Day: September 15, 2019

Thoughts on Jenny’s 2018 Post

Raven Schwam-Curtis on

 

As I was perusing the archive of student’s past posts, I came across Jenny’s thoughts on the Black In Tokyo Documentary 2017. I have done quite a bit of research on the experience of black folks living in Japan and found her comments on the discrepant experiences of black men and black women to be quite provocative. Jenny made the following claim: “There is a contrast between Black women and men’s experience in Tokyo. It might have to do with the gender bias within Japanese society itself where there is still existing masculinity upheld by corporate structures while women often assume domestic roles.” Her comments made me wonder, how does the patriarchy take shape in Japanese society? And how might the form and shape of patriarchy in Japanese society differ from the form and shape of patriarchy in American society, for example? While I was watching the video I was also struck by the role of media and advertisements in shaping perceptions of blackness, and consequently the treatment of black people, in Japanese society. One of the interviewees stated that seeing an advertisement with black people in Japan is rare, but when black people are in advertisements they’re often black men being depicted in stereotypical manners (i.e. playing basketball, wearing hip hop inspired street wear, etc). This comment acknowledges the blatant erasure of black women insofar that their images are literally not shown. This example from the video, to me, clearly illustrates the gender bias Jenny explained in her original post. Lastly, the video credits the homogeny of Japanese society with Japanese people’s general ignorance on the topic of blackness. I do wonder, however, what homogeny means here? And by that I mean to say, when we speak about Japanese society as homogenous we need to speak with more specificity. Is Japanese society racially homogenous? Religiously homogenous? Labeling a society has homogenous generally seems to erase the richness and diversity of sed society. In summary, Jenny’s post raised generative questions around black folks in Japan and the role of gender in assimilation.

Lil Nas X’s “Panini” and this class

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Yesterday, Lil Nas X posted a video of himself dancing to what is being referred to as the “Indian version” of his song “Panini,” and even when you search for the music video to “Panini” on Youtube, one of the suggestions is “Panini Lil Nas X Indian Style.” Despite the stereotypical sort of dancing he does at the beginning of the video, there doesn’t seem to be much debate over whether this is cultural appropriation or not, at least not in the replies to the original tweet.

While I’m on the topic of “Panini,” I also just want to add that the music video is set in a “Futuristic Cyberpunk World” (see storyboard tweet below). I’m not sure that it would count as either Afro- or Asian-futurism, but maybe I’ll change my mind as I better understand those concepts throughout the semester.

I found it interesting to see Asian (specifically Japanese) influences in the video. For example, at 0:51, there’s a sign that says “Tokyo Cowboy” and “karaoke” (written in Japanese), and a lot of the trees and flowers blossoming at the end look like bonsai and sakura.

I’m excited to see where Lil Nas X’s career goes!

Response to ‘SZA Doves in the Wind x Kung Fu’ (NYU Blog) and Connection to “Poetry is not a Luxury” by Audre Lorde

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I understand the connection between Kung Fu and Hip Hop in the music video of “Doves in the Wind” by SZA similarly to how Audre Lorde views the relationship between action and poetry. As Lorde explained poetry to be a way of pointing out issues in one’s reality which could eventually lead to changing the future, SZA speaks her truth about her highly sexualized social reality and criticizing how men have been treating women. In this sense, she is metaphorically performing kung-fu by bringing an important issue to light and even creating change by giving her listeners a new understanding of sex. In the music video, Kendrick Lamar seems to be somewhat of a teacher to SZA, as he presents many trials and “fights” that SZA must overcome and raps the line “Solana (SZA’s real name), middle fingers up, speak your truth” perhaps suggesting that he has been a constructive influence on SZA through his kung fu/poetry/music. Then the final blow that SZA deals Kendrick would suggest that, through this song, she returns the favor now as they are now kung-fu practitioners of equal standing.

I also think it is interesting why SZA chose kung-fu as a metaphor for poetry. Kung-fu has been often used in Hip-Hop for the same reason, but so has magic, voodoo, superpowers, and etc. Are there differences between the main tropes for poetry, or do they all follow the same framework set forth by Lorde?

Solange’s “Mad” and Part 2 of Dark Princess

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Part 2 of DuBois’ Dark Princess was certainly an intense read for me. It is charged with emotion, especially towards the end of the section where Matthew is torn between a lust to kill and the urge to protect the princess. It was difficult for me to think of a song that would match the intensity of Matthew’s feelings. I don’t think that “Mad” by Solange does this–the song is pretty calm and has a soft lull/repetition to it. However, I feel that the lyrics of the song carry the weight of this section. Although I am not African American, I know that people often think that this demographic “plays the race card” too often. Yet, this section of the book proves to readers like me why African Americans continue, to this day, to have the “right to be mad.” Additionally, this song alludes to the success of African Americans like Solange and Lil Wayne, just as the novel does, and so I think that this piece connects well to the portion of the text we read.

