Initial Chat with a Partner
Where is home for you? Were you born in the US, the Caribbean, or elsewhere? Where? Did you, your parents, or your grandparents migrate to New York? When? From where? Where is your ancestral land? Do you still have contact with it? Do you belong to a diasporic community here in NYC? If yes, how would you describe your diasporic community?
Group Discussion: Debriefing on the Syllabus
What struck your attention? What interested you the most about it? What question(s) or concerns do you have? Do you recognize any of the authors and sources we will discuss? Do you usually read fiction or watch films, videos, or TV from the Caribbean? If that is the case, what was the last thing you watched or read from the region?
10-minute break
“A Reminder Letter to England“
Born in the Bronx, Thomas Glave is an author and editor of Jamaican descent who has published both fiction and non-fiction widely and won numerous awards. He is also a celebrated university professor now based in England.
In his epistolary exploration, Glave skillfully navigates the landscape of outraged reactions in England following the January 6 right-wing insurrection in the US Capitol. Within this genre, he adeptly critiques the hypocrisy embedded in the condemnation, shedding light on England’s selected forgetfulness regarding its crimes against humanity and its violent imperial past. Glave boldly asserts that attempts by commentators to distance themselves from the US are flawed, emphasizing that nativism, white supremacy, neo-nazism, and fascism are inheritances from England and other European powers.
Unearthing England’s history of slavery, Glave exposes the justification of this dark chapter through white supremacy ideologies. Glave establishes a crucial link between right-wing Confederate ideology in the US and England’s cotton commerce, connecting imperial wealth to the exploitation of Africans and the broader global south.
In which ways do these videos let us understand the ideological aspects, highlighted by Glave and instrumentalized by Europeans to justify slavery for centuries?
Activity
Instructions:
Based on the letter, what is Glave’s understanding of Europe’s historical legacies in the Caribbean?
How does Glave use the US as a point of entry into this inquiry?
What is the role of his own gendered ancestry while discussing the topic of Western imperialism?
Discuss the following summary in groups and look for specific arguments and quotes Glave presents.
The epistolary letter serves not only as a critique of contemporary British reactions to US political violence but also as a history lesson. He underscores the destructive impact of colonialism, revealing the erasing of native cultures and the self-hatred instilled in the colonized. Glave delves further into the genocide of indigenous people and Africans in the Caribbean, providing a comprehensive perspective on intertwined legacies of oppression.