Thinking activity on 'Derrida' and 'Deconstruction'
Hello readers ,
Here I'm going to write this blog as an activity of my understanding of the term Deconstruction by Jacques Derrida which we have already discussed in our classroom. So let's begin …
Jacques Derrida :
Derrida is most celebrated as the principal exponent of deconstruction, a term he coined for the critical examination of the fundamental conceptual distinctions, or “oppositions,” inherent in Western philosophy since the time of the ancient Greeks. These oppositions are characteristically “binary” and “hierarchical,”..... more
What do you understand by "Deconstruction" ?
As we know that Deconstruction in not once and at all finally define. Deconstruction is a very difficult idea to define. It's not a very destructive activity , it's not something breaking down something for sake of something . Deconstruction is not deconstrictive activity but an inquiry into the foundations. The very condition Derrida argues is based on distinctions or binary oppositions. Some of us thaughts that Deconstruction is a negative term , but in this matter i want to say that in French , 'Deconstruction' too obviously implied on annihilation or a negative reduction much closer to Nietzschean 'demolition'.
"The influence of Heidegger
on Derrida"
Heidegger and his philosophy deals with some important themes which Derrida continues in his own philosophy.
One of the themes is the question of deconstruction, in French - is one of the many direct connections between Heidegger & Derrida - that is the direct connection between Heidegger & Derrida . Heidegger wanted to destroy or dismantle the entire tradition of western philosophy by persuing the question of "being of Beings"
' Being and Time'
Germa: 'Sein and Zeit' , 1927 by Martin Heidegger.
Heidegger said being of Beings is repressed and neglected and so it is necessary to dismantle western philosophy and Derrida argues that whole question of writing is neglected and repressed in the entire tradition of western thought.
How Derrida deconsrtucts the idea of arbitrariness ?
Derrida points out that the meaning of the word is nothing but the other word. What connects a word with its meaning or as signal convention and the convention is always social.
The idea of
"Metaphysics of Presence"
By Derrida western philosophy is built on the differences, binary oppositions, just like human language, but , By Saussure there is no positive element in language , but only negative one. So, presence of someone can only be understood a absence of something else and that bias is built into western philosophy.
For example,
What is woman?
Woman is seen as absence is the manliness.
What is darkness?
Darkness is absence is light.
So, there is a tendency to privilege or consider something which is present and superior…
Derrida draws attention to the fact that what we look in dictionary and what we find is not its meaning but a group of another word. For example , word "interest" means hobby or group of people or share in business. So , these are words , like the word "intrest" . The meaning of word is set of another . And we feel that we have understood. We find that one word leads to another word and that word leads to another to yet another… and finally we never come out of the dictionary , if we stop , it's because of an illusion that we have understood. So, saussurean idea is that meaning is something that is in the mind . Saussurean sign is equal to signifiers l which signifies something; but Derridean sign is free play of signifiers, signifying nothing. Derrida is drawing attention towards difference between speech and writing he questions privilege of speech over writing. Derrida says is metaphysics of presence - so what difference does is that is undoes metaphysics of presence. For Derrida , it was necessary to begin thinking that there was no begin thinking that the center could not be thought is the form of a present- being that the center had no natural site , that it was not a fixed locus but a fiction , a sort of nonlocus in which an infinite number of sign - substitutions came into play . This rupture , this decontamination of the center thus created a world where " the absence of the transcendental signified extends the domain and the play of signification infinitely".
For more information watch these videos :
Examples:
Park Avenue "Beer Shampoo"
In this advertisement firstly we will going to be confused about the main object , that which "beer"(alcohol) or "bear"(animal) it talks about ? With only hearing we can't define or understanding this advertisement , at last in this ad when the bottle of shampoo with the spelling is coming then we come to know that what actually it is ! So, first
In this poem , we if you don't know that Copper - sulfate is blue , you can't understand this poem that what the poet actually wants to say in this poem.
