#very much in a eurocentric colonial way

[andyevej]

There can only be one Ra // WIP

still on my grind of never finishing anything

[headspace-hotel]

I saw this book entitled "Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do is Ask" by Mary Siisip Genuisz and i thought oh I HAVE to read that. The author is Anishinaabe and the book is all about Anishinaabe teachings of the ways of the plants.

Going from the idiotic, Eurocentric, doomerist colonialism apologia of that "Cambridge companion to the anthropocene" book, to the clarity and reasonableness of THIS book, is giving me whiplash just about.

I read like 130 pages without even realizing, I couldn't stop! What a treasure trove of knowledge of the ways of the plants!

Most of them are not my plants, since it is a different ecosystem entirely (which gives me a really strikingly lonely feeling? I didn't know I had developed such a kinship with my plants!) but the knowledge of symbiosis as permeating all things including humans—similar to what Weeds, Guardians of the Soil called "Nature's Togetherness Law"—is exactly what we need more of, exactly what we need to teach and promote to others, exactly what we need to heal our planet.

She has a lot of really interesting information on how knowledge is created and passed down in cultures that use oral tradition. The stories and teachings she includes are a mix of those directly passed down by her teacher through a very old heritage of knowledge holders, stories with a newer origin, and a couple that have an unknown origin and (I think?) may not even be "authentically" Native American at all, but that she found to be truthful or useful in some way. She likes many "introduced" plants and is fascinated by their stories and how they came here. (She even says that Kudzu would not be invasive if we understood its virtues and used it the way the Chinese always have, which is exactly what I've been saying!!!)

She seems a bit on the chaotic end of the spectrum in regards to tradition, even though she takes tradition very seriously—she says the way the knowledge of medicinal and otherwise useful plants has been built, is that a medicine person's responsibility is not simply to pass along teachings, but to test and elaborate upon the existing ones. It is a lot similar to the scientific method, I would call it a scientific method. Her way of seeing it really made me understand the aliveness of tradition and how there is opportunity, even necessity, for new traditions based upon new ecological relationships and new cultural connections to the land.

I was gut punched on page 15 when she says that we have to be careful to take care of the Earth and all its creatures, because if human civilization destroys the biosphere the rocks and winds will be left all alone to grieve for us.

What a striking contrast to the sad, cruel ideas in the Cambridge companion of the Anthropocene, where humans are some kind of disease upon the Earth that oppresses and "colonizes" everything else...!...The Earth would GRIEVE for us!

We are not separate from every other thing. We have to learn this. If I can pass along these ideas to y'all through my silly little posts, I will have lived well.

[alpaca-clouds]

What if Colonialism had not happened?

(Completely honest here: I did not plan that this blog fell onto this week. I mean, while I had suspicions for a while that Nocturne was gonna feature colonialism this heavily, I did not know. I just planned out the times for my posts and this happened...)

Let me talk a bit about history and once more about the fact that, no, history is not inevitable.

A lot of alternate history tends to be more right leaning. And it tends to be very eurocentric. Even if we talk about "what if Columbus did not come to America" it ends up being about how it would have changed European history. Not about what it would have meant for literally everyone else.

Now, we could talk a lot about "how could it not have happened?", but the thing is that there are so many little things that could have done different. For once, of course, if the crusades had happened differently, colonialism probably would not have happened the way it did. (Because boy howdy, those things were connected.)

If the Reconquista movement of Spain had failed, there is a good chance that Columbus never would have gotten the funds to do his expedition to find India the long way around - and hence would never have gotten to America. Which might not have guaranteed that Africa, Asia and Pacifica would not have been colonized, but if that had happened it would have changed the way it happened considerably.

The reason I pose the question however is, to make clear another thing. See, one of the reasons that a lot of alternate history tends to be so completely desinterested in what happened outside of Europe and MAYBE (East) Asia, is the racist believe that outside of Europe and (East) Asia there was basically no civilization going on. The idea that basically outside of Europe and Asia people were some hunter/gatherer normads without... anything. Sure, people tend to be somewhat aware of the the Maya and the Mexico (Aztec) people, but not much outside of it. But there were. There were cities and there was agriculture. There were so many different cultures in the Ameircas alone.

And of course it was not just the Americas. It was Afrika, too. It was the parts Asia that folks tend to act as if they were not civilized.

And yes, that is the reason that I pose the question. It is not that I have an answer. Because it is hard to say what would have happened in that way. There is a good chance that the pre-colonial empires still might have fallen one way or another. There is a good chance that some of the cultures that were eradicated through genocide might have died off in some other way, too.

