“Everybody wants to tell us what a Negro is… But if you tell me who I am, at least take the trouble to discover what I have been” Ralph Ellison. The focusing question applied to essay: Is diversity possible within a unified society? And if so, does diversity cause more problems? In class we read “Trance” which explored diversity, the elimination of race, and being at war to preserve race. To answer the focus question and to further explore an answer to the question, I read two essays: E. Allen Richard essay “Strangers in this Land: Pluralism and the response to Diversity in the United States,” which focused on Diversity amongst religions and Leon F. Litwack “Black Culture and Black Consciousness,” which explored the historical path to understanding the complexity of black cultures. We are suppose to be one big melting pot, but I think the pot is boiling over into separate pots. Religion is one subject that causes a lot of diversity in different cultures. Due to different views and assumptions about God and ones belief system, religion causes more problems in society rather than bringing us to be more unified and objective. Having different views on religion isn’t the only thing causing separation, our race causes another issue within the religion community. If I was to go to Dauphin Way Baptist Church, which is predominantly white, I will be looked at as an outcast and some may wonder why I was there. Kalamu Ya Salaam touched on a variety of issues in “Trance.” Race, globalization, eliminating race, and preserving race were among the issues in “Trance.” Race is a man- made form of ones self and a persons’ cultural is who a person is and where that person comes from. In “Black Culture and Black Consciousness,” Litwack seeks to understand different cultures. He notices how the Black experience (slavery and freedom) contributes to the Black culture. Diversity causes issues within races due to different groups who do not want to accept and understand other races and cultures. Richardson explores diversity in religion, which causes problems on a whole other level. Many cultures are built on religion and different races contribute to a certain type of religion. The essay focuses on diversity in the American Life. Richardson’s views and Litwack views both address a diversified society and the movement toward unity. Richardson focuses more on the unity of religion and Litwack focuses more on the unity of races. Reading all three essays helped me seek out the main problem within diversity, unity, race, and culture. I saw the main problem to be groups wanting to separate themselves instead of becoming one nation with different aspects of life. That was suppose to be the beauty of America, but I think it caused more friction between people in America. Whites saw Blacks as non humans and therefore those two groups were separated from the beginning. The interests of one group may not be the interest of another group and I think that is when groups began to plot to destroy other races and cultures, therefore making it harder to have diversity and unity in America.
Works Cited Litwack, Leon F. “Black Culture and Black Consciousness” (1978) Richard, E. Allen. “Strangers in This Land: Pluralism and the response to Diversity in the United States” (1988) Salaam, Kalamu Ya. “Trance” (2004)
“Can we speak of ‘culture’ in the singular? If by ‘culture’ is meant a collective mode of life, or a repertoire of beliefs, styles, values and symbols, then we can only speak of cultures, never just culture; for a collective mode of life […] presupposes different modes and repertoires in a universe of modes and repertoires. Hence, the idea of a ‘global culture’ is a practical impossibility, except in interplanetary terms.” (Smith 171)
A commonly held definition for the term “globalization” is “a process fueled by, and resulting in, increasing cross-border flows of goods, services, money, people, information, and culture (Guillen 236).” While the world has certainly obtained a greater flow of these across borders, has it led to the “global culture” in which everyone is “beige” and the “only color that in OnePlanet is the color of money” as outlined in Kalamu ya Salaam’s short story, Trance?
In order to answer the global culture question, we must first look at the origins of globalization. How and when globalization began is a contested issue among many sociologist, anthropologists, economists, and historians. However, for the purposes of this paper, I will center its beginnings between 1875 and 1925, a time that marked the “time-zoning of the world and the establishment of the international dateline; the near-global adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the adjustable seven-day week; and the establishment of the international telegraphic and signaling codes (Guillen 237).” Since the establishment of these global markers, groups with common interests, and which are not necessarily bound ethnicity or culturally, such as environmental groups and cross-border advocacy groups, have used them to raise awareness of environmental, human and civil rights issues, socioeconomic development, and education within the global consciousness. However, this increased of awareness has not led to Salaam’s feared OnePlant global culture. The question now facing us is why not?
As global awareness increases, Salaam’s characters in Trance fear a decrease in cultural diversity. However, in the real world, the opposite has proven to hold true. As the world seems to “shrink” due to technological advances and the migration – both voluntary and involuntary – of people across borders, “nationalism and religious fundamentalism” have been shown to “‘intensify isomorphism more than they resist it’ (Guillen 245)” and historian Bruce Mazlish argues that “no single global history is anticipated” (Mazlish 4) to result from increased awareness of other cultures.
Convergence, as described by Salaam, “appeals to a profound human desire to find pattern and order in even the most diverse and chaotic situations (Northrup 265).” However, the loss of cultural diversity within this type of convergence is unlikely. Despite fears of losing one’s cultural status or diluting one’s ethnicity through globalization, “there is clear evidence of vibrant cultural diversity in our globalizing world and in the existence of multiple centers of local, regional, and global cultural influence (Northrup 266).” The perspective of convergence, as seen through the concept of globalization, only serves to highlight the diversity among the world’s cultures and contribute to greater global understanding.
Works Cited
Guillen, Mauro F. “Is Globalization Civilizing, Destructive or Feeble? A Critique of Five Key Debates in the Social Science Literature.” Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 27. 2001.
Malish, Bruce. “An Introduction to Global History.” Conceptualizing Global History. Bruce Mazlish and R. Buultjens, ed. Boulder, CO: Westview. 1993.
Northrup, David. “Globalization and the Great Convergence: Rethinking World History in the Long Term.” Journal of World History, Vol. 16, No. 3. 2005.
Roberson. R. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage. 1992.