Copper- sulphate :
Sky:
So, in this poem poet matches the colour of (Blue) sky with copper- sulphate (Blue).
Third example:
"Happydent -chewing gum "
In this advertisement there is very high level of confusion that what it actually wants to show , at the first time when I was seen this advertisement I had thought that it is about light or lamp ot toothpaste or toothbrush or street light , but at the last part of this advertisement when the name is coming then I'm able to understand it advertisement. But, if We don't know that what happydent is then we have facing difficulty to understanding this advertisement , if there is no name of chewing gum then nobody can identify this advertisement that what it actually wants to show .
Thinking Activity : Future of Post Colonial studies : Globalization and Environmentalism
Hello friends ,
Here I'm going to summarize Two articles on the future of Postcolonial studies of Globalization in and Environmentalism .so, let's begin...
future of postcolonial studies : Globalization and Environmentalism. First throw some light on the author and her book in which we find these articles.
Globalization and the Future of Postcolonial Studies, we often have confusion about how globalization and postcolonial studies are connected with each other. Globalization changes India in a way the whole world. In india there were the three events Happened , these events had changed India a lot.
The writer points out one major event and it is the 9/11 September, 2001 terror attack on the US. The September 11 attacks, often referred to as 9/11, were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Wahhabi Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. It was an attack on the Collapsed section of the Pentagon. This event is considered a game-changer in the discussion on Globalization in the 21st Century.
Both 110-story towers collapsed within an hour and forty-two minutes, leading to the collapse of the other World Trade Center structures including 7 World Trade Center, and significantly damaging surrounding buildings. more
2.Conclusion:The Future of Postcolonial Studies
Vandana Shiva:
Shiva exposed the connection between colonialism and the destruction of the environment because her culture is very women- friendly.
Arundhati Roy:
".....the newer divisions build on former patterns of dispossession. Because it is an ongoing process, David Harvey suggests that we redefine ‘primitive accumulation’ as ‘accumulation by dispossession"
By Roy, we come to know that the deep historical connection between trade and colonialism and accumulation is a constant process rather than a past event.
Dipesh Chakrabarty
"...the whole crisis cannot be reduced to a story of capitalism. Unlike in the crises of capitalism, there are no lifeboats here for the rich and the privileged (witness the drought in Australia or recent fires in the wealthy neighborhoods of California)."
Example:
Sherni :
Story of Nature and man fight against a forest officer as she and her team of locals and trackers attempt to capture a disturbed tigress.
After it, we comes to "Empire" , in which Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri argues that the contemporary global order has produced a new form of sovereignty which should be called 'Empire' but it is best understood in contrast to European empires.
Empire identifies a radical shift in concepts that form the philosophical basis of modern politics, concepts such as sovereignty, nation, and people. Hardt and Negri link this philosophical transformation to cultural and economic changes in postmodern society to new forms of racism, new conceptions of identity and difference, new networks of communication and control, and new paths of migration. They also show how the power of transnational corporations and the increasing predominance of postindustrial forms of labor and production help to define the new imperial global order. For more information click here
Then ,
Hardt and Negri suggest that the new empire is better compared to the Roman Empire rather than to European colonialism , since empirical Rome also loosely incorporated it's subject States rather than controlling them directly.
But , the analogy with empirical Rome vaishali cooppan argues, makes it difficult to accurately analyse contemporary US Imperialism and its place in the contemporary World. Then also O'Brien and Imre szeman believe that ' characteristic US political and cultural power as a global dominant doment detracts from a more thorough examination of sites and modalities of power in the Global era ; Accordingly , they celebrate Empire as ' exceptionally helpful as a center/ periphery dynamic that produces resistant margins
Modernity at Large" by Arjun appadurai -
By modernity at large appadurai tells about the cultural dimensions of globalisation , as well as New hybridity,new forms of communication,new food,new clothes and new pattern of consumption are offered for the newness and benefits of globalisation.
