Mass Conspiracy?
Today in class we talked about Western Civilization in respect to world history. How Western Civilization is a mass conspiracy to keep Jes Grew down and stop it spreading.
In some of the readings we did they talked about how what Western Civilization considers "history" begins when they arrived. I think this is very true and still a prominent idea today. In the wold history classes that I have taken what we learned focused primarily on European history. When we did learn about other places such as Africa, Asia, and the Americas it was in respect to colonialism. The history we learned about these places began when the Europeans invaded. Our lessons were not the most favorable towards the Europeans. We would often learned about the atrocities they committed in the places they colonized. However, I learned almost nothing about the civilizations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas before the colonial area. All these places have incredible and interesting history's that get ignored a lot by Western Civilization.
While I do not think the "Jes Grew" that we read about in Mumbo Jumbo is real I think it is a very good metaphor for the kind of history that is taught to us. Jes Grew is an epidemic that is sweeping the nation. Starting in New Orleans and moving all the way North to Chicago and New York City. People that get infected with Jes Grew can not stop dancing, singing, and having fun which makes it an anti-epidemic. However, not everyone sees Jes Grew in a positive light. The Wallflower Order is committed to stoping the spread if Jes Grew. In class we discussed if The Wallflower Order really exists in our society today. I do not think that there is anything as formal as The Wallflower Order we read about in Mumbo Jumbo. But, I do think that there is no effort being made to teach students about cultures and civilizations different from their own.
Do you think that as students we are taught enough about other cultures and societies? And do you think their is a force similar to The Wallflower Order in our society?
In some of the readings we did they talked about how what Western Civilization considers "history" begins when they arrived. I think this is very true and still a prominent idea today. In the wold history classes that I have taken what we learned focused primarily on European history. When we did learn about other places such as Africa, Asia, and the Americas it was in respect to colonialism. The history we learned about these places began when the Europeans invaded. Our lessons were not the most favorable towards the Europeans. We would often learned about the atrocities they committed in the places they colonized. However, I learned almost nothing about the civilizations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas before the colonial area. All these places have incredible and interesting history's that get ignored a lot by Western Civilization.
While I do not think the "Jes Grew" that we read about in Mumbo Jumbo is real I think it is a very good metaphor for the kind of history that is taught to us. Jes Grew is an epidemic that is sweeping the nation. Starting in New Orleans and moving all the way North to Chicago and New York City. People that get infected with Jes Grew can not stop dancing, singing, and having fun which makes it an anti-epidemic. However, not everyone sees Jes Grew in a positive light. The Wallflower Order is committed to stoping the spread if Jes Grew. In class we discussed if The Wallflower Order really exists in our society today. I do not think that there is anything as formal as The Wallflower Order we read about in Mumbo Jumbo. But, I do think that there is no effort being made to teach students about cultures and civilizations different from their own.
Do you think that as students we are taught enough about other cultures and societies? And do you think their is a force similar to The Wallflower Order in our society?
I'd agree that history classes, even those taught at Uni, don't do a good job at teaching us about non-European cultures and civilizations. Leff's Freshman World History taught me the most about non-European cultures, and I appreciated its solid focus on ancient civilizations. But I wish that trend had continued into Sophomore year, when we learned an extremely Eurocentric view of history.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you make about a negative view of Europeans in history not being the same as true representation of other cultures. While not glorifying Europeans is a good first step, true diversified history has to take Europe out of the leading role altogether, making them neither the only important protagonist nor the only important antagonist.
You're right, most of the history classes I've been in haven't done a good job of teaching us about cultures and civilizations that weren't European. And yeah it's great that we didn't learn how Europeans were super nice and really helpful to everyone they colonized, but in turn, like you said, we learned about other places mostly only with respect to colonialism. While being colonized would be a major part of a place's history, it's not its entire history. I guess our version of the Wallflower Order might be people who made an effort to only teach everyone a Eurocentric history - which then they're doing a good job.
ReplyDeleteI agree, a vast majority of things we learn in history classes are Euro-focused. I think the metaphor is strong in this book, of Jew Grew representing jazz and black culture, with so many others opposed to it and trying to control it. I think Reed is trying to make a statement about the way that other cultures are perceived in America.
ReplyDelete"Do you think that as students we are taught enough about other cultures and societies? And do you think their is a force similar to The Wallflower Order in our society?"
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not and yes, in a way maybe more troubling than the Wallflower Order of Mumbo Jumbo. Think of the history classes Uni has. Subbie Social Studies, World History, Modern History, US History, and World Since. Of these, how many really talk about other civilizations, other cultures? Subbie social studies does, a bit, though even there the ancient history is clearly and directly tied to our western view. We begin with Mesopotamia, not the Indus River Valley. World History does, or did when we took it. We had units of comparative history and units purely focused on non-Western civilizations. Modern History does not. US History tries to. We look east, yes, but as you point out, we look east to the arrival of the settlers. We don't get the chance to see the height of the Inca Empire, the roads, the civilizations that rose and fell there. World Since I haven't taken, but presumably looks at the more globalized world of the 20th century.
And then as to the second question, yes, the Wallflower Order does exist in a way. It's not secret, though, and so we in some ways ignore it. We know it's there, and that lets us dismiss it. It's the Texas School Board editing history textbooks sold there, because they don't like the contents, which we laugh at and say "hey, you shouldn't be doing that". It's the philosophers who state "Africa has no history". It's the attempts to ban the teaching of evolution in the classroom. It's the narratives of status quo, of "the future can't be better, and you're deluding yourself if you think it can be", the narratives like "yeah maybe the corporations ruling the future forever sucks for everyone, but there's no point in trying to make things better for everyone", of "the nazis fixed the German economy", the narrative which forgets the existence of a place like Axum even though maybe that's the origin of the tale of Prester John and one of the reasons Portugal decided to try and find a route around Africa, the narrative of the first circumnavigation of the globe when it was first completed by a Filipino slave who's nearly forgotten.
Thinking of this question in terms of teachers and students can really reflect just how tenacious these historical narratives can be: your history (and English) teachers were once (not that long ago!) students ourselves, and we all have these massive gaps in our own educations. So we're capable of pointing out these gaps, being critical of the cultural and historical forces that have created them, and sincere in our desire to see a more complex and diverse account of world history. But few of us are actually qualified to *teach* that nonwestern history and culture in any detail, precisely because we are products of the Atonist education regime.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think there are a lot of parallels between Mumbo Jumbo and the real world. I was pretty shocked when we watched the Super Bowl Half-Time Show and the reactions towards it afterwards because of strikingly similar it was to the ideas Ishmael Reed expresses in his novel. Though Jes Grew may not be real, it definitely represents something very close to reality.
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