Scattered Dispersal – “Ego Death”

“Ego Death” – Breaking Down Social Constructs that Limit the Sense of Self 

• Authors: Sherrie Chen, Kennedy Graves, Eugene Park, and Lynn-Saskya Toussaint
• Link to Video: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YWpuy1Z5ziV00BFjPUt19BjnlM7snuX4

Abstract 

The Afro-Asian future, from Scattered Dispersal’s view, looks and feels like ego death.  An “ego” in the metaphysical, and from a philosophical perspective, represents a conscious thinking subject with a sense of self, self-esteem, and self-importance. Throughout human history, people have built social constructs that incentivize us to live and behave in a competitive manner while making these constructs central to their egos. While this has had many positive effects, such as the creation of prosperous nations and beautiful cultures, the salience of social constructs have also given people opportunities and reasons to persecute, discriminate, and ostracize groups they view as outside of the self. The goal of Scattered Dispersal’s “Ego Death” is to help people recognize these constructs for what they are and realize a more encompassing sense of self. Using messages of revolution, philosophy, cultural diffusion, migration, and solidarity, “Ego Death” presents the viewer with a chance to come to a “hiii-gher” understanding of the universe’s tie to the soul. 

Audio

“HiiiPower” by rapper Kendrick Lamar is an integral part of “Ego-Death”, as elements of the song constitute the main audio content for the first three minutes of the project. The introduction to both the song and, eventually, the project captures a desperate call to action for oppressed peoples to rise and revolutionize their reality. Kendrick states “The sky is falling, the wind is calling / Stand for something, or die in the morning,” effectively evoking both a literal and symbolic sense of threat to our lives and sustenance; on one hand, his reference to elements of nature reflects a state of apocalypse, and, on the other, his use of symbolic diction illustrates how one must fully endorse a cause or “stand for something” in order to mentally survive in the future or “in the morning,” for not standing for anything would mean the death of personal agency. In combination, these two threats hope to create a dialectic or poetic process for the development of a new future and the death of the status quo: the corporeal oppression of people will naturally prompt a mental response that, through expression and personal agency, reorganize the corporeal dynamics of their reality. Kendrick, at the 1:28 mark of “Ego-Death,” reinforces this theme; “My issue wasn’t televised, and you ain’t gotta tell the wise / How to stay on beat, because our life’s an instrumental / This is physical and mental.” (Lamar) He explains how his struggle is outside the realm of conventional knowledge, that it isn’t publicized or “televised” information, and “the wise” are conscious of the struggle reflected in their daily lives. Here, “beat” and “instrumental,” which are synonyms, symbolize the mental response to corporeal oppression, displaying how the true nature of the struggle can only be genuinely understood – both physically and mentally – by those that were oppressed.

At this juncture, while the power of poetry vested in the oppressed can bring liberation, there is a mental hurdle that must be overcome to access means such as personal expression and agency. Many oppressed people are not in touch with the use of poetry for various reasons. Some may not be aware of their or others’ oppression. Others may be stripped of hope that their reality will ever get better, or they may even willingly contribute to the oppression for advancement of a dominant-culture-informed version of self-interest. Returning to the introduction, “die in the morning” can also be heard as “mourning,” which indicates how the naturally negative mental response to oppression can lock people in stagnation and away from agency. This creates a vicious cycle between mental and corporeal negativity that maintains the status quo. Much like when Kendrick calls the audience to action when he says, “Stand for something,” “Ego-Death” seeks to achieve the effect of convincing or aiding the audience to trust in the efficacy of poetry and the hope that things will improve. Only once people believe that their actions will have a desired effect will they start to act upon their desires. On the 0:27 mark of “Ego-Death,” Kendrick pleads the audience to join him: “While you mothafuckas waiting, I be off the slave ship / Building pyramids, writing my own hieroglyphs.” He explicates how artistic expression and personal agency, the “pyramids” and “hieroglyphs,” are not only means of liberating the oppressed but also are, in themselves, a mental liberation from the state of negativity and “mourning.”

Kendrick lastly gives a reminder that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. One that makes a stand against oppression, is still very much under oppression, and, to say the least, it’s not easy destroying historic structures of hegemony that manifest themselves in every aspect of society. He states at the 2:46 mark, “Who said a black man in the Illuminati? / Last time I checked, that was the biggest racist party / Last time I checked, we was racing with Marcus Garvey / On the freeway to Africa ‘til I wreck my Audi,” displays how there are specific, powerful, and active associations that deliberately maintain forms of oppression, like the “racist party.” (Lamar) On a broader scale, he touches upon how the structures of hegemony formulate Capitalism and Globalization, as it is impossible to survive – or do anything for that matter – without utilizing an institution or element of an intrinsically oppressive society. In this sense, the road to liberation, or “the freeway to Africa,” is constrained and controlled by the very thing that makes people want to seek refuge in a better place than now. The vehicle that promises liberation is compromised, much like how Kendrick’s music must endure oppression and scrutiny about his style, content, artistry, and race from the hegemonic music industry.

Towards the end of the soundtrack, the words of Zen Buddhist philosopher Alan Watts can be heard over “Sabali” by Amadou & Mariam. Overall, Watts’ view on the concept of self is that, “it’s going to become basic common sense that you are not some alien being who confronts an external world that is not you, but that almost every intelligent person will have the feeling of being an activity of the entire Universe.” Because human consciousness is experienced in a linear construct of time, we tend to look for answers that explain our observances of the past, present, and future. However, we get so caught up in creating definitions that we lose sight of the fact that life is just life, and the sheer breadth of its subjectivity – in form of perception and awareness – is evidence of its omnipotence. The idea of “nature” encompassing forces outside of one’s control is an observance of that, yet humans are constantly trying to opt out of and have more control over it. 