Smith, A. D. “Towards a Global Culture?” Theory, Cultural Society. 1990.
The Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement are evidence of individuals wanting a pure race for the world and the elimination of anything other than the dominant race. This behavior is still causing turmoil and tumultuous strain on the human race today. Society still has bigots walking around feeling as though their race should dominate and should reign supreme. The Ku Klux Klan, Black Separatists, White Nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and Neo-Confederates are some of the bigots that still exist today and wish to maintain diversity instead of creating a unified people. Kalamu ya Salaam’s, “Trance,” delves into the issues of diversity and unification amongst people. In the world, everyone was becoming a mixed race, which instilled fear into the hearts of those who were of one race. The Black individuals were becoming the inferior race and believed they should be able to preserve their diversity. This occurs even today in America. There is no inferior race in America. America is a “melting pot,” however; people fear what they do not know. In order to avoid fear individuals simply eliminate anything that is unique or different from what they are accustomed. As in our world, the individuals in this story were at war in order to preserve their race. Perhaps, they were accepting towards unification, but the practicing of their diverse culture was not allowed. People become rebellious, unhappy, and very solemn when they are not allowed to show their individuality. Perhaps, this was one of the underlying causes to the rebel’s revolt in this story. There was such a great want and need for “culture” and “ancestry,” the rebels were willing to do time travel in order to grasp what little reminders they had of the past. However, they were never able to bring back anything physically from their jumps. These time jumps are related to the Santeria Voodoo idea and suggest religious undertones in the story. When the characters would become engaged in a “Trance,” that trance signifies the way in which the Holy Spirit possesses individuals in the church. This ignorance towards unity will never allow people to come together as one. Andrea Hairston’s, “Mindscape,” addresses the same concerns in her story. This sci-fi story also speaks of the living connecting to some phantom. She feels it is a figment of her imagination speaking old African proverbs. She wanted to block the phantom from her mindscape, unlike the characters in “Trance.” Unlike the individuals in the other reading, the character in this story was uncomfortable with shifting through space. The war started over the same issues as in “Trance.” Some wanted a new world and the old regime wanted diversification. The religious undertones were the same, however, the character in this story sang in order to get through the barrier. The story speaks of Elleni’s emotions raging after the divine connection snapped on page 307; this signifies Elleni’s connection with the Holy Spirit. Both stories have the same military and religious undertones and address the current problems in society today. If we remain accepting and unbiased towards other people’s religions, gender, and ethnicity, everyone would be able to live in a pleasurable environment. We as a unit would learn more about one another on a personal basis, instead of being so impersonal each day.
Trance is a truly unique story with far out principles and interesting themes running throughout. It is a story of a team of African American individuals who are on a desperate mission to rediscover their history and preserve African American culture or their “Blackness” in a world that is progressing quickly towards one master race. The planet that the characters in the story live on is called One Planet and it is basically a “New Earth.” The concept of this racial mixing is made clear early on in the story when the one of the main characters states, “For me it was simple, no matter how mixed my history: I wanted Blackness always to exist. Everybody turning beige just didn’t appeal to me.” The fact that this story is set in the far off future probably makes it easier for the reader to digest this concept of everyone ending up the same race, but this concept of the racial melting pot has been around for years and is becoming more believable as time goes by. An article published in USA Today in September of 1999 discusses this very same topic. It states that with the coming of the new millennium that America is set to become a country of blended races. No one would be White or Black, Hispanic, or Asian; we will all be mixed together to form a single race, almost indistinguishable. The U.S. Census Bureau paints the picture that by 2050 the U.S. population that claims mixed ancestry will triple to about 21 percent. Millions of Americans will be of mixed racial and ethnical backgrounds, giving us the mantra of “them are us and us are them.” The Census Bureau states that one reason for this movement towards racial oneness is the growing number of Hispanic people in America. People of this ethnicity will account for 17% of the population by 2025 and 25% by 2050. The reason for this growth is because of higher fertility rates between the Hispanic and increasing immigration from Latin America. This high number of Hispanic people will result in more and more intermarriage between the races with almost 30% of Hispanics and Asians marrying outside their race already. In 2005 the largest racial group in America were Hispanics, who can be of any race. If people want to get an idea of what our racial future might look like they can look at California now where the white population is shrinking drastically already, and are no longer the majority. Racial mixing is a trend that is drastically on the rise. Are we all on the way to becoming a master race? Will we soon all be considered Hispanic because we are too mixed to claim anything else? While looking into the future and calculating population is risky, it is easy to see that the idea portrayed in Trance, while maybe not to that extent, is a very real possibility.
Works Cited
Kasindorf, Martin and Maria Puente. “Blended Races Making True Melting Pot.” USA Today 7 September 1999. 21 Sept. 2007 http://canadafirst.net/to_index/americas_demographic_future.html.
As the product of two very socially conscious parents, I have always been taught that all people are the same, regardless of their race, religion or creed and that because of this I should treat all people equally and with respect. My parents made special attention to note that I should not regard people as being of a different race than myself, but rather as someone from a different culture with traditions that contrast my own. Ours is a society in which many people are filled with hostility and tension against anything different from themselves; as such, my views on ‘race’ are much different than the masses’. In “Trance,” Salaam depicts a world in which a group of black people are trying to save their dying race by going back into time and retrieving memories of African-Americans from the past. It seems as though they are fighting “elimination by way of the melting pot” as one of my classmates phrased so well. The undercurrent of the entire short story seems to be that diversity and unity cannot coexist. This proposal greatly bothered me, so I wanted to dig a bit deeper and see what others had to say on the topic. Can unity only exist where there is no diversity? In my exploration of this question I used Jitsuichi Masuoka’s speech “Can Progress in Race Relations Be Measured?”
