Identity and indigenous people

            Bill Ashcroft writes “The struggle between a view of identity which attempts to recover an immutable origin, a fixed and eternal representation of itself, and one which sees identity as inextricable from the transformative conditions of material life, is possibly the most deep-seated divide in post-colonial thinking” Here Ashcroft is expressing a endemic problem of identity for the postcolonial subject. The topic of discussion in postcolonial circles is about the identity of the people who fall into a pit of representation that they have been unable to control. Yes, there are given misrepresentations of those affected by the iterations of oppression and ignoring of the colonizing world. We have the opportunity to be represented in the postmodern world of selective presentation of the self through social media, but we can’t assume that everyone in the world has that opportunity. To further complicate the matter, fictive representations occur everywhere and these are taken at face value by those who consume the medium they appear in (not just visually).  

Ashcroft explains the process that takes place in the political formation of identity for the “misunderstood” (to use a Western notion): “By taking hold of the means of representation, colonized peoples throughout the world have appropriated and transformed those processes into culturally appropriate vehicles. It is this struggle over representation which articulates most clearly the material basis, the constructiveness and dialogic energy of the ‘post-colonial imagination’” So, where is this dialogue happening?  In the academy and in social media, bleed into the political and the formation of public policy.  The question is, if these people (the descendants of the colonized) and those affected by the iterations of colonization and slavery, where do we include them in a conversation of need and help? What helps?

Looking beyond some representation that is critiqued and understood by the academic does not guarantee a solution to the problem of the affects of these representations.  Among those who even miss the chance at representation there are the poor and homeless in any nation. You see them every day and what do we do to “help” them? What helps? The misrepresented exist at your doorstep, as evident in the real world, outside of representation there are millions more. Just think of the singular identity of the person in the worst circumstances and ask yourself if there is a dialogue in your community addressing these persons’ situations in life. For the politically minded (which we are really are) we must cover all the bases, not just complain by way of representation, but act in real life.  Scrap the academy and do what really helps people. Transform that!!!    

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