Page 72 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 72
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
the participatory epistemology, important for literature, is the reconcep-
tualization of the ‘I’. Foerster explains it in the concluding paragraph of
the article “Entdecken oder Erfinden” (1998). He asks the question ‘Who
am I?’, and answers it with a quotation, ascribed to the ‘Plains Indians’:
“I am all the forces and objects with which I come in contact. I am the
wind, the trees, and the birds, and the darkness” (cf. Foerster 1998, 87).13
In the poem What my uncle Tony told my sister and me (from the col-
lection Woven Stone) the poet Simon Ortiz similarly describes the fusion
of the I and the world: “Respect yourself. / Everything that is around you
/ is part of you” (Ortiz 1992, 47). The participation can be expressed ei-
ther way: I am a part of the world and the world is part of me. Only at
a first glance it might seem surprising that with the fusion the impor-
tance of the ‘I’ grows. To be precise, the relevance of its deeds and its re-
72 sponsibility for them are enhanced. The notion of responsibility is cen-
tral for Foerster too. He refers to it in his descriptions of epistemology
(Foerster 2002, 69), ethics (49) and love (121). With the exception of the
quotation above, Foerster did not refer to the epistemologies of Native
Americans, but in reading Native American literature and literary criti-
cism it is possible, in some texts, to discern some similarities with his the-
ories, like the emphasis on participation and responsibility for words and
deeds that construct/crate the reality/world. In the following, I will fore-
ground some of them in the search for conceivable examples of “political
and epistemic de-linking” (Mignolo 2009, 159). Though the examples are
chosen mostly from the canon of what is called Native American litera-
ture, this choice does not imply, in reverse, that there is one Native Amer-
ican literature14 and that it can be labeled as decolonial or that there is one
Native American epistemology that can be labeled as participatory; and it
does not mean either that manifestations of an underlying participatory
epistemology cannot be found in other literatures. They are chosen be-
13 Foerster quotes Epes Brown (Brown, Epes. 1972. The North American Indians. A Se-
lection of Photographs by Edward S. Curtis. New York: Aperture); Peggy Reeves San-
day quotes the English version in Female Power and Male Dominance: On the Origins
of Sexual Inequality ascribing it to Patty Harjo (Reeves Sanday 1981, 53).
14 Native American literature is an institutionalized, though contested term especial-
ly about the criteria (themes, formal features, authors) and the aims of such a classi-
fication. For brevity, I mention only two examples, published in the same year. Jace
Weaver, Craig Womack, and Robert Warrior explain the necessity of “American In-
dian Literary Nationalism” (Weaver et al. 2006) in the fight for equal rights and cul-
tural identity, while David Treuer explains the necessity to read these texts in the con-
text of European and Euro—American literature as to fully acknowledge their liter-
ary quality (Treuer 2006).
the participatory epistemology, important for literature, is the reconcep-
tualization of the ‘I’. Foerster explains it in the concluding paragraph of
the article “Entdecken oder Erfinden” (1998). He asks the question ‘Who
am I?’, and answers it with a quotation, ascribed to the ‘Plains Indians’:
“I am all the forces and objects with which I come in contact. I am the
wind, the trees, and the birds, and the darkness” (cf. Foerster 1998, 87).13
In the poem What my uncle Tony told my sister and me (from the col-
lection Woven Stone) the poet Simon Ortiz similarly describes the fusion
of the I and the world: “Respect yourself. / Everything that is around you
/ is part of you” (Ortiz 1992, 47). The participation can be expressed ei-
ther way: I am a part of the world and the world is part of me. Only at
a first glance it might seem surprising that with the fusion the impor-
tance of the ‘I’ grows. To be precise, the relevance of its deeds and its re-
72 sponsibility for them are enhanced. The notion of responsibility is cen-
tral for Foerster too. He refers to it in his descriptions of epistemology
(Foerster 2002, 69), ethics (49) and love (121). With the exception of the
quotation above, Foerster did not refer to the epistemologies of Native
Americans, but in reading Native American literature and literary criti-
cism it is possible, in some texts, to discern some similarities with his the-
ories, like the emphasis on participation and responsibility for words and
deeds that construct/crate the reality/world. In the following, I will fore-
ground some of them in the search for conceivable examples of “political
and epistemic de-linking” (Mignolo 2009, 159). Though the examples are
chosen mostly from the canon of what is called Native American litera-
ture, this choice does not imply, in reverse, that there is one Native Amer-
ican literature14 and that it can be labeled as decolonial or that there is one
Native American epistemology that can be labeled as participatory; and it
does not mean either that manifestations of an underlying participatory
epistemology cannot be found in other literatures. They are chosen be-
13 Foerster quotes Epes Brown (Brown, Epes. 1972. The North American Indians. A Se-
lection of Photographs by Edward S. Curtis. New York: Aperture); Peggy Reeves San-
day quotes the English version in Female Power and Male Dominance: On the Origins
of Sexual Inequality ascribing it to Patty Harjo (Reeves Sanday 1981, 53).
14 Native American literature is an institutionalized, though contested term especial-
ly about the criteria (themes, formal features, authors) and the aims of such a classi-
fication. For brevity, I mention only two examples, published in the same year. Jace
Weaver, Craig Womack, and Robert Warrior explain the necessity of “American In-
dian Literary Nationalism” (Weaver et al. 2006) in the fight for equal rights and cul-
tural identity, while David Treuer explains the necessity to read these texts in the con-
text of European and Euro—American literature as to fully acknowledge their liter-
ary quality (Treuer 2006).
