The European Tribune is a forum for thoughtful dialogue of European and international issues. You are invited to post comments and your own articles.
Please REGISTER to post.
If her dance form is a cultural product of India, then she either restricts it to pure ethnic Indo-Asians or she opens it up completely. To claim she has anything in common with africans, hispanics, southern & nothern far-easterners is effectively saying that their similarity is predicated in being in contrast to white people. And that is a essentialist, racist statement. keep to the Fen Causeway
i think that move would be "essentialist" (if i understand the term correctly) and racist.
as for your second point: i think her own narrative is that colonialization, imperialism and globalization, primarily and overwhelmingly carried out by white people in recent history, are responsible for theft and abuse against non-white cultures across the world, and that is what she -- as an indian -- has in common with africans, asians, etc. while historically it may be inaccurate, i am skeptical that it is essentialist or racist. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
while historically it may be inaccurate, i am skeptical that it is essentialist or racist.
It's more than inaccurate, it's delusional. The presence of indian, and far-eastern people in the USA has no background in imperialist or colonialist behaviour whilst the presence of African-Americans has an awful lot to do with it.
If she is claiming that, as a coloured person, she can share in the cultural degradation that african-americans have suffered then there is no point in further debate. Somebody so lost in self-serving patronising bullshit cannot be addressed by appeals to evidence or reason.
But to create such a fantasy, well I think that is rooted in issues she has with white people, however socially constructed, both male and female. keep to the Fen Causeway
I think it's fair to say that she has serious issues with men and white people. But that is not the same thing as saying that she hates men and white people. And it is certainly not the same thing as saying she is racist. By that logic, every person who spews vitriol against "Anglo-American" this or that is a racist, and that doesn't seem correct. Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.
I think it's fair to say that she has serious issues with men and white people. But that is not the same thing as saying that she hates men and white people. And it is certainly not the same thing as saying she is racist. By that logic, every person who spews vitriol against "Anglo-American" this or that is a racist, and that doesn't seem correct.
A combination of hair-splitting and Aunt Sally defence.
My experience with male-preventing dance teachers is that once you've addressed every supposedly real excuse for not allowing men into classes you're left with the great unsayable. As Sherlock Holmes said, "If you exclude all other possibilities, then whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth"
And I am as vitriolic about "Anglo-american" economic and political behaviour as anyone, yet to suggest I am prejudiced against Americans, or British for that matter, is just silly. keep to the Fen Causeway
by Frank Schnittger - May 31
by Oui - May 30 18 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 23 3 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 27 3 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 5 22 comments
by Oui - May 13 66 comments
by Carrie - Apr 30 7 comments
by Oui - Jun 17 comments
by Oui - May 3128 comments
by Oui - May 3018 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 273 comments
by Oui - May 2726 comments
by Oui - May 24
by Frank Schnittger - May 233 comments
by Oui - May 1366 comments
by Oui - May 910 comments
by Frank Schnittger - May 522 comments
by Oui - May 450 comments
by Oui - May 312 comments
by Oui - Apr 30273 comments
by Carrie - Apr 307 comments
by Oui - Apr 2647 comments
by Oui - Apr 889 comments
by Oui - Mar 19144 comments