something like that.<br />
<br />
I highly recommend this collection of speculative stories. It is the best of what I look for in diverse speculative fiction: imaginative stories that engage with a range of ideas, emotions, and tropes from non-Western sources. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone who is interested in fantasy, or anyone interested in a different perspective on the "cosmological thinking" of Inuit culture.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Further Reading: </h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.inuitartalive.ca/index_e.php?p=127">"Storytelling"</a> from Inuit Art Alive </div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm">The Internet Sacred Text Archive</a> has <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/inu/index.htm">a few collections of Inuit myths </a>that are in the public domain<br />
<a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/295790/">Download "Never Alone,"</a> a videogame developed in cooperation with the Inupiat and based on their legends</div>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-47356948741562309192016-10-24T18:46:00.000-07:002016-10-24T18:46:36.759-07:00Praktan, directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg9OcV0WUAAYaJB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg9OcV0WUAAYaJB.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5784350/">Praktan</a><br />
India (Bengali), 2016<br />
143 min, drama<br />
Directed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandita_Roy">Nandita Roy</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiboprosad_Mukherjee">Shiboprosad Mukherjee</a><br />
Starring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rituparna_Sengupta">Rituparna Sengupta</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aparajita_Auddy">Aparajita Auddy</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosenjit_Chatterjee">Prosenjit Chatterjee</a><br />
<br />
<b>Content Warning: Discussion of Emotional and Physical Abuse</b><br />
<br />
Ten years ago, Sudipa and Ujaan divorced after a difficult marriage. Today, Sudipa finds herself in a first-class train carriage from Mumbai to Kolkata with Malini, Ujaan’s new wife, and their daughter. During the course of the two-night train journey, Sudipa finally deals with the pain from years before.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, we see the stories of people in other rooms in the same carriage. Four famous Bengali musicians (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surojit_Chatterjee">Surojit Chatterjee</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anindya_Chatterjee">Anindya Chatterjee</a>, Upal Sengupta, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anupam_Roy">Anupam Roy</a>, playing themselves) serenade each other with new compositions. An elderly couple returns from Mumbai after seeing their son off to the US. And last but not least, a couple of newlyweds put the trip in a private cabin to good use.<br />
<br />
Both an intimate story of pain, heartbreak, and healing, and a glance at the things that happen in first class, this is a new, great train movie from West Bengal. However, the ending left a bad taste in my mouth.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rMJPxLAjuXU" width="560"></iframe></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<a name='more'></a>Abuse and Toxic Masculinity</h3>
<br />
After a promising start to their marriage, Ujaan quickly becomes incredibly abusive. As an experienced architect, Sudipa makes more money than he does (his job is as guide of walking tours of Kolkata’s heritage sites). She is independent and used to making decisions and taking trips on her own.<br />
<br />
Ujaan finds all of these things threatening to his masculinity. When Sudipa wants to spend her own money to buy clothes for him, Ujaan interprets this action as a statement about his inability to support them. When Sudipa asks him to take the day off to celebrate her birthday, or to support her during an extremely difficult pregnancy, he never seems to find the time. And then his excuse is always that he had to make money to support them. He never allowed her to contribute any of her salary toward the family's income, either.<br />
<br />
Not all of the abuse comes directly from Ujaan. While his family mostly seems to be kind to Sudipa, there is one incident that indicates severe emotional and physical abuse. When Sudipa is in the midst of her difficult pregnancy, and is therefore in great pain, her mother-in-law forces her to visit all of the relatives during the holidays. This is just torture. The mother-in-law's reasoning is that it would be inauspicious to tell people that Sudipa is pregnant, which would cause her to lose the baby. But of course she loses it anyway, probably partially because of being dragged all over Kolkata.<br />
<br />
Sudipa calls Ujaan out on all of this. She points out that he is misunderstanding her. She wants to contribute, but he’s not letting her. She tells him that she needed him to be there to help with the pregnancy, but no one was there to support her. Ujaan seems to realize that this was a bad thing to do, but his male ego and allegiance to his mother prohibits him from actually apologizing. Of course, this lack of remorse infuriates Sudipa and she calls him out on it even more. I was happy to see that Sudipa, at least, was willing to criticize her husband’s bad decisions and patriarchal worldview.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Forgiveness</h3>
<br />
It is now 10 years after Sudipa and Ujaan separated. In that time, Sudipa has carried this incredible pain around – and it seems that Ujaan has, as well. Ujaan treats his new wife, Malini, much better than he ever treated Sudipa. In fact, it seems that he has done a lot of soul-searching and realized many of the major mistakes he had committed in their relationship. Perhaps trying to atone for his earlier actions, or perhaps just trying to make this marriage work out better, he does all of the things he should have done for Sudipa – including the ones that Sudipa pointed out to him.<br />
<br />
For Sudipa, this train journey initially seems like a nightmare. She is stuck in the same small room as her ex-husband’s new wife and daughter. But over the course of the journey she is confronted with the past and actually finds time to reflect – giving her the chance to finally let that pain go and forgive both Ujaan and herself.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />
Disappointing Ending</h3>
<br />
While overall this movie seems very mature in its treatment of emotions, the ending undermines the overall theme. After seeing how Sudipa was constantly abused by Ujaan, it is a huge letdown to see her admit that it was partially her fault. Where did the brave, confident woman who pointed out her own abuse go? This pandering to traditional patriarchal attitudes at the end managed to ruin an otherwise excellent film, at least for me.<br />
<br />
Discounting the very disappointing ending, this film is worth watching for the mature emotional investigation it undertakes.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />Further Reading: </h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
<a href="http://www.springtideresources.org/resource/emotional-abuse-women-their-intimate-partners-literature-review">"Emotional Abuse of Women by their Intimate Partners: A Literature Review"</a> by Valerie J. Packota<br />
"<a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/08/worried-that-your-partner-is-emotionally-abusive-check-out-these-7-warning-signs/">Worried Your Partner Is Emotionally Abusive? Check Out These 7 Warning Signs</a>" by Emma Rust (Everyday Feminism)<br />
"<a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2016/02/be-accountable-when-abusive/">9 Ways to Be Accountable When You’ve Been Abusive</a>" by Kai Cheng Thom (Everyday Feminism)<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-38444874104589197652016-10-20T22:41:00.002-07:002016-10-20T22:41:39.909-07:00Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1Sv2A-KtM6IqrmMDu4o4nylrJD5SpoYTgzN7vnmb637WORdzM8OhwLL834wCZ7n2AeeUrGj_KmzXcbDWfjMYAXvsfaeZhLJaLwaWsj_9Xz4VinwdgB1-ji5lIdOueZbqyiHpeine3gor/s1600/Blackass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd1Sv2A-KtM6IqrmMDu4o4nylrJD5SpoYTgzN7vnmb637WORdzM8OhwLL834wCZ7n2AeeUrGj_KmzXcbDWfjMYAXvsfaeZhLJaLwaWsj_9Xz4VinwdgB1-ji5lIdOueZbqyiHpeine3gor/s320/Blackass.jpg" width="256" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23482810-blackass">Blackass</a><br />
A. Igoni Barrett<br />
2015, I read PDF review copy<br />
