N-Words and B-Words: Can people reclaim these words?

(Disclaimer:  If you are easily offended by the proper spelling of the words hinted at in my title, then do not read beyond this point.)

As a postcolonial scholar, I've become familiar with what Homi Bhabha calls the "ambiguity of colonial discourse."  In short, Bhabha suggests that colonialism attempts to recreate indigenous minds/bodies in the image of the colonizer, but only to an indeterminate line that allows the colonizer to differentiate itself from the "other," since its existence as "colonizer" requires an opposite from which to draw its identity.  Within that ambiguity, Bhabha argues, is where the indigenous can launch a different kind of resistance.

I've often wondered if this same idea might apply to words like "nigger" or "bitch" (and their various spellings).  While I won't call myself a feminist scholar or race historian, it seems to me that it is within the realm of possibility that women or people of color could reclaim the words previously used against them by a particular dominant group.  Otherwise, I'd have to look at a site like Smart Bitches, Trashy Books with a certain degree of contempt.  Likewise, I'd have to view any use of the word "nigger" by people of color as inherently derogatory, even if within a particular cultural context, it means exactly the opposite.  Are some of these instances moments of resistance / reversal / reclamation?  How do we know?

That's where I want to leave it.  A wide open question for the general public to explore.  So have at it!

Adventures in Teaching Literature: Dead German Skulls

Several weeks ago, I taught William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying in my Survey in American Literature course. Of all the texts I've taught since the summer before last (when I started teaching literature courses), this one may have been the most difficult.  For those unfamiliar with the book, it is told almost exclusively in a stream of consciousness manner, spanning across more perspectives than you can count on a single hand, each one intensely personal and subjective.  The plot, insofar as it has one, follows the Bundren family as they make their journey to the birthplace of their deceased mother so that they might bury her there.  In other words, As I Lay Dying is a "dark" book that isn't so much a story as a radical de-centering of experience -- multiple minds, multiple experiences, and multiple reactions.

But the book itself is not what I want to talk about today; rather, it serves as the context.  What I

Guest Post: "Freedom to Name" by Max Gladstone (Three Parts Dead)

Somewhere in Thailand, a mind-controlled ant climbs a tree.  She moves in jerks and starts, her body no longer her own.  Alone, she staggers to the underside of a leaf, and bites the thick central stem.  Her jaw locks.  Her chitin bulges and bursts.  A long gray tendril rises from within, unfurls to three times her length, and pops to release a cloud of spores.  Away on the breeze the spores float, to possess any other ants unlucky enough to remain within the blast radius.

The fungus is called Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani.  The fungus infects an ant, takes over the victim’s brain, forces it to move to a high place near other ants--a place where spores will spread--and explodes.

That’s real.

If you work for a corporation or a non-profit, you’re part of a functionally immortal entity whose life is governed by laws more theological than biological—a being that draws strength from desire,

Guest Post: "The Palest of Copies: History, Culture, Empire, and Fiction" by Daniel A. Rabuzzi (The Indigo Pheasant)

(Details about The Indigo Pheasant, Mr. Rabuzzi, and his blog tour can be found below the post.  Go buy the book!)

Historians of medieval Europe would be surprised at the pallid, static and simplistic depictions of their subject in the work of many modern fantasy writers.  In the past fifty years, medievalists have overturned Western Renaissance and Enlightenment assertions that the “middle time” was an opaque, undifferentiated hiatus endured between the glittering peaks of Rome and Modernity.

Equipped with digital tools, platoons of medievalists today are able to mine, compile, sort, and index more data about medieval people and places than any prior generation.[i]  Advances in aerial archaeology surveys, underwater excavations, and isotope analysis -- to name but three-- have dramatically expanded our knowledge of daily life (everything from how bricks were made to how bread was baked), migration and settlement patterns, trade routes, funerary practices, and much more.[ii]

A willingness to use methods from anthropology, geographical studies, and other social sciences

Guest Post: "An Interview w/ Joseph de Alverado" by Jay Hartlove

JAY HARTLOVE: Hello, I am Jay Hartlove, author of The Chosen, a supernatural thriller published by Damnation Books and winner of Best Thriller by the Independent eBook Awards 2012.  Today I have here in the studio a special guest from The Chosen. I would like to welcome to the show, Joseph de Alvarado. Welcome Mr. de Alvarado. Thank you for joining us.

JOSEPH DE ALVERADO:  It’s de Alverado, with an ‘e.’

JAY:   Pardon me? Oh, sorry. Yes, I see here, it is an ‘e.’ My mistake.

JOSEPH:   Names matter. They have meanings.

JAY:   Okay. I believe you adopted this name from Silas Alverado, the man who brought you into this plane of existence. Is that right?

JOSEPH:   Yes. His name means, ‘Bringer of the Truth’.

JAY:   Interesting. Now, I know you are a very private person so I appreciate your agreeing to chat today.

JOSEPH:   You’re welcome. If by private you mean I don’t seek publicity, then you’re right. I rather think of myself as too busy for a lot of conversation.

JAY:   Too busy with your work, yes? Are you still the captain of the Purgatory?

JOSEPH:   Yes, among other things.

JAY:   You were an executive assistant to Silas Alverado.

JOSEPH:   I still am his Executive Officer.

JAY:   Didn’t that job end rather abruptly when he went missing?

JOSEPH:   No, in fact my responsibilities grew upon his departure. I am continuing his research work, and I am still searching for him.

