“Sing along with the Common People”: Politics, Postcolonialism, and other Figures

Abstract

Recent interest amongst critical human geographers in postcolonial theory has been framed by a concern for the relationship between ‘polities’ and ‘theory’. In this paper I address debates in the field of colonial discourse analysis in order to explore the connections between particular conceptions of language and particular models of politics to which oppositional academics consider themselves responsible, The rhetorical representation of empowerment and disempowerment through figures of ‘speech’ and ‘silence’, respectively, is critically examined in order to expose the limits of this representation of power relations. Through a reading of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's account of the dilemmas of subaltern representation, contrasted to that of Benita Parry, and staged via an account of their different interpretations of the exemplary postcolonial fictions of J M Coetzee, it is argued that the deconstruction of the conventional metaphories of speech and silence calls into view the irreducible textuality of the work of representation. This implies that questions about institutional positionality and academic authority be kept squarely in sight when discussing the problems of representing the struggles and agency of marginalised social groups. It is suggested that the continuing suspicion of literary and cultural theory amongst social scientists for being insufficiently ‘materialist’ and/or ‘political’ may serve to reproduce certain forms of institutionally sanctioned disciplinary authority.

Representations and objections: Geert Van Kesteren and the 13th International Aids Conference, Durban, 2000

“…See also, Barnett (1997). 6 Dalrymple (Interview, 2001 ) further states that "it is unfair, in a way, to look at bits of an exhibition.…”

“…Thus, in spite of the differences in terms of their ideological perspectives, the photographer and the objectors do have one important characteristic of the controversial encounter in common: both conflicting parties claim authority for representation by 'speaking on behalf' (Barnett, 1997) of the Zambian subjects. While Van Kesteren claims to speak on behalf of the Zambians living with HIV/AIDS 'in need of help' (Interview with Van Kesteren, 2001 ) by giving them a 'voice' with his camera, Dalrymple and Motlhabani, as Africans, claim to speak on behalf of African people in general (regardless of cultural differences), the Zambian population and the females in particular, by raising political and ethical concerns about the encounter between the Western photographer and the African subject.…”

“…Neither the media professional, in this case the photographer, nor, as Elana Bregin (2000, p. 87) suggests, the academic (in this case, the objectors as well as the author of this article) can ever be invisible from his/her own work. Thus, the "interpretative authority of the contemporary scholar must also be acknowledged as having its own limits" (Barnett, 1997, p. 139 Barnett (1997), a variety of oppositional political discourses, such as 'First World Feminism' (see also Cheung, 1993) routinely feature the privileging of'speech' or 'voice' as the signifiers of empowerment and the concomitant representation of oppression and disempowerment as 'silence' (Barnett, 1997, p. 139). Relating Barnett's theorisation of metaphors of 'speech' and 'silence' to the controversy under investigation, two sets, both constituting discursive forms of power in their own right, emerge.…”

Les pensées postmodernes britanniques ou la quête d’une pensée meilleure

“…Le premier élément résulte du constat d'une certaine normalisation : le moment innovant est dépassé, le texte académique a intégré de nouvelles normes d'acceptabilité du discours géographique, le passage à un nouveau paradigme s'est bien produit. D'où l'impression désormais d'une « machine qui tourne », avec les rouages mis en place au début des années 1990 et incarnés par quelques tendances emblématiques dont certains articles se font le reflet : l'application d'une lecture marxiste revue et corrigée à quelques thèmes nouvellement porteurs comme celui du « corps », pour aborder les effets les plus inattendus de la logique capitaliste (Callard, 1998;Harvey, 1998); la célébration du « sujet » au travers de pratiques populaires « subversives » associées à la « fantaisie » et au « carnavalesque » (Gregson et Crewe, 1997); la critique du savoir géographique comme construit autour de notions « néo-impérialistes » (Berg et Kearns, 1998) et associé historiquement à un discours « anglo-centriste » et « masculinisant » (Maddrell, 1998); la marginalisation du savoir « gay » et « lesbian » dans la discipline (Binnie, 1997); la discussion théorique autour des idées portées par le postmodernisme et ses corollaires comme les « postcolonial théories » (Simon, 1998); la discussion de textes d'auteurs de références « post » comme Baudrillard ou Spivak (Barnett, 1997). L'énumération de ces thèmes, on le voit, ne nous éloigne guère des tendances décrites précédemment.…”

Postcolonialism: Space, Textuality, and Power

“…Spivak's argument is that these sorts of questions also pertain to representation in a depictive sense. The argument is not that one can never have accurate depictions -of landscapes, voters' preferences, and so on -but that there is a degree of partiality involved in any representation that is not an error, but marks the point at which questions of authority and legitimacy proliferate (see Barnett 1997).…”