Wednesday reading

[asakiyume]

I'm reading through Eden to Paradise, by Margaret King. She was an anthropologist, and this book, published in 1963, describes her time in what was then Portuguese Timor. I'm excited to read it because there's not a whole lot that's easily available to me about Timorese lifeways prior to independence. But oh holy wow to the wowth, this woman is self-satisfied, self-congratulatory, and casually racist like you wouldn't believe. (Actually, you would probably believe it.) I kept on mentally thinking I was reading something from the 1930s or something and then having to remind myself that this was the 1960s. Her attitudes seem just so... ugh. It made me curious about the woman herself, and it turns out she was born in 1922, so her notions probably reflect the era in which she was raised.

For all that she condescends massively toward the Timorese (and then is irritated when a Chinese man condescends to her, ah, yes, feels different in that direction, doesn't it), she clearly likes Timorese culture, and when she's talking about fishing practices or dances or things like that, you can brush aside her condescending remarks and just enjoy the thing she's talking about:

The Timorese women work long hours planting out the seedling rice and as each paddy is completed a long banner of bamboo, browned leaves waving in the slightest breeze, is raised as the signal to all who pass by of the successful beginning to another season. The paddies stand ranked in tiers one above the other, protected by their dry stone walls or earthen banks. These signals of bamboo are reminiscent of the scarecrows standing so solemnly in the fields of Europe to guard the newly planted grains, yet they have one enchanting difference, for, while the European scarecrows are either menacing or pathetic in their dilapidation, the bamboo signals wave gaily to everyone.

But oh man, when she's going on about herself, or when she's trying to wax poetic, she's just awful! Try not to choke on the self-congratulation in this excerpt:

Never having bothered very much about nationalities, preferring always to judge people as individuals,* it was a strange experience to be accepted as a compatriot by four different nationalities in one day. To make matters even more interesting the four races were widely divergent and, after the third encounter, I did begin to wonder whether I possessed the characteristics of a chameleon.

She's mistaken for Portuguese because of her fair skin, for Kashmiri because she knows about Kashmiri music, for Chinese because she quotes the poetry of Po Chü-i and Ou Yang Hsiu, and Timorese because she plays two Timorese tunes from memory on a Timorese flute. See how **special** she is?

The copy I have does have a lovely cover, however. Wakanomori found it in a used bookstore in England and presented it to me without comment--and I could tell by the houses and the woman's face that it was Timor. (Hmm, a little self-congratulation of my own, heh. So easy to criticize others; so hard to acknowledge the same flaws in myself)



*Not true: she remarks on everyone's nationality and talks about whether they adhere to her notion of the national stereotype.

Comments

[amaebi]

I'm afraid the 1960s were like that, too, mostly.

[asakiyume]

I guess I was just struck by "Hey wait, Martin Luther King was active at this point. There were the Beatles." You'd never know from reading this.

[amaebi]

I bet!

I expect she worked in different worlds from those.

Extremely cosmopolitely and benevolently, of course.

[asakiyume]

"Cosmopolitely" is a great word ^_^

[amaebi]

I learned the form "cosmopolite" from literature on technological innovation rates. :D

[gale_storm]

Like that one!

[kore]

Yeah, some of the sixties anthropology stuff I read (mostly on Native Americans) could be hair-raising.

[asakiyume]

The adjectives "crude" and "primitive" get thrown around like there's no tomorrow, and she feels absolutely at liberty to comment on how attractive someone is, or how lazy. My eyes were popping out of my head. Meanwhile she's literally being carried in a chair over a swollen river. Later she's peeved because a driver shows some reluctance about forging on ahead.

[sartorias]

She sounds like the anthropologists I was reading in the sixties and seventies.

[asakiyume]

I know each generation is blind in its own way... I shudder to think how our current one is.

[sartorias]

Hoo yeah.

[sovay]

These signals of bamboo are reminiscent of the scarecrows standing so solemnly in the fields of Europe to guard the newly planted grains, yet they have one enchanting difference, for, while the European scarecrows are either menacing or pathetic in their dilapidation, the bamboo signals wave gaily to everyone.

That's a very nice sentence.