JAY:   Do you mean you’re searching for a way to bring him back?

JOSEPH:   Yes. I am a reflection of the Opener of the Ways. If anyone can find a way, it should be me.

JAY:   You and I have chatted about this previously, but let me ask you a few questions about that for our listeners. As I understand it, you are an archangel of Ptah given physical form on Earth by

Guest Post and Giveaway: "Doing the Research" by CJ Bolyne (Blog Tour)

Hi everyone! It is really great to see you all on Day 5 of my virtual book blog tour. I truly appreciate your support! A huge thank you goes to Shaun for hosting me today!

I am CJ Bolyne, a first time author. I have wanted to write for a very long time, but like I am sure many other first time authors felt, I was always afraid about what others would think of my writing. Finally, four years ago, I started my first book and thought that, if nothing else, at least I did this for myself!

I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. After a few years, my family moved about an hour south of Winnipeg, to a little town called Sarto, Manitoba. Yep, one blink, and you miss it. The remainder of my childhood was spent in the country. Yes I am a country girl at heart.

I must admit, I did not read a lot as a child. I read only if I had too and that was usually for school purposes. How I hated the boring books in school!

When I was much younger, I felt that my idea of the type of stories I wanted to write were not considered mainstream. When I expressed them to close friends, my ideas were considered too weird. Some said that I had a demented mind. (teehee – what author doesn’t, right?) I laughed about that. I knew that I did not always think the same as many around me. So, okay, my ideas were not considered popular. However, I’m happy to see that in the last decade, the fantasy, SciFi, etc. genres have made a real impact and I am so happy that there are many out there that thought the way I did! This, in part, has inspired me to give it a shot.

So many books have influenced me, such as, Cradle and All by James Patterson, City of Bones, part of Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments series, Dracula by Anne Rice, The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer, and of course, the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. Yes, I am a Harry Potter fan!

However, of them all, James Patterson has to be my favourite author. I have always admired his imagination and his ability to write the books he wanted to write. Although, I also admire JK Rowling. In fact, it was after I saw a biography on JK Rowling that I really pushed myself to give writing a real attempt.

The book I am reading now is The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan.

When I write, I write as though I am telling a story aloud, as I hear it in my head.

My first serious attempt at writing started four years ago. That is when I started writing Trinity. Due to some personal obligations however, I had to take a break from writing and it was only after I gave my then unfinished book to someone who’s honest opinion, I valued. Her encouragement gave me the courage to finish. Now I can’t wait to write many more as I have so many more stories to tell.

What I learned from writing this book is, it is not that easy. You may have the idea, know how you will begin and end the story, but it’s filling in the rest and making it a good and interesting read – now that’s the tough part!

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About CJ Bolyne:
CJ Bolyne is a first time author and Trinity is her first book.  Born and raised in Southeastern Manitoba, Canada, CJ was an avid reader dreaming of the day she would write her own fantasy / sci-fi book.  When she’s not writing, CJ spends her time on her farm with her husband and multiple pets. She runs a full-time pet grooming business.  Her first book, Trinity, is the first in the series.  Bolyne is also on Facebook.

About Trinity:
Payton thought she had a normal, everyday life. When a mysterious man suddenly appears, he shatters her world telling her that her entire life has been a lie. She is a god with the Guardians having lived for 1000's of years. The Anords know where she is and he needs to protect her at all costs. Payton holds the key to saving humanity. However, a mysteriously familiar woman complicates everything.

Trinity is available on Smashwords, Lulu, and Amazon.

(This post is part of CJ Bolyne's Trinity Blog Tour.  You can find other guest posts here.)

The Giveaway:

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Adventures in Academia: Critical Theory Invades My Mailbox

I'm amused.  I didn't ask for them, but Oxford University Press sent me two books on critical theory and interpreting literature.  They are:

1. How to Interpret Literature:  Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies by Robert Dale Parker
   (A fairly small book containing sections exploring the major fields of criticism -- structuralism, postcolonialism, deconstruction, etc.)
2. Critical Theory:  A Reader for Literary and Cultural Studies by Robert Dale Parker
   (A much larger book providing actual readings from the major fields of criticism -- Fanon, Marx, Foucault, Derrida, White, Propp, and so on and so forth.)

Now, I suspect these are meant to be texts assigned together, since they are by the same author and serve drastically different functions for learning goals.  Unfortunately, I don't teach critical theory on its own...yet.  I might one day.  I do, however, teach literature courses, which I find are benefited by intense discussion of literary theory, for which the first, smaller book might prove useful.  I'm currently using a book called Texts and Contexts:  Writing and Literature and Critical Theory by Steve J. Lynn from Pearson; I quite like it, but have run into the awful problem of students not reading the assigned readings.

Parker's smaller book, however, might prove more beneficial to me in the future, as its sections are broken down into smaller pieces (Lynn's book couples together all the schools of cultural and historical criticism into one chapter, whereas Parker splits them out).  Likewise, it seems to get into the particulars of these discourses in a way Lynn's book does not, though this is from a very limited, cursory glance which might prove false in the future.

This does not mean I'm going to suddenly drop Lynn for Parker; rather, it means I have some thinking to do for future courses.  Either way, I am excited to have these books, even if I can't justify teaching the monstrous tome containing some amazing selections from important figures in critical theory.  Now I really want to teach such a class...desperately... I wonder if OUP would let me create a book that crams together parts of each book.  That would be amazing.

Anywhoodles!

(Originally posted on Google+ in a slightly different form.