MARIA JESUS LLARENA ASCANIO - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by MARIA JESUS LLARENA ASCANIO
This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary... more This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary Canadian literature in English. The argument involves a revision of the notions of cultural identity as well as a rethinking and even questioning of South Asian fiction as part of Canadian writing. A contradiction lies behind its full integration in Canadian fiction in English and its progressively changing nature in the last thirty years. The concept of diaspora and the South Asian critical point of view towards Canadian multicultural society will also help explain the difficulty in facing the question of belonging to the host country. Este ensayo analiza los diferentes conceptos de diáspora y nación en el contexto de la litera-tura canadiense contemporánea. Se plantea una revisión de las nociones de identidad cultural así como un cuestionamiento de la narrativa sudasiática como parte integrante de la narrativa canadiense anglófona y su naturaleza cambiante de los últimos treinta años. El concepto de diáspora y la propia crítica hacia dicha sociedad multicultural en la narrativa sudasiática ayudarán a explicar la dificultad que tienen el escritor inmigrante para su inte-gración en dicha sociedad.
An analysis of the short story from "Swimming Lessons," by the Canadian author Rohinton Mistry
Canadistica Canaria Ensayos Literarios Anglocanadienses 2002 Isbn 84 7756 504 X Pags 121 140, 2002
Revista Canaria De Estudios Ingleses, 2008
Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number o... more Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number of different sites, on a number of different planes. And both face at least three immediate and serious challenges. According to Lawrence Grossberg, 2 first, both must confront the globalisation of culture, not merely in terms of the proliferation and mobility of texts and audiences but, rather, as the movement of culture outside the spaces of any (specific) language. The new global economy of culture entails a deterritorialisation of culture and its subsequent reterritorialisation, and challenges culture's equation with location or place. Second, both cultural and postcolonial studies seem to have reached the limit –and hence must confront the limitations-of theorising political struggles organised around notions, however complex, of identity and difference. Politics of identity are synecdochal, taking the part (the individual) to be representative of the whole (the social group defined by a common identity). Third, both discourses are faced with the need to think through the consequences and the strategic possibilities of articulation as both a descriptive and political practice; that is, the making, unmaking and remaking of non-necessary relations and hence of contexts. 3 As Grossberg comments, All these problems have emerged as cultural and post-colonial studies have attempted to confront the apparently new conditions of globalisation imbricating all the peoples, commodities and cultures of the world. In these conditions, the traditional binary models of political struggle –simple models of coloniser/ colonised, of oppressor/oppressed – seem inapplicable to a spatial economy of power which cannot be reduced to simple geographical dichotomies – First/ Third, Centre/Margin, Metropolitan/peripheral, Local/Global-nor, at least, in the first instance, to questions of personal identity. This points to a possible misdirection of cultural studies, for even if we grant that much of contemporary politics is organised around identity, it does not follow that our task is to theorise within the category of identity. Instead, locating it within the broader context of this new spatial economy, we need to ask why identity is the privileged site of struggle. This emergent spatial economy, a particular form of internationalisation PAGE 17
Moral distinctions and political solutions may be difficult to discern in any war, but in some li... more Moral distinctions and political solutions may be difficult to discern in any war, but in some literary texts we find a literal inability to identify the victims or agents of violence which, in the case of countries as Sri Lanka, can be read as transnational and postmodern texts. In Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost we read that It was a Hundred Years' War with modern weaponry, and backers on the sidelines in safe countries, a war sponsored by gun-and drug-runners. It became evident that political enemies were secretly joined in financial arm deals. 'The reason for war was war' (Anil 43) Some of the themes in Canadian texts such as Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost and Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy arise from the cultural shock of return to a place and language almost forgotten, to construct meaning not to open a " door to escape grief and fear " for the survivors of catastrophe, but " those who were slammed and stained by violence lost the power of language and logic. It was the way to abandon emotion, a last protection for the self " (Anil 55, 56). Anil's Ghost and Funny Boy are novels of terrorism, but both abandon most of the conventions of the genre. They reproduce no political rhetoric and project no political solutions. But rather, their terrorists remain shadowy, nameless figures. They create a narrative structure that replicates the experience of terror, they ask the reader to engage in an act of reconstruction, piecing together stories and psychologies. The politics of Sri Lanka seem to reflect back postmodern notions of the collapse of grand narratives, the fragility and impermanence of identity, the failure of history to provide us with a coherent account of our origins, and the moral ambiguities of action and
This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and the anxiety it creates in the context... more This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and the anxiety it creates in the context of contemporary Canadian literature in English. The argument involves a
This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary... more This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary Canadian literature in English. The argument involves a revision of the notions of cultural identity as well as a rethinking and even questioning of South Asian fiction as part of Canadian writing. A contradiction lies behind its full integration in Canadian fiction in English and its progressively changing nature in the last thirty years. The concept of diaspora and the South Asian critical point of view towards Canadian multicultural society will also help explain the difficulty in facing the question of belonging to the host country. Este ensayo analiza los diferentes conceptos de diáspora y nación en el contexto de la litera-tura canadiense contemporánea. Se plantea una revisión de las nociones de identidad cultural así como un cuestionamiento de la narrativa sudasiática como parte integrante de la narrativa canadiense anglófona y su naturaleza cambiante de los últimos treinta años. El concepto de diáspora y la propia crítica hacia dicha sociedad multicultural en la narrativa sudasiática ayudarán a explicar la dificultad que tienen el escritor inmigrante para su inte-gración en dicha sociedad.