"And Then There Was The Market" - P . Sainath
Market fundamentalism destroys more human lives than any other simply because it cuts across all national, cultural, geographic, reli- gious and other boundaries.It's as much at home in Moscow as in Mumbai or Minnesota.A South Africa - whose advances in the early 1990s thrilled the world- moved swiftly from apartheid to neo-liberal- ism.It sits as easily in Hindu, Islamic or Christian societies.And it contributes angry, despairing recruits to the armies of all religious fundamentalisms.Based on the premise that the market is the solu- tion to all the problems of the human race, it is, too, a very religious fundamentalism.It has its own Gospel: The Gospel of St. Growth, of St. Choice…
As an upper reference, Sainath talks about market fundamentalism . P.Sainath observed that it was far from fostering ideological openness. And it resulted in its own fundamentalism.
Globalisation and the claim of Postcoloniality" - Simon Gikandi
It is premature argue that the images and narratives that denote the new global culture are connected to a global structure or that they are disconnected from earlier or older forms of identity.In other words there is no reason no suppose that the global flow in images has a biological connection to transformation in social or cultural relationships'(Gikandi 2001:632; emphasis added).
Hybridity
Difference
For Gikandi there are two particular terms of Postcolonial studies…
Niall Ferguson :
Another important talk about Postcolonialism there is Niall Ferguson. He suggests that
the US must learn from Britain and send its best and brightest Students from its leading universities on the imperial mission . But how will the best students be prepared to do so ? In a report called ' Defending civilization : how our universities are Failing America and What can be done about it' , the American councils of trustees and Alumni (ACTA) Suggests that universities are not up to this task because , unlike the rest of the country , large number of American academics and students are critical of US policies . On US campuses , ' it has become commonplace to suggest that western civilization is the primary source of the world's ills even though it gave us the idea of democracy , human rights , individual liberty , and Mutual tolerance '.
After 9/11 the report went on to complain , ' instead of insuring that students understand the unique contributions of America and western civilization - the civilization under attack - universities are rushing to add courses on Islamic and Asian cultures' - ( ACTA 2002: 5, 6)
Examples :
The true story dramatised as Tigers
Baby Milk Action acted as consultants to the filmmakers and has produced the booklet “The true story dramatised as Tigers” with background details, what happened after the events in the film and what is happening now. .
Frank Cottrell-Boyce proposed the film project to Baby Milk Action after reading our newsletter article about Syed Aamir Raza’s evidence of Nestlé baby milk marketing practices in Pakistan – and Nestlé’s efforts to keep this out of the media. It took many years for the film to become a reality, with the final script written by the director, Danis Tanovic, and UK producer, Andy Paterson.
NEW DELHI: In findings, hotly contested by global giants Coke and Pepsi, the Centre for Science and Environment picked up three bottles each of 12 soft drink brands from Delhi and found they contained a ''deadly pesticide cocktail'' which exceeded European norms by around 11 to 70 times. But these do not breach Indian laws which, said the CSE on Tuesday, are weak or non-existent. Rivals Coke and Pepsi, accused of ''double standards'', came together on Tuesday evening to challenge CSE's testing methods. Read the full article on
In May 2015, food safety regulators from Barabanki, a district of Uttar Pradesh, India reported that samples of Maggi 2 Minute Noodles had unexpectedly high levels of monosodium glutamate (MSG). This finding led to multiple market withdrawals and investigations in India and beyond.more
👇 Video for more information :
Films as an example :
Sonali cable
Story of the girl named Sonali, who runs an Internet providing agency in Mumbai, gives her all to save her business when a large corporation, Shining Broadband, tries to maintain its monopoly in the city.
Ghayal Once Again Again
Story of Four teenagers accidentally record a murder involving a famous personality and fall into trouble as a result. Ajay, a journalist, decides to help them in their quest to defeat the murderers.
Madaari
Story of Nirmal, a man who lost his son due to the negligence of the government, seeks revenge and kidnaps the ten-year-old son of the home minister, forcing the administration to meet his demands.