But we also know is that millions, who died through the volence colonialism would have lived. Not all of them would have had full lives, of course not. But many more than had in the real world, in the real history.

We often look at history and accept it as inevitable in one way or another. But it wasn't. There were people that made the active decisions to do all those horrible things. Not only those in power, but also those following orders.

Just to make it clear: There is a good chance that something between 80 and 100 million people lived in the Americas alone before contact with Columbus. And now just look at the figures above and realize... how many people were just... killed in one way or another.

[makapatag]

ruminating on the leftism that guides much of my thinking. i'm avoiding the very common pitfall of simply applying theory (written by people benefiting from colonialism a few hundred years ago) to living conditions here in the neocolony of america and looking for ways to actually apply historical dialectic into here--it takes a lot of self awareness because as with all things the majority left position in the philippines is based off of joma sison's MLM-ness and the struggle for a national democracy, which has now kind of devolved into a ultranationalist jerk off between colonial intelligentsia and constant protesting and rallying. whenever they are challenged by the state, the main response is that "everything they've been doing is completely legal" and that nothing they've done is wrong. of course, paradoxically, as Mark Fisher writes in capitalist realism, much of this ends up just reifying capitalist reals and borders, and neatly squares away activism into yet another portion of capitalist life. activism (now also commonly romanticized by so many of those in the middle class to the petty bourgeois) is now subsumed into capitalism.

of course, from my point of view, doing something is better than doing nothing. i've participated in the movements of the national democratic mass organizations of the PH (anakbayan, etc.) (and still do, though my capacity has become limited and i'm focusing on supporting the communities closest to me for the time being) but they're increasingly becoming a sort of ideological stepping stone and for the most part i believe they have been completely subsumed into capitalist ideology.

i think the philippines is largely mostly just capitalist now, even with some modes of tenancy in the countryside seeming feudal, it operates entirely within a capitalist mode of view and application.

i don't subscribe to the sort of unilinear evolution of societies espoused by some soviet theorists (the classless -> slave -> feudal -> capitalist -> communist thing)--a lot of classical leftist and marxist theories can be pretty easily seen as sort of eurocentric. that's no bash, that's just the work of limited perspective. future marxists like fanon expand the marxist perspective greatly, though they seem to be largely ignored by the white bourgeois in my experience

i think ph leftism should be a lot more aware of local ideas on society, and use that to sort of influence and shape their leftism. a lot of leftists sort of scoff at "precolonial studies" as sort of cute at best and absolutely ethnocentric backwardism at worst (many ph leftists know jack shit about precolonial ph and/or seasia in general due to the education system of the philippines and the america-centric culture of the metropoles)

if we apply historical materialist dialectic all the way back to pre-hispanic times we get a treasure trove of societies to contrast and synthesize upon. a shared culture and binding connections with the rest of asia. the ideal state is of course international consciousnesses and solidarity--one that doesn't fall into the trap of capitalist reification through nationalism and the enforcement of the cacophony of signifiers that only serves to reinforce capitalist structures (jingles, voting, art that just regurgitates old socialist aesthetic, revolutionary art that doesn't really say anything because these artists lack proper class consciousness and/or perspective [many ph left artists come from the metropoles after all and/or have been subsumed into nationalist agenda through education systems and the need to belong in communities, art ph being one particularly egregious example that reinforces nationalist signifiers while becoming ignorant of the signified).

all in all the philippine left is completely defeated, as a movement. many leftists adopt anarchist tendencies, joyful militancies, try to live outside of the confines of communism through communes or living in the mountains. if we are to have any chance of challenging capitalism the ph left must interrogate its own biases, interrogate nationalism, review its literature, and then look inward, look to fellow tribes and societies, avoid the interventionist failures of soviet societies, and actually fight for a world that won't just degrade into more wage-labor slavery

"that's idealistic!" if you're shooting for the moon you land on the stars. the direction of the movement is more important than the speed. i fully believe ideological recourse is needed in the ph left--some might even say if there is a ph left still. i wouldn't mind abolishing the idea altogether--the left is still a eurocentric categorization after all. perhaps its time for a new revolution that interrogates current structures, even within so-called progressive organizations, with violent indignation, and finds a way to upend capitalism through a firm grasp in pre-capitalist structures and international ties

[lesbian-disaster-academic]

hi!! I really love your blog🥹🥹if it’s okay with you, can you give me some advices how to wire a good essay? I am really struggling maybe due to adhd or is it just because of me it just seems really hard and I would REALLY appreciate your advice (no pressure ❤️) thank you, have a nice day!!❤️

Hi! Thank you so much! This is such a good question, and I'd be happy to help you out as best I can! First of all, I completely empathize with you! Essays can be really tricky, and it takes some practice to get a hang of it. I know how frustrating it can be (cut-scene to me lying on the floor, curled up in a ball and on the verge of tears because I can't get the words to go), but try to be kind to yourself! Take breaks and ask for help when you need it! And remember to eat and stay hydrated! Very important!

