I finally acquired and began reading Henry Glassie's Passing the Time in Ballymenone. It's rather late in the game for me to be reading this, but I've been wanting to get my hands on it for quite some time, and (having finally found it in my possession) I can't help but read it.
Glassie has been quickly added to my list of academic "crush"es. He's quite the wordsmith, and his writing makes me want to be a better and simpler descriptor of everything around me. There are numerous problems to this goal, though it in no way negates the burning desire to do so. First, a number of basic terms that are important to his community need little explanation. There's no need, for example to explain a rosary or the image of the Virgin Mary. Indeed, it would be seen as awkward to write something like "the Virgin Mary is a protective deity often found in the homes of Catholics in the region," though similar turns are necessary for explaining issues of culture in Western China. The issue of cultural foreignness in Western China is too great to overlook. Secondly, Glassie was fortunate enough to write in a simpler time, when there was no need to devote pages upon pages to issues of intertextuality, self-reflexivity, globalization, or discussions of how one's work fits into colonialist or post-colonialist research frameworks. It was also an era in which not every article or book had to examine political implications of any act. This is perhaps placing too much of the blame on modern academic practice, and denying Glassie some of the brilliance he deserves. Indeed, it has been long since I read a book written in such a way that made me want to be better at what I do. I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to scholarship on Northern Ireland. Glassie, Cashman, Jarman, and others all provide vivid accounts of life in a corner of the world that is coming to modern conveniences much later than many other parts of Europe, and in communities that are trying to live meaningful lives in circumstances that are largely outside of their control. Put in this way, the potential parallels with Western China seem obvious. Glassie's Ballymenone of 30-40 years ago experiences technological changes not dissimilar to the plateau over the last 20 years. Indeed, many nomadic communities have just received lined electricity, but still collect dung on a daily basis to be used as fuel in the stove. Cashman's Terramognan of 10-15 years ago similarly is a place in which the memory of a difficult recent past, and painful interactions with another group with whom they are also often attempting to live peacefully, inflect speech and living patterns. Hopefully, as I learn more and read more, I can learn much to apply to my current and future studies. As an interesting sidenote, as I write this, I can hear the sounds of the old folks performing circle dancing at the nan men tiyu guan (South gate gymnasium) across the street from me. The dancers I have seen in the past are mostly Han Chinese, but this was the first morning I noticed one of the songs to which they were dancing. It seemed strange to me to to hear Tib. singer Shir brtan's warbling voice crooning thun sgril byos a thun sgril byos a "Be united! Be united!" (a popular anthem encouraging Tib. people to unite and not be divided by petty differences or to let disputes overcome them) accompanying the morning exercises of Han retirees.
0 Comments
I recently had a friend tell me that Tbtn people don't have the dream of going to school without one's pants, or going to school naked. This is interesting to me. I wonder if there is any scholarship on the cultural interpretation of dreams. It's not exactly my specialty, but I'm still curious. I mean, this dream is prevalent enough in Western cultures to make it a trope worthy of mention in TV shows. My question is, is this a specifically Western dream? A class-specific dream? An urban dream? A dream of some other sub-section I am (at the moment) overlooking? I'm not sure yet. Nonetheless, I feel like it is worthy of a blog post.
The notion that the only way for China to modernize is to get everyone into these megalopolis cities is difficult to comprehend. Perhaps this is because I personally prefer the countryside, but why can't they do more to develop living conditions in the countryside. The powers that be seem to believe that the best way to develop the countryside, meanwhile, is to pave better roads. This is a noble goal, but when only 30% of the money allocated actually reaches the road, and the rest lines the pockets of people working the system, that's not a particularly efficient use of money. Instead, improving peoples' living conditions like allowing for the building of real homes, better connections to the electrical grid, better running water service, and vocational programs might do more to improve the situation of folks in ... but I digress. Back to the Urbanization: A Reuters report says that China "plans to spend 40 trillion yuan ($6.4 trillion) in the next phase of urban development, which envisages 400 million people from the countryside to cities over the next decade." Now I'm not an economist, but they are also pledging to reduce environmental damage in the a country with several of the world's most polluted cities. To me, these two are contradictory goals. I could be, and hope that I am, wrong, but after seeing the way people (particularly children) are forced to live in these large cities, with few chances to play (healthily) outside or do anything other than study, I can't imagine that moving another 30% of the national population will really improve people's quality of life. Indeed, without improving the opportunities for people, simply moving them to urban environments will likely create serious social problems (as can already be seen in the forced settlement of nomads in some parts of this province). Well, after finally getting my fellowship organized, getting through the winter intensive teaching term here, and taking care of newly wed family stuff, I have finally begun interviewing for the metaphorical elephant in the room that is my life: my dissertation project. I conducted my first two interviews, and they were very promising. None of what I heard changed what I had already intuited, but there were some suggestions that make me think my ideas might need some further nuancing. In general, very interesting.
Sman bla skyabs's lyric poetry was recently honored by the local television station in a musical event in which several of his most famous songs were performed by a variety of famous singers. No sketch comedies were included, but that would probably put too much of an onus of the testimonial on the man being honored. By happenstance, I was gifted a copy of the VCD.
My media page has a new photo mini-gallery on the Rgya nag mani stone pile, based on a 2011 trip to Yushu. Check it out.
|
About TimAs you can see elsewhere on this webpage, I conduct research on ethnic minorities in western China. This blog offers semi-academic musings on the minutiae of daily life out here--the sort of information otherwise destined for footnotes. Categories |