In recent years, readers of postcolonial narratives have witnessed an ever-increasing use of the ... more In recent years, readers of postcolonial narratives have witnessed an ever-increasing use of the concept of diaspora describing the predicament of various ethnic and racial communities inhabiting spaces that are shared by others. While the term was formerly associated with the more traditional diasporic communities, changed paradigms in the study of migrant and immigrant identities have shown the usefulness of the term that allows for a reflection of communities resisting traditional patterns of assimilation and immigration. Thus it is possible to talk about Irish, African-American and especially, Indian diasporas. As several scholars have shown, diasporic groups living in various parts of the globe do not sever their connections with the homeland but construct different, often transnational linkages, staying 'in touch' with the 'home.' The contemporary use of the term is also suggestive of the fact that these modern forms of diaspora are often closely related to the ever-expanding global capitalism that causes the movement of labour from one space to the other. As the Indian experience shows, this process of forming diasporic communities far from one's homeland has long historical roots and has taken many different forms. Indeed, the story told of diaspora is not limited to novels dealing with free-floating subjects, entering new world and acquiring new identities in an unproblematic manner. It is also important to distinguish the notion of diaspora from that of exile. The latter is more closely associated with a coherent subject and a limited conception of place and home. Diaspora, on the other hand, is more a hybrid space where the maintenance of dominant conceptions of location and identity is problematized. Indeed, it is in this space of in-betweenness that the diasporic subject reconstructs itself, problematizing the PAGE 1
Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number o... more Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number of different sites, on a number of different planes. And both face at least three immediate and serious challenges. According to Lawrence Grossberg, 2 first, both must confront the globalisation of culture, not merely in terms of the proliferation and mobility of texts and audiences but, rather, as the movement of culture outside the spaces of any (specific) language. The new global economy of culture entails a deterritorialisation of culture and its subsequent reterritorialisation, and challenges culture's equation with location or place. Second, both cultural and postcolonial studies seem to have reached the limit –and hence must confront the limitations-of theorising political struggles organised around notions, however complex, of identity and difference. Politics of identity are synecdochal, taking the part (the individual) to be representative of the whole (the social group defined by a common identity). Third, both discourses are faced with the need to think through the consequences and the strategic possibilities of articulation as both a descriptive and political practice; that is, the making, unmaking and remaking of non-necessary relations and hence of contexts. 3 As Grossberg comments, All these problems have emerged as cultural and post-colonial studies have attempted to confront the apparently new conditions of globalisation imbricating all the peoples, commodities and cultures of the world. In these conditions, the traditional binary models of political struggle –simple models of coloniser/ colonised, of oppressor/oppressed – seem inapplicable to a spatial economy of power which cannot be reduced to simple geographical dichotomies – First/ Third, Centre/Margin, Metropolitan/peripheral, Local/Global-nor, at least, in the first instance, to questions of personal identity. This points to a possible misdirection of cultural studies, for even if we grant that much of contemporary politics is organised around identity, it does not follow that our task is to theorise within the category of identity. Instead, locating it within the broader context of this new spatial economy, we need to ask why identity is the privileged site of struggle. This emergent spatial economy, a particular form of internationalisation
Thesis Chapters by MARIA JESUS LLARENA ASCANIO
This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary... more This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary Canadian literature in English. The argument involves a revision of the notions of cultural identity as well as a rethinking and even questioning of South Asian fiction as part of Canadian writing. A contradiction lies behind its full integration in Canadian fiction in English and its progressively changing nature in the last thirty years. The concept of diaspora and the South Asian critical point of view towards Canadian multicultural society will also help explain the difficulty in facing the question of belonging to the host country. Este ensayo analiza los diferentes conceptos de diáspora y nación en el contexto de la litera-tura canadiense contemporánea. Se plantea una revisión de las nociones de identidad cultural así como un cuestionamiento de la narrativa sudasiática como parte integrante de la narrativa canadiense anglófona y su naturaleza cambiante de los últimos treinta años. El concepto de diáspora y la propia crítica hacia dicha sociedad multicultural en la narrativa sudasiática ayudarán a explicar la dificultad que tienen el escritor inmigrante para su inte-gración en dicha sociedad.