Close Reading, Week 3 – Page 31, Dark Princess – chh78

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“Matthew sat down and began paring, paring, again. But now the dreams had gone. His head ached. His soul felt stripped bare. He kept pondering dully over this room, glancing at the shifty eyes, the hunches and grins; smelling the smells, the steam, the grease, the dishwater. There was so little kindness of sympathy for each other here among these men. They loved cruelty. They hated and despised most of their fellows, and they fell like a pack of wolves on the weakest. Yet they all had the common bond of toil; their sweat and the sweat of toilers like them made one vast ocean around the world. Waves of world-sweat droned in Matthew’s head dizzily, and naked men were driven drowning through it, yet snapping, snarling, fighting back each other as they wallowed. Well, he wouldn’t fight them. That was idiotic. It was human sacrilege. If fight he must, he would fight stewards and the cabin gentry – lackeys and gods.”

Following a tense, near-fight between Matthew and the Italian, egged on by the scullery crew, Du Bois inserts this paragraph of reflection on Towns’ surroundings.

This interlude’s structure – beginning with Towns’ internal conflicts, looking to the fellow men around him, and then recognition of and commitment to workers’ common struggles – makes use of various literary devices to convey the workers’ conflicts and realities, and Towns’ eventual affirmation of collective struggle against their oppressors.

Du Bois makes use of asyndeton in “… smelling the smells, the steam, the grease, the dishwater.” and “… yet snapping, snarling, fighting back each other as they wallowed.” to urgently emphasize the harsh conditions of the scullery, and how the working class turns on one another, respectively. Alliteration is employed in the latter sentence, in “Waves of world-sweat… driven drowning… snapping, snarling…”. A simile is then used in further describing the cruelty and infighting of the men, how “… they fell like a pack of wolves on the weakest.”

At the core of this section are metaphors. Du Bois’ takes the workers’ sweat, signifying their struggle, to become “one vast ocean around the world.” Though Towns laments how men are lost in this ocean, fighting one another, this imagery of a global commonality suggests larger class struggle and potential unity across workers, across nations. This metaphor and its intricacies become key in Towns’ affirmation to fight his oppressors.

Du Bois also employs a metaphor in directing Towns’ battle away from his peers and towards the stewards and cabin gentry, comparing them to “lackeys and gods.” In this return to the reality, directing action towards the gentry onboard, Du Bois transitions into the gentry’s attempts to cause further conflict among the workers.

Through this brief yet dense reflection, Du Bois expands Towns’ predicament in the scullery to how class structures are upheld by, dependent upon, a lack of workers’ solidarity; to larger class struggles, across oceans.

Song Reflection on du Bois ‘Dark Princess’ Part 1 & 2

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I really like this rendition of ‘Go Down Moses’ by Louis Armstrong! You’ll recall the way in which Matthew from du Bois’ “Dark Princess” sang this song in front of the ‘Council of the Darker Peoples of the World’ in Part 1 of the novel. It was shown to be a song to prove to the Council that the art/culture/spirit of Black Americans was just as powerful and potent as the high-art of the European West and Far East. In Part 2, you can juxtapose this song with the attempted revenge/emancipation plot on the train and the subsequent incarceration Matthew experiences when he is imprisoned for his complicit action in the terrorist plot.

Unrequited Love in “Dark Princess”

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The song I have chosen for this week is “Love On The Brain” by the Rihanna. After Matthew’s debacle in Germany with the counsel of the princess, he finds himself paring potatoes and fantasizing about her. Matthew’s “sudden love for the woman far above his station” further jeopardizes his safety as he is willing to go to prison to protect her. As such, the lyric “It beats me black and blue but it f*cks me so good” seemed fitting insofar that he condemns himself to 10 years in prison to assuage his guilt about Jimmie and uphold the princess’s honor.

“Must be love on the brain
That’s got me feeling this way (feeling this way)
It beats me black and blue but it f*cks me so good“

 

 

Week Three Close Reading

Paetyn on

“Matthew never forgot that story. Out of the sordid setting of that room rose the wild head of Perigua, haloed dimly in the low-burning gas. Far out in the street and alley groaned, yelled, and sang Harlem. The snore of the women came fit-fully from the next room, and Perigua talked.”

