Monday, October 23, 2006

understanding the new "racial olympics"

I've linked to articles from Hishaam D. Aidi in the past. In fact the passage of text at the top of the blog (which in some ways captures the scope of Planet Grenada) is loosely taken from an article by Aidi called "Let Us Be Moors". (Although the quote itself originates with post-colonial critic, Robert Young).

Now, in the article Slavery, Genocide and the Politics of Outrage: Understanding the New “Racial Olympics”, Hishaam D. Aidi explores the intersections between Black Nationalism, Zionism, Black Orientalism, Afro-Arab unity, 9/11 and the current crisis in Darfur.

5 comments:

sondjata said...

having disputed the post over at third resurrection I see that the subject needs revisiting...again.

sigh....

Gates as "Nationalist"? when one gets that kind of stuff wrong the entire peice becomes suspect.

Abdul-Halim V. said...

where is Gates called a nationalist?

sondjata said...

statement:

TheWonders of the African World, a six-part documentary produced by the renowned African-American intellectual, Henry Louis Gates,

followed to paragraphs down, with no other individual cited by:

Black nationalists are not the only group in the United States to claim certain cultures, spaces and eras of the Arab world as theirs for their own purposes.

Which means that the author has laid claim to Gates being a Nationalist.

Abdul-Halim V. said...

I agree with you that Gates is not a Black Nationalist. I don't think that Aidi is claiming that Gates is a Black Nationalist.

sondjata said...

When you read the statement as written that's what it says. Since his long bibliography has Assante and other "usual suspects" he could have easily added an actual nationalist (Assante) to make that point. Of course then he'd have to deal with the fact that Assante does not agree with Gates on many issues which would undercut one of his themes.

ha ha.. The word verification is Rahkim!!!