Week Eight Flashcards
Poetic Persona
Poetic Persona refers to the narrator/central character in a literary work, aka the “speaker” of the poem. This figure is often mistaken for the author, though this is often not the case. In other words, even if the author is presenting an thinly-veiled autobiographical poetic persona, there isn’t a seamless match between the narrator/central character and the author. Therefore, it is inaccurate to ascribe all aspects of a poetic persona to the author, especially as the author may be placing dialogue in the mouth of a specific poetic persona to achieve a specific effect (e.g., an author may have an otherwise innocent, likeable character verbalize horrible epithets in order to illustrate the corrosiveness of racism, such as Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn).
Free Indirect Discourse
Free Indirect Discourse, aka “free indirect speech/style,” isa method of conveying a character’s internal thoughts by embedding them within the narration, rather than expressing them directly through quoted speech/monologue
Glocal (“Global” + “Local”)
Glocal is a neologism from “global” + “local” that signals the dialectical relationship between local phenomenon and the broader world (this same sensibility is found in certain currents of INTERNATIONALIST thought). The idea is that nothing is truly removed from global forces and that the local is often a manifestation of global realities (e.g., the price of your morning coffee may be impacted by a labor strike at a coffee plantation in South America).
Ontology
Ontology, for our purposes, refers to “the study of being” as a philosophical concept. For instance, our species’ understanding of what it means to be human has differed over time and across cultures. In one era, such as during feudalism, there was little concept of an autonomous, individual subject existing beyond the rule of monarchy, whereas under capitalism the concept of the individual, and individual success, is supreme. Furthermore, in some definitions of communism, one might understand the human as a social organism, part of a collective set of obligations and futurity that goes beyond individualism. “Ontology” is our study of the nuances of these models, and how/why/where they change over time
Existentialism
Existentialism is a catch-all term for those who consider the nature of the human condition as a key philosophical problem, and who share the view that this problem is best addressed through ontology. It also is understood as as part of a family of philosophical views/inquiry that study existence from the individual’s perspective, and explore the human struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of the universe.
In our usage, to explain AfroPessimism and/or LatinxPessimism, we understand EXISTENTIALISM to emphasize the enduring impact of traumas endured by certain contemporary and historical groups–such as slavery and colonialism–that shape (and frequently circumscribe) one’s citizenship/ability to achieve truly autonomous, free, and fully actualized selves in a society still shaped by these legacies of violence and disenfranchisement.
