Lest We Forget The Black In The Union Jack

Hey LTs

So I recently found this newspaper article about black people in World War One being honoured in a mass, although I think this is great in the sense it's being acknowledged. I question why this mass didn't get better coverage? I guess it's the old tale of seek and you will find, I guess ignorance can be eliminated but it's up to you to do so.

Check it out
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/lest-we-forget-black-union-jack

F 03/09

Notting Hill Carnival

Hey Literature heads, 

So I haven't blogged in a while, its been a busy week! So last week, the Notting Hill Carnival took place on Sunday 24th and Monday 25th August, now for those of you that don't know what Notting Hill Carnival, it is "an annual event that since 1966 has taken place on the streets of Notting Hill, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, UK, each August over three days (the August bank holiday Monday and the two days beforehand).It is led by members of the West Indian community. The carnival has attracted around one million people in the past years, making it one of the largest street festivals in the world"^[1]. 

Many people don't actually realise that Carnival wasn't always a street party, it actually began in St.Pancreas Town Hall. Carnival was a counter-reaction to the negative race relations occurring at the time which eventually led to the Notting Hill race riots. "The Notting Hill race riots were a series of racially motivated riots that took place in London, England, over several nights in late August and early September 1958."[2].
I am not going to go into the history in depth, because after all this is a LITERATURE blog not a history one, but it just shows you if you do a little digging something interesting always turns up! So for those of you interested to know more, just search Notting Hill Carnival and if anything interesting turns up email me or comment below I would love to learn more.

So now on to the literature,to honour the carnival ... in my own bloggy way- if thats even a word? I am going to share a beautiful poem by Marsha Prescod called "May the force be with you" written in 1984. just 18 years after the first carnival took place. I am not actually sure if I can post the poem so heres a link to a site where you can view the poem (TO VIEW POEM CLICK HERE). What I love about this poem is that it is a poem that it aggressive in a comical way, it addresses the issue of police prejudice in a comical way and thus makes it more palatable for the reader. In this way Prescod really does use comic mode to question hegemony, it is important in postcolonial writing as it allows the writer to highlight the inconsistencies in our world views, in this humour acts as a political unconsciousness in fiction. This poem, in my opinion is an example of what Boskin termed external humour, a type of humour that allowed for adjustment to the hegemonic white culture. It takes what could be viewed as a negative aspect of Carnival and makes it more palatable and positive.



Hope you had a lovely Bank holiday!

Pressure: A film directed by Horace Ové

Context:

The Director:

Horace Ové

Horace Ové was born in Trinidad in 1939. Horace Ové later came to Britain in 1960.Two years after Trinidad received its independence from the United Kingdom. Ové is known globally “as one of the leading black independent filmmakers to emerge in Britain since the post-war period” mostly because 

“Ové holds the Guinness World Record for being the first Black British film-maker to direct a feature-length film, Pressure (1975)”.

The Film:

In a 2005 interview Ové discusses how both he and Sam Selvon (who co-wrote the script) bought their own experiences together to write the text.  For example the scene in pressure when Tony goes to a job interview mirrored the experience of Ové: “I remember going for my first interview with World about us and nobody knew I was the black film-maker. I arrived and the producer looked at me when I pushed his door open when his sectary sent me up to the office. [When he saw me]he went red all over his face [and said] “Who are you? What do you want?”  [I told him my name to which he replied] “yes so what?”, I said “ I am the film-director that has come to see you about working with world about us”.  Then he started to look down at his books very nervously. Then I started to laugh being a trinny. He said “What are you laughing at” I replied “If you go in the sun next summer and take of all your clothes and lie in it, you will get a tan and  you will look as good as me”. Then he began laughing , so that broke the tension, that sense of humour, that way of pushing the door open and not getting to uptight”.

On a side note I think it is important to think of the critic Graeme Harper who argued in post-colonial texts/works humour assists in realigning individual and collective identifications, although this is a real-life story it is important to note how humour played an important role in the directors life.