 

“Sordid setting and room rose are examples of repetition that authors use to convey something. In this instance, it was most likely a feeling WEB. Du Bois was trying bring about. This use of repetition gives tribute to Perigua and what he meant in that room Mathew was in. In other words, one could say that even out of the darkest and shoddiest of places can rise brilliance. Or in this case Perigua. Maybe not even brilliance, but something different, something that stands out for that room.

 

There Is also a use of personification, when using the terms “alley groaned, yelled and sang Harlem.” Maybe to suggest the liveliness of Harlem. Although the liveliness is categorized into three different things. “groaned, yelled and sang.” These words all evoke different feelings and mean different words. Groaning makes one think of something such as agony and or pain. Yelling, is loud and useful in order to get attention: very in your face. Singing, can be soulful, therapeutic, and an act of healing. WEB Du Bois, may have used these words to encompass all that Harlem can be and is. It is a home of agony, pain, liveliness and love.

 

The word choice in this passage/excerpt appears to be very intentional. “fit-fully” to describe the ladies snoring is how the room and where Matthew’s head is at. He seems to be in and out of his space. On one hand he’s paying attention to Perigua and the room, while also zooming out to Harlem then back to the room again.

 

Even though this is out of a book, this passage was very poetic in nature. Every description, word and device used was intentional.

“FABRIC” by BROCKHAMPTON for Dark Princess, Part II

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FABRIC by BROCKHAMPTON is about the band’s experience, but I’ve always felt that the meaning is broader than that. While reading section VII within Part II of W.E.B. Du Bois’s Dark Princess, where Towns meets with Perigua’s group again, I was reminded of the chorus of this song, “You don’t understand why I can’t get up and shout.” Perigua’s group would like to fight against racism and the system of oppression, but without larger backing, doing so is dangerous for those involved and likely to not make the impact they would like. Additionally, Towns asks if it is productive to kill people who are unaware that they have done any harm, and Perigua responds that he is mad that Black people are not making it clear that they are being hurt. Perigua calls those who are unwilling to “‘talk, shout, holler'” cowards. However, I think Perigua would be aware why people like Towns are not actively doing this, perhaps contrary to the song lyrics.

Week 3 Close Reading Pg. 31

Kennedy on

“Matthew sat down and began paring, paring, again. But now the dreams had gone. His head ached. His soul felt stripped bare. He kept pondering dully over this room, glancing at the shifty eyes, the hunches and grins; smelling the smells, the steam, the grease, the dishwater. There was so little kindness or sympathy for each other here among these men. They loved cruelty. They hated and despised most of their fellow, and they fell like a pack of wolves on the weakest. Yet they all had the common bond of toil; their sweat and the sweat of toilers like them made one vast ocean around the world. Waves of world-sweat droned in Matthew’s head dizzily, and naked men were driven drowning through it, yet, snapping, snarling, fighting back each other as they wallowed. Well, he wouldn’t fight them. That was idiotic. It was human sacrilege. If fight he must, he would fight stewards and cabin gentry–lackeys and gods.”

One noticeable characteristic of this paragraph is DuBois’ use of syntax and diction. From the very beginning of this paragraph he starts by using short choppy sentences, and commas with no use of the word “and”. “Paring, paring, again”, “But now the dreams had gone”, “His head ached”, “His soul felt bare”. The short quick sentences saying 1. something about Matthew’s confidence, it seems like it is quickly picked up but also quickly shut down maybe being emphasized by the briefness of those sentences and 2. the lack of the word “and” in “paring, paring, again” showing how although his spirits can be broken quickly the pain of that experience drags out showcased by the recurring list but no use of “and” to break or complete the sentence. The use of the recurring commas continues with the description of the setting “the smells, the steam, the grease, the dishwater” and again a little farther into the paragraph with “snapping, snarling, fighting”. The use of parallelism is further emphasizing the drag felt by Matthew, not only with the longevity of the trip and the hatred of his traveling conditions, but also possibly a deeper meaning as well about his dreams and mental health being African American in the United States.

One last noticeable portion of the paragraph was the portion at the end, “Well, he wouldn’t fight them. That was idiotic. It was human sacrilege. If fight he must, he would fight stewards and cabin gentry–lackeys and gods.” This may be alluding to the first part of the book, where Matthew spoke highly of African Americans and how they are not just this weak, pathetic, follower of the white man, as the other people of color at the dinner perceived. It is a good showcase of what the princess wants Matthew to prove to her and to the rest of the people of color, that African Americans can and deserve better treatment and shouldn’t make themselves seem any less. It also further emphasizes Matthew’s look on himself. In part 1, he refused the treatment of the USA by way of fleeing and now he continues to not let anyone treat him a way by refusal of fighting with people who aren’t worthy. 

Kennedy Graves, 2020