Themes of resistance culture

This is the strongest chapter in Said's book.. Said here in his book welcomed every criticism and tried to discuss them in this book. one of them from lewis when he said why he didn't talk about the russian orientalism because of marxism<Said answered that by he didn't want to talk about things he didn't have fully knowledge about it. 2- why he didn't talk about women and he didn't mention any things about resistance in his previous book orientalism.

So here in his book there are new things . The issues that he had missed in his previous book orientalism now he deals with them very successfully and intellectually and mentions them in details. So in this chapter he shows many examples of resistance and women roles.. first of all: What does resistance mean? It is the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument..and it's armed or violent opposition . Worldwide, people from all walks of life are finding creative ways to oppose war and promote peace, and justice, Cultureincluding film, music, and foodis fertile terrain for this struggle. Education that nourishes a critical mind and fortifies the soul is just as essential.

And there is another definition from wikipedia: A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence. The term resistance is generally used to designate movement considered legitimate (from the speaker's point of view). Organizations and individuals critical of foreign intervention and supporting forms of organized movement (particularly where citizens

are affected) tend to favor the term. When such a resistance movement uses violence, those favorably disposed to it may also speak of freedom fighters.

The etymology:

The term "Resistance" originates from the self-designation of the French Resistance during World War II. It has become a generic term that has been used to designate underground resistance movements from any country. While resistance existed prior to WWII, using the term "resistance" to designate a movement meeting the definition prior to WWII might be considered an anachronism[5].Although it is nonexclusive, the term is still strongly linked to the context of WWII. before we begin, i would like to read something interesting from said's writings.

This is his article: From his article They call all resistance "Terrorism" by Edward W. Said International Socialist Review, Aug/Sep 2001

so Any threat to its interests, whether it's oil in the Middle East or its geostrategic interests elsewhere, is labeled as terrorism, which is exactly what the Israelis have been doing since the mid-1970s in response to Palestinian resistance to their policies. It's very interesting that the whole history of terrorism has a pedigree in the policies of imperialists. The French used the word "terrorism" for everything that the Algerians did to resist their occupation, which began in 1830 and didn't end until 1962. The British used it in Burma and in Malaysia. Terrorism is anything that stands in the face of what we want to do. Since the United States is the global superpower and has or pretends to have interests everywhere-from

China to Europe to southern Africa to Latin America and all of the Americas-terrorism becomes a handy instrument to preserve this practice. Terrorism is also now viewed as a resistance to globalization. That connection has to be made. I notice, by the way, Arundhati Roy made that connection, as well, that people's movements of resistance against deprivation, against unemployment, against the loss of natural resources, all of that is termed "terrorism. "

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In the first paragraph: he mentions two resistance: the primary that is fighting against outside invasion then there is a secondary one which is ideological resistance when efforts are made to save or restore the sense of community against all the pressures of imperialism.

In paragraph on page 210 this basis is found,......colonized Fanon (the psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and author from Martinique. His work remains influential in the fields of post-colonial studies and critical theory. )

he is so much interested in reading Hegel's master-slave in the light of colonial situation . And he compares between it and the master-slave relationship in imperialism the colonizer and colonized. So he takes this relationship and applies it to the colonialism matters. In hegel the relationship is reciprocity means exchanging. While here in colonialism ,they want from the slave torecognition and working

p210 that is the partial .... its imperial past

he talks about the tragedy of resistance is to work to recover forms already established by the culture of imperialism .overlapping territories is the territories of culture and and we can't get the pure culture before the colonialism. In other words, Actually we can't totally independent from

british or french imperialism. so when we see India or Algeria we see the imperial effects on them intellectually and culturally so we see their clothes and the languages of the empire are the second language after the native ones. as Philip Curtin said, (the Professor at Johns Hopkins University and historian on Africa and the Atlantic slave trade. And in his writing he increased attempts at European colonization of Africa in the 1800s.) in his book The Image of Africa the same idea.

P 210 and those of the 19th explorer.....

here Conrad's voyage up the Congo as a description of authority that has sounded uninterruptedly and this river witnesses all the bad things that happened there. Also we see in Ulysses by james joyce( the Irish writer who colonized by british , he was banished by mentioning new culture of imperialism and adopted , reused and relived..) the same idea p 211 the river Between, by james Ngugi....... Ngugi is ,a kenyan writer. And here in this great novel, he returns the Heart of darkness and make it the opposite especially in river's symbols. The novel about the clash with the traditionalists who clinged to traditions and customs.. so there is a dilemma that confronts the kenyan who tries to achieve the balance between the traditions and the Western cultures and Honia river separates the two opposing side. Said makes the comparison between rivers Honia and congo and Nile. Honia is a river that never dried, it means cure and bring back to life it's a symbol of purity unlike congo the dark brutal river , it means the colonialism in africa . It's evil.

On p 211 and in Tayeb salih's Season of migration to the north....

Tayeb is a sudanese writer.. he wrote novels that concentrate on colonialism and postcolonialism. And this is his famous great novel, it tells the story of Mustafa Saed,from Sudan, who went to study in London and he had problems there then he returned to Sudan, moving to a

small village on the Nile, where he marries again and has children. He disappears mysteriously in a flood. The story is told by an unnamed narrator. It touches on colonial arrogance, sexual mores and the status of women, the politics of independent Sudan. So said tries to make comparison between this novel and heart of darkness.. and how Salah successfully reverses the idea. In conrad the protagonists are European with first person british narrator . So by using the arabic language with speaking of sudanese village>the voyage into the heart of darkness is converted into sacralized Hegira(not divine hegira). Mustafa goes through the heart of Europe.

