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East and West: some immanent thoughts on paradigmatic intersection

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 5; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17447143.2010.519774

1747-6615

Matías Soich,

Brazilian cultural history and politics

Abstract Abstract As a result of its long history under the weight of political, economical, and cultural imperialism, Latin America still suffers in many ways from West-centric cultural colonization. This influence is notably strong in the academic milieu. Following Shi-xu's suggestion that new and more inclusive Eastern paradigms should be constructed out of the dialogue between Eastern and Western thought, this paper aims to elaborate a paradigmatic co-existence, stressing its philosophical aspect. For this purpose I use Chinese Daoism and Afro-Brazilian danza de orixás as 'conceptual tools' to visualize some of the dominant Western patterns that shape our present academic procedures and general standpoints. I argue in favor of a philosophy of immanence as the proper frame for paradigmatic dialogue and construction. Keywords: cultural colonizationEastern paradigmsphilosophical DaoismAfro-Brazilian danceimmanence Notes 1. Although throughout this paper I occasionally use the adjective 'American' to refer to people and things from the United States, I consider it a colonizing term par excellence. The name 'United States of America', used for the first time in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, implies the abusive appropriation of a whole continent's name to refer to a single country and its population. What we have is thus a linguistic aspect of this country's historical imperialism. It is a sad testimony of cultural colonialism that in XXI century Argentina the term 'americano/a/s' has gradually displaced the appropriate 'estadounidense/s', while 'América' is already being used as an equivalent of 'Estados Unidos'. 2. The most notable examples of this process of de-colonization are the policies adopted by the governments of Ecuador, Venezuela, and Bolivia, who have questioned all forms of American colonization and affirmed the supreme priority of Latin American unity, accordingly modifying their previous relations with the United States and Europe. Other Latin American governments, especially those of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile, have joined this strategic process of regional integration. 3. Latin American unity was one of the main official slogans during the recent historical celebration of Argentina's Bicentenary (1810–2010). Only in Buenos Aires, nearly 6 million people attended the official Celebration. 4. All quotes from the Laozi in this paper come from Lynn (1999 Lynn , R.J. transl 1999 The classic of the way and virtue. A new translation of the Tao-te ching of Laozi as interpreted by Wang Bi . New York Columbia University Press [Google Scholar]). 5. Writing techniques and resources associated with literature and poetry, for example, are generally banished from academic style precisely because they are considered less rational and objective. 6. Of course, as with all generalizations this one does not justice to the Western philosophers who proclaimed some form of immanence or criticized transcendence (Spinoza, Nietzsche, Deleuze). Also, the interpretation of Daoism as a philosophy of immanence can be subject to debate. I nevertheless believe this generalization to be valid. 7. As archetypical performative units, then, the orixás echo Merleau-Ponty's statement that an object consists in the interweaving of spatial, temporal, linguistic, affective and cultural dimensions of experience. Thus, this lemon I perceive is not some immutable essence, or just this yellow shape I see, but the complex composition of it with this bitterness I taste, this roughness I touch, what others perceive or would perceive of it in different moments of time, the phonematic resonances of the word 'lemon' in my language, the cultural meanings I associate with it, my remembrance of the lemon tree of my childhood, etc. Cf. Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception II 3. 8. This idea is repeatedly and silently embedded in the products of the dominant media corporations that operate today in Latin America, for example in the television series, movies and magazines aimed at children and adolescents. Argentinian television series like Rebelde Way (Rebel's Way, 2002–2003), Patito Feo (Ugly Duckling, 2007–2008), and Casi Ángeles (Almost Angels, 2007–present), all of which triggered several remakes worldwide, display the typical Western motives of exitism and elitism. 