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CSUDH - Habermas - UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan, Transcend Art and Peace
Created: November 2, 2001
Latest Update: November 2, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org

Shifting Spheres in Discourse

We have been discussing the subtle shifts in discourse that permit us, unfortunately, to speak right past each other, without ever really hearing what the Other is saying.

The drawing above, from my time in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, in June-July 2001, reflects my discomfort with the Disney view that was so easy to accept. In Mala Mala, at the game preserve, we stayed in luxurious quarters, surrounded by gracious service and constant attention. I loved it. But it was a pre-arranged view of that part of Africa. I didn't miss the rifle being carefully loaded each time we set out in our appointed vehicle. I didn't miss the villages that housed those who served us. Yes, we paid for the service. But I suffer no illusions of how much of that went to the indigenous workers who made our stay possible and pleasurable.

When travelling, especially short, quick visits to places previously unknown to us, we seek to capture the memorable: the pyramids in Egypt, the camels all along the Nile, the wild animals, and these do seem to speak of our "knowing" the exotic place we have visited. But in the right-most section of the drawing, you see children and mother exposed to terrible danger, with an explosion endangering their lives, their home, and from one of civilization's guns.

I've been suggesting that we try to hear our arguments, recognize our "knowingness," in terms of the public sphere image of photo ops, and the private sphere image that tells the local narrative. There was no way, in the short time I had in South Africa that I could have come to "know" many South Africans. But my awareness that there is a local narrative behind the Disney scenes I was offered helped me to see South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe more clearly. Too often we let the Disney image predominate, and we forget that the local narrative is much closer to "reality."

More soon. . . .