West Indian Writers and Cultural Chauvinism
Jerome Teelucksingh
Additionally, he contends that an ’adequately democratised’ discussion of literature can lead to “cultural decolonization“ and “help develop attitudes and habits of autonomy and critical thinking.“ This seems too simplistic and he needed to define this autonomy and “critical thinking“ or elaborate how these conditions could be achieved and maintained. In the post-World War Two era, the emerging West Indian writers3 possessed the critical eye of being able to understand their immediate past and interpret the present. Mohanty is also in agreement with Matthew Arnold’s emphasis on the significance of literature in cultural pedagogy. It is a laudable concept of including magazine readers and non-academics in this effort at cultural reform but Mohanty does not seem to appreciate the fact that these persons need to be carefully trained and appreciative of textual analysis and comparative studies. It would pose a challenge for some non-academics and historians to identify “epistemic virtue“ in the realist narrative of a text, seek objective social reality or try to understand the value of ethical interrogation of institutions and themselves. Mohanty identifies the cross-linguistic dialogue and bi-lingualism in Sarala Das’s Bichitra Ramayana and also suggests that chauvinism is also fostered in an environment in which monolingualism prevails. He fully supports the need for “comparative analysis“ and to think “across cultures.“ Mohanty must be lauded in his suggestion to academic critics to change “sedimented cultural habits“ by deciding “to write and speak lucidly, avoiding unnecessary jargon.“ Undoubtedly, this would reduce the elitism of academia but would undermine the freedom of some persons who would consciously use jargon for reinforcing the exclusiveness of their discipline or field. V. S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr Biswas and The Mystic Masseur are seen by some literary critics as emphasizing the adapting of migrants to a new society by clinging to Hinduism and religious texts such as the Ramayana. Yet, Naipaul displays both the comparative analysis that transcends cultures and also cultural chauvinism. The transcending of cultures is visible in his novels– Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey and A Turn in the South. However, his writings on Trinidad such as Miguel Street and The Mystic Masseur contain considerable evidence of chauvinism – thus, contradicting Mohanty ’s suggestion for the need for comparative analysis and thinking across cultures to defeat cultural chauvinism. Some West Indian diasporic writers such as Dionne Brand, who resides in Canada, deserve credit for being one of a few writers to weave a story which transcends cultures. This is evident in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon, which is based in Trinidad, an island in the British West Indies.4 Pages: 1 2 3 4 |
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Essays in this Forum
Rethinking the Global South
by Mukoma Wa Ngugi From Indian Literature to World Literature: A Conversation with Satya P. Mohanty by Rashmi Dube Bhatnagar and Rajender Kaur Asia in My Life by Ngugi wa Thiong'o The Global South and Cultural Struggles: On the Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organization by Duncan Mceachern Yoon The Fault Lines of Hindi and Urdu by Sanjay Kumar Reframing Colonialism and Modernity: An Endeavour through Sociology and Literature by Gurminder K. Bhambra Varieties of Cultural Chauvinism and the Relevance of Comparative Studies by Tilottoma Misra Literature to Combat Cultural Chauvinism: A Response by Shivani Jha Is There an Indian Way of Thinking about Comparative Literature? by E. V. Ramakrishnan Modernity and Public Sphere in Vernacular by Purushottam Agrawal West Indian Writers and Cultural Chauvinism by Jerome Teelucksingh Oral Knowledge in Berber Women’s Expressions of the Sacred by Fatima Sadiki |