Orientalism

This multiple interpretations practice is based on a collection of pieces on East-West Conflict, and its reflection in lesser paradigms of adversarialism. Read particularly an excerpt from the Routledge Critical Dictionary of Postmodern Thought.

Pay special attention to Marx's phrase: "'They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented." To understand what I mean by a reflection of this same adversarial paradigm in lesser paradigms, read Bukowski and Gaines: "They Ain't Us": Identity as Anti-Norm Be sure to read the Gaines excerpt from which that title is taken.

Photo and brief biography of Ernest Gaines

Photo of the "beat" poet, Bukowski, and Gottfried Helnwein,
German artist who says much the same thing with his art.

For the full size photo link to Gottfried Helnwein Site Link to Artist, then Biography, then page 3 of the photographs. It's the second photograph on the third page.
Link to Works for the Adoration of the Magi as Fascist Officers.
Heavy symbolism on the harm we do to one another typical of Helnwein's work.

Click on any of the number or letter options for jeanne's lecture notes on that option.

Answer the following questions with reference to your readings.

1. Does this collection of readings suggest that Fellman's adversarialism and mutuality paradigm permeates social issues that concern distributive justice at many levels?

   jeanne's lecture notes

   For me, they do. I think that Ernest Gaines is describing the same phenomenon of adversarialism growing out of attempts to define Others as "not Us." Anti-norms have always resulted in the same rigidity and intolerance as the norms against which they were opposed. That seems to me to fit Fellman's description of the dilemmas we face in combatting adversarialism.

2. Go back to djmp03 in which these same issues are raised. What are the conceptual threads that link all these pieces together?

   jeanne's lecture notes

   The conceptual links that pull this work together are:

   • Fellman's paragdim of adversarialism and mutuality
   • History of events that indicate that the same type of issues occur over time and space. Note how much is said by Helnwein's adoration of the infant by Nazi officers. Note that Helnwein examines self-inflicted harm. Note that there is a photo of Helnwein with Michael Jackson. Now what do you suppose that might say?
   • Artists' insistence on using language which offends, images which offend. How does this wrench us out of our denial? Is that a viable role for art? Dig deep enough to discover the unwritten assumptions on which our denial is based. Look carefully at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
     The Darker Side of Playland:
     Childhood Imagery, from the Logan Collection.
   • Repetition on a global scale of much of the same kind of denial, fear, greed that we see in Bukowki's and Gaines' stories.

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