ONE of the following questions to answer
1. In "Representations of Whiteness in the Black Imagination," bell hooks refers to the theorist Taussig, who notes that he looks to "the Other" to include "inscriptions on the edge of official history" (32). Using your close reading techniques-specific reference to passages from the works themselves-analyze how this may or may not be the project for three of the following writers and works:
· Momaday's "The Way to Rainy Mountain"
· Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Tale"
· bell hooks' "Altars of Sacrifice" & one of Basquiat's paintings
· Steinbeck's "Log of the Sea of Cortez"
· Battuta's Travels
· Beowulf
Your answer should provide a brief explication of the theory of "Other"-see bell hooks in both "Altars of Sacrifice" and "Representations of Whiteness" for additional context for the theory/practice of "the Other." Use your close reading techniques to work out of hook's language for the theory of "the Other." Don't try to word this theory entirely in your own language: you'll need a quick definition and context for the theory, but your focus should be on the analysis of your chosen three works.
2. At one point in "Representations of Whiteness," hooks notes "[t]o bear the burden of memory one must willingly journey to places long uninhabited, searching the debris of history for traces of the unforgettable, all knowledge of which has been suppressed" (41). To contextualize this thought, hooks quotes Njeri, who states, [t]heorizing black experience, we seek to uncover, restore, as well as to deconstruct, so that new paths, different journeys, are possible" (41).
Choose three of the following works, and explore the ways in which you think each might be (or might not be) searching for alternative ways to conceive of "journey."
· David Olin, Sidewalking (or Benjamin's flaneur)
· Steinbeck, "Log of the Sea of Cortez"
· Media sources you want to read closely--doesn't have to be the Las Vegas shooter coverage, but you want to choose media sources that allow you to use close reading techniques to build complexity in your perspective(s). Quote from your sources when you want to make a claim about how the media operates
· Chaucer's "Wife of Bath"
· Tolkien's "Monster and Its Critics"
· Battuta, Travels
A hint for one way you might want to use Tolkien's essay: could the concept of "monster" be thought through the theory of "the Other?" Are those that experience "othering" in our culture placed in a position similar to the "monster?"
3. hooks notes that "theorizing diverse journeying is crucial to our understanding of any politics of location." Further, she differentiates "travel" (which she claims has a distinct history) from "journey," and calls for the use of "journey" as the new way to understand some of the limitations for conceiving, and shifting media discourse, on both "travel" and "journeys." She states, "theories of travel produced outside of conventional borders might want the Journey to become the rubric within which travel, as a starting point...is associated with different headings-rites of passage, immigration, enforced migration, relocation, enslavement, and homelessness."
There are multiple indications that our concepts of "the other," and associations about travel and journeys has to change rapidly. The United Nations predicts that, within the next 20 years, upwards of one billion more people will be in some form of "migration" as global climate changes (and economies shift in response), for example. Similarly, coverage in the U.S. media of "white male" shooters is strangely imprecise-imprecise along very specific ways of seeing this phenomena.
Based on the evidence you see around you, what are some of the most prevalent, predominant patterns for change in the next ten years?
Use two of the following works to help you anchor your argument. Remember, use your close reading techniques throughout your essay-this will help you avoid seeming to make generalizing observations or conclusions.
· David Olin's Streetwalking
· hooks (either or both of the works we discussed in class, and which are uploaded to our class page on moodle)
· Basquiat-refer directly to his paintings rather than his biography for your close reading here
· Chaucer, "Wife of Bath"
· Beowulf