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spivak annotation by prerna

prerna_srigyan

I think Spivak's "Subaltern Studies Deconstructing Historiography" could offer two interventions:

(1) First, her notion of "cognitive failure" is helpful to understand how COVID-19 is unfolding. For her, it is not being able to grapple the object of analysis: “Unless the subject separates from itself to grasp the object, there is no cognition, indeed no thinking, no judgment.” She writes this statement to talk about the Marxist and anti-humanist tendency to abhor cognitive failure and see it as inducing paralysis. For Marx and Gramsci, for example, this has been a question of the proletariat class recognizing that they are excluded from the labor of their own bodies, through which their shared consciousness can arise.

For Spivak, however, through her critique of the Subaltern Studies collective,  there is no escape from cognitive failure. Just as it is okay that the collective will not be able to speak for the subaltern as much as there is value in it, it is alright to not be able to grapple. The COVID-19 moment is instructive of failures upon failures: failure of neoliberalism, of the nation-state, of parochial activism, of scholarly projects. It is a failure of not being able to do anything even though we have a shared consciousness of failure. It is a failure of being able to be a person, or even being mourned with dignity. Spivak, through her stubborn insistence on being able to build from failure and residues, says that our usual ways of performing scholarship, activism, and subalternity will not work. We have to be able to come together from a point of exhaustion and failure. 

(2) Second, Spivak opens up the question of how we construct oppression and exclusion in the archive, especially if the oppressed and excluded figure is not present. The way COVID-19 is unfolding builds upon histories of institutional and informational opaqueness. How do we read absences of the archive, or "against the grain", against institutional and informational opaqueness?

The training of and role of the intellectual / humanist

Angela Okune

The training of and role for the (humanist?) intellectual in the world seems to be a relevant take-away point of discussion from postcolonial theory. I have been noticing a proliferation of thought pieces and various genres of writing by engaged scholars in this COVID-19 moment. While indeed there is lots to think and write about, the Late Industrial times we are in are also marked by a heavy saturation of information. Rather than feeling enlightening and motivated by the increased proliferation of opinions on COVID-19, I find it has the opposite effect. What other (new) forms of knowledge, processes for knowledge making, and ways of engaging in the world (not to mention education for critical consciousness) are needed in this moment? Perhaps unsurprisingly, I find the value and strength of new research collectives like this one to be rich spaces from which to start thinking about this question.

Ahmed describes the importance of a "humanist education" that trains the “ethical reflex” to open one up to forms of consciousness fundamentally different from one’s own. He notes that such openness eventually requires one to “rebel” against one’s training itself (developing critical consciousness?).

Ahmed also writes about the relationship where the intellectual refuses to speak for the subaltern--where the intellectual enters into a relationship with something foreign to him about which he will absolutely refuse ever to produce authoritative knowledge. "The point of the relationship is, in fact, "to question the grounds of knowledge itself."

pece_annotation_1472879627

xiaox

This article are main to referre to the Haiti's government, United Nations and USAID. Haiti's government is continuing political turmoil, and it influenced the organisation for the rebuilding after the earthquake. The government exploits the donation for children vaccination rates and HIV treatment in post disaster. These actions and auttitudes break the deals between other organisations' supporting. Due to these reasons, U.N. persuade member nations to reduce the supporting. Therefore, the restore after the disaster and cholera are so slow. USAID is United States agency for international development, and it has donated Haiti $1.5 billion since earthquake, but Haiti's people are not really can get the support.

pece_annotation_1472880908

xiaox

The artical shows the political and government really influence the people's health and emergency. Haiti's government disappointed all the other oganisations and it makes the restore difficult after the eaarthquake and cholera epidemic. The artical descrpites the situation and fact in the 5 years after the disaster. In addition, the reactions of the involved organisations such as United Nations are shows the problem and the result that where the money go. There are also applied examples to support why the donation are not final go to the Haiti's people, and Haiti's government is deal-killer. Apart from this, the artical shows if there are not enough economic fund and medical supporting after disaster, there might be a epidemic comes up, and make the situation worse. All the donation and support are should be in good organisation to help people and rebuild the environment.

pece_annotation_1472882231

xiaox

The government should organise all the source and fund for the disaster. Using good political to communicate with other nations and organisation who offer the supporting. Make sure the people get help such as money, food and water. As well as help people get back confident to government, therefore the government need to manage the sources in suitable areas. Medical supporting and equipment are offered for more saving and treatment. To provide the epidemic comes up post disaster, the government and organisations should be care about the weather, environment and other circumstances. If Haiti's government can help people get the supporting on fundings and others, it can really make the Haiti's restore and control the cholera epidemic. In addtion, it might can bring the confident from U.N. and other organisations.

pece_annotation_1478987747

Sara.Till

Byron Good, Ph.D., is a professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School. His primary area of research is mental illness and how social perceptions evolves around these issues, in terms of both treatment and social acceptance. Dr. Good has several works on these issues, including several that explore the perspective of bio-medicine in non-western medical knowledge, the cultural meaning of mental illness, and patient narrative during illness. His publications including several papers, books, and edited volumes; he is regarded as a major contributor to the field of psychological anthropology. 

pece_annotation_1478996107

Sara.Till

The article primarily asserts that how a patient narrates or describes their medical history is deeply rooted in their native culture. As such, physicians must be aware of how an individual's medical experiences can be altered based on this. In turn, physicians must recognize the importance of story-telling and anecdotes when receiving information directly from patients. Narratives project the patient's experience and events through their perspective, granting professionals a glimpse into their thought processes and action patterns.

pece_annotation_1479003225

erin_tuttle

The author, Byron J. Good, is a Harvard professor in the department of global health and social medicine. He is the director of the International Mental Health Training Program, and has significant experience with field research that has led to many publications.

pece_annotation_1479003242

erin_tuttle

The article’s main argument is that the narration of an illness is founded in the emotional connection it has to the sufferers life, the place from which they view the illness which includes individual and cultural aspects. Furthermore any lack of factual accuracy is an indicator of the social and cultural environment in which the illness presents itself and is revealing as to how it will be perceived and treated.

pece_annotation_1479003257

erin_tuttle

The main argument is supported primarily through interviews with many individuals living in Ankara, through which they describe the first presentation of their seizures and in many cases the steps they tool to attempt a cure. Along with the interviews, statistics of the individuals interviewed and their diagnoses is used to provide a reference point to better understand their stories. Finally the article includes an analysis of narratives in a more general sense that can be applied to the narrative of an illness.