II. Desert Blood: Discussion, analysis and commentary
III. Bilingual Aesthetics
After
Luis and David’s presentation, be prepared to explain Sommer’s argument in “Bilingual
Aesthetics: An Invitation.” For example, What
does she mean by:
“[T]he
challenges to a democratic society in times of globalization”? (see page 8)
“[O]ne
way assimilation”?
“[F]air
and fulfilling contemporary life”?
“[T]he
monolithic system of language and cultural assumptions that we inherited from
an early and outmoded project for national consolidation”?
[...] “What
if I said that multilingualism coordinated by a lingua franca promotes fair
procedure and effective education, while one way assimilation derails progress
on both counts? Would you be curious about the arguments and perhaps willing to
change your mind if you have been feeling that bilingualism is irrelevant or
even damaging? I invite you to consider the cultural conditions for fair and
fulfilling contemporary life. Or maybe you already intuit the benefits of
bilingualism. But if you're not curious enough to hear and to heed arguments,
that inertia may itself be a symptom of the monolithic system of language and
cultural assumptions that we inherited from an early and outmoded project for
national consolidation.”
--Doris Sommer, “Bilingual Aesthetics: An Invitation”
IV. Susana Chávez Silverman, Ambientes, "Magnetic Island sueño crónica": Discussion, analysis and commentary