Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, IM Pei Architect
It is as if I am back in kindergarten, but am on steroids. My first year as a Ph D student while working full time and trying to keep a social life is overwhelming.
First, I will tell you about my week. It started with meeting a friend's brother from another mother. If I knew anything about African culture, I would have known that he really means that his friend is a very dear friend, no blood relations what so ever. Being Saudi, and now living in Adidas, makes this man a bit of a mystery to me anyway. He was obviously educated at a fine public school in the UK, the posh Queen's English pipes through, along with the stuff he reads on planes baffles me a bit. He loves the Foreign Affair, who the heck reads that for fun? Anyhow, I met his 'brother' at the Shangri-La.
Paul was born in Uganda, lived in the Congo and a few other places in Africa before going to school in the UK. He stayed there for 23 years and now lives in Dubai. He tells a story of a typical 'Global Cosmopolitan". A lawyer by trade and an adventurer by heart. The most interesting part of the meeting was establishing the fact that people and us, we can meet anywhere and feel that we have known each other forever. There is a sense of belonging for those who are always on the go, that is belonging to those who are also always on a journey. The most memorable piece of our 1 hr meeting was about his habit of feeling a single serving packet of sugar in his pocket, one that he acquired on a plane. During his childhood, everything was scarce under Idi Amin. Sugar, fuel, food. That packet of sugar reminds him of the triumphs of human spirit, of overcoming obstacles and being present, appreciative of today.
The next stimulation was attending a poetry reading at UWC. Taylor Mali, as one would expect, a poet with long hair, badly dressed but a thundering voice. As a matter of fact, it was a voice Burger King used for one year on TV and radio ads. The sad thing is, his 10 words for Burger King might be heard by more people than he could wish for his poetry. I am lucky, I heard his poetry. He talked about whether one falls forward or backwards 'in love', also about being a miracle worker, bringing awareness to the nuances of life that we sometimes overlook, but are details that are so precious and so important that I can hardly imagine living without, yet we do. One of my favorites was - when does the heart rest? Well, technically, it is between beats. The evening ended with 4 girls, who know each other but not really, getting to know each other a lot better. It was a platform to give us permission to speak freely, about things that matter to our heart.
Check him out: http://www.taylormali.com/
As the title promises, I will talk about cockfights. It was an assignment that my Research Methods class, written in 1958 by Clifford Geertz. Title: "Deep Play: notes on the Balinese Cockfight". I tried reading this in August, but couldnt get through it. I now have taken the time to read it in more detail and perhaps in with a more open mind. I have found that most of my reading, though incredibly overwhelming in volume, are as if I had a curator looking for literature and journal articles who understand my taste and he/she feeds me just what I need.
Want to read more? Here is a link that has a PDF to the actual paper:http://savageminds.org/2006/05/27/anthro-classics-online-geertzs-notes-on-the-balinese-cockfight/
Geertz and his wife are anthropologists, spending time in Bali in 1958 when he recorded and did the research on cockfights. They were living in a small village in Bali, well, if you have ever been to Bali, it is really small, so it couldn't have been very far from where tourists are, but in 1958, perhaps, there were far less than we see today. The paper is about understanding a culture through their rituals. Cockfights, as it turns out is not only about gambling, animal cruelty, and potentially a backwards rural game. It is a metaphor for life as a Balinese. He watched 57 fights, understood the wagering system and the social implications of each bet, each activity, by actors both inside the ring and outside to create his summaries. It referenced Jeremy Bentham (deep play), Aristotle (poets are to tell what happens vs what happened), Max Weber, Shakespeare, and few others I am unable to recall. It is about what the event makes the participant feel. Art form is metaphor for life form.
India Song - a French film made in the 1970's about Calcutta, a beggar girl from Laos who sings, Anne Marie (main siren) having a Austrian lover, her true love- Michael Richardson, mustachioed cheezy of a man who is suicidal and was posted in Lahore, the Prince of Welsh, being trapped inside the French Embassy. There was a the red bicycle, area of the park outside of the mansion that seem to be in disrepair, parties, dancing in a red gown, dying in a black dress and one bare breast to symbolize her sexuality, her choice of partners, her virility. Set in 1927. The war, the occupation in Europe, advancement of the Japanese in China and these characters are miserable amidst life of luxury, idleness kills, Calcutta heat seems impossible, being trapped by monsoons and life as a diplomat must be a challenge.
Here is what I found when I googled the movie:
India Song (1973), by Marguerite Duras, is an experimental play set in colonial India during the 1930s. Through her unique use of disembodied voices as narrators, Duras presents a composite account of the tragic love story of Anne-Marie Stretter, wife of the French ambassador to India.
In 1972, Duras was commissioned by Britain’s National Theatre to write India Song as a play, although it was not staged at that time. India Song was first published in book form as a play/screenplay/ novel in 1973. It was adapted to film as a motion picture released in 1975 and first performed on stage in 1993.
India Songis narrated by four voices, two female and two male, who recall the events of one night at a party held at the French embassy in Calcutta in 1937 and the following day at the French residence on an island in the Indian Ocean. Anne- Marie Stretter is an object of fascination for everyone. Although married to Ambassador Stretter, she has taken Michael Richardson as her lover. Two other men, a French vice-consul and a young French attaché, are also in love with her. One night, Anne- Marie commits suicide by walking into the Indian Ocean to drown herself. Her story is set within the luxurious confines of European colonial life, where the privileged white colonists take refuge from the poverty, disease, starvation, and suffering of the Indian people.
India Song covers many themes, including love, desire, passion, and the social inequalities of colonial domination.
As part of my research, I have to review literature that pertains to my topic. So far, this week, I read: Greg Madison Existential Migration and skimmed Linda Brimms's Global Cosmopolitan. I had brief chats with Su-Yen and Saj about their journeys.
In Madison's work, I found it compelling, yet it is as if he was trying to find in Freud and Heidegger what he found in his subjects. It deals with the concept of home, belonging, reasons for moving, the experiences. The data revealed that self-initiated migration (as he names it - existential) is about self-actualization, about reaching outside of 'self' to reach potentials. These concepts resonates with me well, I do think if I ever stopped moving, I would die, maybe of boredom. His subjects also express that telling their stories was therapeutic. I met with Gerald for a coffee, he came back from participating in artist/ playwright/ creative workshop in Tuscany (lucky him), and he spoke of 'Playback Theater', maybe there are similarities in that process. See link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playback_Theatre
In Brimm's book, since I only skimmed the chapter heads and look for abstracts and conclusions, I was not able to critique the themes. What I saw, I, again recognize these patterns in my own life, my own experience. The challenges of relationships, the connected and disconnected, the familiar and the foreign, the chameleon, the changing to the point of not knowing if i am loosing myself. All these frameworks are valid. The story telling, again seem therapeutic for her participants. Identity, living in worlds that are inbetween, being the bridge, living for others, yet fiercely charting our own course.
I also finished my paper on South Africa, people like General Smuts and Lord Milner danced in my head for a week. I turned it in on Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday. A coincidence, yet so apt. Discrimination, making of race, nation building, political and ideological yearnings of an emerging nation. Truth and reconciliation process. Huntington's argument - Said's rebuttal. I loved this.. it has been a LONG time since I really had to think. It hurts sometimes but it is good for me.
Until next time...
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