9. Among these 'peculiarities' we can mention a ready disposition to deal with immediate hardships and deficiencies by creatively resorting to the means one has at hand; a life-celebrating attitude closely connected with nature and the simple pleasures of life, but at the same time encompassing of solitude and tragedy as inevitable parts of life; a tendency to emphasize the human component in every experience; and the centrality of matriarchal and/or feminine themes underneath a prevailing and usually patriarchal culture. For this last theme, see Paz (1997 Paz, O. 1997. El laberinto de la soledad [The labyrinth of solitude], New York: Penguin. [Google Scholar]). 10. La Chilinga is a dance and percussion popular school that was created in 1995. It dedicates to studying and teaching different Afro-American rhythms, and to the promotion of social integration and Human Rights through art. www.lachilinga.com.ar 11. H.I.J.O.S. is an acronym for Hijos por la Identidad y la Justicia Contra el Olvido y el Silencio (Sons/Daughters for Identity and Justice and against Oblivion and Silence). This organization, which groups sons and daughters of the victims of the 1976 Argentinian Dictatorship, was created in 1995. It fights for the legal punishment of the Dictatorship crimes' perpetrators and the individual and collective historical reconstruction of identity www.hijos-capital.org.ar 12. By convention, conceptual metaphors go capitalized. 13. For example the novels Demian (1919), Siddhartha (1922), Steppenwolf (1927), Narcissus and Goldmund (1930), and The Glass Bead Game (1943, this one with a clear influence from the Yijing [I-ching] or Classic of Changes), and the short novels Klein and Wagner (1919, this one with strong Daoist motives) and Klingsor's Last Summer (1920). 14. The most notorious examples of this are the songs Thank U, One, Would not Come (1998); No Pressure Over Cappuccino (1999); Precious Illusions, Surrendering, Utopia (2002); So-Called Chaos, Everything (2004); Citizen of the Planet, Versions of Violence, In Praise of the Vulnerable Man, Moratorium, and Incomplete (2008). 15. The important philosophical affinities between Spinoza and Daoism have not yet received all the attention they deserve. Among them, we have Spinoza's rejection of morality and teleology as originated in superstition, his radical conception of mind and body as two aspects of a unique processive reality, and the naturalistic and eminently immanent character of his system. For some reference, see Wawrytko (1981 Wawrytko , S.A. 1981 . The undercurrent of feminine philosophy in eastern and western thought (originally titled: The Philosophical Systematization of a 'Feminine' Perspective in Terms of Taoism's Tao Te Ching and the Works of Spinoza) . Washington University Press of America [Google Scholar]), Soich (2008 Soich , M. 2008 . La Formulación de la ética en Spinoza y Lao Tsé . In Spinoza, Cuarto coloquio , D. Tatián . Córdoba Brujas [Google Scholar], 2009 South of the Border , Documentary film . Directed by Oliver Stone. Cinema Libre , 2009 [Google Scholar]). 16. As pointed in Note 2, many Latin American countries are experiencing a profound process of historical de-colonization. 'We may sustain that Latin America is the only part of the world that is proposing an answer of continental dimension and character to capitalist globalization, and this in all fronts: military, discursive, communicational, economical, political, etc.' (Santander Molina, 227–237). Perhaps the strongest symbol of this process and of its implications for Latin American identity lies in the fact that, as Argentinian President Cristina Fernández told Oliver Stone, 'for the first time in the region, the leaders look like the people they govern' (South of the Border 2009 South of the Border , Documentary film . Directed by Oliver Stone. Cinema Libre , 2009 [Google Scholar]). The diverse social and cultural extraction of these decade's Latin American leaders is in itself a symbol of the emergence of alternative, non-hegemonic voices: a Bishop from the Liberation theology in Paraguay, a farmer and former Tupamaro militant in Uruguay, women in Chile and Argentina, a socialist colonel in Venezuela, an Aymara union leader in Bolivia, an automotive worker and union leader in Brazil, all sharing the common revindication of Latin American unity. 17. http://www.ungs.edu.ar/areas/in_inicio/n/home.html 18. See http://www.uba.ar/comunicacion/noticia.php?id=2609 19. 'UBACYT' (Universidad de Buenos Aires y Ciencia y Técnica) is the generic name for the University of Buenos Aires' accredited and financed research projects.