304 pages, social satire, speculative<br />
<br />
<i>Many thanks to <a href="http://www.kachifo.com/">Kachifo Limited</a> for providing a review copy of this novel. </i><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Furo Wariboko awoke this morning to find that dreams can lose their way and turn up on the wrong side of sleep. He was lying nude in bed, and when he raised his head a fraction, he could see his alabaster belly, and his pale legs beyond, covered with fuzz that glinted bronze in the cold daylight pouring in through the open window…. His hands were not black but white… same as his legs, his belly, all of him.</blockquote>
<br />
Thus begins this Kafkaesque satire about race relations in Nigeria. Furo wakes on the morning of a big job interview to find that he has suddenly turned White – complete with red hair and blue eyes. Escaping from his house, he turns up at the job interview and, as a White man, finds that not only his job prospects, but every other aspect of his life has significantly improved.<br />
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Being White in a post-colonial society</h3>
<br />
Furo encounters all of the things that I, myself, have experienced or witnessed as a White person living in a post-colonial society (in my case India). Using the same qualifications that had lost him numerous opportunities in the past, as a White man he is immediately offered a good job. People trust him enough to give him money within two minutes of meeting him.<br />
<br />
He also receives intense stares everywhere he goes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Lone white face in a sea of black, Furo learned fast. To walk with his shoulders up and his steps steady. To keep his gaze lowered and his face blank. To ignore the fixed stares, the pointed whispers, the blatant curiosity. And he learnt how it felt to be seen as a freak: exposed to wonder, invisible to comprehension.</blockquote>
As a White man, Furo is expected to act a certain way; when he doesn’t fulfill people’s expectations they become surprised and start to question him. When he tries to eat in a roadside restaurant, for example, people stare and ask why he is there. To escape the stares, he goes into one of the city's fancy shopping malls (which he has never previously entered), and fakes casualness while drinking an incredibly expensive coffee. As a White person, he is not only expected to have a lot of money, but also to fit naturally into high society.<br />
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When you are treated in such a special way, it is tempting to take advantage of it for your own gain. Furo does just that, to the point of exploiting those around him. Leaving his family behind, he takes every opportunity he is offered, especially if it will allow him to move somewhere he can start his life afresh as a white man.<br />
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I am very impressed by the author’s observational skills. As someone who experiences these things on a day-to-day basis, I can say that he got the details of being a White person in a post-colonial society absolutely correct.<br />
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<br />Fear of being found out</h3>
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There is also another analogy here, and it revolves around Igoni, a character that Furo meets several times. During the course of the story, Igoni transitions from male to female. When Furo first meets him at the mall, Igoni is presenting as a man; when Furo next meets her, Igoni is presenting as a woman.<br />
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Furo has retained one feature that can reveal his non-Whiteness: his ass is still black. Most of the time this isn’t a problem, of course; it only comes up if he lets someone close enough to have sex. He spends much of his time attempting to hide this feature, such as by only having sex in the dark.<br />
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This is obviously a metaphor for being transgender, and is directly correlated with Igoni’s transition. Like Furo, the one feature that indicates who she previously was usually remains hidden, only to be revealed in a moment of intimacy. For both Furo and Igoni, the revelation could be dangerous, for both their place in society and possibly <a href="http://www.avp.org/storage/documents/ncavp_transhvfactsheet.pdf">even their physical wellbeing</a> [PDF].<br />
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As a novel</h3>
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I loved the first part of this novel, when people were treating Furo like he was an alien because of the color of his skin. This was so close to my own experience that I kept exclaiming to my husband, “Everyone’s staring at him!” “Haha the security guard let him into the mall, no questions asked!”<br />
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However, later in the book I started to really dislike Furo’s character. He is a greedy, lying scoundrel in the end, letting the sudden power go to his head. There are many other ways to deal with this kind of special attention, so why did Furo have to take advantage of everyone’s hospitality? I guess the author wanted to make a point about how this power can be abused, but I did not enjoy reading about what a terrible person the main character turned out to be.<br />
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I recommend this book as a great satire about race relations in a post-colonial society – especially for people who have not experienced such obvious examples of White privilege.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Further Reading: </h3>
<div>
<br /></div>
"<a href="https://globalnomadism.com/2015/09/14/being-white-in-india-privilege-and-power/">Being White in India - Privilege and Power</a>" by Jessica Kumar<br />
"<a href="http://dave-masterson.tumblr.com/post/112056818282/on-being-white-in-india">On Being White in India</a>" by Dave Masterson<br />
"<a href="https://mediadiversified.org/2014/10/14/tourism-white-privilege-and-colonial-mentality-in-east-africa/">Tourism, White Privilege and Colonial Mentality in East Africa</a>" by Samira Sawlani (Media Diversified)<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-33442717926182214962016-09-27T18:01:00.000-07:002016-09-27T18:01:22.780-07:00In Memorium: Parthasarathi Neogi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTud9AJjkhlpbri_X-xN6jswsJBrTMZz9g5-mHYn9cnvmMtXgfuukPgJNRGZUuo3wV33uA601WR_CgbszIWjA_HmKR_5s_X2eQPMSAwaHDfFQf5e19t1O6WPH_yv_ZhVr1wVPyfZfS5Edx/s1600/DSC00750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTud9AJjkhlpbri_X-xN6jswsJBrTMZz9g5-mHYn9cnvmMtXgfuukPgJNRGZUuo3wV33uA601WR_CgbszIWjA_HmKR_5s_X2eQPMSAwaHDfFQf5e19t1O6WPH_yv_ZhVr1wVPyfZfS5Edx/s400/DSC00750.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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My father-in-law, Parthasarathi Neogi, died suddenly last Friday night, September 23, 2016. After a day spent visiting old friends, he had a sudden stroke and died within a few minutes.<br />
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My husband Tintin and I were in Kerala, and were woken up at 11 PM by a phone call from his mom. We flew home on the first flight at 5:30 AM, and completed the funeral by that evening. We just finished the last of the rituals to give him peace.<br />
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I called him Baba, the Bengali word for father.<br />
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I couldn't have asked for a better father-in-law; he truly loved me. He would do small things to show his love, such as bring big chocolate bars to have on hand whenever I came. I was supposed to come to Kolkata (alone) on October 12th, and he had offered to pick me up from the airport. He had also, I discovered when I came, bought three new bedsheets for me to use while I was here.<br />
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These may sound like very small things, but when put together they added up to a very good man who loved me very much. And I miss him.<br />
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I will be in Kolkata for the next few months to take care of affairs while Tintin returns to Kerala for work. It will be hard to be separated for such a long time, but it is necessary right now.<br />
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Rest in Peace </div>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-89027480553883705492016-09-23T02:00:00.000-07:002016-09-23T02:00:22.804-07:00Kickstart These: La Raza, Moonshot Vol. II<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There are two excellent, diverse comic anthologies waiting for funding on Kickstarter right now.<br />