P 212 another motif.....unthinkable

here is another example of resistance , Shakespeare's the tempest (it's about the Duke Prospero who sent away to a deserted island far from civilisation. When Prospero comes ashore, he finds two inhabitants there: Ariel, a spirit, and Caliban, presumed to be Ariel's brother. So prospero enslaves Caliban. It discusses the values of socities insulted from european.) The colonizer is prospero and the colonized are Ariel and Caliban. Ariel is used by some postcolonialist writers as a symbol of their efforts to overcome the effects of colonialism on their culture. And caliban is the one who forced into slavery on his own land that is ruled by colonizer. And he mentions some writers' opinions about caliban

p 213 "retamar's choice of caliban..." There are two important books about resistance: one by Ngugi decolonizing the mind which records his giving up the english language and explore the african language and he gives an explanation of how he came to write in Gikuyu, as well as an exhortation for African writers to embrace their native tongues in their art. So most of Ngugi's famous book were written in his native language. But lately he translated some of his works in english to reach everyone.

Also Barbra Harlow's resistance literature is a great book,(american writer,she writes also the children of Palestine ) Said admires her. so this is a good point in mentioning the woman's role in resistance..

so the said raises a great question on p 214 the question How does a culture seeking to become independent of imperialism imagine its own past?"

so he gives three choices of how they re-imagine their past..

1- One choice is to do it as Ariel does, that is, as a willing servant of Prospero, and to do as ariel who continues to be a servant and when he gets his freedom he returns to his native element not bothering with his cooperation with the master, just forget the past.

2- A second choice is to do it like Caliban, aware of and accepting his mongrel past but not disabled for future development."

or to be like Caliban who are aware of and accepting his mongrel past but not prevents him to looking for future development.

3- " A third choice is to be a Caliban who sheds his current servitude and physical disfigurements in the process of discovering his essential, pre-colonial self. This Caliban is behind the nativist and radical nationalisms that produced concepts of negritude, Islamic fundamentalism, Arabism, and the like." or to remove the slavery and discover his pre-colonial self .

So there are lots of activists and nationalists movements who produce the Arabism, negritude and so on. They try to bring the past that never totally come.

Negritude: means the affirmation or consciousness of the value of black or African culture, heritage, and identity.

So people being conscious that the people are prisoner in their own land.. so Tagore and Du Bois warn against the nationalism or the attack on Western culture . And said is accept nationalism as means of resistance. But he is against the cruel fundamental nationalism.

P 215:three great topics emerge....

1- Insist to see their history .. it tells about the language, history. so we can't see the pure history without colonialism so the culture and history is mixed. But they still remember their past including imperialism. So novels of Girgi Zaydan (egyptian) and Anderson(spanish america) are about history and how re-defined mixed people as follow nationals.

P 216:

2- resistance is not only related to imperialism,it is part of human history .it shows how much this alternative reconception is based on breaking down the barriers between cultures. Said

callsthe Voyage Inthat means writing back or reverse..so in Salman's novel Midnight's Children, it is based on liberating of independence itself. And the conscious effort to enter into the discourse of Europe and the West to mix with it and transform it. The novel is a great example of resistance after getting independence. also Tayeb Salaih's season migration to the north also another example they all write back and are considered a voyage in.

3- so here the separatist nationalism means they separate the colonizer culture to colonized. he talks about the nationalism and Elie Kedourie considers the non-western nationalism a negative reaction as the western behavior. Also Eric Hobsbawm and Ernest Gellner consider nationalism as a form of political behavior that's gradually replaced by new trans-national realities of modern economics and superpower military projection. The west always reject all form of nationalism and resistance so these people ( arabs, indonesians, irish..) cannot be trusted.

p 217 a confused and limiting notion...but the history of all cultures is the history .... French states

here said emphasizes that the culture is not totally pure as he said before there is no pure identity. So every culture borrows from each other. So Western science borrowed from arab. And they borrowed from greece so the culture is not a matter of ownership, but rather of appropriations (adapted others), common experience. So this is the universal norm. So we can't deny that behind the western civilization there was arab thinkers and the arab also adapted things from west this is Natural as Said says.

Then he talks about the non-westren nationalism from indian ( Partha Chatterjee) from Subaltern group

Then he talks about his position from nationalism . The nationalism depends on the sense of identity, ethic, religion.. so we must be focus on the intellectual and cultural within nationalist resistance so when the independence gained we can avoid the old injustice.

P 218 the women's movement.... he talks about women and their primary resistance because of 1- unfair male, polygamy.. and struggle for their rights as what Ramuhan Roy the indian activist had done. Later women writers and intellectuals cooperate with western women like Annie Besant(the british supporter of indian women) . They stand up for women's rights in education also the Feminism and nationalism in the third world is an organization that describes the efforts of indian reformers like Tora Dutt and Cornelia Sorabjee. And in egypt there was Huda shaarawi (a pioneer Egyptian feminist leader and nationalist.) also (Raja al-Sanaa's novel the Girls of Riyadh) is translated to english actually it is very shallow, silly horrible. then he mentions the algerian resistance.. and he criticizes some nationalists as Sadan Hussain ..

p 219 perhaps this is because ....world

said mentions that the best nationalism is the one which is always critical of itself.

In sum, decolonization... so he summarizes the whole chapter and says that the decolonization is so complex , and the struggle took the form of violent and attack (resistance) .. so there are many novels, official writings for greater commitments for independence. Generally speaking the anti imperialist resistance builds gradually from sporadic and often unsuccessful revolts. And at end they divide into supporters or opposers to the imperialism.