In her short story “Trance” Kalamu ya Salaam paints a world in which a war rages. There are few black people left on earth after years of interbreeding between the races. A group of black rebels have the sole mission of jumping back through time to retrieve memories of black people in the past in a last-ditch effort to save their race. “Preserving Blackness” seems to be their motto. They are fighting against a world without diversity; globalization has almost fully occurred, and these brave men and women are risking their lives in order to preserve their heritage. Or are they? It seems to me that the characters are fighting for their idea of race, rather than preserving their culture. The social construct of race fuels their fight against OnePlanet. Because of the color of their skin, they perceive themselves as fundamentally different from everyone else. While on the surface, their mission seems admirable, I believe it is not. In the eyes of these characters, diversity and unity are not possible together.
“Change is, indeed, the essence of every vital phenomenon…the relation of races is always in the state of becoming; it is in the process of achieving some sort of equilibrium within itself…” (211). The preceding quote is from the beginning of a speech by Jitsuichi Masuoka titled “Can Progress in Race Relations Be Measured?” As his speech continues, Masuoka asserts that social change is generally a slow, unremarkable process, except in the cases of major crisis situations. When speaking of the conflict between races, particularly between blacks and whites, Masuoka asserts that “the race problem needs to be solved by the parties involved” (212), speaking explicitly to the southern states. He claims that race relations improve more quickly in the cities than in rural areas of the United States. How does he maintain this “problem” in race relations should be fixed? Masuoka never directly answers this question, though it is the thesis of his speech. He makes it clear, however, that progress in race relations will come only through transformation in social organization by means of economic and geographic change (217). The main problem I have with Masuoka’s speech is that he never clarifies what constitutes progress in race relations.
Is it not possible for diversity and unity to coexist? If we are all of the same species (humans) and are therefore all the same save for the color of our skin, why do we need to have such hostility toward anyone who looks or talks differently than ourselves. I believe that there is a certain joy and excitement that comes in learning about the different traditions of different cultures. Just think of how many different styles of food come from different cultures. If we as Americans are so accepting of different styles of food that comes from different cultures, why are we so slow to accept and respect the people of those cultures? It is my position that diversity and unity can coexist when all people have a mutual respect for others. Differences in culture (whether it be manifested in differences in vernacular, styles of clothing, or food) serve only to enrich our lives in the country once termed “The Melting Pot.”
Works Cited Masuoka, Jitsuichi. “Can Progress in Race Relations Be Measured?” Social Forces, Vol. 25, No. 2. (1946): 211-217.
Salaam, Kalamu ya. “Trance.” Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. Ed. Sheree R. Thomas.New York: Warner Books, 2004. 314-348.
Can a world with one race, unification, and no privacy thrive? In one-planet this is the world in which the citizens live. Time does not exist, nor does a world, or any countries. People experience no freedoms, liberties, or privacy but are together as one. In today’s society, class, race, social standing, confirm the differences within people. Many people hold prejudices and have some form of a racial issue, whatever it may be. No one is unified. Different group and organizations form for individuals who share common interests, but even within these same interest groups diversity still exists. Diversity is what makes and breaks our present day society. It is one of the things that our nation was founded upon and it is one of the main reasons to many people enter into our country. Most people want freedom, choices, and the power to control their own destinies. People want privacy and rights for themselves. Different countries have different policies and governmental systems. Some are stricter than others, but all work in some manner. America is a democracy, meaning people who live in and are citizens of this country have the power to make their own decisions and to control their futures. If an American citizen wants to be a bum, they have the right and power to be a bum and if the individual wants to be a millionaire they have that option as well. People can work as hard or as little as they choose. Some American’s have more opportunities readily available at their disposal, but all American citizens do have the power to control their own destinies. In today’s society people can choose. Class, race, and gender do exist and do affect people’s lives. People have free-will, and the power to choose. In Trance, the characters have no power, differences, uniqueness, or any choices. Yes, they are unified and together, but are they happy?
“I’m not really a fan of hip hop. It just isn’t my type of music.” I said to my sister as we were heading home from the mall. We stopped at a stop light and she turned to me as if I had said that I killed someone. “What!! You’re a black person hip hop is who you are. It’s a part of you.” I could not help but laugh at the comment as I replied, “In biology I don’t remember my teacher ever saying that blacks had a hip hop gene. I’m pretty sure it’s my choice.” My sister just shook her head sadly, “That’s why I think you’re adopted, you’re the only one that doesn’t act black.” Just because I do not like hip hop music I’m not black? Everyday I look in the mirror I see a black woman staring back at me. I’m just a black woman that wants to be myself . I decided to wake up from the trance most African Americans seem to be in. There is a part in the story “Trance” by Kalamu ya Salaam that made me think hard about this topic. “Each of them looks like they are sleeping or dead and they are neither. They are suspended. Their minds are gone…but their spirit, the life force…if they had the life force they could get up and move and think and respond.” When I read this I was blown away. That is the perfect way in sci-fi terms to express the way most African American people are today. They choose to act the way that is expected of them. Their spirit or life force is forgotten and we lose the true individual. They are not themselves, just a body with no spirit or individuality. When you think about it like this, it is sad. To hide the person you are just to fit into an image of what being an African American should be. When you decide to fall into this trance, you lose your right to believe in anything. You lose the right to speak out on what makes you angry or happy. You throw away the chance to try to free others from this trance so that as a community we are able to wake up and be our true selves. It is sad that you cease to be the person you were about to become because you decided not to follow the path less traveled. Those of us who have not lost their spirit should take the jump and rescue the ones that are so deep in the trance. It’s about time they all woke up don’t you agree?