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<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/katfajardo/la-raza-anthology-unidos-y-fuerte?ref=category_featured"><span id="goog_1514357237"></span>La Raza Anthology: Unidos y Fuertes<span id="goog_1514357238"></span></a></h3>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/katfajardo/la-raza-anthology-unidos-y-fuerte/widget/video.html" width="480"> </iframe></div>
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A collection of comics by Latinx creators! Pledges start at US $2, and you can get a copy of the book for $15(ebook)/$25(hardcopy).<br />
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I love the artwork.<br />
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<a href="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/489/585/9c77e68b8bf0e2bda278425217b9242a_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1472111354&auto=format&q=92&s=0703b999d0091bbfdb349299b91895e7" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/489/585/9c77e68b8bf0e2bda278425217b9242a_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1472111354&auto=format&q=92&s=0703b999d0091bbfdb349299b91895e7" width="400" /></a></div>
The last day to pledge is <b>September 29, 2016</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1350078939/moonshot-the-indigenous-comics-collection-volume-2?ref=category_recommended">Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection, Vol. 2</a></h3>
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<a href="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/118/610/ea8071c6d8364125cf537ecabd1d7858_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1469022873&auto=format&q=92&s=0a2fa895bedf66ea0cabb76dedb29586" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/118/610/ea8071c6d8364125cf537ecabd1d7858_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1469022873&auto=format&q=92&s=0a2fa895bedf66ea0cabb76dedb29586" width="400" /></a></div>
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I loved the first volume of this series of comics by Native American artists, mostly from Canada. You can read my review <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2016/01/moonshot-indigenous-comics-collection.html">here</a>. The second volume promises more of the same excellent work. In fact, </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Each of the 15 short stories included in this c.200 page Volume will be based on a tradition from the author's own tribe/community. These stories highlight present-day traditions, and diversity, in indigenous peoples today.</blockquote>
As always, the artwork looks absolutely breathtaking, and you can get prints as a backer award.<br />
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<br /><a href="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/315/884/291b22215248827011b2288403f3435b_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1470707215&auto=format&q=92&s=88c37dd2b209f71d94f7caf3acd621c0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/013/315/884/291b22215248827011b2288403f3435b_original.jpg?w=680&fit=max&v=1470707215&auto=format&q=92&s=88c37dd2b209f71d94f7caf3acd621c0" width="207" /></a></div>
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Pledges start at $5 CAD, and you can get a copy of the book for $10(ebook)/$20(hardcopy). </div>
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The last day to pledge is <b>September 30, 2016</b>. </div>
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Go get your copies before time runs out! </div>
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<b>Want to see more articles like this? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>twitter</b></span></a><b> or like </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>The Globally Curious on Facebook</b></span></a><b>. </b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-73600270069597242392016-09-22T07:56:00.000-07:002016-09-22T07:57:33.464-07:00The Timehrian by Andrew Jefferson-Miles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348363397l/8836844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1348363397l/8836844.jpg" width="211" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8836844-the-timherian">The Timehrian</a><br />
Andrew Jefferson-Miles<br />
2002<br />
110 pages, post-modern, speculative<br />
<br />
<i>Thank you to <a href="http://www.peepaltreepress.com/">Peepal Tree Press</a> for providing a review copy of this book. </i><br />
<br />
After awaking from a six-year madness, Leon-Battista Mondaal writes to his cousin in an attempt to express what he has experienced. The result is this poetic novel that can never tell a straight story, but nevertheless reaches toward the truth - of Guyana’s colonial and post-colonial past, of ethnographic practice, and of the relationships between people.<br />
<br />
This book is essentially a prose poem, for better or for worse. At times, it becomes almost incomprehensible, such as:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The tidal wave that swept all away possessed a sort of hybrid vigour that reached over our best attempts at correction. It exhibited an evenhanded kind of intervention in our affairs, entangling and suborning layers and institutions and environments. Former legacies are converted into new bodies whilst old shapes enter the squall and masquerade of memory, whose disguises enact majestic instability in our conception of ourselves. It is a complex, a charged phenomenology of practice and custom intensifying communities diverse in their origins, orientations, dictions.</blockquote>
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I don’t usually enjoy reading poetry, but I will try my best to pull out what I understood from this text.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Colonialism and ethnography</h3>
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Immediately before the tidal wave that caused Leon-Battista’s descent into madness, he was working with an ethnographic team recording the traditional <a href="https://guyaneseonline.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/guyana-masquerade/">Christmas masquerade</a> in a Guyanese coastal village. However, he seems to be uncomfortable with the whole process, and especially with the functionalist and colonial attitude of Laban, the group’s leader and a renowned anthropologist.<br />
<br />
Part of what Leon-Battista points out is a common critique of early forms of anthropology (before the <a href="http://anthrotheory.pbworks.com/w/page/29532672/The%20Reflexive%20Turn">“reflexive turn”</a>). As he notes,<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Conventional epistemes for the study of man (social relativism in anthropology, ethnolology, ethnography) tend to benefit least those about whom the study is made. Those about whom the study is made rarely get to participate in it. </blockquote>
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As a discipline, anthropology now recognizes these issues and does its best to rectify them (or at least to be aware of them and their effects on a study) through participative modes of ethnography and research.<br />
<br />
However, it seems that Leon-Battista is also referring to the colonial attitudes of some ethnographers, who treat the people they study as a way to produce knowledge, nothing more. Laban is a “native anthropologist:” originally from Guyana, he has returned as a celebrated academic to study his “native” culture. Despite this apparent belonging, he still treats his research participants as subjects of study rather than real, three-dimensional people.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
History </h3>
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Another issue that Leon-Battista brings out is the complicated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Guyana">history of the area</a>, from both an ecological and cultural standpoint. Apart from the colonists that came from Europe, the people in the area are also the descendants of African slaves, Indian indentured servants, and the Amerindian inhabitants of the area. As all of these groups have combined to form the society of present-day Guyana, so has the environment of the country changed under their influence.<br />