Secondly, I'm situating this within the framework of the dominant education system within the West (as that's what I'm most familiar with). I don't necessarily agree with all of these points (e.g., what is considered "credible" according to dominant settler-colonial educational institutions is grounded in eurocentric, classist, racist, sexist, etc. ideologies, which exclude very valuable and important forms of knowledge and learning). Regardless, this advice should hopefully help you write within that general framework! Good luck, anon!

STEP ONE: GETTING STARTED

If you have trouble focusing (as I do!), there are a couple of tricks you can try! These won't work for everyone, and they might not work all the time, but I like to give them a shot when I feel like I'm at a dead-end. BODY-DOUBLING: Get someone to sit with you while you're doing your work. Alternatively, I've heard that joining a "study with me" livestream can help make your brain get into that "writing" mode.

FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT: Pretend you're someone else. I know it sounds silly, but bear with me for a moment. When I can't focus, I pretend I'm a world-class scholar who's working on her great manuscript (even though, in reality, I'm some sleep-deprived dumbass scrawling an essay at three in the morning). This can help to shift your perception and give you motivation to keep going

CHANGE IT UP: ADHD brains thrive on novelty. Try switching up your environment a little bit. Sometimes, it helps me to work on the opposite end of my desk. Occasionally, I'll even grab my laptop and sit UNDER my desk, just to add some variety and try to kick my brain into gear.

STEP TWO: BRAINSTORMING

Okay, so you're ready to go! Great! We want to come up with some ideas for the essay! I usually like to do this by making a mind map. I'm very tired, so here's a rough sketch of what it might look like!

And a quick example (again, I'm very tired, so this is just the skeleton, sorry)!

STEP THREE: RESEARCHING

Depending on how you like to structure your brainstorming, this can either come before or after step two! Either way, when you're doing research, you want to look for a few key things in your sources. I'll list some of them here

How recent is this information? If it's something like a historical or literary essay, of course primary sources are best, so it's okay to use very old documents! However, if we're writing a scientific research paper, we want to use more up-to-date info.

Is the author an expert in what they're discussing? Look at their credentials.

What is the purpose of the information? Is the source trying to teach us something, or is it trying to sell us something?

Try using Google Scholar! The "Advanced Search" settings can be particularly helpful!

STEP FOUR: OUTLINING

Now we have all our information, and we have an idea of what we'd like to say! Try placing it in an outline, such as the one I created below (Sorry, this is a very incomplete outline. Again. Very very tired. On the verge of falling asleep as I'm writing this lol). Please note that this outline is more for generating a basic idea of what you want to say. Post-secondary education (at least where I live) doesn't rely on this format as much, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

STEP FIVE: DRAFTING

Time for your first draft! Try putting everything together into one document! Remember: it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to get written. I'll add some pointers below!

Remember to use transitional terms/phrases. For instance, "however", "then", "first", "therefore", "in conclusion"! These help your writing flow smoothly!

Spellcheck. I'm a professional author, and even I mess up my spelling from time to time, so I treat spellcheck as a dear friend lol.

Always remember to format your proof as a sandwich. The intro to your proof is like the bread, the quote/proof/statistic is the filling, and the explanation and elaboration is the other piece of bread. This will help to structure your writing!

STEP SIX: EDITING

Yay, you made it! Time to edit! You can get someone to read over your work! You can also use a checklist, such as the one I've included below!

(full checklist)

Okay, that's about it! On a final note, REMEMBER TO CITE YOUR SOURCES! Google Docs has a built-in citation tool, if that helps! Software like Zotero can also be great, but my go-to is always Purdue OWL.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!

[blackautmedia]

So I found your post on ToTK insightful, but one thing I didn’t see you cover is how according to the narrative, when Zelda went back 10,000 years she went to her distant relatives. It was still her kingdom, just very early. What do you think of how this ties in to the themes you were talking about?

Sure thing! Hope I can address this well.

For those not in the know, this is the post we're discussing--the Orientalism of the Mummy in Dehydrated Ganon.

I also want to qualify this with two things:

I'm not Native. I'm a Black person speaking as someone who also has a heritage closely related to colonial violence and white supremacy, but not someone who can speak for Native people. I can only go by what more experienced people have said and books and readings from them.

I'm using the word "Native" which itself encompasses several different people. I don't use this to imply they are the same or interchangeable with the cultural practices and ideas the Zelda franchise is drawing from.