Thinking activity Midnight's Children Film Adaptation:
Hello friends,
Here I'm gonna write this blog on the Film adaptation of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children , so let's start…
Introduction:
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie FRSL is an Indian-born British-American novelist and essayist.His work, combining magical realism with historical fiction, is primarily concerned with the many connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, with much of his fiction being set on the Indian subcontinent.more
Points to ponder :
Narrative technique ( changes made in film adaptation - for eg. absence of Padma, the Nati , the listener, the commenter - What is your interpretation ? )
Rushdie employees the technique of the first personnarrative in Midnight's Children. The characters are introduced long before they actually appear in the novel. It creates suspense in the mind of the readers
In the opening scenes we can observe differences in the way the versions address the
audience: the novel’s narrator uses the first person to provide, in a deferred and rounda-
bout way, his story; in the film, there is also direct speech, but the narrative proceeds
much more unswervingly. The other two versions do not construct a rapport with the
audience in such a straightforward way by direct address.there is absence of the character of Padma who is the listener of the story in the film The novel and the film thus seem to initially create a more personal rapport with their
constructed audiences. It is significant in this respect that the character of Padma, the
novel’s original immediate addressee and audience the person who listens to and com
ments on Saleem’s narrative, and the second main character in the novel, after the pro
tagonist is included in the first two adaptations, but in the film she is supplanted by
Rushdie’s voiceover. Padma’s role in the film was originally offered to the actor Nandita
Das, who had worked with Mehta in Fire and Earth, but Das abandoned the project for personal reasons (Garfinkel, 2009; IBNLive, 2011). Rather than looking for a substitute
for the role of Padma, this setback was compensated by introducing the voiceover. The
choice has been regarded variously as a success and a failure by critics, for example,
from the gender perspective. There are indeed grounds for interpreting the substitution of
a female voice with a male as problematic; this change may even be attributed to the
authorial ego. However that may be, it creates a fundamental difference between the
versions.
With respect to the impact on reception of having the author in Padma’s role, the use
of Rushdie’s voice for the narration has received mixed reviews.
Characters ( How many included , how many left out - why ? What is your interpretation ? )
The characters of the film Midnight's Children and the novel Midnight's Children are some way different , became in the film some minor characters were absent .
According to the Novel Midnight's Children , there is in the novel characters are...
Aadam Aziz is a doctor and the father of Amina Sinai, or Mumtaz, Saleem's mother.
Aadam Aziz's Mother runs the jewel business of her husband. She is often shrewd toward Aadam.
Aadam Aziz's Father is a formerly successful jewel merchant, whose mentality has now declined.
Tai is a boatman on Dal Lake and a friend of Aadam Aziz.
Naseem Ghani is the daughter of the wealthy landlord Ghani. She is first Aadam Aziz's patient and then becomes his wife.
Ghani the landowner is Naseem's father. He owns a lot of property around Dal Lake in Kashmir.
Oskar Lubin is a German anarchist friend of Doctor Aziz from his student days in Heidelberg, Germany.
Ilse Lubin is Oskar's wife and another anarchist friend of Aadam Aziz from his student days in Heidelberg.
Ingrid another anarchist friend in Heidelberg.
Brigadier R. E. Dyer, an officer in the British army and Martial Law Commander of Amritsar who orders his men to fire on an unarmed crowd. An actual historical event and personage, see Reginald Dyer.
Alia is the eldest daughter of Aadam and Naseem Aziz; she is the sister of Amina Sinai (Mumtaz) and Emerald.
Amina Sinai (a.k.a. Mumtaz) is the middle daughter of Aadam and Naseem Aziz.
Mian Abdullah (Also known as the Hummingbird) is a pro-Indian Muslim political figure, who dies at the hands of assassins.
The Rani of Cooch Naheen a wealthy Muslim woman who sponsors the political campaign of the Hummingbird.
Nadir Khan is Mumtaz's first husband. He is "the Hummingbird's" personal secretary, and is known for his rhymeless poetry.
