In Cannibal Metaphysics, de Castro writes, “Every becoming is an alliance. Which does not mean, once again, that every alliance is a becoming” . I am fascinated by this sentence because it reminds me of the idea of the “pact,” which I am writing about for my group’s final project. According to the Oxford English […]
“Continual Creative Motion:” A Politics of Ambiguity
Diana Taylor concludes ¡Presente! with a meditation on walking theory and the “cultural coding” of walking which is never just walking (Taylor, 38). Recently, U.S. news has been saturated with images and stories seeking to reify the “migrant caravan” – an assemblage of Central Americans travelling mostly on foot towards the U.S. – Mexico border […]
Ana Hina! Ana Hini! Ana Hown!
My tongue has always been my biggest sensory of confusion, it is why learning Spanish was a necessary transition from my colonizing split between English and Arabic, mi propia existencia “rajada” (Anzaldua). What can our presence create in between our ancestors’ walkways of history and the current political time? Anzaldua describes in her book, […]
Running To / Fro
They come pouring off the highway, salt caked to their faces, thousands of them. It looks like some will need medical assistance. Hopefully they have family waiting for them. If not, perhaps they made a friend along the way who can provide support. Some volunteers hand out shawls, others bread, fruit and water. This is the […]
¿Presente? A challenge
Diana Taylor poses a question in her book ¡Presente! that, for me, the central challenge of this course: How to be present ethically, as a scholar, an activist, and a human being—with/ to/ among the many people struggling against a virulent brew of Latin/ American colonial-imperialist- capitalist-authoritarian violence? (Taylor 25) I say challenge, and I mean that […]
The Question of Present(E) Form
“Presente”, to be present, in the present, a wrinkle that merges time and space together, to be present, a call for embodiment and attention to our surroundings, an interpellation of the environment …. shouting to us: “stop… and listen”. Reading Diana Taylor’s text “Presente” is especially relevant in the progression of our class, the text […]