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Overall, I did not enjoy reading this book. It was only after I finished it that I realized how thought-provoking it is. If you enjoy reading poetry and/or are interested in experimental writing, you might want to give this one a try.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-29492275581157523552016-09-15T18:46:00.001-07:002016-09-15T18:46:41.357-07:00What Sunny Saw in the Flames by Nnedi Okorafor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1470215834l/30513481.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1470215834l/30513481.jpg" width="208" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22567538-what-sunny-saw-in-the-flames?ac=1&from_search=true">What Sunny Saw in the Flames</a><br />
Nnedi Okorafor<br />
2016, I read pdf review copy<br />
315 pages, YA, speculative<br />
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<i>Many thanks to Cassava Republic Press for providing a review copy of this book!</i><br />
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Sunny Nwazue is a young girl who does not quite fit in. She was born in the United States to Nigerian parents, but is growing up in Nigeria. She is also an albino, which is a big deal in Nigeria where they are sometimes considered witches or people who talk to ghosts. Her skin’s <a href="http://www.underthesamesun.com/node/78">sensitivity to sun</a> also prevents her from playing soccer, which is one of her passions. <br />
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She discovers that she actually <i>does </i>have some magical abilities: she is a “Free Agent,” or someone able to do magic (a Leopard Person) who is born into a non-magical (Lamb) family. Now, apart from learning about her abilities with her new friends, Sunny has to keep her new identity a secret from her family, do twice the normal amount of homework, and deal with a magical serial killer who is targeting children.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Magical Universe</h3>
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In this story, there is an alternate society of Leopard People: some live in the Lamb community, and others live in special, magical places, such as Leopard Knocks. In Leopard society, Free Agents like Sunny are discriminated against, as evidenced by the obvious racism in the in-universe book <i>Fast Facts for Free Agents </i>which Sunny uses to learn about the magic community. Most of the chapters end with an excerpt of this deplorable book, providing a glimpse into the racism that Sunny will experience.<br />
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The magic here is juju, and it uses a lot of blood and sacrifices. The most-used magical implement is a juju knife, which is about the size of a child’s hand and is unique to each magical person. Each individual also has a “spirit face,” which is considered very private and is the source of their power.<br />
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And last but not least, my favorite part of the magic in this book is “<i>chittim</i>,” or the magical currency. Every time a magical person learns something new or applies a new skill, <i>chittim</i> falls around them out of thin air. Thus the people who are the wealthiest are also those who are most knowledgable, skillful, or wise. I wish that was how real money worked!<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br />Similarity to Harry Potter</h3>
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Let me address the elephant in the room. Obviously this book shares some similarities with <i>Harry Potter</i>; I had to prevent myself from using the word “muggles” or “muggle-born” while writing the above summary. Some other bloggers have noticed this similarity as well, and have <a href="https://gamingforjustice.com/2016/08/22/book-review-what-sunny-saw-in-the-flames-by-nnedi-okorafor/">noted their distaste for this comparison</a>, since it reinforces colonial norms in which the white male is used as the gold standard. I agree with this argument.<br />
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I therefore don’t want to compare the <i>Akata Witch</i> books with <i>Harry Potter</i>. However, I do think that this book is a solid addition to the genre of magical-children-discover-they’re-magical-and-have-to-learn-and-deal-with-bigger-issues, which <i>Harry Potter</i> obviously is a part of. I would also add the <i>Circle of Magic</i> books by Tamora Pierce and the <i>Harper Hall of Pern</i> trilogy by Anne McCaffrey. If you like any of these books, you will undoubtedly like this one.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Albinism and discrimination</h3>
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I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_people_with_albinism">discrimination </a>with which <a href="http://albinofoundation.org/albinism/albinism-in-africa/">albinos are treated</a> <a href="http://www.authorityngr.com/2016/06/Plights-of-Nigerian-Albinos/">in Nigeria</a>. There are some snide comments and a few fights between Sunny and the other girls at school, but other than that the <a href="http://albinism.ohchr.org/story-jake-epelle.html">problems with being an albino in Nigeria</a> are not really addressed.<br />
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However, I did like the way this book addressed the discrimination that Sunny faces as a girl, especially in reference to soccer. She loves to play soccer, but others do not want her to participate because she is a girl. This book really comes into its own when Sunny defies the norms and plays soccer with the boys at a gathering of Leopard People – and wins.<br />
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This was a lovely book, and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in this genre of YA. I am looking forward to reading more from this series.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Further Reading: </h3>
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"<a href="http://venturesafrica.com/someone-tell-the-un-witchunting-albinos-is-not-common-in-nigeria/">Someone Tell the UN Witchhunting Albinos is not Common in Nigeria</a>" by Oreoluwa Runsewe (Ventures)<br />
"<a href="http://www.underthesamesun.com/sites/default/files/MYTHS.Final_.pdf">MYTHS, DISCRIMINATION, AND THE CALL FOR SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR PERSONS WITH ALBINISM IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA</a>" by Muthee Thuku (Under the Same Sun)<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<br /><b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-13559985067074017932016-09-05T05:05:00.002-07:002016-09-05T05:09:00.893-07:00Westerly 61.1: The Indigenous Issue<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgk9isYrOYgLFWj2QpAMTfOupb_kB2UuVHfFXsS2MgeENDnNrbuvHY87Zi6tNl72hZsVYNb8joFfo7bWEOBtyzr9_gjyV6WQnO5MmGV9LIwX0LMoATOJd5pRCJ8U2MyIownKunsMmUa_FI/s1600/Westerly61_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgk9isYrOYgLFWj2QpAMTfOupb_kB2UuVHfFXsS2MgeENDnNrbuvHY87Zi6tNl72hZsVYNb8joFfo7bWEOBtyzr9_gjyV6WQnO5MmGV9LIwX0LMoATOJd5pRCJ8U2MyIownKunsMmUa_FI/s320/Westerly61_1.jpg" width="320" /></a>Westerly 61.1: The Indigenous Issue<br />
Guest edited by Stephen Kinnane<br />
August 2016<br />
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<a href="https://westerlymag.com.au/">Westerly</a><i>, based at the University of Western Australia, is a literary magazine publishing new writing from Western Australia since 1956. I would like to thank them for providing a review copy of this issue. </i><br />
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[O]verwhelmingly, the work submitted and collected here sought to witness – some the past, some the present, many their hopes for the future. This act of telling as testimonial is not something fragile. It is a robust and vibrant energy, charging each unique voice, and demanding a space in which it can be felt. – the editors’ introduction</blockquote>
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There is a huge range of pieces in this issue, far too many for me to review each one individually. Instead, I will just mention a few of my favorites. They are presented in the same order as in the magazine.<br />
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<br />“The Yield” by <a href="https://twitter.com/tarajunewinch">Tara June Winch</a></h3>
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My absolute favorite piece is “The Yield,” an excerpt from a forthcoming novel. In this excerpt, we meet the main character, a mostly-Indigenous woman whose grandfather has just died. She has to travel back to Australia, back to the place she grew up, to deal with the funeral arrangements and to support her grandmother. This also means that she has to confront aspects of her past that she has avoided for a long time, especially her sister who mysteriously disappeared during their childhood.<br />
