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Literature Unbound: Black Carceral Consciousness From 1965 – 1975
Get PDFGenre has the capacity to help readers my closely understand certain writings; however, strict reliance on genre alone can cloud or betray the author\u27s intentions. This is especially true when the author is imprisoned. From autobiographic writings by Huey Newton and Rubin Carter, to the collected letters and essays of Angela Davis, George Jackson, and Eldridge Cleaver, to certain works of poetry by Ericka Huggins and Etheridge Knight, a certain expression of humanity is alive in their words. I use a method of analysis for these works called Black carceral consciousness to perform close readings of these works in an effort to understand their words with due acknowledgement to both literary and carceral scholarship. While literary scholarship (methods of literary analysis related to genre) can peel back layers of nuance,I argue that these works are most clear when these efforts are combined with carceral scholarship, which calls for critiques of these works to center the author\u27s position as imprisoned. Black carceral consciousness triangulates three components (carceral abolition, black fugitivity, and black carceral subjectivity) to remove any nuance from the reading experience and allow the reception of the authors\u27 words as intended when written
Politics of Patents and Biopiracy: Reading Inez Baranay’s Neem Dreams
No full textThis article examines Inez Baranay’s novel Neem Dreams (2003), which offers a scathing critique of the biopiracy of traditional knowledge about plants. Drawing on the eminent Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva’s philosophical insights into the question of biopiracy, the article analyzes how Baranay has foregrounded the issue of the commercialization of plants and their scientific properties. The article also explores how globalization, in the name of development, has promoted “secular recolonization” and the dominance of transnational capitalism, adversely affecting the economy and societies of the developing world. Critically analyzing Baranay’s novel and her eco-feminist/fictional resistance to the issue of biopiracy, the article considers the implications of biopiracy and its misappropriation of traditional knowledge apropos the neem tree
A Landscape in Different Cloaks: Comparing the Deserts of Carpentaria and Voss
No full textWhile much of the secondary literature suggests that comparison between Alexis Wright and authors like Patrick White is inherently reductive, I propose that comparison can yield important insights. That is, the methods used to consider Alexis Wright in the context of Australian settler authors have been reductive, but the act of comparison itself is not. Using the inclusion of Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria (2006) and Patrick White’s Voss (1957) on the French agrégation curriculum as the basis for comparison, I proceed to consider the shared cultural motifs, environments, and divisions that this dual inclusion might indicate. Focusing on the desert environment in each novel, I outline three major areas of confluence and difference: ecological diversity, cultural significance, and biblical and Hebraic visions. By analyzing the common significance of the desert in Carpentaria and Voss, crucial differences are revealed. The lenses on each desert differ, as do their purposes, suggesting two distinct— though connected—Australian traditions of belonging in and writing the land
Food Deserts, Socioeconomic Status, and Health in the City of Detroit
Get PDFWhile many attribute health disparities in Detroit residents to the phenomenon of food deserts, this essay takes a closer look at such a seemingly obvious explanation and critically examines the concept of food deserts. This essay argues that the commonly held definition of food desert is inadequate for describing the complexities of a setting such as Detroit, and the true cause of the health disparities between the city and surrounding suburbs can be attributed to the lower socioeconomic status of the average Detroit resident, itself a product of racist housing policies and segregationist laws
