Stuart Halls Cultural Identity and Diaspora - 1599 Words

Ouahani Nasr-edine A Paper about Stuart Hall’s article: Cultural Identity and Diaspora Stuart hall talks about the crucial role of the â€Å"Third Cinemas† in promoting the Afro-Caribbean cultural identities, the Diaspora hybridity and difference. Hall argues that the role of the â€Å"Third Cinemas† is not simply to reflect what is already there; rather, their crucial role is to produce representations which constantly constitute the third world’s peoples as new subjects against their representations in the Western dominant regimes. Their vocation is to allow us to see and recognize the different parts and histories of ourselves. They should provide us with new positions from which to speak about ourselves. Stuart Hall provides an analysis†¦show more content†¦Cultural identity is not just a matter of the past, a past which have to be restored, but it is also a matter of the future. It is a â€Å"matter of ‘becoming’ as well as of ‘being’† (225). In this sense cultural identities no longer signify an accomplished set of practices which is already there; they are subject to the â€Å"play† of history, power and culture. They are in constant transformation. Hall argues that it is this second sense of cultural identities which enable as to come to terms with â€Å"the traumatic character of the ‘colonial experience’. The Western representations of the black experiences and peoples are representations of the ‘play’ of power and knowledge. Western categories of knowledge not only position us as ‘Other’ to the West but also makes as â€Å"experience ourselves as Others† (225). This colonial experie nce puts as in a dangerous position: it makes us ambivalent in our life, our needs, and our thought. This colonial experience had produced uprooted subjects, split between two words in an unidentified space. This rootlessness, this lack of cultural identity which the colonial experience produces leads us to question the nature of cultural identity itself. In this sense it is never a fixed, shared entity. â€Å"It is not one and for all† (226). It is not something which happens in the past but it is a process. What we told ourselves about our past isShow MoreRelatedStuart Halls Cultural Identity and Diaspora2380 Words   |  10 PagesW. Clarke LITS3304 Notes 12B 1 STUART HALL â€Å"CULTURAL IDENTITY AND DIASPORA† (1993) Hall, Stuart. â€Å"Cultural Identity and Diaspora.† Colonial Discourse and Post-colonial Theory: a Reader. Ed. Patrick Williams and Chrisman. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994. 392-401. In this essay, Hall considers the nature of the â€Å"black subject† (392) who is represented by â€Å"film and other forms of visual representation of the Afro-Caribbean (and Asian) ‘blacks’ of the diasporas of the West† (392). â€Å"Who is this emergentRead MoreNegotiating Halls Caribbean Identity in Kincaids Annie John3215 Words   |  13 PagesNegotiating Halls Caribbean Identity in Kincaids Annie John In his article Negotiating Caribbean Identities, Stuart Hall attempts to relay to the reader the complications associated with assigning a single cultural identity to the Caribbean people. Even though the article is intended by the author to represent the Caribbean people as a splicing of a number of different cultures, the processes Hall highlights are noticeable on an individual scale in the main character of Jamaica Kincaids novelRead MoreCultural Identity And Diaspor Reflective Statement1393 Words   |  6 Pagesstatement I decided to investigate deeply my ancestral history because growing up I had never thought about my identity until now. I had always assumed that my ancestors were all born and raised New Zealanders. Stuart Hall’s reading â€Å"Cultural identity and diaspora† discussed cultural practices reflecting on his own experiences, living in one place and moving to another. Hall defines cultural identity, â€Å"in terms of one, shared culture, a sort o f collective ‘one true self’, hiding inside the many other, moreRead MoreReflection Paper About The Caribbean1637 Words   |  7 Pagesbehind the white sand and blue waters? Through this class, Ive come to realize that the Caribbean wasnt always this place of relaxation and where people wanted to escape to. Its more than the diverse people and cultures. Its a place where theres diaspora, struggles, hatred and political matters that cause tension amongst those who live there. The Caribbean holds so much history and significance to who we are and what we do. Because of colonization and the white supremacist patrical imperialist whoRead MorePagoda By Stuart Hall Analysis2089 Words   |  9 Pagesthat were stripped and taken away from the people of Trinidad and Jamaica. One of the first pieces of literature I read for this class was Stuart Hall’s essay Cultural Identity and Diaspora. This essay created a framework and shaped the way I perceived the following novelà ¢â‚¬â€ The Pagoda by Patricia Powell. Hall’s essay broke down two notions of what cultural identity is and through this, I have come to understand why Powells main character—Mr. Lowe, identified himself as a transgender female as a resultRead MoreThe Cultural Identity Of The African American Community1653 Words   |  7 Pagesall play a role in developing one’s identity and more often than not, these multiple identities intersect with blackness. Being that American society has deemed colored people and populations as minoritarian subjects, African diaspora people can be seen making safe spaces for themselves to survive as individuals and as a part of communities. Stuart Hall’s Cultural Identity and Diaspora focuses on the current issues of identity, cultural practices and cultural representations. He analyses the visualRead MoreThe Black And Black British Diaspora2184 Words   |  9 PagesCritically examine the ways through which the Black British diaspora has been imagined and represented by the theorisations of Paul Gilroy and others. Why does Gilroy (and others) suggest his notion of ‘The Black Atlantic’ as useful for re-imagining black identities? Introduction This essay will analyse the concept of ‘The Black Atlantic’ by sociologist Paul Gilroy. Written almost 20 years ago, it is an important concept which has been celebrated as instrumental in the re-imagining of blackRead MoreThe World War 2 : A Significant Turning Point Of Ethnicity Studies Essay2036 Words   |  9 Pagessignificance of ethnic identity when various ethnicities around the world had more interaction. â€Å" Ethnicity became a key concept in addressing cultural difference in multicultural societies and as a concept aimed at surpassing the essentializing and biological analysis dominating earlier analyses of race.† (Georgious, 2006) The theorisation of new ethicities was evolved into the beginning of primally put identity into specific context of diaspora and translaitonalism according to â€Å"Stuart Hall’s (1988)analyticalRead More Lost Identity Found Essays1862 Words   |  8 PagesLost Identity Found Stuart Hall writes that â€Å"Identity is not as transparent or unproblematic as we think† (Hall 392). Hanif Kareishi, a visual minority growing up in racially charged England, experiences uncertainty and frustration relating to his sense of identity. Salman Rushdie, author of short stories â€Å"The Courter† and â€Å"Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies,† develops characters who experience similar identity crises. In his piece, â€Å"The Rainbow Sign,† Kareishi explores three responses to encountersRead MoreW. E. B. Du Boiss Criticism Of Claude Mckay  ´ S Home To Harlem1944 Words   |  8 Pagesdelve even deeper outside of Claude McKay’s views, it could be argued that Home to Harlem does not produce a single identity at all. Rather, Home to Harlem’s perpetual mobility and movement invests in the idea of black â€Å"identity as ‘production’† rather than as the exhibition of a â€Å"collective ‘one true selfâ₠¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬  (Hall 222-3). To elaborate, McKay’s text actively maps mobility with identity, as Jake’s movement from France to England to the United States and so on depicts a search for comfort and belonging