<br />
The writing is dense, tightly-packed and absolutely beautiful.<br />
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During the flight I watched the GPS, the numbers rising and steadying, the plane skittering over the cartoon sea. At the other end, having reached a certain altitude, crossed the time lines, descended into new coordinates, I’d hoped it would be enough to erase the voyage. Erase the facts of the matter; erase the burials rites due reciting, erase all the erasures of us, and <i>that </i>family we once were in the stories could exist. Not us, as we were now, godless and government housed and spread all over the place.</blockquote>
From what I have read so far, this story is absolutely ordinary, and yet entirely profound. I have added Tara June Winch to my list of authors whose works I want to read as soon as possible, and am eagerly waiting for the novel form of <i>The Yield.</i><br />
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“Past Tense” by <a href="https://twitter.com/jannalijones">Jannali Jones</a></h3>
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I don’t usually review poetry, but this one stood out to me. It grapples with the terrible suddenness and incomprehension of death and asks how we can possibly find a way to deal with it. Why does language have no way to say that someone is gone but still here at the same time?<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“My Dear Child” by Melissa Lucashenko</h3>
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In this very short (barely one page) work of prose a mother writes to her daughter after a smallpox epidemic. It is a deeply touching (and disturbing) account of how this woman’s life and mental state has been affected by the illness that swept through her family and community.<br />
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<br />“Truth and Consequence” by Professor <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2016/07/04/naidoc-2016-female-elder-year-mary-ann-bin-sallik">MaryAnn Bin-Sallik</a></h3>
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Bin-Sallik was the first Indigenous Australian to obtain a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In this short essay, she muses about where she came from and how she managed to succeed despite the difficulties she faced. It is an inspiring tale of one woman’s life.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Tomorrow, another will come” by <a href="http://caitlinprince.blogspot.in/">Caitlin Prince</a></h3>
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Prince has spent time working as a occupational therapist for the Australian government in remote communities in the Kimberly. In this essay, she conveys the hurt and frustration caused by the government’s policy of moving people like her from one area to another. This leads to great suffering because every year the patients must come to trust yet another caregiver, who will again leave them all too soon.<br />
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<br />“The Conservation of the Stars” by <a href="https://twitter.com/drmichalia">Michalia Arathimos</a></h3>
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This short story concerns an Indigenous man from the coast who takes a job in a small town in the middle of the desert. He finds that he cannot connect with the people there: despite also being Indigenous, they shut him out. “When he asked about the mines the people looked away. When he tried to visit his neighbours’ houses the people seemed embarrassed for him.” They assume that he won’t be staying for long, and in the end he fails to make any real friends or other connections despite being there for a year.<br />
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When I was living in Kolkata for the first time, I experienced something very similar to the plight of this character. If people do not open their hearts to you, it is hard to feel like you belong to a place, even if you have been living there for a long time. You can’t put down any roots. It’s a terrible feeling and a difficult situation to be in, and Arathimos does a brilliant job of drawing out the existential angst of that experience.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Unburdening the World: Breaking the Cycle of the Perpetual Single Story” by <a href="https://twitter.com/reddirttalk">Jacqueline Wright</a></h3>
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By reflecting on the process through which she wrote her own novel and discussing the history of Indigenous literature in Australia, Wright grapples with questions of representation, authenticity, and cultural appropriation. As a non-Indigenous Australian, what issues did she have to confront while writing about Indigenous Australians? How did she negotiate the questions of representation that arose?<br />
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Her very brief introduction to the representation of Indigenous Australians in literature is also a good resource for people like me who know very little about Australian literature or the way that Indigenous people have been depicted in it.<br />
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“Behind the Line” by Katinka Smit</h3>
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This short story describes the struggles of a teenager who is half-Indigenous, but who has been left with his White uncle to grow up in a thoroughly White area. His struggle to find his identity and the descriptions of the racist bullying he experiences are particularly profound.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
“Clutching the Void” by Graham Akhurst</h3>
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Akhurst is an Aboriginal man who once was dating a French woman, C. When they went to New Zealand for a long backpacking holiday, he discovers that the Maori are conspicuous in their absence along the tourist scene. When C prevents him from searching for them, he learns some things about what he finds important - and what he is willing to tolerate in their relationship.<br />
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This is a great collection that I cannot recommend highly enough. If you are at all interested in reading about the experiences of Indigenous Australians, <a href="https://westerlymag.com.au/issues/61-1-backorder/">get your hands on a copy</a> as soon as possible.<br />
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<b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-91057255392531324922016-08-26T23:51:00.003-07:002016-08-26T23:51:50.229-07:00Court, directed by Chaitanya Tamhane<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3717068/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Court</a><br />
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b2/Court_(film)_POSTER.jpg/220px-Court_(film)_POSTER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b2/Court_(film)_POSTER.jpg/220px-Court_(film)_POSTER.jpg" width="213" /></a>India (Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, English), 2014<br />
116 min, drama, satire, realist<br />
Directed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Tamhane">Chaitanya Tamhane</a><br />
Starring Vira Sathidar, Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, and Pradeep Joshi<br />
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An elderly folk singer is arrested for political reasons. What follows is an intimate look at the Indian legal system from the perspective of the three main participants: the defending attorney, the prosecutor, and the judge.<br />
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This film won Best Feature Film in the Indian National Film Awards and was India’s official entry for the Academy Awards.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Not a “Courtroom Drama”</h3>
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I was rather disappointed when I first saw this film, and I think the main reason was its advertising as a “courtroom drama.” I was expecting it to be similar to great “courtroom drama” films like <i>12 Angry Men</i> or <i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i>. But it isn’t like that at all.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4sc8z7zav9A" width="560"></iframe><br />