An analysis of the short story from "Swimming Lessons," by the Canadian author Rohinton Mistry
Canadistica Canaria Ensayos Literarios Anglocanadienses 2002 Isbn 84 7756 504 X Pags 121 140, 2002
Revista Canaria De Estudios Ingleses, 2008
Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number o... more Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number of different sites, on a number of different planes. And both face at least three immediate and serious challenges. According to Lawrence Grossberg, 2 first, both must confront the globalisation of culture, not merely in terms of the proliferation and mobility of texts and audiences but, rather, as the movement of culture outside the spaces of any (specific) language. The new global economy of culture entails a deterritorialisation of culture and its subsequent reterritorialisation, and challenges culture's equation with location or place. Second, both cultural and postcolonial studies seem to have reached the limit –and hence must confront the limitations-of theorising political struggles organised around notions, however complex, of identity and difference. Politics of identity are synecdochal, taking the part (the individual) to be representative of the whole (the social group defined by a common identity). Third, both discourses are faced with the need to think through the consequences and the strategic possibilities of articulation as both a descriptive and political practice; that is, the making, unmaking and remaking of non-necessary relations and hence of contexts. 3 As Grossberg comments, All these problems have emerged as cultural and post-colonial studies have attempted to confront the apparently new conditions of globalisation imbricating all the peoples, commodities and cultures of the world. In these conditions, the traditional binary models of political struggle –simple models of coloniser/ colonised, of oppressor/oppressed – seem inapplicable to a spatial economy of power which cannot be reduced to simple geographical dichotomies – First/ Third, Centre/Margin, Metropolitan/peripheral, Local/Global-nor, at least, in the first instance, to questions of personal identity. This points to a possible misdirection of cultural studies, for even if we grant that much of contemporary politics is organised around identity, it does not follow that our task is to theorise within the category of identity. Instead, locating it within the broader context of this new spatial economy, we need to ask why identity is the privileged site of struggle. This emergent spatial economy, a particular form of internationalisation PAGE 17
Moral distinctions and political solutions may be difficult to discern in any war, but in some li... more Moral distinctions and political solutions may be difficult to discern in any war, but in some literary texts we find a literal inability to identify the victims or agents of violence which, in the case of countries as Sri Lanka, can be read as transnational and postmodern texts. In Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost we read that It was a Hundred Years' War with modern weaponry, and backers on the sidelines in safe countries, a war sponsored by gun-and drug-runners. It became evident that political enemies were secretly joined in financial arm deals. 'The reason for war was war' (Anil 43) Some of the themes in Canadian texts such as Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost and Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy arise from the cultural shock of return to a place and language almost forgotten, to construct meaning not to open a " door to escape grief and fear " for the survivors of catastrophe, but " those who were slammed and stained by violence lost the power of language and logic. It was the way to abandon emotion, a last protection for the self " (Anil 55, 56). Anil's Ghost and Funny Boy are novels of terrorism, but both abandon most of the conventions of the genre. They reproduce no political rhetoric and project no political solutions. But rather, their terrorists remain shadowy, nameless figures. They create a narrative structure that replicates the experience of terror, they ask the reader to engage in an act of reconstruction, piecing together stories and psychologies. The politics of Sri Lanka seem to reflect back postmodern notions of the collapse of grand narratives, the fragility and impermanence of identity, the failure of history to provide us with a coherent account of our origins, and the moral ambiguities of action and
This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and the anxiety it creates in the context... more This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and the anxiety it creates in the context of contemporary Canadian literature in English. The argument involves a
This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary... more This essay deals with the changing concepts of diaspora and nation in the context of contemporary Canadian literature in English. The argument involves a revision of the notions of cultural identity as well as a rethinking and even questioning of South Asian fiction as part of Canadian writing. A contradiction lies behind its full integration in Canadian fiction in English and its progressively changing nature in the last thirty years. The concept of diaspora and the South Asian critical point of view towards Canadian multicultural society will also help explain the difficulty in facing the question of belonging to the host country. Este ensayo analiza los diferentes conceptos de diáspora y nación en el contexto de la litera-tura canadiense contemporánea. Se plantea una revisión de las nociones de identidad cultural así como un cuestionamiento de la narrativa sudasiática como parte integrante de la narrativa canadiense anglófona y su naturaleza cambiante de los últimos treinta años. El concepto de diáspora y la propia crítica hacia dicha sociedad multicultural en la narrativa sudasiática ayudarán a explicar la dificultad que tienen el escritor inmigrante para su inte-gración en dicha sociedad.
