Just got back, too tired to give Nyota Uhura the love she deserves. Will do this first thing tomorrow.
April 28th, 2010
I am writing this on my own journal and not as a comment to ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ephemere's No country for strangers because I realise this is a very personal take on her post - it does not intend to invalidate the messages she intends to bring across. What drives me to make my post, even getting out of bed when I'd originally planned to go to sleep, is that perhaps the messages that ought to be received and the messages I am getting is quite different.
The title of her post sums up her point: there is no country for strangers. Be afraid when you write about countries not your own. Be afraid when you write about cultures not your own. Be afraid if you write about something without full recognition of the issues.
The above, which I'll summarise as the "not your own" school of thought always sets me on edge. Perhaps it is part of being a latter generation of immigrations. I am Singaporean Chinese, and I readily admit I know nothing of China as it is now, or even, to use an awkward term, the mindset of the modern China Chinese. Therefore, not my own.
But what if I wanted to write about my Chinese roots? Do I trace back to the generation that stepped off those boats, and no further? Should I consider this sufficiently distinct from who I am to draw the line and say that this is not my own? Does time and distance play a factor in my identity?
Let's say that time and distance does play a factor in my identity - after all, I do not know what made my grandparents decide to leave China for various South-east Asian countries before settling in Singapore. Let's write about Singapore itself - safe enough isn't it? Except it's not. I am Singaporean but I am not Malay, or Indian, or Straits Chinese, or any race/combination which I am sure is part of this country (or generalised in the above broad categories) but is beyond me to remember this late at night. Let's go further. I am not of various dialect groups not my own. My classmate is Chinese and of the same dialect group - his story of how the hard work of his lowly educated parents inspired him to seek the highest education level possible is not my own.
There are so many ways to define "not your own" that eventually, one can be left with a box exactly the shape and size of one person.
And that's what we should be focusing on, shouldn't we? Be afraid, but be afraid in the same way as if you were writing about a true historical figure, or the leader of your country, or your next-door neighbour, or your own parent or friend. Be afraid that you will get something wrong, respect the fact that someone else has had different experiences that you will have to work at to fully comprehend. Isn't that what writing is all about? A respect for the elements of the story, whether incorporated from the real world or imagined?
"Not your own" is easy to say, but I think people are getting too caught up in the us vs them. I am of the camp that thinks we should laud people simply for trying. I am also of the camp that thinks this is not where we should stop.
I don't want to have to be an us or a them. I want to take the next step, which I feel is not something that can be achieved by rage and revolution, but something that's achieved by hard work from all parties. I feel we're only at the base camp; there's still a long way to summit. I want to work together to get there.
ephemere's No country for strangers because I realise this is a very personal take on her post - it does not intend to invalidate the messages she intends to bring across. What drives me to make my post, even getting out of bed when I'd originally planned to go to sleep, is that perhaps the messages that ought to be received and the messages I am getting is quite different.The title of her post sums up her point: there is no country for strangers. Be afraid when you write about countries not your own. Be afraid when you write about cultures not your own. Be afraid if you write about something without full recognition of the issues.
The above, which I'll summarise as the "not your own" school of thought always sets me on edge. Perhaps it is part of being a latter generation of immigrations. I am Singaporean Chinese, and I readily admit I know nothing of China as it is now, or even, to use an awkward term, the mindset of the modern China Chinese. Therefore, not my own.
But what if I wanted to write about my Chinese roots? Do I trace back to the generation that stepped off those boats, and no further? Should I consider this sufficiently distinct from who I am to draw the line and say that this is not my own? Does time and distance play a factor in my identity?
Let's say that time and distance does play a factor in my identity - after all, I do not know what made my grandparents decide to leave China for various South-east Asian countries before settling in Singapore. Let's write about Singapore itself - safe enough isn't it? Except it's not. I am Singaporean but I am not Malay, or Indian, or Straits Chinese, or any race/combination which I am sure is part of this country (or generalised in the above broad categories) but is beyond me to remember this late at night. Let's go further. I am not of various dialect groups not my own. My classmate is Chinese and of the same dialect group - his story of how the hard work of his lowly educated parents inspired him to seek the highest education level possible is not my own.
There are so many ways to define "not your own" that eventually, one can be left with a box exactly the shape and size of one person.
And that's what we should be focusing on, shouldn't we? Be afraid, but be afraid in the same way as if you were writing about a true historical figure, or the leader of your country, or your next-door neighbour, or your own parent or friend. Be afraid that you will get something wrong, respect the fact that someone else has had different experiences that you will have to work at to fully comprehend. Isn't that what writing is all about? A respect for the elements of the story, whether incorporated from the real world or imagined?
"Not your own" is easy to say, but I think people are getting too caught up in the us vs them. I am of the camp that thinks we should laud people simply for trying. I am also of the camp that thinks this is not where we should stop.
I don't want to have to be an us or a them. I want to take the next step, which I feel is not something that can be achieved by rage and revolution, but something that's achieved by hard work from all parties. I feel we're only at the base camp; there's still a long way to summit. I want to work together to get there.