To your question, I feel it doesn't really change much thematically because neither Zelda nor any of the Hylians in the present day have any cultural features, practices, or attitudes that codify her as a Native person except as a costume or set of resources and knowledge associated with her.

It's not portrayed as if it's her heritage she's been disconnected with, but is effectively portrayed as a white person being introduced to an entirely new culture in how exoticized it is.

With the Zonai, their coded status comes in the form of their way of dressing, the Geoglyphs being Nazca lines, the designs of the shrines, the Zonaite outfit Link has, etc. It also narratively shows up in how it's framed as "archaic" in-game as referenced by the naming of the armor related to the Zonai versus the white rule the land has in the present day and how they're portrayed and characterized around extinction.

It's almost point for point the exact narratives and ideas about Native people colonizers use in real life. Native people imagined as a people who no longer exist but still had worthwhile resources better suited in civilized (white) hands.

A big part of why the myth of Native extinction gets pushed so hard in real life (and in turn is repeated and propagandized in media about Native or Native-coded characters) is because it reframes how we talk about recompense for them.

If you imagine a world and buy into the repeat narrative of Native people all being extinct, there's nobody left to do right by. It helps shape the conversations around policies and decisions by people in power.

Things like environmental justice, land back initiatives, reparations, healthcare access, and many other things Native people advocate for are pushed aside by erasing the people fighting for it. It's a form of colonial erasure meant to justify inaction.

So while Zelda technically is a descendant of the Zonai, the story doesn't really do anything with that to challenge the way it's recreating a colonial narrative about Native people. We've historically seen her as a pure white woman, one whose purity is contrasted with the toxicity and dangerous wickedness of Ganon.

The few times we do get characters with features or a heritage that deviate from eurocentrism (ex. Nabooru, Urbosa, Demise, Princess Hilda, Tetra, Midna, Ganon, Sonia, Telma, etc.) they're either the villain, sympathetic only in how they directly align and submit to Hyrule's power as one of the "good ones" or they're just murdered or erased from the story entirely.

The Gerudo are out looking for boyfriends, but we overwhelmingly see this in relation to white men in-game despite there being numerous dark-skinned Zelda characters in their partners and even in who is spying on them or trying to sneak into Gerudo town as a bunch of creeps.

Zelda as a franchise is very dedicated to positioning whiteness as inherently superior and more desirable.

The (white) Hylians have a god-given right to control and rule, and all of the non-white races of people are better off for it. While Zelda is technically a descendant of a Zonai, we still see her effectively as an innocent and almost holy white woman.

The franchise operates on the idea that some people are born with magic abilities and are essentially destined to rule over others and that any challenge to that superiority is inherently evil. The characters who ever challenge that are either villains or are antagonized and cut down for it.

[thevisibilityarchives]

Dune: Part Two (2024), Denis Villeneuve

BIPOC

Dune: Part Two and the Discussion of MENA Representation

Review Link: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/profiles/ratings/WYdFQDHR9tGJf9wiWXh8ZFR8iGGCaLHwBhawIZ0ubbCexiapiJVTWOFeeCzdIpjhmXFp4u11CYNTl4fOPSWQfkWC6bIb6SyBFVXfO4TZzc4m/movie

Following its much-anticipated release, the long-awaited second installation of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation has proven itself a sci-fi spectacle that must be experienced to be believed. 

It’s an outrageous combination of awe-inspiring cinematography, adept writing, and the talents of an all-star cast topped off by a score by veteran composer Hans Zimmer. The result: a feast for the senses that presents the stark realization that films on a scale this epic only come around once or twice a generation.

For those unfamiliar with the source material, the full extent of how truly epic this is may be lost. Part of the beauty of Dune is that Villeneuve simplified the story in such a way that it can be understood by moviegoers with no connection whatsoever to author Frank Herbert’s novel, or ever-having-seen the adaptations by David Lynch or SyFy (f/k/a Sci Fi). Within this simplification, the story of Dune doesn’t become reductive, nor are essential plot points lost. Like all adaptations, there are components lost, however even compared to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings it can be argued that fewer creative liberties have been taken, and the ones that have been are worthy of discussion. 

Some of these changes are adaptations inherent to the modernization of source material written by a white man in the 1960s. While science fiction has arguably been a haven for progressive ideas, it still faces the limitations of the author's society and the popular sentiments of their time. 

Environmentalism, non-traditional relationships, the loss of innocence, and the power of femininity are all topics brought to life by Frank Herbert in his original novel–adeptly at times, sloppily in others. Decades later, Villeneuve irons out some of the flaws: the white savior narrative, the depiction of women, and the dreadful attempts to depict witch children.