The protagonist:

Tony is a British born teenage boy with Trinidadian descent who has just recently left school. He lives with his Mother, Father and Brother (who unlike him was born in Trinidad and came over to the United Kingdom after growing up in Trinidad).  Tony is an embodiment of what Homi Bhabha termed “Hybridity” as seen in the uncertainty experienced by the protagonist in having more than one home. Although in reality Tony has only ever had one home which in turn has formulated his identity; Tony’s identity is forced upon him by people who surround him and their perceptions of him, as a result Tony’s experiences dual identity one caused by his upbringing the other by his skin colour and heritage.

Tony lacks stability in either identity and this is embodied by the friends he has:

British Friends:

Although Tony thorough out childhood fitted in, as seen through his recollection with his friend Dave in Scene three (titled “nothing should stop you”) his skin colour deters him from continuing to fit in and develop with them (his inability to get a job). This is further emphasised by the landlord’s reaction to him. Sheila argues with the landlord and claims she has “loads of friends come later than this” but the landlord is adment this one is different further alienating Tony. This inability to develop alongside his friends is soon realised by Tony who goes home to dream about his childhood.

                                                                                   Trinidadian Friends:

Although Tony is recognised as part of their group, it is still clear that unlike them he is a “fish and chip man”.  Who will never totally understand their trials and tribulations in life. It is interesting to note that Tony's friends are introduced in the scene called "Consciousness". 

So theres a bit of information on the film which I thought you might find useful. Alongside this I am going to point out a few events in the film which I think hold significance. 

Main Events:

Breakfast Scene: Lowered the music , his brother was also listening , positioning tony is west , his brother is east. Collins is an extremist his hands to eat traditional food, tony eats English food with a fork. Bread in the middle of the table (bread suggest sustenance and life , highlights how they are related.)Colour distinction between car and the shop highlights the different in perspective, further emphasised by the way in which the car passes the static shop , highlights how Colin will have a dramatic effect on the stability. Interesting how the radio acts as a legitimate platform for Caribbean culture , black people accepted as entertainers, direct contrast as the mother continues to hum amazing grace and tony puts the music down.

Interview Scene: Stair case shows she ascendence to a better life,the manner in which is shown to be quite difficult , firstly he is stopped by the security guard and has to walk up the stairs.Hostile behaviour shown by woman the way she crosses her hands. The interviewer only gives two stereotypical options a athlete or a criminal. The contestant refusal to pronounce his name properly by the secretary and the interviewer, highlights the need to attach Tony's English name with a as alienism. 

F. 21/08

The Commonwealth Games - A weird colonial hangover ?

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/attempting-to-drum-up-interest-in-a-weird-colonial-hangover-1.1878286

Check it out
Whats your opinion ?
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How to do a Postcolonial Reading

You don't have to study literature to be a literary critic. Check out this youtube video for a introduction to postcolonialism criticism. Also this video will be helpful in understanding later posts



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Kei Miller - Some Definitions for Song

I first discovered Kei Miller this year during my post-colonial course. We studied a few other poems he had written but "Some Definitions of Song" have to be my favorite. I liked how the poem highlighted the many variations of song and how definition is subjective rather than objective. I felt this in turn promoted diversity and individuality. Whilst this a common trait of post-colonial literature I found that Miller's approach was refreshing and itself was individual within its categorized genre. All in all this poem is must hear, yes  hear not read his voice is just aah .... amazing.

CHECK IT OUT:
Some Definitions for Song (click on the link)

F. 02/08

Dr.Hakim Adi Interview

So hey guys! Apologies for this late write up on my interview with Dr.Hakim Adi. Besides trying to avoid hearing my annoyingly squeaky voice, I have been trying to get my life together but enough about me, about time I give the people what they have been waiting for!

These were my top five.. got the brain thinking questions ! 

Can you give me a short description of post-colonial literature?

