Monday, February 15, 2010
I Can't Think of a Clever Title
We recently read 'Lingua Franca', which is a short story that takes places in a distant planet. As many people had mentioned (including me), the events that took place in this story reminded some people of colonization of countries such as India and the Americas. Although the planet was not being colonized, the scenario set up by the McDonnel is very similar to some of the historical events we might have read about, either in our free time or in some other class. Do you think the story is somehow referring to some other culture in real life? If yes, do you think these countries experienced the "insidious behavior" discussed in class from their colonizers when they were first being colonized? For example, someone in class mentioned how the French intially started trading with the Native Americans as a tactic to colonize Canada. Please remember to explain your reasoning!
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It was me who talked about the French trading with the Native Americans, and what I had in mind as I spoke was more towards how the US built the Panama Canal in Panama. There were definately good intentions as well as bad in building of the Panama Canal. The good intentions were that the Panaman economy will be stimulated through the opening of the Canal and that the world would have to travel less for the sake of intercontinental trading. However, the Panaman government was actually decieved in ways as they were only paid a certain sum of money for allowing the canal to be built in their country, while the US held all rights over the canal. It was more like the US annexed a portion of Panama that held the canal and that seeing as how the canal just "happened" to be where the US annexed the canal, the canal was built for US benefits. Panama, the country suffered a lot during and after the construction of the canal. US workers caught malaria, so the workers began using insecticides, however that failed to work, so they resorted to a method of deforestation. A large fraction of the country's natural resources had been burnt down for the sake of a foreign nation. I felt that Aquaduct (if that's the right name of the planet) was going through the similar stages of the very same process. The air densities were being "fixed" for the benefit of the people who had converted to the Earther communications and the unique characteristics of a planet were being changed for the sake of some outsiders. That's what I felt in the morning, but given that it was the morning, I just couldn't think straight.
ReplyDeleteColonization is a really interesting topic to think about. Where would our world be today if the foundation of colonization had never made its' roots in Africa, Asia etc.? We would be living life differently. But now we almost all live by the same color spectrum. What people know in India as red, we know as red too. What people call a sweatshirt is roughly the same in most every part of the world. Even the Burger King's Big Mac has made it's way into even some of the most savage-like and nomadic parts of the world. Colonization has wiped out culture and language and even basic principles of life was used to be based upon.
ReplyDeleteIn the reading, I do think that the "planet" did echo what we think of as colonization. Obviously the planet and the people on it were experiencing a set of stages and changes that were benefiting them; or what they think will benefit them. This is honestly what we can consider to be the building blocks of colonization and culture change. Not only does this relate back to colonization but to evolution.
The Lost World certainly brought up signs of evolution and so has the Calcutta Chromosome. There is obviously some sort of process going on in each of the these novels. The Lost World almost pin-pointed each phase of evolution (Ape-men, Indians, Europeans) while the Calcutta Chromosome has incorporated modern man and its supposed superior: technology. All aspects can be seen as some sorts of evolution. But is the text an a type of progress evolution or regress? Is the Calcutta Chromosome progress or regress? Just things to think about..
After reading Lingua Franca, I was highly reminded of a novel by Joseph Conrad called Heart of Darkness, which is about European Imperialism aimed specifically at Africa during the 19th Century. In the novel, the main character, Marlow, is the captain of a boat on a mission to go to Africa and retrieve a man named Kurtz. Kurtz is known in the area as being this evil genius and mastermind of the African people because Kurtz uses the African people to get more Ivory than anyone else out of Africa, but everyone knows he's exploiting the people and the land to do so. So, people overly admire Kurtz because his Ivory contribution is the greatest, yet they hate Kurtz because he's not being moral in his conquests. Conrad commentates on this idea of Europe wanting to "civilize" Africa and help the society, but, in all actuality, all the Europeans are doing is conquering and exploiting.
ReplyDeleteIn Lingua Franca, the Earthers were claiming to "fix their air density", which at first seems like a vastly good and noble thing. Clearly, humans are wanting to spread their knowledge to other cultures. What the Earthers fail to recognize is that what is culturally significant and important to them is not equivalent in the people of Lingua Franca. I mean, they see the planet as being loud and obnoxious and dense, but the natives don't view it like that at all. Even though the initial intentions of Earthers may have been one of noble matters, it doesn't change the fact that it displays ignorance for the Lingua Franca culture and exploitation of the planet. Most of the Earthers that are talked to or about are clearly just speculators of this new weird planet where people don't use sound. It's become almost a new tourist attraction for Earthers and such, as shown in the scene with Flowers-in-the-Sun and the cousin with Mist at the mothers and infant parade. The same idea started to manifest itself within Africa during Heart of Darkness when the Europeans saw an opportunity for Ivory. What initially began as good and noble intentions in both works get stripped away to sheer exploitation and advancement of one culture.
I really agree with Alison on the concept of "cultural imperialsim" of the United States in the world. "Lingua Franca" was written not in a time of colonialism but a time of cultural imperialism. In the story the Earthers have seemed to convince the other races on other planets that our way is the best and that it is almost always the only way. The fact that all the children of the home planet in the story decide to get the implant including FLower-in-the-Sun, it shows how culture is taking over, not the people by force. It is very similar to how the United States influences the whole globe. Most countries teach English as a requirement so that children are fluent in both their native language and English. Also to continue of what Alison stated, companies such as McDonalds and Burger King have created a cultural empire around the Earth. "American" culture has somehow seeped its way into most other cultures through newer generations. A clear example of this is Islam in America. Many Muslim women in the US do not cover their bodies completely in clothing or veil their faces. They practice a much more loose form of Islam. Examples are all around us everywhere. For kids with immigrant parents, I'm sure they understand this best.
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