These changes along with the skillful dedication to a remarkable piece of science fiction create what will undoubtedly be looked upon as a classic in due time, yet has been met with some degree of controversy for its depiction–or lack thereof of one group. 

Created in their image, the Fremen were shaped after those of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with the Islamic faith making up aspects of their religion and the Middle East serving as the very essence of Arrakis. Yet in casting, MENA actors were notably absent from these roles, and the focus on much of the Fremen culture was notably absent, leaving many to question why.

Dune’s Roots in the Middle East

Written in 1965, Dune is considered one of the most remarkable science-fiction books of all time. Part of this significance is because, in 1965, it was a book that attained popularity while being so fervently against the cliches present in normal bestsellers: moral absolutes, Eurocentrism, and Western imperialism. 

For over a decade, we have now come to cherish and normalize media that centers around morally gray and ambiguous characters. We actively seek out things that de-center white, straight, and cisgender narratives. Yet in 1965, a world wherein the United States had barely de-segregated, homosexuality was outlawed across most of the world, and Christian colonialism efforts still ran rampant across many nations? A book challenging the status quo was impactful. 

The representation of MENA culture is intrinsic to everything that Dune is, from its language to its scenery to the music present in Villeneuve’s adaptations. Set primarily on the desert world of Arrakis, Herbert based the topography of the planet on regions of the Pacific Northwestern United States, yet its allegorical implications are clear. 

Arrakis is home to melange or “spice”, a heavily-coveted resource that grants extended longevity, bestows metaphysical abilities, and fuels interstellar travel. The latter is perhaps the most commercially beneficial of the three, and drives colonization of Arrakis, as well as the oppression and subsequent eradication of its Indigenous peoples.  

Within his writing, Herbert created a clear mirror of our own world: a desert region, plagued by war, aggression, and despoilment of the environment all for the sake of natural resources. In our own world, that resource is oil, and our Arrakis is the Middle East. 

Arriving just as environmental advocacy began to take off in the 1970s, The History Channel states “Many environmentalists interpreted Dune as a critique of the oil industry, with Herbert’s friend Willis E. McNelly writing that the empire’s reliance on spice can “be construed as a thinly veiled allegory of our world’s insatiable appetite for oil and other petroleum products” (Greenspan 2024). Perhaps more salient are the linguistics of Dune, which are directly composed of Arabic words. Throughout the book, both the Fremen, the Indigenous peoples of Arrakis as well as other factions of the world are described using Arabic language. Manvar Singh writes:

“The language with the greatest influence in “Dune” is Arabic. In the novel, the Fremen use at least eighty terms with clear Arabic origins, many of them tied to Islam. The Fremen follow istislah (“natural law”) and ilm (“theology”). They respect karama (“miracle”) and ijaz (“prophecy”), and are attentive to ayat (“signs”) and burhan (“proof”) of life. They quote the Kitab al-Ibar, or “Book of Lessons,” an allusion to the encyclopedia of world history penned by the fourteenth-century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun. Central characters are dignified with Arabic names. The colossal sandworms are called shai-hulud (“thing of eternity”). Paul Atreides’s sister is Alia (“exalted”). Paul himself is known as Muad’Dib, an epithet that resembles the Arabic word for teacher (mu’addib), and he is fabled to be the Lisan al-Gaib, translated in the book as “Voice of the Outer World” but which, in modern Arabic, means something closer to “Tongue of the Unseen.”

Then of course comes the music, composed by industry titan Hans Zimmer who broke his longstanding alliance with director Christopher Nolan to focus on Dune and Dune: Part Two. In creating his score, Zimmer explored a full range of instruments in a way he claimed he had not since scoring The Lion King. Utilizing vocalists, an array of culturally diverse instruments, and spending ample time listening to the sounds of the desert, he synthesized the music together to intentionally create a soundtrack intended to mimic the experience of a spice-induced trip in a desert sandstorm, embraced by the energy of the divine feminine. 

An Absence of MENA

With the depth of these roots in Middle Eastern culture, it would stand to reason that Dune would feature a sizeable cast. In addition to the Arabic language, Fremen religion heavily mirrors Islam, and while there are certainly Caucasian converts–we are focusing on a war for Arrakis and its Indigenous peoples.

Upon first glance at the Fremen in the first installation of Dune, we see a spattering of brown and black faces. Most notable are actress Zendaya who is biracial, and Javier Bardem, who is Spanish. Further introduction to the rest of the Fremen reveals similar casting choices among billed actors. 