She's mistaken for Portuguese because of her fair skin, for Kashmiri because she knows about Kashmiri music, for Chinese because she quotes the poetry of Po Chü-i and Ou Yang Hsiu, and Timorese because she plays two Timorese tunes from memory on a Timorese flute.

I don't know what King looked like, but three of these interactions strike me as the kind of thing where someone might plausibly ask because they would not expect someone not from a particular cultural background to know the music, or the poetry, or the playing of a flute. I can't assume that—let's say at a song circle—the person who chooses to contribute a Yiddish folk song is Jewish, but it is actually a little strange for me when they're not. It's the kind of knowledge that I have learned to take as a signal and have to remind myself is sometimes just a person who likes a song. I agree with you that King sounds very smug about having successfully signaled herself as non-European, shape-changer, capable of going native. (But did she show the same surprise or ask the same questions if the people she met displayed a knowledge of her own country's pop culture?)

[asakiyume]

You're absolutely right about the cultural knowledge. What irritated me was, first, that she had to brag so. It *is* cool that she's familiar with Kashmiri music and Chinese poetry, and that she has a good enough ear to play tunes she's only heard once--but it seems (to me) very self-aggrandizing to have to mention every single one of those things in a book that's ostensibly about Timor--though actually I realize now that the book isn't about Timor, it's "my adventures in Timor," with an emphasis on "my," but, fortunately, also details about Timor. Second, it irritated me that she disingenuously or coyly (or whatever you want to call it) professed to be surprised by other people's mistake, because yes, like you, I recognize how these assumptions get made. She's an educated woman who's traveled, **surely** she does too? Surely she, like you or me, can understand how if you have unexpected-by-other-people knowledge, they cast about for a reason? And so it's not really that she's a chameleon shape-shifter at all; it's that she's highly educated and has a good musical ear. I guess either way it's bragging, but I disliked the "Oh my goodness, how **can** they have made this mistake" option she took. Third, I know from personal experience that in some societies--like Japan, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was true in China or Kashmir too--that people flatter the least small accomplishment. Japanese people will tell you お上手ですね！(Ojōzu desu ne!/How skilled you are!) when you manage to come out with a well-formed sentence, even a basic one (well--this is knowledge from 25 years ago: there may be more expectation now that foreigners will know some Japanese; I don't know). It's just a different mode of interaction; it's not really that you are skilled because you can speak a bit of Japanese. But it does seem like her accomplishments were more than just knowing a little bit of language, so that brings me to my fourth, and probably, to be honest, largest objection, which is that I'm envious of her. (Which is crazy. I like my own life--but when I read hers, I want to have all that knowledge and talent and experience too. Greedy.)

[sovay]

though actually I realize now that the book isn't about Timor, it's "my adventures in Timor," with an emphasis on "my," but, fortunately, also details about Timor.

If this is an answerable question, what kind of anthropologist was she?

Third, I know from personal experience that in some societies--like Japan, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was true in China or Kashmir too--that people flatter the least small accomplishment. Japanese people will tell you お上手ですね！(Ojōzu desu ne!/How skilled you are!) when you manage to come out with a well-formed sentence, even a basic one (well--this is knowledge from 25 years ago: there may be more expectation now that foreigners will know some Japanese; I don't know).

I didn't know that was true even twenty-five years ago. That's neat, and also useful to remember if I ever learn enough Japanese to be complimentable on it; is it a form of hospitality, being encouraging of strangers, or just basic conversational politeness?

But it does seem like her accomplishments were more than just knowing a little bit of language, so that brings me to my fourth, and probably, to be honest, largest objection, which is that I'm envious of her. (Which is crazy. I like my own life--but when I read hers, I want to have all that knowledge and talent and experience too. Greedy.)

I think you can totally want all that knowledge and experience and not have to be disingenuous about it. I suppose she might have been trying to downplay her skill set, but if so, I think she missed and humblebragged instead.

[asakiyume]

I'm afraid I don't know what her specialty was. She was Australian, and she's written about Aboriginal peoples, people in Oceania, and people in Timor.

