Rosemarie Waldrop discusses Roger Williams’ work “A Key into the Language of America” and how it was used against Williams’ wishes and aided the European settler’s in invading and destroying Native American lands. He was clearly one of the very few people that were open to learning about Native American culture and language and preserving it rather than destroying it for economic benefit. She has some things in common with William’s including her place of residence, her skin color, and poetry but she is different in that she is female and while she was on the side of the losers in post war Nazi Germany she is now on the side of the winners, unlike Williams, who had it the other way around. I find it interesting that she calls attention to such comparisons and I like that her book discusses gender and conquering. I enjoyed her comparison of the conquered female archetype with the conquered Native American lands. I also found it very interesting that the Narragansett now look to William’s book to learn about their past and their lost language.
Author Archives: WeronikaS
The Ansarac and Ishi
I usually am not a big fan of fantasy and to be honest when I first read the story about Ansarac I was a little bit confused and uniterested. Once we talked about it in class I realized the importance of what LeGuin was writing about. The Ansarac found it very imoprtant to maintain their way of life by restricting visitors to one spot where they can see some of the culture without actually affecting that culture in a way that would change it or lead to its demise. This reminded me of Ishi’s people once hidden away in the mountains to protect their lives from invading settlers and the improtance of maintaining a culture by not allowing people in to change it or destroy it. I also found it very interesting that she included a treck up a mounatin in the story, where the families disperse and leave no trace behind kind of like what the Yahi had tried to do but unfortunately it did not work out for them. The influences the story of Ishi has on Leguin’s story is very clear to see. The importance of preserving a way of life, of preserving diversity and of protection from outside influence were all themes in both stories.
Response to speakers from Engleman Hall
I enjoyed the speakers very much. I love hearing from people with accents because I think that it makes you listen more closely and think harder about what the speakers are saying. I’m not sure if it was the sound system or the heavier accents on some of the speakers but I could not make out every word of what some of them had said. My favorite speaker was probably the one who needed a translator. I couldn’t understand a lot of what he spoke in English but I loved that he did it and I found his attempt at English more exciting than any other attempt I have ever heard. The way he spoke English was so exciting and different. Maybe he was just excited about what he was talking about. Either way I appreciated it very much.
I found Nadeem Aslam’s talk to be the most moving and I will never forget what he said about the meanings of Jihad. I have spoken to a few people about what he said about it sometimes meaning to smile at someone when you don’t feel like smiling. I love that he brought up the power of words in politics and the dangers that come with having such power. I’m glad he spoke about the lives that were lost in drone attacks and those responsible for them. I also like that he is not afraid to talk about these things and focuses on the importance of holding such power in the face of danger to seek the truth.
Final Paper: “Illegal” “Undocumented” “Unapologogetic”
For my term paper I would like to discuss the evolution of language focusing on the constant redefinition of words from generation to generation, group to group, and individual to individual. I would like to discuss what words “illegal” immigrants are now using to describe themselves and their fight for justice. They wish to no longer accept the term illegal and all it implies, as I never did, but rather claim their legality and human rights by replacing it with terms like “undocumented unafraid and unapologetic” to further the movement and change the debate on the undocumented. In not agreeing with the negative imperialistic and unfair nature of the word and its place in the legal system, will replacing it with these words help eradicate the negative idea behind the word and change the law by changing the language itself? Can the death of a word be the death of an idea and an injustice?