The Second Law of Thermodynamics section let its readers understand what it was like to be on the 1997 Black Speculative Fiction Writers Conference panel. Each author involved in this section had some personal aspect involved. For most, the personal aspect involved his or her sexuality preference or race. I just cannot understand what race or sexuality has to do with selling a book.
On page one of the essay, Jewell Gomez writes that the main character of her book was a woman of color, a lesbian, and a vampire. Her book was considered “unsellable” because of these characteristics her main character possessed. This was personal to Gomez because she possessed two of the three characteristics. As I read this,I wondered if society has changed over time.
Gomez stated, “Years later, when Professor’s Mary A. Twining and N’Diaye invited me to participate in the 28th annual writers’ conference at Clarke Atlanta University, I felt like I finally got the last laugh.” This statement is very true and answers my question. Gomez was finally treated as a speculative fiction writer. Her books were praised and she was proud to be a part of the time when things changed for the better.
Steven Barnes grew up being told blacks do not write. He knew, in his heart, he was supposed to be a writer. He used his stories to get him out of being beat up by bullies. It was like a safe haven. Now, he writes screenplays and much more.
One specific book that stood out to me is Amberlight. This is a novel, not yet published, by Sylvia Kelso. This book stands out because the main character is a woman of color and Kelso has already had wonderful interviews and readers have pre-ordered her book.
In conclusion, I have given various authors and their dealings with being of color, having a colored main character, or facing the cruel world. This proves the answer to my question earlier… time has changed and people are looking past what is on the outside, and looking at what counts.
Works Cited Cooper, Carol. “The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Transcription of a Panel at the 1997 Black Speculative Fiction Writers Conference Held at Clarke Atlanta University.” Dark Matter: Reading The Bones. Ed. Sheree R. Thomas. New York: Warner Books, 2004. 349-368. McDonnell, Carol. Interview with Sylvia Kelso: Feminist, Speculative Fiction Writer, Author of Amberlight, Part One. 28 August 2007. Accessed on 14 September 2007. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/08/28/172530.php Steve Barnes Biography. Accessed on 14 September 2007. http://www.lifewrite.com/html/about.htm
The world we live in can be a scary place sometimes. Harsh realities of hopeless perceptions are transmitted via world media. I find myself wondering whether or not we truly are the smartest, most capable animals (for leadership) on this planet, but it seems we've won by default. Daily, we deal with racism, sexism, and social status. For people on the receiving end of endless criticism for things they can’t control, there is the second law of thermodynamics. Everything in our world has a beginning and an end. Food goes bad. Cars break down. Roads need to be repaved. Even mountains fall to repeated wind and rain attacks. Although these are all very common examples, the world doesn’t usually look at life in this way. While many people struggle to find avenues to immortality, most ignore the second law of thermodynamics: everything will eventually come to an end. Just like the cars and roads and food, today’s hate and greed will also eventually come to an end. With The Second Law of Thermodynamics, the main thing I took from the reading was the escape in Science Fiction. The escape: A trip to another universe where it doesn’t matter what race or sex you are, because the creatures aren’t even human; a trip to a world that has seen a million religions come and go, and so doesn’t discriminate; a planet where people can live forever, and outgrow their childish ideas. The strength of the second law of thermodynamics is that with science fiction, the reader is left with a feeling of optimism. Even though life may get tough, and being discriminated against or falsely generalized is unfair, the feelings and attitudes of the people who are at fault will change (or die). There is hope for a better world. Maybe if everyone had a more realistic grasp on their dwindling reality, we could all focus on using the little time we have on earth to make it wonderful for everyone.
As I began to search for the meaning in the word "trance", I found in my search that a trance "resembles sleep, as brought about by hypnosis;" it is an imagination and an act of daydreaming. Trance also means "to pass away, a state of partly suspended animation or inability to function, a somnolent state, a state of profound abstraction or absorption, and an entrance." (Webster) I often refer to it as being "in another world." What I mean about being "in another world" is, for example, you may be physically in class, but your mind is on what you are going to do for the rest of the day. "Trance" coincides with "Celebrating the Alien" because an alien is a foreigner, someone from another nation, country, culture, world, etc. The alien is in a "trance" or "in another world" because the alien does not speak, act, or think like everyone else. For example, people in your world (family, peers, hometown, etc.) may have a mentality of poverty, failure, hopelessness, etc. while your mentality is one of wealth, success, hope, etc. In "Trance", the conflict is eliminating diversity and unity versus promoting diversity and unity among the human race. (Thomas 314-348) The spiritual undercurrent I see in "Trance" is a blindness among those who want diversity and unity eliminated; they are "sleep" in their minds concerning this issue, and they need an awakening. They are "in a trance", sleep, and blind to the importance of having diversity and unity. Today, we need an awakening to the importance of promoting diversity and unity. There is so much division within families, churches, communities, schools, and other institutions. We need a wake up call. As it was in "Trance" will we remain "in a trance", blind, and sleep and just passively watch human diversity and unity vanish before our eyes, or will we wake up and take action to promote human diversity and unity? You decide.
Works Cited
Thomas, Sheree R. Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. New York, NY: Warner Books, 2004. 314- 348 Webster Dictionary. 2005. Retrieved Sept. 14, 2007 from http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/Trance
10 comments:
Erica White
Essay 2
9/24/07
Diversity & Unity vs. Culture & Race in America
“Everybody wants to tell us what a Negro is… But if you tell me who I am, at least take the trouble to discover what I have been” Ralph Ellison.