It’s straightforward: “Despite the film's obvious inspirations, there are no leading actors of Middle Eastern or North African heritage.” (Shah, 2024) 

And why does this matter? When we beg the question of the difference between appropriation and appreciation, the deliberation includes questions about participation. Without the participation of the cultures involved, representation warps into fetishization at best, and appropriation at worst. 

Dune is a tale that warns us about the harms of colonialism, environmental despoilment, and religious extremism. Villeneuve’s version takes care to approach the topic of colonialism with extra caution, approaching painting the Fremen not as a singular unit that can easily be converted by the right white savior, but as a multitude of people with different beliefs. Some fundamentalists believe deeply in their faith and follow the direction of Paul and the prophecy instilled (falsely) by the Bene Gessirit. Then there are the detractors like Chani who have seen attempts at colonialism before, and who shy away from religion for that exact region. They reject Paul’s so-called place as the Chosen One–and any outsider who should lead them. 

To make these changes shows consideration on Villeneuve’s part. To fail to recognize the importance of casting actors of Middle Eastern and North African descent in a story directly inspired by a culture based on the Middle East and North Africa shows a distinct lack of it. 

A New Decade of MENA Representation

So, why such a prolific absence of MENA representation when it would truly make an impact? We need to examine two factors 1.) the overall distancing from Islamic culture within Villeneuve’s adaptation, and 2.) how filmmaking in a post 9/11 world has changed the representation of Islamic characters. 

As an adaptation of Herbert’s novel, Villeneuve takes the traditional liberties with the source material that a director is known for in bringing a book to the big screen. The core tenants remain, and many of the most important phrases and elements are retained. Yet to make the adaptation accessible to audiences unfamiliar with previous adaptations or the book it has been simplified. 

This simplification allows Villeneuve to pour energy into enhancing other aspects of the film. He drastically expands upon the female characters within the film, giving them purpose outside of appeasing Paul, bewitching men, or narrating his life.

With adaptation comes a loss of the “finer details”. In addition to the distinct lack of MENA actors, there is a drastic reduction in the language, and of course, scenes depicting Fremen's way of life and culture. These include rites of inheritance, polygyny (not to be confused with polyamory), and the decidedly not-Islamic-inspired ritual orgy that occurs following Jessica’s confirmation as the new Mother Superior of the tribe. 

These departures (the orgy notwithstanding, undoubtedly shed without a thought to maintain the film's PG-13 rating) are but a few of the cultural aspects sanitized from a story showcasing Arabic inspiration. Though it’s impossible to diminish it completely. Looking back through Villeneuve’s background, we can speculate on his reasons for this and perhaps consider whether it was done with intent. 

Following the September 11th attacks, Hollywood faced years of missteps in the representation of MENA characters onscreen, who were then stereotyped in the roles of jihadists, an imminent threat to the West for years to come. It didn’t matter whether the film took place in the past or present, the ideals were functionally the same. 

A notable example is Zack Snyder’s 300, adapted from Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name. Published in 1998, Snyder brought the film to life in 2006, where it received mixed critical reviews, and uproar internationally for its depiction of Iranians in the Spartan and Persian Battle at Thermopylae.

Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro portrays the antagonist King Xerxes as an effeminate gold-painted and pompous self-proclaimed God-king who seeks to drive forward a kingdom of sexual slavery. Leonidus, portrayed by Gerard Butler and his 300 men stand fierce to beat back Xerxes' soldiers and defend the good people of Sparta from slavery, the injustice of war, and the bleakness of what Xerxes promises. 

Yet the historical inaccuracy is ripe, and rewritten to appeal to Western notions of glory and sentiment. Historian Gary Leupp of Tufts challenged the film, explaining” In short: 300's depiction of the battle of Thermopylae is not merely inaccurate, as any film adaptation of a graphic novel has the perfect right to be. It's what the Iranians say it is: racist and insulting. It pits the glorious Greeks with whom the audience must sympathize against a "mystical" and "tyrannical" culture posing an imminent existential threat. It is, de facto, an anti-Persian/anti-Iranian propaganda film” (2007). In his statement, he explicitly breaks down the inaccuracies regarding the history of Xerxes and Persia versus the representation seen onscreen, which can be found in the citations link below. 

300 was but one example on the big screen. The late ‘00s/early ‘10s was the period of high-stakes television and as well. Shows like Homeland brought A-list performers like Claire Danes onscreen and normalized Islamophobia. Numerous forms of media following the attacks have depicted Muslims as “extremists, barbaric, insidious, and untrustworthy”. 

What many of us forget about is the very simple passage of time and the birth of new generations. Within a few short years, Gen Z has arisen, all but forgetting the pain and anxiety born of the September 11th attacks and seemingly everything that came with it–after all, none of them can even remember the day. 