My Reaction to Ithquil
I have never heard the word conlanging but I was somewhat aware of the phenomenon of linguistic hobbyists. It was interesting to learn how many people are doing this as a hobby and how widespread these made up languages can be. I thought it was really funny that the article referred to Yankee English as sounding like a “honking horn” I had never thought about it sounding like that and find it sort of subjective and inadequate, at least to me. The fact that Dothraki is heard by more people than the five languages mentioned combined was very eye opening and made me think about the death of a language in a new way, as well as the development of a language in a new way. I suppose the same was true of Klingon and Tolkien’s language at the time. I found it very funny that the creator of Ithquil began his language creating hobby after hearing Magma; I had a very different reaction to Magma the first time I heard it and did not even realize it was their own language so it was interesting to hear about this in music. When the article mentioned gendered languages and how it affects how we see objects I started thinking about the gendered words of the Polish language and how much that affected me and my view of objects and if it would be negative or positive for my view of the world or simply neutral. I like that Quijada realizes his language is hypothetical and wouldn’t be widely used but would mainly be a blueprint to think about language in new more meditative, efficient and not at all vague manner. He also seemed to think that it would be perfect for philosophy which I would disagree with because I think philosophy is in itself a reflection on language and ideas expressed in different languages. I think metaphor, sarcasm and vagueness all have a place in language and that many words can be used to describe an idea or object and language does not have to be super efficient and quickly written or spoken. When he realized that the psychonetics people were using his language to create a political movement that would be more efficient after studying it and take over sovereign lands to create a new Soviet Block, it made me think of the power of language. If a language could really change the way you think about an idea and even the speed and efficiency of the idea just by speaking it differently, would it prove the Sapir-Worf hypothesis to be true?
“Lucky Girl”
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/guernica%20magazine
This is a related article that gives you a horrifying look at what life was like for people before Roe v Wade if you found the previous one interesting.
beyond pro-choice/war on drugs
http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/roe-v-wade-at-forty-beyond-pro-choice/
Once we started talking about the “war on drugs/women” and pro-choice vs pro-life I remembered this article by Lynn Paltrow, in which she discussed the many links between the war on drugs and the war on women. I had been pretty aware of the statistics on Black/Latino men making up the majority of the U.S. prison system as a result of the war on drugs, marginalization, racial profiling and other injustices and I hear a lot of people talking about these issues, especially surrounding the legalization of marijuana in certain states and in the recent gun-law debates. I have also heard a lot of people refer to the current justice system as a “new slave system” and I know how corrupt the justice system can be towards anyone of a non-privileged background with some great connections but I never really imagined pregnant women suffering under this system as a result of not only drug laws but laws that completely undermine the civil rights of pregnant women and all women when it comes to birth-control. The statistics she mentions are frightening and she makes a lot of eye-opening points.
Foreign Words and my own story
From the very beginning of reading Foreign Words I felt a strong connection to the book because I was able to relate to much of what he was writing about. My mother passed away one month before I became legal and a soon as I got those documents I knew I had to go back to my roots and learn as much as I could about where she grew up and where I was born. I learned a lot about myself and my mother from visiting with my cousins, who were not much younger than my mother because she was the baby of the family. They knew her very well and wanted to share everything they knew with me. I was very pleased with this because she did not talk about her family too much and when she did I was probably too young to understand or really listen. This was a very important month long adventure for me and just like Alexakis I was looking for a distraction, something new and wonderful to take my mind of things and yet something that would teach me more about myself and where I came from.
I wanted to see as much of Europe as possible and learn as much as I could, maybe even find a new place to live. I started my trip with four days in Amsterdam, which was the most beautiful city I have ever seen and probably will ever see. I then went through Belgium to France, a country I had been obsessed with all throughout high school and whose language I studied. Just like for Alexakis speaking it was so much harder for me than writing it so I was scared of communicating. Most people in France seemed to speak English but hate it so I was forced speak it and remembered much more than I thought I would. I had a couple of days in Paris, a couple of days in Digne, and almost a week in Nice because of poor planning on my part. I then traveled through Germany to Poland and saved the best for last.