The point of life is not to become something, it is to just “be” because you already “are.” You don’t have to know how or why you live and die, you just do it. This is not to say that people lack purpose during their linear lifetimes, however, but by recognizing that everything in this life is part of one common energy, their ideas about their purpose can be more inclusive and are more likely to involve moving towards a society where reaching the common good is everyone’s priority. This would allow us to undo structures of oppression and discrimination on the bases of constructs like gender, race, and monetary wealth. 

Juxtaposing Watt’s poetic words with “Sabali” reminds us to have patience in our fight against oppression. In our Afro-Asian future, acknowledgement of Watt’s theory is the norm. However, the enlightenment of an entire species is not going to happen instantly and neither is the reversal of hegemony. In order to not feel faithless and pessimistic about our cause, we have to have patience and be willing to accept that we might not see the fruits of our labor within our linear lifetimes. What we can do is continue to give the next generation the best chance to improve on what we’ve done. 

Visuals

Our main visual in our video is a compilation of short videos shot all around Cornell’s campus. Our idea of Afro-Asian Futurism has the goal of breaking down social constructs (like race) that make us feel the needs to separate “us” and “them”, while simultaneously cultivating and preserving race and culture in an order to respect all heritages of all people. The message we want to convey in our video is that even though we are all unique and are going through our own experiences as students at Cornell, there is commonality in our journey as Cornellians and as people in general. The live action shots we chose are from locations on campus that every Cornellian shares/ is familiar with, from seats on the TCAT bus to the slope to the Thurston bridge. Although every one of us has had different experiences in these locations, they all tie us to this one location and to this one experience. The constant showcasing of these videos is intended to leave a message that encourages solidarity and respect for each other on this campus and in general. Choosing locations that we all share like class, libraries, and quads showcases that we all really are more alike than we are different. Although you may go one way to this class and I go one way to that class, at the end of the day we both ride the bus to this one location. “The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same” – Corrine Bailey Rae. 

Every being wants to enjoy the pleasures of the Earth, and the best way to ensure that everyone does is by behaving in a manner that respects our existences together: also known as Ego Death. The ending of our video with the students on Slope Day and the compilation of faces of students in our class helps our audience visualize this energy and ties together our theme through showing experiences we share positively and respectfully as one. 

Our supplementary visuals included snippets from Sun Ra’s, “Space Is The Place” and Wednesday Campanella’s “Ikkyu-san”.

  Echoing the cultural nationalist movement in 1960s United States, in which people of African descent reclaim ancient Egypt as the birthplace of civilization and the origin of blackness, the ancient Egyptian theme in “Space Is The Place” reconstructs a mythical Black body that transcends space and time. Since the storytelling of Egyptian civilization was distorted by European imperialists, the definition of blackness is a process of reinforcing White supremacy and erasing Black history. For example, in “Venus in Two Acts,” Saidiya Hartman argues that “the barracoon, the hollow of the slave ship… the master’s bedroom—turns out to be exactly the same place and in all of them she is called Venus.” (Hartman 1) The nonexistence of witness renders the enslaved a symbol of violence. Black people are ostracized by the white supremacist ego and are pushed to be in a constant state of migration. Therefore, Sun Ra’s states that “you are not real. If you were you’d have some status among the nations of the world. So we are both myths.” (Space Is The Place) Sun Ra’s metallic Egyptian outfits celebrate a Black legacy and correct the racial prejudice of archaeologists, thereby redefining a universal ego that is simultaneously ancient and futuristic. This parallels well with our theme as it represents a redefinition of the universe through the past while ridding social constructs that bind us into separate groups.  

“Ikkyu-san” imagines Afro-Asian romance in a vibrant queer party. The Japanese singer dressed in Chinese Qipao dances with Ikkyu-san, a racially ambiguous man personating Ikkyu from a classic Japanese manga. Located in a racially homogenous country (Japan), the playful interruption of identity demonstrates the dispersal of culture and the transgression of racial boundaries in Afro-Asia futurism. Inserting “Ikkyu-san” in-between party footages from Cornell’s slope day foreshadows that Cornellians have the possibility of breaking down the constructs of race and nationality, and with these final snapshots we hoped to have achieved a great showcasing of “Ego Death”.  

 

 Works Cited

1. “水曜日のカンパネラ. “水曜日のカンパネラ『アラジン』”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyI_xZKisUw. YouTube, 31 Oct. 2016. Web. 10 Dec. 2019.
2. Hartman, Saidiya. “Venus in Two Acts.” Small Axe, no. 26, 2008, pp. 1-14. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/docview/195789319?accountid=10267.
3. Lamar, Kendrick, and J. Cole. “Kendrick Lamar – HiiiPoWeR.” Genius. N.p., 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2019.
4. Space Is The Place. Perf. Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra. YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2019.
5. Watts, Alan. “The Real You”. YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2019.
6. Wurtz, Bill. “History of the Entire World, I Guess”. YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2019.

Tracklist

1. “In My Room” by Frank Ocean [0:00 – 0:13]
2. Ben’s Voice [0:16]
3. “HiiiPoWeR” by Kendrick Lamar [0:27; 1:28; 2:46]
4. “Patience” by Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley [0:40 – 1:17]
5. “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix [1:55-2:17]
6. “Sabali” by Amadou & Mariam [3:21 – 5:01]