sunday morning ramblings

when Michaela Cross' piece came out on CNN, and I got involved in a debate on it on Facebook, I learnt a few things about myself. For one thing, I try to stay away from most fb debates, because I don't think they go anywhere. Yet, i got involved into this one, partly because i had just moved to Miami, and was feeling a little bit dislocated, and partly because given the issue it had raised, i found it hard not to.

during that debate, with a couple of my friends, i noticed something -- i am recognizing a longue duree in Cross' article. i am noticing an intersections of politics of race and empire with gender here, which my friends weren't. their understanding of gender was fairly unilinear, and reluctant to put it in context of a complex grid of power structures. and, none of them have any training in cultural studies oriented disciplines.

it is only in retrospect, as i wrote an article on the same issue, for our new bi-lingual journal Aainanagar, did i notice certain things -- my training in literature, social sciences and cultural studies has given me a fairly complicated way of looking into life and representations. i notice complexities and contradictions at a much faster pace than an average intelligent human being. and, this often makes it hard for me to relate to others. i often come across as a killjoy, the person who raises heckles over something that most others have accepted readily. 

i know, this same quality can also make me invaluable in a social movement-- especially within those sectors of the social movements which strive to engage with theory, needs writing and editing skills. but, these are also skills which can complicate the established narratives, the ideological hegemony of a certain leadership and the power structures of a movement. so, this ability to complicate things, which allows me to locate in ongoing events historical patterns, is a double-edged sword. and, i am not always very confident in terms of how to deal with this skill.

in some ways, it has made me lonelier. but, in some ways, it has also made me find friends in unexpected places. and, those few friends i have in this world, this skill has also made it possible for me to form more intense friendships with them. 

and, before i forget, here is the link to our new journal: 

http://aainanagar.com/

if you scroll down, you'll find my article.