Page 118 - Cultural Studies Volume 11

112 CULTURAL STUDIES

accumulation of accidental differences, namely, blackness, curly hair, bracelets,
and strings of pearls’ (Mudimbe, 1988:9).
24 Michel-Rolph Trouillot situates the inauguration of European constructions of
otherness in the fifteenth century. He notes that 1492 marks the fall of Muslim
Granada, the expulsion of the Jews, the consolidation of political borders in Europe
and concentration of political power in the name of a Christian God. In retrospect,
Trouillot sees these events as having more contemporary significance than
Columbus’s landing in Antilles (1991).
25 It should be noted that even among Third World intellectuals, there is disagreement
over the conceptual limitations imposed by the paradigm of ‘intercultural
hybridity’. For instance, Aijaz Ahmad criticizes Gaytri Spivak and Homi Bhabha,
pointing out that: The idea of hybridity—which presents itself as a critique of
essentialism, partakes of a carnivalesque collapse and play of identities, and comes
under a great many names—takes essentially two forms; cultural hybridity and
what one may call philosophical and even political hybridity.’ Ahmad notes that
this is obviously ‘a truism’ and the real problem is that the figure of ‘the migrant
(postcolonial) intellectual residing in the metropolis, comes to signify a universal
condition of hybridity and is said to be the Subject of a Truth that individuals living
within their national cultures do not possess’ (1995:13). A similar theme has been
expounded upon by Ali Behad (1993:40–9).
26 Herbert proposes that the emergence of an idea of culture and the puritanism of the
era should be attributed to the success of John Wesley. The Evangelical theologian
was a catalyst in the formation of modern social thought. Wesley’s notion of
original sin and its inherent existence in man, in the form of uncontrollable desire,
led to an obsessive concern with puritanism. As a theory and a practice, puritanism
was embodied in everyday life through a self-control and discipline which were
fetishized against the background of the Industrial Revolution. This period of
political and economic upheaval and transition inspired a need to make sense of,
and find order in, life.
27 See also Nancy Fraser’s discussion of how subordinate groups are silenced,
marginalized and interrupted by the imposition of ‘protocols of style’ of which they
are unfamiliar (Fraser, 1994:82).
28 In this context, the manner in which the personal background, life history and
experience of critics and supporters of W.E, B.Dubois’s position on race
consciousness cannot—and indeed should not—be overlooked. For two opposing
perspectives, see Appiah 1989) and Outlaw (1992).
29 This perspective demands a cautious and critical stance on postmodernism. One
invaluable critique of postmodernism and ‘the epistemological fantasy of becoming
multiplicity’ with its insistence on transcending specific gendered, racial and
religious positions—despite the material, historical and political relation to
language, intellectual history and social forms—can be found in Bordo (1990:133–
56).
30 I deliberately use american as an adjective and Black as a noun.
31 Allan Megil has gathered together an excellent collection of reflections on
objectivity/objectivities from contributors who come from a range of disciplines.
See Megil, 1994.