The focusing question applied to essay: Is diversity possible within a unified society? And if so, does diversity cause more problems? In class we read “Trance” which explored diversity, the elimination of race, and being at war to preserve race. To answer the focus question and to further explore an answer to the question, I read two essays: E. Allen Richard essay “Strangers in this Land: Pluralism and the response to Diversity in the United States,” which focused on Diversity amongst religions and Leon F. Litwack “Black Culture and Black Consciousness,” which explored the historical path to understanding the complexity of black cultures.
We are suppose to be one big melting pot, but I think the pot is boiling over into separate pots. Religion is one subject that causes a lot of diversity in different cultures. Due to different views and assumptions about God and ones belief system, religion causes more problems in society rather than bringing us to be more unified and objective. Having different views on religion isn’t the only thing causing separation, our race causes another issue within the religion community. If I was to go to Dauphin Way Baptist Church, which is predominantly white, I will be looked at as an outcast and some may wonder why I was there. Kalamu Ya Salaam touched on a variety of issues in “Trance.” Race, globalization, eliminating race, and preserving race were among the issues in “Trance.” Race is a man- made form of ones self and a persons’ cultural is who a person is and where that person comes from. In “Black Culture and Black Consciousness,” Litwack seeks to understand different cultures. He notices how the Black experience (slavery and freedom) contributes to the Black culture. Diversity causes issues within races due to different groups who do not want to accept and understand other races and cultures. Richardson explores diversity in religion, which causes problems on a whole other level. Many cultures are built on religion and different races contribute to a certain type of religion. The essay focuses on diversity in the American Life. Richardson’s views and Litwack views both address a diversified society and the movement toward unity. Richardson focuses more on the unity of religion and Litwack focuses more on the unity of races.
Reading all three essays helped me seek out the main problem within diversity, unity, race, and culture. I saw the main problem to be groups wanting to separate themselves instead of becoming one nation with different aspects of life. That was suppose to be the beauty of America, but I think it caused more friction between people in America. Whites saw Blacks as non humans and therefore those two groups were separated from the beginning. The interests of one group may not be the interest of another group and I think that is when groups began to plot to destroy other races and cultures, therefore making it harder to have diversity and unity in America.
Works Cited
Litwack, Leon F. “Black Culture and Black Consciousness” (1978)
Richard, E. Allen. “Strangers in This Land: Pluralism and the response to Diversity in the United States” (1988)
Salaam, Kalamu Ya. “Trance” (2004)
Jeannie K. Holmes
Sept. 24, 2007
EH 468
Essay #2
Globalization vs. Cultural Diversity
“Can we speak of ‘culture’ in the singular? If by ‘culture’ is meant a collective mode of life, or a repertoire of beliefs, styles, values and symbols, then we can only speak of cultures, never just culture; for a collective mode of life […] presupposes different modes and repertoires in a universe of modes and repertoires. Hence, the idea of a ‘global culture’ is a practical impossibility, except in interplanetary terms.” (Smith 171)
A commonly held definition for the term “globalization” is “a process fueled by, and resulting in, increasing cross-border flows of goods, services, money, people, information, and culture (Guillen 236).” While the world has certainly obtained a greater flow of these across borders, has it led to the “global culture” in which everyone is “beige” and the “only color that in OnePlanet is the color of money” as outlined in Kalamu ya Salaam’s short story, Trance?
In order to answer the global culture question, we must first look at the origins of globalization. How and when globalization began is a contested issue among many sociologist, anthropologists, economists, and historians. However, for the purposes of this paper, I will center its beginnings between 1875 and 1925, a time that marked the “time-zoning of the world and the establishment of the international dateline; the near-global adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the adjustable seven-day week; and the establishment of the international telegraphic and signaling codes (Guillen 237).” Since the establishment of these global markers, groups with common interests, and which are not necessarily bound ethnicity or culturally, such as environmental groups and cross-border advocacy groups, have used them to raise awareness of environmental, human and civil rights issues, socioeconomic development, and education within the global consciousness. However, this increased of awareness has not led to Salaam’s feared OnePlant global culture. The question now facing us is why not?
As global awareness increases, Salaam’s characters in Trance fear a decrease in cultural diversity. However, in the real world, the opposite has proven to hold true. As the world seems to “shrink” due to technological advances and the migration – both voluntary and involuntary – of people across borders, “nationalism and religious fundamentalism” have been shown to “‘intensify isomorphism more than they resist it’ (Guillen 245)” and historian Bruce Mazlish argues that “no single global history is anticipated” (Mazlish 4) to result from increased awareness of other cultures.
Convergence, as described by Salaam, “appeals to a profound human desire to find pattern and order in even the most diverse and chaotic situations (Northrup 265).” However, the loss of cultural diversity within this type of convergence is unlikely. Despite fears of losing one’s cultural status or diluting one’s ethnicity through globalization, “there is clear evidence of vibrant cultural diversity in our globalizing world and in the existence of multiple centers of local, regional, and global cultural influence (Northrup 266).” The perspective of convergence, as seen through the concept of globalization, only serves to highlight the diversity among the world’s cultures and contribute to greater global understanding.
Works Cited
Guillen, Mauro F. “Is Globalization Civilizing, Destructive or Feeble? A Critique of Five Key Debates in the Social Science Literature.” Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 27. 2001.
Malish, Bruce. “An Introduction to Global History.” Conceptualizing Global History. Bruce Mazlish and R. Buultjens, ed. Boulder, CO: Westview. 1993.
Northrup, David. “Globalization and the Great Convergence: Rethinking World History in the Long Term.” Journal of World History, Vol. 16, No. 3. 2005.
Roberson. R. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage. 1992.
Smith, A. D. “Towards a Global Culture?” Theory, Cultural Society. 1990.
The Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement are evidence of individuals wanting a pure race for the world and the elimination of anything other than the dominant race. This behavior is still causing turmoil and tumultuous strain on the human race today. Society still has bigots walking around feeling as though their race should dominate and should reign supreme. The Ku Klux Klan, Black Separatists, White Nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and Neo-Confederates are some of the bigots that still exist today and wish to maintain diversity instead of creating a unified people.
Kalamu ya Salaam’s, “Trance,” delves into the issues of diversity and unification amongst people. In the world, everyone was becoming a mixed race, which instilled fear into the hearts of those who were of one race. The Black individuals were becoming the inferior race and believed they should be able to preserve their diversity. This occurs even today in America. There is no inferior race in America. America is a “melting pot,” however; people fear what they do not know. In order to avoid fear individuals simply eliminate anything that is unique or different from what they are accustomed. As in our world, the individuals in this story were at war in order to preserve their race. Perhaps, they were accepting towards unification, but the practicing of their diverse culture was not allowed. People become rebellious, unhappy, and very solemn when they are not allowed to show their individuality. Perhaps, this was one of the underlying causes to the rebel’s revolt in this story. There was such a great want and need for “culture” and “ancestry,” the rebels were willing to do time travel in order to grasp what little reminders they had of the past. However, they were never able to bring back anything physically from their jumps. These time jumps are related to the Santeria Voodoo idea and suggest religious undertones in the story. When the characters would become engaged in a “Trance,” that trance signifies the way in which the Holy Spirit possesses individuals in the church. This ignorance towards unity will never allow people to come together as one.
Andrea Hairston’s, “Mindscape,” addresses the same concerns in her story. This sci-fi story also speaks of the living connecting to some phantom. She feels it is a figment of her imagination speaking old African proverbs. She wanted to block the phantom from her mindscape, unlike the characters in “Trance.” Unlike the individuals in the other reading, the character in this story was uncomfortable with shifting through space. The war started over the same issues as in “Trance.” Some wanted a new world and the old regime wanted diversification. The religious undertones were the same, however, the character in this story sang in order to get through the barrier. The story speaks of Elleni’s emotions raging after the divine connection snapped on page 307; this signifies Elleni’s connection with the Holy Spirit.
Both stories have the same military and religious undertones and address the current problems in society today. If we remain accepting and unbiased towards other people’s religions, gender, and ethnicity, everyone would be able to live in a pleasurable environment. We as a unit would learn more about one another on a personal basis, instead of being so impersonal each day.
Bridget Whalen
Essay 2
9/24/2007
The Race of the Future
Trance is a truly unique story with far out principles and interesting themes running throughout. It is a story of a team of African American individuals who are on a desperate mission to rediscover their history and preserve African American culture or their “Blackness” in a world that is progressing quickly towards one master race. The planet that the characters in the story live on is called One Planet and it is basically a “New Earth.” The concept of this racial mixing is made clear early on in the story when the one of the main characters states, “For me it was simple, no matter how mixed my history: I wanted Blackness always to exist. Everybody turning beige just didn’t appeal to me.” The fact that this story is set in the far off future probably makes it easier for the reader to digest this concept of everyone ending up the same race, but this concept of the racial melting pot has been around for years and is becoming more believable as time goes by.
An article published in USA Today in September of 1999 discusses this very same topic. It states that with the coming of the new millennium that America is set to become a country of blended races. No one would be White or Black, Hispanic, or Asian; we will all be mixed together to form a single race, almost indistinguishable. The U.S. Census Bureau paints the picture that by 2050 the U.S. population that claims mixed ancestry will triple to about 21 percent.
Millions of Americans will be of mixed racial and ethnical backgrounds, giving us the mantra of “them are us and us are them.” The Census Bureau states that one reason for this movement towards racial oneness is the growing number of Hispanic people in America. People of this ethnicity will account for 17% of the population by 2025 and 25% by 2050. The reason for this growth is because of higher fertility rates between the Hispanic and increasing immigration from Latin America. This high number of Hispanic people will result in more and more intermarriage between the races with almost 30% of Hispanics and Asians marrying outside their race already. In 2005 the largest racial group in America were Hispanics, who can be of any race. If people want to get an idea of what our racial future might look like they can look at California now where the white population is shrinking drastically already, and are no longer the majority.
Racial mixing is a trend that is drastically on the rise. Are we all on the way to becoming a master race? Will we soon all be considered Hispanic because we are too mixed to claim anything else? While looking into the future and calculating population is risky, it is easy to see that the idea portrayed in Trance, while maybe not to that extent, is a very real possibility.
Works Cited
Kasindorf, Martin and Maria Puente. “Blended Races Making True Melting Pot.” USA Today 7 September 1999. 21 Sept. 2007 http://canadafirst.net/to_index/americas_demographic_future.html.
Felicia Hall
EH468
Alford
September 19, 2007
“Progress versus Tradition”
As the product of two very socially conscious parents, I have always been taught that all people are the same, regardless of their race, religion or creed and that because of this I should treat all people equally and with respect. My parents made special attention to note that I should not regard people as being of a different race than myself, but rather as someone from a different culture with traditions that contrast my own. Ours is a society in which many people are filled with hostility and tension against anything different from themselves; as such, my views on ‘race’ are much different than the masses’. In “Trance,” Salaam depicts a world in which a group of black people are trying to save their dying race by going back into time and retrieving memories of African-Americans from the past. It seems as though they are fighting “elimination by way of the melting pot” as one of my classmates phrased so well. The undercurrent of the entire short story seems to be that diversity and unity cannot coexist. This proposal greatly bothered me, so I wanted to dig a bit deeper and see what others had to say on the topic. Can unity only exist where there is no diversity? In my exploration of this question I used Jitsuichi Masuoka’s speech “Can Progress in Race Relations Be Measured?”