<a name='more'></a>The main focus of this film isn’t really on the accused’s supposed crime, or on the argument that his lawyer uses to defend him. The case is just an excuse. The real focus is on the place – the court – itself: how it works, the relationships between the people who work there, how cases are handled. The lives of the attorneys and the judge outside of the courtroom. This is a different angle altogether from the courtroom dramas I was used to, which involve argumentation and detailed analyses of the crime.<br />
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The director uses long shots of court proceedings to demonstrate how this folk singer’s case is just one in a long line of cases that come before the judge on any given day. It’s like a machine: one after another the defendants are presented, the attorneys make their cases, and the judge pronounces judgement. Or, more likely, gives a date for the parties to return to the court to present further evidence. The film follows the same court case over months as the defendant comes into and goes out of and comes into jail again. The defendants are brought in, chewed up, and spit out by the legal system.<br />
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In the main court case, it is obvious that the charges are fraudulent and politically motivated. And yet he is kept in jail for months as the prosecutor fails to produce witnesses and the court dates are rescheduled again and again, despite his age and poor health.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Personal stories</h3>
<br />
The director’s focus on the personal backgrounds of the attorneys and the judge is unique. Through these glimpses into their lives, we see the inequalities between them and between them and the people whose lives are in their hands.<br />
<br />
The defending attorney is relatively wealthy. He speaks fluent English and apparently has taken this case on a <i>pro bono</i> basis because of the human rights implications. However, he is also quite lonely. We see him fall asleep drinking wine and watching the news on his Macbook, alone in his posh apartment. And his relationship with his parents is cold: the keep bothering him about marriage and use his legal knowledge for their own projects. On the other hand, it seems that he does go out on dates occasionally, or just to the cafes with friends.<br />
<br />
The prosecutor is a woman, and that shapes a lot of what she experiences. After work, her life revolves around "womanly" tasks. On the train home, she bonds with another female passenger over saris and cooking before picking up her son at school. Then she has to cook dinner and feed her husband and children while they watch TV. Finally, after everyone else has gone to bed, she has time to look through court documents and prepare her cases.<br />
<br />
As a public prosecutor, she is also paid far less than the defense attorney. This much is evident from a comparison between his posh apartment and her older, stolidly middle-class home, as well as the kinds of restaurants each frequents. The gendered and economic disparities are apparent.<br />
<br />
Finally, it turns out that the judge is a bit of a quack in his private life. He apparently thinks every health problem can be fixed through numerology or fortune telling, or various other kinds of alternative medicine.<br />
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All three of these characters are significantly better off financially than the accused or the witnesses, all of whom live in a slum. The man who is supposed to have committed suicide was a sewer cleaner, <a href="http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main36.asp?filename=Ne081207LIFE_INSIDE.asp">one of the lowest paid and most dangerous jobs in India.</a> His wife, it turns out, doesn't even know how old she is. It says something about the system that these three well-educated, financially well-off people hold the lives of poor people in their hands. From the way the story is told, it seems that the defendant does not really matter, as long as the lawyers and judge do their job. What a brilliantly understated but piercing satire of the legal system, both in India and in general.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
As a film</h3>
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If you are a fan of slow movies filled with long, lingering shots you will probably think this film is the best thing since sliced bread. Personally, I do not enjoy this kind of filmmaking. While I enjoyed the satire and the scathing critique of the Indian justice system, I had trouble enjoying the film itself. That being said, I still recommend it for anyone interested in these issues.<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Further Reading:</h3>
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<br /></div>
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<div>
"<a href="http://www.indiewire.com/2015/07/why-court-writer-and-director-chaitanya-tamhane-doesnt-think-you-can-judge-his-intentions-247837/">Why ‘Court’ Writer and Director Chaitanya Tamhane Doesn’t Think You Can Judge His Intentions</a>" by Laya Maheshwari (IndieWire) </div>
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<div>
"<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/Interview-with-Marathi-and-multi-lingual-film-Courts-director-Chaitanya/articleshow/46986888.cms">Interview with Marathi and multi-lingual film Court’s director Chaitanya</a>" by Rajesh Naidu (Times of India) </div>
<div>
"<a href="http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/interview-court-director-chaitanya-tamhane">'Law Is Not Set In Stone, It Has To Be Interpreted': An Interview With Court Director Chaitanya Tamhane</a>" by Manik Sharma (Caravan Magazine)<br />
<div>
"[Interview with] <a href="http://bombmagazine.org/article/7129714/chaitanya-tamhane">Chaitanya Tamhane</a>" by Liza Béar (BOMB Magazine) </div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Want to see more reviews of world literature and film? Follow me on </b><a href="https://twitter.com/chelsea_mcgill4"><span class="s1"><b>Twitter</b></span></a><b> or like The Globally Curious's </b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheGloballyCurious?ref=hl"><span class="s1"><b>facebook page</b></span></a><b>!</b></h3>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-45699685323313961602016-08-18T01:58:00.001-07:002016-08-18T01:58:47.086-07:00INTERVIEW: Indra Das on his debut novel The Devourers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Indrapramit (Indra) Das is an author from Kolkata, India who writes in the fantasy/science fiction genres. I <a href="http://thegloballycurious.blogspot.in/2015/06/the-devourers-by-indra-das.html">reviewed </a>his debut novel <i>The Devourers </i>when it came out in India last year. Indra is now working as the Speculative Fiction editor for <a href="http://www.juggernaut.in/">Juggernaut Books</a>, a new publishing company focused on mobile content. I caught up with him after his publicity tour for the US version of <i>The Devourers</i>, published last month by Del Rey.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
I know you just finished your US publicity tour for <i>The Devourers</i>. How did it go? </h4>
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It went very well indeed, thank you for asking! I went to New York City for the launch, and met my American editor, Mike Braff, along with the entire team behind the book’s publication, promotion, etc. at the Del Rey / Penguin Random House offices. I had a lovely time with them all, and they held a gathering for me at a bar with free copies of the book for the launch. Then I joined them at San Diego Comic-Con, where I was on a couple of panels, and had three signings, and generally promoted the book at the Del Rey booth on the Con floor along with other writers published under the imprint. From there, I went to Seattle for a couple of readings at the University Bookstore and the Two Hour Transport reading series at <a href="http://caferacerseattle.com/">Café Racer.</a> And finally, Vancouver for one night for a reading at my favourite bookstore there, <a href="http://pulpfictionbooksvancouver.com/">Pulpfiction Books</a>. It all went so well (thanks greatly to the heroic efforts of the Del Rey team, and the generosity of my friends in all three cities), Comic-Con was as marvelously brain-frazzling as reputed (we sold out all copies of <i>The Devourers</i> at the Del Rey booth), and the panels and signings went better than I could have hoped. None of which necessarily says anything about the future of the book’s long-term cultural impact or sales, but it was a lovely start.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Have you noticed any differences between the novel’s reception in India and the US? </h4>