In addition to that they are a generation born amidst an era of rapid information cycling and trend generation, and place an importance on publicly presenting their morality on their sleeve. All of this combined means the lessons, hardships, and mistakes of the past–can be forgotten quicker than we can imagine, and expectations to adhere to newly defined ideals of what is politically correct are defined seemingly overnight. 

It can be hard to keep up with. Especially if one is still concerned with the trials that seemed so important–and still are–ten years ago. Given the thought Villeneuve put into expanding upon aspects of Dune, it is difficult to imagine he didn’t put thought into how issues of problematic representation of MENA could arise. 

Ali-Karjoo Ravary writing for Al Jazeera pointed out during the release of the first installation of the film that the brand marketing changed up some of the wording of the film, stating “a crusade is coming” which marked an intentional difference from the book’s statement of “a jihad is coming”. Wording matters, as “Herbert’s nuanced understanding of jihad shows in his narrative. He did not aim to present jihad as simply a “bad” or “good” thing. Instead, he uses it to show how the messianic impulse, together with the apocalyptic violence that sometimes accompanies it, changes the world in uncontrollable and unpredictable ways.” (2020)

Of course, Herbert’s interpretation is an empathetic view and not one shared by many people with biases against those who pray to any god without white skin. While he tries, Paul ultimately succumbs to his will and manipulates the Fremen into following his aims to declare war on the galaxy. As the Fremen are proven to be some of the most formidable fighters we have seen and Paul’s manipulations are aided thanks to religious seeds planted by his mother’s order, this becomes a jihad in every way. He is the prophet. They are his holy avengers.

To cast MENA actors in these roles would once again fill slots of extreme religious fundamentalists, and this time, ones following a white man–no matter how nuanced the film has been made. Granted, as actors, they have a choice. Choosing representation is better than having none, however, if they had the conversation would likely then become “Dune: Part Two is a stereotype of MENA actors”. 

Is there a middle ground? There is of course, and this is where we notice the overt failure of casting directors in Hollywood. Following the criticism of the first film, Part Two touted its hiring of Swiss actress Souheila Yacoub who is of Tunisian descent. She played the role of one of the Northern Fremen, who stand against Paul’s attempts to co-opt their culture. Yet from the beginning, why not more featured characters? Why not Stilgar, Chani, Jamis, or even a surprise role similar to the one Anya-Taylor Joy played? 

While post-9/11 Islamophobia may have ebbed before the War on Gaza, we’ve entered a time where even the Hollywood excuse for “star power” fails when we remember the global world we now live in. Whether they are stars in their land or Americans with parents or religious heritage, there’s little to no excuse for the continued erasure and diminishment of culture onscreen–and in time Hollywood will come to know it. 

Citations: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/profiles/ratings/WYdFQDHR9tGJf9wiWXh8ZFR8iGGCaLHwBhawIZ0ubbCexiapiJVTWOFeeCzdIpjhmXFp4u11CYNTl4fOPSWQfkWC6bIb6SyBFVXfO4TZzc4m/movie

1. Maxwell D. Post-colonial Christianity in Africa. In: McLeod H, ed. The Cambridge History of Christianity. Cambridge History of Christianity. Cambridge University Press; 2006:401-421.

[backwardblackbyrd]

hi!!!

i'm reading the essay Trans. Panic. : Some Thoughts toward a Theory of Feminist Fundamentalism by Bobby Noble and i need someone else to read it also so we can discuss!!!

below the cut is a ....summary (?) i suppose (?) of the essay because if i don't talk about it i'm going to explode lol

so i'm in the process of reading it a second time because it's Very Dense and uses....a lot of jargon (some real, some created within the essay lol) but i'm eating this up because it's critically engaging with the following ideas:

• academic feminism functions within (and not in opposition to) the institution of higher learning which is inherently intertwined with systems of oppression (capitalism, hetro cis patriarchy, colonialism etc etc).

•Moreover, by situating itself within academia, a delineation of "real" or "true" feminism has been created and even weaponized against trans people (i.e. literally everything radical feminists are on about. which, as someone who majored in women's studies...i can promise you they are in academic spaces)

• feminism (specifically academic feminism in the context of the essay but...i'd venture feminism at large) is now caught in essentially a catch 22 (specifically, when considering trans folks but again...i'd say in general). if we are to collectively agree that feminism seeks to critically engage systems of oppression, and specifically through the lens of women...then we are conceding to the notion that "woman" is a universal site of identification (and specifically, feminism has historically located that site as cisgender woman((among other things...lol)).