In her short story “Trance” Kalamu ya Salaam paints a world in which a war rages. There are few black people left on earth after years of interbreeding between the races. A group of black rebels have the sole mission of jumping back through time to retrieve memories of black people in the past in a last-ditch effort to save their race. “Preserving Blackness” seems to be their motto. They are fighting against a world without diversity; globalization has almost fully occurred, and these brave men and women are risking their lives in order to preserve their heritage. Or are they? It seems to me that the characters are fighting for their idea of race, rather than preserving their culture. The social construct of race fuels their fight against OnePlanet. Because of the color of their skin, they perceive themselves as fundamentally different from everyone else. While on the surface, their mission seems admirable, I believe it is not. In the eyes of these characters, diversity and unity are not possible together.
“Change is, indeed, the essence of every vital phenomenon…the relation of races is always in the state of becoming; it is in the process of achieving some sort of equilibrium within itself…” (211). The preceding quote is from the beginning of a speech by Jitsuichi Masuoka titled “Can Progress in Race Relations Be Measured?” As his speech continues, Masuoka asserts that social change is generally a slow, unremarkable process, except in the cases of major crisis situations. When speaking of the conflict between races, particularly between blacks and whites, Masuoka asserts that “the race problem needs to be solved by the parties involved” (212), speaking explicitly to the southern states. He claims that race relations improve more quickly in the cities than in rural areas of the United States. How does he maintain this “problem” in race relations should be fixed? Masuoka never directly answers this question, though it is the thesis of his speech. He makes it clear, however, that progress in race relations will come only through transformation in social organization by means of economic and geographic change (217). The main problem I have with Masuoka’s speech is that he never clarifies what constitutes progress in race relations.
Is it not possible for diversity and unity to coexist? If we are all of the same species (humans) and are therefore all the same save for the color of our skin, why do we need to have such hostility toward anyone who looks or talks differently than ourselves. I believe that there is a certain joy and excitement that comes in learning about the different traditions of different cultures. Just think of how many different styles of food come from different cultures. If we as Americans are so accepting of different styles of food that comes from different cultures, why are we so slow to accept and respect the people of those cultures? It is my position that diversity and unity can coexist when all people have a mutual respect for others. Differences in culture (whether it be manifested in differences in vernacular, styles of clothing, or food) serve only to enrich our lives in the country once termed “The Melting Pot.”
Works Cited
Masuoka, Jitsuichi. “Can Progress in Race Relations Be Measured?” Social Forces, Vol. 25, No. 2. (1946): 211-217.
Salaam, Kalamu ya. “Trance.” Dark Matter: Reading the Bones. Ed. Sheree R. Thomas.New York: Warner Books, 2004. 314-348.
Kathryn Garikes
EH 468 101
September 21, 2007
Trance
Can a world with one race, unification, and no privacy thrive? In one-planet this is the world in which the citizens live. Time does not exist, nor does a world, or any countries. People experience no freedoms, liberties, or privacy but are together as one.
In today’s society, class, race, social standing, confirm the differences within people. Many people hold prejudices and have some form of a racial issue, whatever it may be. No one is unified. Different group and organizations form for individuals who share common interests, but even within these same interest groups diversity still exists.
Diversity is what makes and breaks our present day society. It is one of the things that our nation was founded upon and it is one of the main reasons to many people enter into our country. Most people want freedom, choices, and the power to control their own destinies. People want privacy and rights for themselves.
Different countries have different policies and governmental systems. Some are stricter than others, but all work in some manner. America is a democracy, meaning people who live in and are citizens of this country have the power to make their own decisions and to control their futures. If an American citizen wants to be a bum, they have the right and power to be a bum and if the individual wants to be a millionaire they have that option as well. People can work as hard or as little as they choose. Some American’s have more opportunities readily available at their disposal, but all American citizens do have the power to control their own destinies.
In today’s society people can choose. Class, race, and gender do exist and do affect people’s lives. People have free-will, and the power to choose. In Trance, the characters have no power, differences, uniqueness, or any choices. Yes, they are unified and together, but are they happy?
Works Cited:
Salaam, Kalamu Ya. "Trance." 2004
LaWanda Jones
EH 468-101
September, 21, 2007
The Trance on the African American Community
“I’m not really a fan of hip hop. It just isn’t my type of music.” I said to my sister as we were heading home from the mall. We stopped at a stop light and she turned to me as if I had said that I killed someone. “What!! You’re a black person hip hop is who you are. It’s a part of you.” I could not help but laugh at the comment as I replied, “In biology I don’t remember my teacher ever saying that blacks had a hip hop gene. I’m pretty sure it’s my choice.” My sister just shook her head sadly, “That’s why I think you’re adopted, you’re the only one that doesn’t act black.” Just because I do not like hip hop music I’m not black? Everyday I look in the mirror I see a black woman staring back at me. I’m just a black woman that wants to be myself . I decided to wake up from the trance most African Americans seem to be in.
There is a part in the story “Trance” by Kalamu ya Salaam that made me think hard about this topic. “Each of them looks like they are sleeping or dead and they are neither. They are suspended. Their minds are gone…but their spirit, the life force…if they had the life force they could get up and move and think and respond.” When I read this I was blown away. That is the perfect way in sci-fi terms to express the way most African American people are today. They choose to act the way that is expected of them. Their spirit or life force is forgotten and we lose the true individual. They are not themselves, just a body with no spirit or individuality. When you think about it like this, it is sad. To hide the person you are just to fit into an image of what being an African American should be. When you decide to fall into this trance, you lose your right to believe in anything. You lose the right to speak out on what makes you angry or happy. You throw away the chance to try to free others from this trance so that as a community we are able to wake up and be our true selves. It is sad that you cease to be the person you were about to become because you decided not to follow the path less traveled. Those of us who have not lost their spirit should take the jump and rescue the ones that are so deep in the trance. It’s about time they all woke up don’t you agree?