Hammdard the rickshawman is a rickshaw servant who lives behind Aadam and Naseem's house.
Rashid the rickshaw boy is the son of Hammdard. He lives behind Aadam and Naseem's house.
Emerald the youngest and prettiest daughter of Aadam and Naseem Aziz; she is Saleem's aunt, the sister of Mumtaz. She marries General Zulfikar.
General Zulfikar is the husband of Emerald, who is involved with Pakistani political events. Is described as having a face like Pulcinella.
Ahmed Sinai is Saleem's father and Amina's husband. He is originally a dealer in leathercloth, but becomes a property speculator when he moves to Bombay.
Lifafa Das is a peep show street man who leads Amina to Shri Ramram Seth in gratitude after she saves his life from a Muslim mob.
Shri Ramram Seth is a Hindu seer, a cousin of Lifafa Das.
William Methwold is an Englishman from whom the Sinais buy their house in Breach Candy, Bombay.
Wee Willie Winkie is an accordionist and entertainer. He is Shiva's non biological father, and Vanita's husband.
Vanita is the wife of Wee Willie Winkie; she is revealed to be Saleem's biological mother, who dies during labor.
Mary Pereira is a midwife and servant, who switches Shiva and Saleem at birth in an attempt at impressing her sweetheart Joseph D'Costa.
Joseph D'Costa is Mary Pereira's sweetheart, a hospital porter, a communist political radical and a most wanted man by the Indian police.
Suresh
Narlikar is a child hating gynecologist and businessman, who lives on Methwold's Estate in Bombay.
Doctor Bose is the doctor who delivers Saleem.
Ibrahim Ibrahim a next door neighbor in Sans Souci villa on Methwold's Estate in Bombay.
Ismail Ibrahim' a neighbour to the Sinai's who is a crooked lawyer.
Nussie Ibrahim, Ismail's wife, who is nicknamed The Duck because of the way she walks.
Ishaq Ibrahim, a hotel owner lives with his father and brother on the Methwold's Estate.
Adi Dubash A nuclear physicist who works on India's nuclear program.
Mrs Dubash, his wife who is a religious fanatic.
Cyrus the Great the Dubashes only son and childhood friend of Saleem's.
Sonny Ibrahim is Saleem's neighbour and friend.
Eyeslice Sabarmati one of Saleem's childhood friends on Methwold's Estate, the son of Commander Sabarmati and his wife Lila, and the brother of Hairoil.
Shiva is a boy who is born at the same moment as Saleem.
Thus, according to this character list of the novel Midnight's Children we find in the film Midnight's Children , there is lot many absence of the minor characters , but in this absence of the minor characters my interpretation is that for me it is good to watch the film instead of reading whole novel , because the film contains entire idea of the novel through some main Characters.
Themes and Symbols ( If film adaptation able to capture themes and symbols)
In this concept of Themes and Symbols I want to say , yes . For the film Midnight's Children's use of symbols and themes.
Truth and Storytelling:
Self-proclaimed writer and pickle-factory manager Saleem Sinai is dying—cracking and crumbling under the stress of a mysterious illness—but before he does, he is determined to tell his story. With the “grand hope of the pickling of time,” Saleem feverishly pens his autobiography, preserving his stories like jars of chutney, searching for truth and meaning within them.
British Colonialism and Postcolonialism:
Born at exactly midnight on the eve of India’s independence from British colonialism, Saleem Sinai is the first free native citizen born on Indian soil in nearly a hundred years.
After a century of British rule, in addition to a century of unofficial imperialism before that, Saleem’s birth marks the end of a two-hundred-year British presence in India.
Sex and Gender:
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children is a harsh critique of the gender-related power struggles of postcolonial Indian society. After generations of purdah—the belief that Muslim and Hindu women should live separately from society,
behind a curtain or veil, to stay out of the sight of men—postcolonial women are encouraged to become “modern Indian women” and remove their veils.