In recent years, readers of postcolonial narratives have witnessed an ever-increasing use of the ... more In recent years, readers of postcolonial narratives have witnessed an ever-increasing use of the concept of diaspora describing the predicament of various ethnic and racial communities inhabiting spaces that are shared by others. While the term was formerly associated with the more traditional diasporic communities, changed paradigms in the study of migrant and immigrant identities have shown the usefulness of the term that allows for a reflection of communities resisting traditional patterns of assimilation and immigration. Thus it is possible to talk about Irish, African-American and especially, Indian diasporas. As several scholars have shown, diasporic groups living in various parts of the globe do not sever their connections with the homeland but construct different, often transnational linkages, staying 'in touch' with the 'home.' The contemporary use of the term is also suggestive of the fact that these modern forms of diaspora are often closely related to the ever-expanding global capitalism that causes the movement of labour from one space to the other. As the Indian experience shows, this process of forming diasporic communities far from one's homeland has long historical roots and has taken many different forms. Indeed, the story told of diaspora is not limited to novels dealing with free-floating subjects, entering new world and acquiring new identities in an unproblematic manner. It is also important to distinguish the notion of diaspora from that of exile. The latter is more closely associated with a coherent subject and a limited conception of place and home. Diaspora, on the other hand, is more a hybrid space where the maintenance of dominant conceptions of location and identity is problematized. Indeed, it is in this space of in-betweenness that the diasporic subject reconstructs itself, problematizing the PAGE 1
Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number o... more Postcolonialism and cultural studies, and, to some extent, postmodernism, intersect at a number of different sites, on a number of different planes. And both face at least three immediate and serious challenges. According to Lawrence Grossberg, 2 first, both must confront the globalisation of culture, not merely in terms of the proliferation and mobility of texts and audiences but, rather, as the movement of culture outside the spaces of any (specific) language. The new global economy of culture entails a deterritorialisation of culture and its subsequent reterritorialisation, and challenges culture's equation with location or place. Second, both cultural and postcolonial studies seem to have reached the limit –and hence must confront the limitations-of theorising political struggles organised around notions, however complex, of identity and difference. Politics of identity are synecdochal, taking the part (the individual) to be representative of the whole (the social group defined by a common identity). Third, both discourses are faced with the need to think through the consequences and the strategic possibilities of articulation as both a descriptive and political practice; that is, the making, unmaking and remaking of non-necessary relations and hence of contexts. 3 As Grossberg comments, All these problems have emerged as cultural and post-colonial studies have attempted to confront the apparently new conditions of globalisation imbricating all the peoples, commodities and cultures of the world. In these conditions, the traditional binary models of political struggle –simple models of coloniser/ colonised, of oppressor/oppressed – seem inapplicable to a spatial economy of power which cannot be reduced to simple geographical dichotomies – First/ Third, Centre/Margin, Metropolitan/peripheral, Local/Global-nor, at least, in the first instance, to questions of personal identity. This points to a possible misdirection of cultural studies, for even if we grant that much of contemporary politics is organised around identity, it does not follow that our task is to theorise within the category of identity. Instead, locating it within the broader context of this new spatial economy, we need to ask why identity is the privileged site of struggle. This emergent spatial economy, a particular form of internationalisation