Past VS. Present
The Second Law of Thermodynamics section let its readers understand what it was like to be on the 1997 Black Speculative Fiction Writers Conference panel. Each author involved in this section had some personal aspect involved. For most, the personal aspect involved his or her sexuality preference or race. I just cannot understand what race or sexuality has to do with selling a book.
On page one of the essay, Jewell Gomez writes that the main character of her book was a woman of color, a lesbian, and a vampire. Her book was considered
“unsellable” because of these characteristics her main character possessed. This was personal to Gomez because she possessed two of the three characteristics. As I read this,I wondered if society has changed over time.
Gomez stated, “Years later, when Professor’s Mary A. Twining and N’Diaye invited me to participate in the 28th annual writers’ conference at Clarke Atlanta University, I felt like I finally got the last laugh.” This statement is very true and answers
my question. Gomez was finally treated as a speculative fiction writer. Her books were praised and she was proud to be a part of the time when things changed for the better.
Steven Barnes grew up being told blacks do not write. He knew, in his heart, he was supposed to be a writer. He used his stories to get him out of being beat up by bullies. It was like a safe haven. Now, he writes screenplays and much more.
One specific book that stood out to me is Amberlight. This is a novel, not yet published, by Sylvia Kelso. This book stands out because the main character is a woman of color and Kelso has already had wonderful interviews and readers have pre-ordered her book.
In conclusion, I have given various authors and their dealings with being of color, having a colored main character, or facing the cruel world. This proves the answer to my question earlier… time has changed and people are looking past what is on the outside, and looking at what counts.
Works Cited
Cooper, Carol. “The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Transcription of a Panel at the
1997 Black Speculative Fiction Writers Conference Held at Clarke Atlanta University.” Dark Matter: Reading The Bones. Ed. Sheree R. Thomas. New York: Warner Books, 2004. 349-368.
McDonnell, Carol. Interview with Sylvia Kelso: Feminist, Speculative Fiction Writer,
Author of Amberlight, Part One. 28 August 2007. Accessed on 14 September 2007. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/08/28/172530.php
Steve Barnes Biography. Accessed on 14 September 2007.
http://www.lifewrite.com/html/about.htm
Second Law of Thermodynamics in SF
The world we live in can be a scary place sometimes. Harsh realities of hopeless perceptions are transmitted via world media. I find myself wondering whether or not we truly are the smartest, most capable animals (for leadership) on this planet, but it seems we've won by default. Daily, we deal with racism, sexism, and social status. For people on the receiving end of endless criticism for things they can’t control, there is the second law of thermodynamics.
Everything in our world has a beginning and an end. Food goes bad. Cars break down. Roads need to be repaved. Even mountains fall to repeated wind and rain attacks. Although these are all very common examples, the world doesn’t usually look at life in this way. While many people struggle to find avenues to immortality, most ignore the second law of thermodynamics: everything will eventually come to an end. Just like the cars and roads and food, today’s hate and greed will also eventually come to an end.
With The Second Law of Thermodynamics, the main thing I took from the reading was the escape in Science Fiction. The escape: A trip to another universe where it doesn’t matter what race or sex you are, because the creatures aren’t even human; a trip to a world that has seen a million religions come and go, and so doesn’t discriminate; a planet where people can live forever, and outgrow their childish ideas. The strength of the second law of thermodynamics is that with science fiction, the reader is left with a feeling of optimism. Even though life may get tough, and being discriminated against or falsely generalized is unfair, the feelings and attitudes of the people who are at fault will change (or die). There is hope for a better world. Maybe if everyone had a more realistic grasp on their dwindling reality, we could all focus on using the little time we have on earth to make it wonderful for everyone.
Trance
As I began to search for the meaning in the word "trance", I found in my search that a trance "resembles sleep, as brought about by hypnosis;" it is an imagination and an act of daydreaming. Trance also means "to pass away, a state of partly suspended animation or inability to function, a somnolent state, a state of profound abstraction or absorption, and an entrance." (Webster) I often refer to it as being "in another world." What I mean about being "in another world" is, for example, you may be physically in class, but your mind is on what you are going to do for the rest of the day.
"Trance" coincides with "Celebrating the Alien" because an alien is a foreigner, someone from another nation, country, culture, world, etc. The alien is in a "trance" or "in another world" because the alien does not speak, act, or think like everyone else. For example, people in your world (family, peers, hometown, etc.) may have a mentality of poverty, failure, hopelessness, etc. while your mentality is one of wealth, success, hope, etc.
In "Trance", the conflict is eliminating diversity and unity versus promoting diversity and unity among the human race. (Thomas 314-348) The spiritual undercurrent I see in "Trance" is a blindness among those who want diversity and unity eliminated; they are "sleep" in their minds concerning this issue, and they need an awakening. They are "in a trance", sleep, and blind to the importance of having diversity and unity.
Today, we need an awakening to the importance of promoting diversity and unity. There is so much division within families, churches, communities, schools, and other institutions. We need a wake up call. As it was in "Trance" will we remain "in a trance", blind, and sleep and just passively watch human diversity and unity vanish before our eyes, or will we wake up and take action to promote human diversity and unity? You decide.
Works Cited
Thomas, Sheree R. Dark Matter:
Reading the Bones. New York,
NY: Warner Books, 2004. 314-
348
Webster Dictionary. 2005.
Retrieved Sept. 14, 2007 from
http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/Trance
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