Identity and Nationality:
From the moment Saleem Sinai is born on the eve of India’s independence from Great Britain, he becomes the living embodiment of his country.
Saleem is India, and his identity metaphorically represents the identity of an entire nation; however, Saleem’s identity is complicated and conflicted. A nation, generally understood as the same people living in the same place, only loosely applies to India’s diverse population.
Fragments and Partitioning:
Following their 1947 independence from British rule, India begins to break up in a process known as partitioning. British India splits along religious lines, forming the Muslim nation of Pakistan and the secular, but mostly Hindu,
nation of India. India continues to fracture even further, dividing itself based on language and class. Meanwhile, Saleem Sinai, the living embodiment of India,
Religion:
Religion is at the forefront of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and it drives most of the narrative throughout the entire novel.
Saleem Sinai, the narrator-protagonist, is born Muslim but lives most of his life in the Hindu-steeped culture of Bombay.
His lifelong ayah, Mary Pereira, is a devout Catholic, and his sister, the Brass Monkey, ultimately joins a nunnery.
it is a major cause of the civil unrest following India’s independence. Suppressed under British rule, freedom of religion is a fundamental right under India’s new constitution, and it has saturated society.
The texture of the novel ( What is the texture of the novel?) Well , it is the interconnectedness of narrative technique with the theme is it well captured ?)
Midnight’s Children moves at more grandiose levels. The grand destiny of the great Nation is
reflected in that of Midnight children, the children born at the midnight hour of August 15th,
1947. The chief protagonist Saleem Sinai finds himself “mysteriously handcuffed to history”. The texture of this novel is allusive, complex and inclusive dense with
symbolic, even emblematic overtones.
Multiple identities and shifting shapes of people, things
and institutions are vividly depicted epitomized at the stage where the two most important
characters Saleem and Shiva become indistinguishable. Even national frontiers and nationalities
get blurred. Xenophobic pride like dark mist is cover over realities. It is the composite picture of
India where all distinctions of races, communities, classes, regions and religions become non-
existent, one qualifying and affecting other.
Rushdie burlesques historical names
giving comic slighting effect to high-flying idealism, thus bringing the focus on the mud
and froth of real existence. He also gives touches of genial satire on superstitious practices
in the belief of astrology and other esoteric devices. At the age of nine Saleem discovers his
extraordinary telepathic powers enabling him to read the mind of people around him. At ten
he begins communicating with 581 children who are the survivors from 1001 children born at
the Great Midnight.
Saleem Sinai the supposed
son of Ahmed and Amina is legally the son of poor singer Wee Willie Winkie though reality is
still unclear. The singer’s wife Vanita had an illicit relation with an English land-lord, William
Methwold. The midwife Mary Pereira somehow changed the name tags of Vanita and Amina’s
babies and thus he became an offspring of the Sinai household.
But, from my point of view, it captures everything in the movie well.
What is your aesthetic experience after watching the screening ?
Independence, Partition, Emergency, the bloodbath and injustice in their wake, and the human vicissitudes in this span ‘pre-1947 to the 1970s’ totalling these grinders of history—Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children, the screenplay and original book written by Salman Rushdie, is a staggering story to film.
In the late 1980s, after reading Rushdie’s book, auteur Satyajit Ray had famously said, “It would be unfilmable in the sense that it would have to be simplified so much it would not be itself." Rushdie, an admirer of Ray, had approached the film-maker to direct one of the numerous attempts to translate the book on to screen, as a six-part TV series. But Ray declined because, as he said in the same interview, “It has so much of the current, so much of contemporary politics." Mehta’s interpretation takes the illustrious Midnight’s Children legacy a bit forward, but does not make us see Saleem Sinai’s world in an unforgettable way, shattering our own imaginings of this busy and dense world. Her Midnight’s Children is worth a watch because, besides a few episodic sparkles, it urges us to revisit the book, and find the sweat and specks of Rushdie’s narrative.
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