Regarding complimenting foreigners on their language ability, I think a couple of things go into it. Japanese people believe Japanese is a very difficult language to learn. This isn't actually true--Japanese has a complicated writing system, but literacy isn't the same thing as speaking. But it is true that it's not a widely learned language, and many tourists or busines travelers in Japan don't know any Japanese at all. So many people are, I think, impressed when a foreigner has mastered even a little, so they're expressing that when they compliment someone. There's also the thing of treating people in respected categories (like "white foreigner") with deference, and that means making those people feel comfortable--for instance by complimenting them. I'm told that black foreigners are also objects of fascination--which isn't the same thing as respect, but is different from fear or contempt--and that they get complimented on their Japanese too.

Foreigners that fall into the refugee category or the exploited category are not treated with the same care and respect as foreign exchange students, tourists, or people there on business.

[sovay]

Foreigners that fall into the refugee category or the exploited category are not treated with the same care and respect as foreign exchange students, tourists, or people there on business.

That is also useful to know.

[asakiyume]

--Yeah: there are definitely social organizations to help them and people who are friendly, but as in the United States, there's also suspicion and hostility. .... But now I'm speaking not from personal experience but from what my daughters or other third parties tell me.

Historically speaking, the Japanese have also treated people of Korean or Chinese descent who live there very poorly. I think things are better now, but I definitely encountered people who expressed prejudice that way when I lived there in the 80s. (I lived in Japan twice, once in the 80s and once in the very early 90s.)

[sovay]

Historically speaking, the Japanese have also treated people of Korean or Chinese descent who live there very poorly.

I have heard that, and occasionally seen it referenced in media. I have also heard that being black in Japan is a weird experience, especially if you are black and not a foreigner. What I didn't know was that it showed up in things like compliments—or not—on language skills.

[wayfaringwordhack]

Japanese people will tell you お上手ですね！(Ojōzu desu ne!/How skilled you are!) when you manage to come out with a well-formed sentence, even a basic one (well--this is knowledge from 25 years ago: there may be more expectation now that foreigners will know some Japanese; I don't know)

This was my thought, that perhaps these people were being kind in what they said but not necessarily sincere, as in not actually believing she was from all those places but making their observations in a way meant to compliment her skills.

Like you said, I wonder about the way author's of today will be viewed in 50 years.

And serving as a lens for people can be quite hard. I spent a lot of time agonizing over which photos to post the other day on my entry because the poverty captured in so many of them was so hard to digest (and might smack of voyeurism), and I didn't want to look like I was trying to shine a bad light on these people's circumstances. Have you heard people say before that poverty is photogenic? Isn't that a sad/dehumanizing sentiment?

[asakiyume]

I think when you approach people in friendship and humility, with goodwill, and yes, curiosity, because curiosity is natural, but also with respect, then you could take the exact same photos as someone who is regarding people merely as subjects of an interesting photo, and yours would be okay and theirs wouldn't... but of course we can't know the hearts of people when they take photos. So I guess then we rely on how they talk about the picture, how they present it... We judge from that.

[khiemtran]

I guess the real skill is being able to describe those moments without coming across as a braggart. I'm sure I come across as the most boring person in the room sometimes, because I don't want to sound like I'm boasting or one-upping people... Hmmm. Now this is going to sound like bragging too...

[asakiyume]

Not at all; honestly you're **never** boring--you're among the most interesting people I know--and you're never boastful.

I know part of this is a matter of conversational (or writing style)--you speak my late-twentieth/early-twenty-first century lingo, whereas she, who was already in middle age when she wrote that book in the early 1960s, spoke the lingo of the early twentieth century. But it's not **just** that.

I bet in person she was vivacious and entertaining, and at least the things she boasts about are cultural knowledge and intellectual skills--she's not boasting about how every person in the room fainted about her great beauty (something over which people have only so much control: you can manage how you present how you look, but the basics are down to genetics ... of course some people are happy to boast about those, too).

[gale_storm]

:-O

That's the most garden-variety of gobsmacked emoji I've yet to see, and maybe she'd be deserving of a more tropical one. Heh!

"the characteristics of a chameleon"

Well, chameleons have (*ahem*) an ass end, too! But, yeah, this kind of self-deprecating reference is one I know well.

[asakiyume]

This sometimes happens when I put up a grumbling entry about something, but I almost feel bad about it now. I mean, she's trying? I suppose? In her way?