On Exit provides fresh, new perspectiveson the debates on the rights of individuals against their own cultural or religious groups. It brings together scholars from different disciplines to discuss some of thekey questions concerning the relations of cultural and religious groups, group members, citizens, and the state within Western liberal democracies. The volume revisits some of the theoretical controversiesrevolving aroundthe right of exit, and provides insights into the more practical problems of cultural accommodation.
The island, because of its supposed isolation, and its apparent small scale, has historically been a privileged site of colonial aggression and acquisitiveness. Yet the island has also been imagined as a uniquely sovereign space, and thus one in which the colonial enterprise can be seen as especially egregious. 'Islandedness' takes on a particular charge in the early twenty-first century, in the supposedly postcolonial period. While contemporary media offer a simulacrum of proximity to others, the reality is that we are ever more distant, inhabiting islands both real and conceptual. Meanwhile migrants from today's 'postcolonial' islands are routinely denied access to the perceived 'mainland'. And, in islands freed from overt colonialism, but often beset by neocolonial forces of domination and control, identities are constructed so as to differentiate insider from outsider - even when the outsider comes from within. This is the first volume devoted explicitly to the postcolonial island, conceived in a broad geographical, historical, and metaphorical sense. Branching across disciplinary parameters (literary studies, anthropology, history, cultural studies), and analyzing a range of cultural forms (literature, dance, print journalism, and television), the volume attempts to focus critically on three areas: the current realities of formerly colonized island nations; the phenomenon of 'foreign' communities living within a dominant host community; and the existence of (local) practices and theoretical perspectives that complement, but are often critical of, prevailing theories of the postcolonial. The islands treated in the volume include Ireland, Montserrat, Martinique, Mauritius, and East Timor, and the collection includes more broadly conceived historical and theoretical essays. The volume should be required reading for scholars working in postcolonial studies, in island studies, and for those working in and across a range of disciplines (literature, cultural studies, anthropology). Contributors: Ralph Crane, Matthew Boyd Goldie, Lyn Innes, Maeve McCusker, Paulo de Medeiros, Burkhard Schnepel, Cornelia Schnepel, Jonathan Skinner, Anthony Soares, Ritu Tyagi, Mark Wehrly.
The inside part : self-esteem today -- Healing wounded hearts -- Lasting trauma -- Ending the shame that binds -- Living with integrity -- Refusing to be a victim -- Thinking critically -- Teaching values -- Spiritual Redemption -- Searching at the source -- Easing the pain : addiction -- Inner wounds : abuse and abandonment -- Tearing out the root : self-hatred -- Seeking salvation -- A revolution of values -- Recovery : a labor of love -- Restoring our souls.
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction ''It's not right for a body to know his own origins,' -- Chapter 1 ''I should be—American!'' Abjection and the Asian (American) Body -- Chapter 2 ''The dance that's happening'' Performance, Politics, and Asian American Theatre Companies -- Chapter 3 ''We'come a Chinatowng, Folks!'' Resisting Abjection -- Chapter 4 ''I'll be here . . . right where you left me'' Mimetic Abjection/Abject Mimicry -- Chapter 5 ''Whose history is this, anyway?'' Changing Geographies in Ping Chong's East-West Quartet -- Afterword ''Then we'll have drama,'' -- Notes -- References -- Index
Access options:
The following links lead to the full text from the respective local libraries:
We will analyse the cultural phenomenon as a product created by human genius. We will ask how works the interaction of culture and human life today and how cultural transformation influences the process of modelling perceptions of man himself. We will analyse how the cultural perception of what is "normal" or what is "value" is replaced by what is pleasant and useful. How a new concept of normality and value is created. We are creating a society on the foundation of exceptions without borders or a respectful and tolerant society?
We will analyse the cultural phenomenon as a product created by human genius. We will ask how works the interaction of culture and human life today and how cultural transformation influences the process of modelling perceptions of man himself. We will analyse how the cultural perception of what is "normal" or what is "value" is replaced by what is pleasant and useful. How a new concept of normality and value is created. We are creating a society on the foundation of exceptions without borders or a respectful and tolerant society?
Nation states in the Balkans need a form of relaxation through regional arrangements that do not bring those states themselves into question. That is why Southeastern Europe can be thought of as a regional community, along the lines of Plessner's ideal community (die Sachgemeinschaft), which may, in anticipatory discourse, produce a regional ideology as an acceptable value, as the next form of peace.
