http://betheink.com/2010/04/tamil-tiger-warfare-via-rambo-thoughts-on-the-complexity-of-south-asia/ Essays and Musings Tue, 08 May 2012 14:48:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://betheink.com/2010/04/tamil-tiger-warfare-via-rambo-thoughts-on-the-complexity-of-south-asia/comment-page-1/#comment-812 Be the Ink Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:15:33 +0000 http://betheink.com/?p=629#comment-812 [...] diversity of the area even more than I had before. (There’s at least one blog about that, here.) The whole concept of a taxi wallah or a chai wallah is stunningly sensible: “wallah” [...] [...] diversity of the area even more than I had before. (There’s at least one blog about that, here.) The whole concept of a taxi wallah or a chai wallah is stunningly sensible: “wallah” [...]

]]> http://betheink.com/2010/04/tamil-tiger-warfare-via-rambo-thoughts-on-the-complexity-of-south-asia/comment-page-1/#comment-473 Be the Ink Wed, 20 Oct 2010 05:31:23 +0000 http://betheink.com/?p=629#comment-473 [...] You cannot talk about the circus in history without facing the sideshow tendency of finding “weird,” “Oriental” and “savage” men and women to put on display, for the very fact that they had distinct physical or ethnic differences. The author, Janet Davis, actually has a background in South Asian studies, and is familiar (to my delight!) with Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism (click that link, please–it’s a video), which argues the simple point that they way we acquire knowledge about other people and cultures is not objective and is the result of larger realms of influence–like political or national interests, for example. We assume things about people in a certain country or region without ever having been there, or indeed, perhaps never having met anyone from there. Whole cultural identities can be created from several bits of information or by the skin color or appearance of a foreign person, and this built up notion of the “Other” has its foundations in an unconscious formation of “Us” as well. (I spent time with these theories while studying South Asia and India in particular– see this post.) [...] [...] You cannot talk about the circus in history without facing the sideshow tendency of finding “weird,” “Oriental” and “savage” men and women to put on display, for the very fact that they had distinct physical or ethnic differences. The author, Janet Davis, actually has a background in South Asian studies, and is familiar (to my delight!) with Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism (click that link, please–it’s a video), which argues the simple point that they way we acquire knowledge about other people and cultures is not objective and is the result of larger realms of influence–like political or national interests, for example. We assume things about people in a certain country or region without ever having been there, or indeed, perhaps never having met anyone from there. Whole cultural identities can be created from several bits of information or by the skin color or appearance of a foreign person, and this built up notion of the “Other” has its foundations in an unconscious formation of “Us” as well. (I spent time with these theories while studying South Asia and India in particular– see this post.) [...]

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