racism: July 2004 Archives

I havenít seen ìI, Robotî, yet, but Ericís critique was on my mind while I watched In America the other day. (Actually ñ Iíve only read Ericís anticipated critique ñ Iím waiting to read his post-viewing critique until Iíve seen it myself.)

A friend of mine from England had described an interview heíd heard in which the director, Jim Sheridan, explained the way language works in Britain to produce pessimistic subjectivities. The autobiographical movie is (at least partly) about the transition between one way of speaking/thinking/perceiving and another - the embeddedness of optimism in culturally U.S. ways of speaking.

This transition occurs at a deeply emotional level for the family, and (apparently) only with the intervention and assistance of Mateo - introduced to the audience as "the man who yells", and who - it turns out - is black.

Enoch's got a book underway, selections of which will be presented at the American Anthropological Association's Convention this November. Serendiptously (?), I've already paid to go (Deaf/interpreting stuff) but waffling - need to check out a possible conflict with NCA (I'm on a panel Leda put together). Anyway, here's something that suggests which way the presentations might go. More incentive for me to work out attendance?