Each individual has their own definition of everything in the world, granted the excepted and promoted definition is one which is similar amongst the majority, it is still important to consider the individuality that lies in definition. As definition strongly affects not only the choice of language and words but the outlook an individual has. With this in mind I began the interview with Dr. Adi asking could he give me a definition of what post-colonial literature is. He replied with a …. No. I know right I wasn’t expecting that either! Don’t worry soon after he gave me one … had you worried didn’t I? I found Dr. Adi’s definition particularly interesting because as literary critic often enough you are surrounded by other literary critics. Who also often focus mainly on literature rather than context such as the history and the circumstances surrounding the theory, prose or poetry? (Yes we do consider it but we don’t make it our main focus). He argued that whilst “Post-colonialism is focusing on the world after colonialism ( a period dependent upon which area this could be from the 1960s onwalards), the difficulty with post colonialism is that colonialism is not over or rather the struggle against the features  and legacy of colonial rule is not over. Therefore the term post-colonialism is quite misleading” and thus unclear and lacking definition. I found that this was something myself as a self-acclaimed literary critic had never considered, it had always just been a title, a defined title that I never questioned – wow I really sound like a colonial servant don’t I ? Maybe it really isn’t over, even mentally.

Would you agree with the statement  “Absence of postcolonial texts at GCSE level ignores that English literature was always worldly”

Dr.Adi replied with Yes. I agree with his refusal to justify how this statement maybe untrue as it is immensely evident that it is. Living proof! Read my first entry and you will understand.

Would you agree if Post-colonial literature was introduced into schools this would have a positive effect on the decedents of minority races in the United Kingdom?

 “Sure, I mean you want young people to have a general kind of appreciation of the world in which they live, so that world is mainly made up of people who are not British, not European. So yes you want people to understand the experience of those in the rest of the world and also the relationship between Britain and other parts of the relationship and in many cases both historically and contemporary terms that relationship is a unequal one. It is either a colonial relationship or a neo-colonial relationship. So you want everyone to understand that relationship, appreciate and therefore understand how the world is, not just in terms of literature but in terms of history aswell”

Dr.Adi’s comment highlighted how English Literature is not the only subject that has to be reformed. We have to consider subjects are subtly intertwined and that children have to receive a constant flow of information across the educational board (Yes guys! It’s not just about literature) which in turn will hopefully eliminate ignorance.

There are many regions which are considered as colonial land, much of your writing is focused on Africa, what drew you to Africa?

Dr Adi answered “What drew me to Africa …. because I am African, I guess. Also the fact that when I was young there was very little information about Africa and Africans”.  This comment particularly stood out to me, particularly because I felt I could relate. Now here is the scary thing, its either I have a time machine, they got the date wrong on my birth certificate or humanity … just hasn’t evolved from popularising ignorance. Whilst yes it would be a lie to say that information about Africa hasn’t improved in comparison to the past few decades, it’s the slow pace of improvement which is worrying. It brings up the question of what should be taught in History lessons, English lessons and other lessons in general. Should Africa be integrated into the school system? Whilst I have not studied in Africa I’m quite sure European history is heavily interrogated into African lessons. So the question is why the double standard, this double standard in its self marks a sense of European dominance and supremacy and perpetuates the idea that Africa is insolent and inferior. Which in turn discourages a flow of positive information about Africa. It brings us back to the idea of is colonialism really over, should the post be removed?

You have stated that “Africans and those of African descent have played a significant but often neglected role in the history of Britain.” Do you still feel that this is still the case, and how do you think this significance could be acknowledged by historians and other intellect?

“Certainly in history, it is a problem. It is something that isn’t genuinely presented. You may go through school or even university; you would study British or European history. For example in British history, often people never realise Africans were here. Africans were in Britain before even the English were in Britain.  You know there were African emperors of Britain in roman times. So thorough out that history Africans are kind of removed. And that’s a problem. That’s not just a problem for people of African origin but for everyone because it gives a distorted view of the past. Thus a distorted view of Britain’s relationship with Africa. So it’s very important to present history as it is then we can understand the world in which we live, then once we understand the world we can do something about changing it. If we can’t understand the world then how can we change it?”

Leave you with that in mind

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