I went to as many museums as possible, relearned the French language, spoke to many different people and learned a lot about how each country viewed people from other countries including Americans. I had to tell everyone I was from New York City to avoid dirty looks and find some common ground. Everyone loves New York. The most surprising part of the trip was finding out that almost anywhere I went there was a stronger hatred for the British than there was for Americans. Apparently they travel Europe with their pounds and find cheaper places to get drunk. I was told Poland and other places put up “No British Allowed” signs because they often got too rowdy. Before I was told any of this I saw countless British people in their late teens to late twenties getting off the train in Nice half-naked, dressed like they were going to prom, often very drunk and louder and more obnoxious than I had ever seen a group of Americans be. I was pretty happy that there was a group of people more obnoxious than Americans traveling Europe. Even I could not stand how disrespectful and loud they were and I like loud people. I felt much better about being an American after hearing about the way the British are treated. After that I felt no need to immediately tell everyone I met that I was from NYC.
France had been nothing like I pictured it and I didn’t like it a much as I thought I would. When I finally got to Poland it was also nothing like I pictured from my mother’s stories and yet I felt right at home. I learned that I was far more like my mother than I ever thought. I came from a family of mostly women, very strong willed women. My cousins were spinster sisters and that made me so happy because all my life I found spinsters to be really fascinating and brave. I was born in Lublin, where my mother was a seamstress and where they currently lived but the rural area where my mother grew up with her sisters was just a forty minute drive away and so I got to see the house she grew up in. The farm I had heard about all my life was the size of an American backyard. Most of the farms in Poland are actually quite small; they were nothing like the huge farms we have in America. When I told my cousin I pictured a bigger farm in my head they weren’t surprised because everything in America was bigger they said, the trees, the farms, the animals. It was funny but it was true America is huge. I also realized pretty quickly that my Polish was nowhere near as good as I thought it was and that I often translated English into Polish in my head rather than speaking Polish correctly. I felt like an idiot outsider but luckily everyone understood me and actually thought my Polish was very good. Everyone found it so fascinating that I lived in America and wanted to know everything. My accent was compared to that of the Polish “Gorale” or Gorals which translates to “highlanders.” These highlanders are a group of indigenous people that live in the Tatra mountains in Poland, as well as other neighboring countries. I used to perform their dances in a Polish school I attended in Greenpoint. I know Polish people love Gorale and their culture so I’m still not sure if it was good or bad that I had their accent.
Violence against women on tribal land
Here are two articles about the hardships native american women living on tribal land are facing in trying to report and prosecute their non-native attackers.
What America means. Co to znaczy Ameryka.
For my memoir I would like to write about my experience of coming to America legally as a baby with my mother and the frustrating process of living as an illegal immigrants for 18 years due to what I find to be very insufficient immigration laws. I began the process of becoming a permanent resident when I was 17 and it took me 5 years to finally become legal. I could not believe that people, especially children, could even be considered “illegal.” The whole situation was very inconvenient to say the least and had many negative effects on different parts of my life ranging from insurance, job opportunities, internships, schools, travel, getting a driver’s license, etc. I became very dissatisfied with American immigration policies and the ordeal shaped a very negative view of America for me. I started to believe that I hated America and because I could not leave the country I often thought anywhere else would be so much better and I often fantasized about going to Europe or South America. Once I became legal again I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel around Europe for a month and meet with my mother’s side of the family in Poland for the first time in my life. I learned a lot of things about my mother’s family and where she came from and I learned “the real meaning of America” as my cousin put it.
Being a visitor from America was a huge deal and most people assumed that you live in a big house with a big yard and all the luxuries you could ever dream of all at affordable prices that everyone can afford because of all the job opportunities. Just being American meant you were spoiled no matter what conditions you lived under. Many people said they would rather be poor in America than middle class in Europe. A lot of people told stories about gum and other luxuries they never had and how scarce it was when the Soviets were in charge; how things still haven’t changed enough. American music and other cultural influences were everywhere. While their views of America were no more correct than my views of Europe, they weren’t completely off. My view of America and myself changed during that trip. I realized I was very lucky. While there are numerous injustices in this country and many laws and values that need to be updated and changed, it is very much still the land of opportunity and security and I never thought I would find such a feeling of safety and security as I did when I came back from Europe.