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Absolutely. The book is doing decently for a debut in India, but it’s not had much of a cultural impact, with not many writers or publications talking about it or writing about it (I am of course eternally grateful to the writers and publications who did). It got good reviews, certainly, but I didn’t get the impression that cultural gatekeepers were very interested in looking past the pitch - ‘werewolves in India’— to talk about it as a cross-genre novel rather than declare ‘oh hey, another Indian fantasy novel, those are pretty rare, right?’ and leave it at that.<br />
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In North America, the book’s got a resoundingly positive reaction so far; excellent reviews and blurbs from writers. I’m honestly overwhelmed by the reception across the board. The difference is that there’s already a cultural infrastructure there to talk about cross-genre art, and science-fiction and fantasy has long since merged with mainstream culture in the West (for better and worse), so reviewers are less preoccupied with whether the book is ‘Indian fantasy’ and more willing to talk about its narrative and thematic content. Furthermore, the international genre fiction community online, despite its great divisions and internal turmoil, is in many ways very welcoming. Because I’ve published short stories in Western sci-fi and fantasy magazines and anthologies, I have a certain amount of people in countries other than India (mainly in the West, but other regions too, because of the internet) who are familiar with my work, and have been very gracious about spreading the word about this novel because they’ve liked my short fiction.<br />
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I think the conversation around diversity in publishing also had a lot of readers and critics eager to see unusual books from countries around the world, and in that respect, <i>The Devourers</i> is getting a warm welcome because the Western publishing industry hasn’t been very welcoming to novels from Indian authors that aren’t straight-up immigrant-story litfic. I can only hope the publication of <i>The Devourers</i> - a cross-genre literary fantasy set in contemporary India and the Mughal Empire, by a relatively unknown Indian debut novelist - by a mainstream commercial imprint like Del Rey, bodes well for diversity in the publishing industry. I get the impression that a lot of readers of the book are hoping that’s the case.<br />
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As for the commercial reception, it’s too early to tell, of course. It’s an odd book, and no amount of good press will necessarily translate to amazing sales for a first-time author’s odd literary ‘Indian werewolf’ novel (as always, I use ‘literary’ as a term to denote a certain kind of prose and narrative style, not merit—it’s a silly word to distinguish one form of literature over others, but the one we use, unfortunately).<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Let’s talk about the novel itself. I know you’ve been working on it for a long time. When did you first start writing something that eventually became The Devourers? What did it look like originally? </h4>
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The novel started as a couple of short stories/novellas I wrote in Creative Writing classes during college, at Franklin and Marshall College. They looked fairly similar to what is now the first chapter and some of Fenrir’s section of the novel. I wrote those stories around 2005/2006. Much later, I wanted to interrogate the regressive tropes I used in those stories (male-centered stories that used rape and violence against ill-defined women characters to ostensibly discuss sexual violence) when I was doing my MFA at the University of British Columbia. That interrogation expanded the stories into my MFA thesis, which was the first draft of <i>The Devourers</i>.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Why the title <i>The Devourers</i>? Who is doing the devouring, and who/what are they devouring, in your understanding? </h4>
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I’d love to leave that to the reader, honestly. There are many acts of devouring happening in the novel, literal and metaphorical, and the reader can pick and choose. But I will say that the title was inspired by William Blake’s dichotomy of ‘the devouring’ and ‘the prolific’ in <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marriage_of_Heaven_and_Hell">The Marriage of Heaven and Hell</a></i>.<br />
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I loved your depiction of Cyrah. It really seemed like you were able to convey the female perspective (and I mean both physically and mentally). Did you do any research to get it right? </h4>
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Thank you. I’m glad you thought so, and I’m very relieved that women readers seem to like Cyrah’s depiction. The best way for a man to write women is to listen to women, read women, and treat women characters like human beings. You might still get it wrong, but it’s a start. The important thing is to respect that there is a difference between men and women—not because of biology, but because of the different experiences of living in a patriarchal world as a man and a woman (not to mention as someone who’s transgender or genderqueer/nonbinary). Of course, Cyrah is a woman living hundreds of years in the past in a culture I’ve never lived in, so really, I only did the best I could. I can’t confidently say I came anywhere close to the real lived experience of a woman of her means in the Mughal Empire.<br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Something that I found interesting was that you explored rape from both perspectives – both Cyrah and Fenrir have their time to explain what they’re thinking. As a writer, what was this experience like? </h4>
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I don’t think I can even summarize what that was like—but it came about from listening to women. People love to trash social media, and hell, there’s so much wrong about how we engage with it, but it can be an absolutely wonderful, modern thing when it comes to learning about the experiences of others. Listening to people who aren’t men (and people who aren’t straight and cisgender men), reading about actual experiences of living with sexual violence, surviving sexual violence, has made such a difference in the way I try to live my life, and the way I interact with people.<br />
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Slipping into the mindset of a rapist is disturbingly easy, because our cultures support rapists, enable them at every turn. I mean, you see their voices every day, all over the internet, in comments sections, on social media, in terrible articles. Many of these voices aren’t of people who’ve raped anyone, but they represent rape culture as a whole; they openly and eagerly speak for toxic masculinity and the entitlement that comes with it. You’ll have pathetic, terrible men openly threatening to rape and kill women they don’t know because of something said women tweeted about feminism. Fenrir is a more literate and thoughtful version of those assholes. <br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
This book has explicit descriptions of homosexuality, which is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_India">both taboo and illegal in India</a>. Did you run into any problems, either while looking for a publisher or after it was published?</h4>
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Penguin India was the only Indian publisher that looked at the book, so no. They were completely fine with the explicit sex and homosexuality, which is great. I think that taboo is less potent in the literary/publishing world in India because the gatekeeping is more diffuse. While TV and movies go through a Censor Board that cuts everything to ribbons in the name of keeping India pure and treating its citizens like children, books go through no such central censoring body. Of course, if someone is offended by the book and makes a case to get it banned, India remains a country whose government might happily comply with that request, despite being a so-called modern democracy. And, of course, homosexuality remains illegal, even if we manage to slip it into books.<br />
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Diverse genre writing is often shamefully neglected in publishing. Can you tell us a bit about the experience of finding a publisher in the US? </h4>
