Unit 3 Discussion PDF

Preview

Summary

Unit 3 discussion...

Description

Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves” by author Evelyn Alsultany. In the article, she discusses how it has been difficult to identify in a society when she has an Arab father and a Cuban mother, and also the fact that she is a Muslim. She discusses how she is branded a different racial and/or religious identity by people she shares the same racial heritage with. In the essay, she uses ethos, logos, and pathos to emphasize her point that in today’s modern world, a new way of identity shall have to be created so people are not marginalized. In terms of ethos inside the article, she shows the reader how common characterizations of people like her were created by a white colonial structure. She is appealing here to the ethical principle of anti-racism that many readers would find within their own ethical framework. She claims: “An inability to conceptualize multiethnic persons reflects a colonial ideology of categorization and separation based on a ‘pure blood’ criteria--a system constructed for the white colonists to maintain power”( Alsultany). Essentially what she is saying here is that the very concept of identifying a person based on a singular racial identity marker is a bi-product of colonial practices from the age of European conquests over non-European peoples. From this, one can deduce to actually be truly ethical, one must even reject the singular notion that there is such thing as a singular racial identity, as people are typically complicated in their ethnic heritage and the way to identify someone should actually be based on that. Another way Alsultany drives home her point in how she uses pathos by grabbing the reader’s emotions with providing stories of her experiences dealing with the subject at hand. For instance, she recalls sitting next to Arab man who inquires if she was Arab and Muslim. She claimed yes. He then proceeded to ask her if she was married and she replied no. He then went on to discuss with her the idea of marrying one of his cousins back in Pakistan. He automatically assumed that due to the fact she was part Arab, she would be interested in an arranged marriage

(Atsultany). Thus he completely ignores her Cuban ethnicity which typically does not have a custom of arranged marriage in their culture. Furthermore, he does not consider that she as an American may not be into arranged marriages. And this is what connects her example to pathos, she is using the idea of people making unfair assumptions about her and what she would do based on her appearance. This type of concept many people can relate to because they too may have felt that someone in their lives may have unfairly judged them to do something simply based on what they were wearing, their clothes, etc. Another instance of where pathos was used for the reader is when Alsultany describes meeting another Arab man in a deli in New York City. The man inquiries about her background and she discuss how she is a Muslim, and half Arab and half Cuban. The man asks for her name and she says Evelyn. The man becomes disgusted by this and claims she cannot be a true Muslim because only a true Muslim woman would have a true feminine Muslim name. He then makes a negative remark on the fact that she is wearing lipstick claiming that this is an American cultural attack on traditional Muslim values. He does not pay attention at all to the fact that she is Muslim, American, Arab, and Cuban all in one, but instead chooses to focus simply on the singular Arab and Muslim aspects, and claims she has to be one or the other in terms of being a Muslim or an American (Alsultany ). This is a call to pathos as many people would empathize with this because they too have been called out for wearing or displaying certain characteristics or manners of dress, and people ultimately judged them for this. Last but not least would be how Alsultany uses logos to illustrate her point in the essay. Logos is the idea that one uses logic and argument to break down an argument to illustrate a point and use this type of method to persuade the rational reader. Alsultany does this by discussing the idea of “the Bridge.” Logically people are going to come from various different

backgrounds and have a mixed bag in terms of place, race, culture, and time. So therefore, one needs to create a new conception of identity in of itself based on experiences of peoples and simply not a homogenous culture and/or race (Alsultany ). Alsultany emphasizes this with the following quote: “If we change the reading/framework/lens, we can transform dislocation into location. We must reconstruct belonging to embrace the experiences of all beings” (Alsultany). What Alsultany is saying here is that society must create a new framework where people can relate based on who they are as individuals and not what society sees as their characteristics. Alsultany total breakdown and step-by-step process in terms of developing her point is a clear example of how logos work. The reader can follow the process of how people are different. Then next that people do not fit into little neat categories such as monolithic races or cultures. Next, then instead of classifying people by the things above, society must ultimately create a way of identifying based on the experiences of people themselves. Ultimately, Alsultany effectively uses pathos, logos, and ethos to display and determine the points regarding how the very concept of identity needs to change in the new world of globalization. Even with technology, people are now connected with others all over the world and will be able to mix in terms of culture, ideology, race, etc. more and more and people interact with others on a broad technological level. The author does also make an effective point regarding how Europeans created the very concept of identity based on singular races and cultures. But this did not work then--Europeans were not some great white monolith but consisted of a variety of different cultures, ethnicities, etc. Therefore it is simply superficial to think that culture and race should be the ultimate source of identification. Instead, people should be defined what they experience as the author says throughout their lives. To take the author’s point to its global conclusion, that essentially everyone’s identity consists of “The Bridge”

because every single individual has various cultures, experiences, places they came from and all the rest of the things identity is based on. Everyone should get to be the individual that they truly want to be without stigma or categorization. They should get to be exactly who they are. Just like the author with an American name, American national identity, part Arab, part Cuban, Muslim, who likes to wear lipstick. Everyone can ultimately fit into a combination of things such as this based on their individual preferences. And when the world recognizes this will it be able to transform how identity is created which would leave people in a state of happiness because they can ultimately be themselves. Failure to do this will simply lead to further issues and more incidents like what the reader faced in terms of prejudice and harassment by various people.

Works Cited Alsultany, Evelyn. “Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves” (n.d)file:///C:/Users/duhti/Downloads/Los%20Intersticios%20(4).pdf Accessed 2/6/2018....