Week Two Flashcards
Diaspora
“Diaspora” refers to the widespread dispersal of people from their place of origin or claimed homeland. It is used in many religious, political, cultural contexts. “Diaspora” generally refers to epic scale, forced dispersal regardless of cause. Ex: the Jewish dispersion throughout the world, beginning during the time of the Roman Empire, African diaspora during the transatlantic slave trade, and contemporary Palestinian diaspora, following the Nakba (1948-present)
Exile
“Exile” refers to the forced or coerced departure of a person from their place of origin or claimed homeland. Exile generally refers to a political cause for emigration out of their homeland, rather than economic or cultural causes.
Immigration
Immigration refers to the departure of a person or persons from one country to another, whether “across the border” or overseas. Immigration generally involves a permanent or semi-permanent move, especially in circumstances involving unauthorized migration out of one country, into another.
(Note: “emigration” refers to the act of leaving a place, and “immigration” to the act of coming there. So, for example, if Baker decided to move to Canada, he would be IMMIGRATING TO Canada, but EMIGRATING FROM the US)
Transmigration
“Transmigration” generally refers to movement back and forth between a home country a new host country. Transmigration is related to transnationalism–the idea that a person can be part of more than one nation at the same time, with the attendant dual national consciousness & identity, but also something between/ beyond these two countries (i.e., more than the sum of its parts)
Liminality
“Liminality” generally refers to the amorphous space between things: paradigms, subjectivities, or spaces. Liminality is a limbo state, where a subject is not quite one thing, or another–existentially speaking. This is different from MESTIZAJE, which involves a SYNTHESIS or blending of two or more cultures (or racial/ethnic heritages) into a new being that is whole in and of itself.
1.5 Generation
The “1.5 Generation” refers to the direct descendants of immigrants (or descendants immigrants’ children) who are still acculturated in the “old ways” of their heritage, countries, and communities, but also to those of their new country and community. To varying degrees, they can navigate both worlds.
Acculturation, Accommodation, and Assimilation Paradigm
The “acculturation, accommodation, and assimilation paradigm” is a dated model that implies a unidirectional flow of culturally-related change on a person from the “outside”, such as an immigrant, or previously excluded minoritized person. It has been superseded by other models, such as TRANSCULTURATION, which recognizes the a two-way flow of adaptation/change by all involved
“Acculturation” generally refers to the process by which someone adapts to their new environment by learning survival traits (e.g., language). “Accommodation” generally refers to the process by which a person starts to prefer their new traits over their native ones (e.g., believing that their new language is better/ more valuable than their native heritage language). “Assimilation” generally refers to the ideological dimensions of acculturation/accommodation, and alludes to the full commitment to the new culture and attendant political values, usually via loss of their native ones.
Explication (three level process)
“Explication” essentially refers to the three-level process of analysis/ interpretation of a poem:
1) Nucleus
This level of reading involves a first reading of the poem, a personal appraisal, assessment of the tone, and identification of the genre
2) Symbolic System
This level of reading involves a second reading of the poem, with attention to the elements of FORM, such as literary devices (e.g., rhyme scheme, TROPES, metaphors, ENJAMBMENT, etc.). This enables the reader to examine “how” the artist puts the poem together to achieve the effects noted in the first reading, rather than simply “what” a poem is saying
3) DISCOURSE
This third level of analysis involves paying attention to both the content (nucleus) and form (symbolic system) of a text, in the context of the author’s SIGNIFYING PRACTICES and related DISCOURSE (e.g., Gloria Anzaldúa is writing about BORDERLANDS GNOSIS, utilizing a mixture of Spanish and English, drawing on BIPOC feminist theory in addition to Aztec folklore, within a context where she recognizes the connections between homophobia and racism as an attempt to exclude or demonize the “Other”)
Enjambment
“Enjambment” refers to a poet’s (usually) tactical use of line breaks outside of grammatically correct stops (like a comma or period) to achieve certain effects. The use of enjambment various infinitely, but it frequently enables a slight emphasis on the last word of the line, which sometimes becomes part of a complex TROPE. Sometimes the line break is also part of a rhythmic pattern, especially in song
End-stopped lines
“End-stopped lines” refers to lines in poetry that use terminal punctuation (periods, exclamation marks, question marks). Like ENJAMBMENT, this is usually a conscious artistic choice. Generally, the use of end-stopped lines involves less emphasis on the last line or image, even though it can do things (such as enact a crescendo, or signal finality) that an enjambed line might not accomplish in the same way.
AfroLatinidades
“AfroLatinidades” is a descriptive term that refers to African-descended and/or Black-identified Latina/o/x people and/or culture. It also is an epistemic category (or paradigm) that denotes a specific consciousness and related subjectivity. It might be considered conceptually similar to “Blackness” but with specific reference to Latina/o/x contexts.
Mulataje/AfroMestizaje
Mulataje & AfroMestizaje are similar terms. While MESTIZAJE generally refers to the mixture of Indigenous and European biology and culture amid Latinx people, “mulataje” and “AfroMestizaje” refer to the effaced Black roots of mestizaje. “Mulataje” is a controversial term due to its eugenicist etymology (CW: its anglicized term, “mulatto,” is considered offensive so please do NOT use it!). “AfroMestizaje” is now the preferred term. This term also emphasizes the fact that, since the 16th century in the Americas, there is no mestizaje without an African dimension.
Vernacular
“Vernacular” refers to popular, “lowbrow”, underclass, working class, or poor people’s culture, language, mannerisms, and etiquette. In some cases, “vernacular” can be used to refer to popular culture in general (such as graffiti art, or folk ballads) versus elite culture (such as oil paintings hung in a museum, or a symphony orchestra).
Scopophilia
“Scopophilia” refers to cultural products that are deliberately (though perhaps unconsciously) produced for heteronormative, patriarchal male pleasure. A scopophilic literary or cinematic text, for instance, might involve various scenes in which women’s bodies are emphasized and objectified for sensual or sexual gratification. Feminist alternatives include “gynopoetics,” which focuses on women-centered aesthetics and POETICS created through a variety of techniques that variously pre-empt or prevent scopophilic gazes (aka “the male gaze” in film, though this–perhaps problematically–also presumes a cisheteronormative subject).
Identity
“Identity”is the product of psychological and cultural processes by which we–more or less freely–construct and express our own sense of self. This term frequently involves essentialist—or oversimplified—views of what culture is or is not. The term “identity,” in popular use, sometimes implies static or “unchanging” model of what it a given identity category is “supposed” to do, look like, enjoy, etc.