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It wasn’t easy, but then again, it was easier than the path to publication for a lot of writers. It took about a year, I think, and my agents got many rejections that were frustrating because (some, not all—some had some very nice rejections) publishers would like the book but turn it down because it was ‘too Indian.’ It wasn’t at all surprising to hear that, but it was depressing to see that kind of systemic bias confirmed in person, and so blatantly. But Del Rey were incredibly enthusiastic right from the start, and have been so generous and devoted to getting this book out and pushing it hard. I’m very grateful to them.<br />
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Who are some of your favorite Speculative Fiction writers from South Asia? Whose work should we look out for? </h4>
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Some established, some to look out for: <a href="https://twitter.com/saadzhossain">Saad Z. Hossain</a>, <a href="http://vandana-writes.com/">Vandana Singh</a>, <a href="http://anilmenon.com/blog/about/">Anil Menon</a>, <a href="https://samitbasu.com/">Samit Basu</a>, <a href="http://vajra.me/">Vajra Chandrasekera</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/miminality">Monidipa Mondal</a>, <a href="http://salikshah.com/">Salik Shah</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/geetanjalid">Geetanjali Dighe</a>, <a href="http://thirdworldghettovampire.blogspot.in/">Kuzhali Manickavel</a>, to name a few.<br />
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Biased here, but definitely someone to watch out for who currently isn’t on the scene, as it were: <a href="https://twitter.com/tashanmehta">Tashan Mehta,</a> whose debut novel <i>The Liar’s Weave</i> I’m currently editing. It will be out from Juggernaut Books, likely early next year. I can tell you that it’s a fantastic novel, and I can’t wait for genre fans (and fans of literature in general) in India to get a hold of it. I can only hope she keeps writing more stories after this one, because she could be a real rising star.<br />
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Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. I look forward to seeing you again soon. </h4>
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8279394061589627154.post-45676211360794168692016-08-07T21:32:00.001-07:002016-08-08T00:16:45.087-07:00The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1415428227l/20518872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1415428227l/20518872.jpg" width="212" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem?ac=1&from_search=true">The Three-Body Problem</a><br />
Cixin Liu<br />
Translated by Ken Liu (Chinese)<br />
Originally 2006, I read 2014 translation<br />
415 pages, hard science fiction<br />
Found: Barnes and Noble, West Chester, Ohio, USA<br />
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Caught up in the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, astrophysicist Ye Wenjie finds herself working for a secret government project after her father is brutally murdered for being an "intellectual." What should she do when she discovers the first sign of intelligent alien life?<br />
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In the present, Wang Miao is a researcher working on nanomaterials who is pulled into a secret government investigation of an international organization called the Frontiers of Science. Strange things begin happening - things that seemingly break the laws of physics. His one major lead is the online virtual reality game called Three Body, which seems to hold some of the answers he is searching for.<br />
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The scientific problem and the virtual world</h3>
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Probably the most unique part of this book is the integration of virtual reality with the main storyline. While Wang Miao initially plays as part of the investigation, he soon becomes fascinated by the game for its own sake: it poses a complicated physics puzzle that appeals to his scientific mind.<br />
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Three Body is a world in which the climate is inconsistent: sometimes, during Stable Eras, it supports human (or alien) life; at other times, during Chaotic Eras, it is either too hot and dry or too frozen for life to exist. Stable and Chaotic Eras happen at unpredictable intervals: a Stable Era could last for millennia, or for just a few hours. During Chaotic Eras, the beings on this planet dehydrate - they become dry, inanimate matter that can survive the incredibly inhospitable climate – and then they rehydrate when a Stable Era comes again. The player’s task is to determine the reason for these major climatic shifts and how, if possible, they can be predicted.<br />
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Wang Miao is fascinated by this game, and I soon became fascinated as well. I am afraid I did not see the solution before Wang Miao explained it, but I did enjoy reading about (and vicariously playing) this video. Perhaps someone would like to make a real version? (Not that it would be as intriguing, since anyone has read the book would already know the answer.)<br />
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<br />Sexism</h3>
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Despite the effusive praise that this book has received, I did not like it as much as I expected. There is one major reason for this: the writing seemed very masculine, by which I mean it resembled the attitude of early science fiction writers (such as Isaac Asimov) toward women. And while I can sometimes give Asimov and Bradbury a pass since they wrote in the 1950s, I expect more from a book written in 2006. Unless there's something about the Chinese attitude toward women that I don't know about?<br />
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Although one of the major characters, Ye Wenjie, is a woman, she is not depicted as someone who can reason logically – despite her advanced skills in physics and mathematics. When she makes the most important decision of her life, (highlight to reveal spoilers) <span style="background-color: black;">to ask aliens to take over the earth, </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>she does not think through the possible implications of her actions. In fact, she requires someone else (a presumably male interrogator) to point out that her logic is flawed and unscientific. And when this happens she becomes speechless. The most complex and interesting female character in this novel is silenced by her stupidity, which must be demonstrated to her by a man.<br />
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The other female characters are either a) not treated as if they are important or b) are removed from the story as soon as possible. Wang Miao’s wife, for example, is a typical housewife and appears in only one scene. She is not even included in the List of Characters. Two more female characters (Yang Dong and Shen Yufei) are killed off; Yang Dong dies before the reader can even meet her. These deaths seem to be for the sole purpose of encouraging Wang Miao in his investigation. Yet again, the women are only there for the benefit of the character development of a man. <br />
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Translation and the Hugo</h3>
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I am glad that translated speculative fiction has become mainstream enough that this novel was both published by the major SFF publisher Tor and also won the Hugo Award. However, the treatment of female characters in this novel left a lot to be desired, and I can only hope that more inclusive writers will also be translated soon. It would be particularly wonderful if some women writers of speculative fiction were translated as well. (EDIT: Ken Liu has translated a whole collection of short Chinese SF, which will be released by Tor in November 2016. Read about it <a href="http://kenliu.name/translations/collection-invisible-planets/">here</a>.)<br />
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Overall, I thought this novel was a decent read if you enjoy Asimov and other examples of old-style Hard Science Fiction. Will I read the rest of this trilogy? I have not yet decided. However, I do hope that the success of this book will lead to more translations of speculative fiction.<br />
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Chelsea http://www.blogger.com/profile/08918076045995119477noreply@blogger.com0