•Intersectionality called out this idea of a "Universal Women Experience" as racist, eurocentric, etc etc but feminism as a whole hasn't meaningfully engaged with the implications of basing the foundation of the movement...institution...whatever you want to call it...on identity politics.

•in other words, by positing that women's studies is a critical study of culture through the lives and experiences of women (only), we aren't contending with experiences that ALSO critique culture that exist outside of the systems of oppression that feminism says it's against and has a vested interest in deconstructing. in fact, by touting academic feminist theory, which again has organized itself around the experiences of cisgender women, as True Knowledge, we are complicit in and validating the systems that define what a cisgender woman is (i.e. patriarchal, colonial, capitalist, medical, etc understandings of gender) AND what "true, valid knowledge" (only knowledge produced in an academic setting) is.

Again, i'm reading this a second time so i could be wrong about the conclusion BUT noble is contending this as an answer to this circular problem:

•feminism NEEDS transfeminism. and in a real, concerted way. not just tacking on "and transgender folks" at the end of their analyses.

•specifically, women's studies needs to unclench from the identifier of women's studies and its foundation of identity politics all together. instead, there's much more potential in organizing around understanding gender as a subject of study rather than "women" as a subject. Meaning, critically engaging with what gender is, how it came about, how it functions, how it's related to various other systems of oppression, etc etc. THAT is how we can then unravel these systems without creating qualifiers for who can contribute to The Canon

SCREAM!!! i spent more time than i'm willing to admit in academic feminist spaces and YEA!!!!!

because does my experience as a black, non-binary, queer person not meaningfully connect to the ideologies of feminism?? if we are accepting women's studies as it stands, the answer is no lol (bc women's studies is about Cisgender Women) but we all know that can't be true when all these identities that make up me fly in the face of everything that feminism is against: heterosexual, cisgender, white, colonialist patriarchal capitalism.

but the GRIP academic feminists have on identity based politics has created a space in academia that Was Not Welcoming to me or my colleagues that were not white, cisgender women lol AHHHHH

[oo111111]

Two excerpts regarding visual objectivity, epistemology and (western) natural history

(above) Excerpt from Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison's Objectivity, 2007

(below) Robert D. Montoya's Power of Position, 2022

The more we direct our attention towards it, the more it becomes clear how much of our current visualization of history comes to be defined and stems from colonial or oppressive practices. It's not simply about the discipline of natural history or XIX and XX war practices and technological developments, it's about the conditions that have long stipulated what is allowed to be visible and what remains invisible. Mirzoeff examines this at lenght in The Right to Look and very astutely understands that above all visuality constitutes a visualization of history, more than any totality of images. The emergence of the concept of objectivity through scientific atlases, the legacy of natural history, anthropology and the origin of the internet, willingly or not, contribute to the maintenance of a very specific (western and colonial) visuality. A very concrete optical vision comes to influence epistemes, that in turn shape the material conditions of the world, something we can trace back to the birth of perspective in the XV century (Patrícia Castello Branco) and further. Understanding the concept of visuality as one visualization of history shifts the focus from singular images, even if multiple, to a continuous process of rendering something visible. Understood this way, a regime of visuality conditions what one is able to apprehend visually. It is useful to question if we're able to discern more than just one visualization of history. Countervisualities (Mirzoeff) and counter-speculations (Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou) seem to allow for other forms of apprehension, other agents participating in the construction of visual frameworks, that expand beyond the traditional anthropo- and eurocentric systems of representation. It is possible to argue that we are able to conceive of a posthumanist (countervisualization) visualization of history grounded in the intra- and interactions of biotic and non-biotic agents. Works like Benjamin Bratton's The Stack and Laura Tripaldi's Parallel Minds propose strong arguments for what this collaboration looks, and might look like, in the future. While the legacy of DARPA and imperial epistemes persist and prevail, there is space between them to generate more respectful systems of representations and ways of weaving histories together. It feels important, nonetheless, to not forgo this legacy that Lorraine Daston, Peter Galison and Robert D. Montoya highlight, concerning the gradual construction of a very specific sight that is anything but neutral or unbiased.

[toshkakoshka]

im rambling but hey i felt sentimental a little haha

to all the black people out there,

thank you so much.

when i was a child i used to cut my hair all the time because i absolutely hated the way it looked, the way it didn’t look like every other girl’s and i thought all i was was just abnormal. i hated my big nose and my appearance, i wanted to change my skin color because i was “too dark” and i hated everything that had to do with my appearance up until i first saw black people.

there aren’t many black people that i know of in the philippines. of course when i got older i started meeting very different groups of people on the internet and some of them were black, but when i was a child that diversity was never accessible to me. filipinos were whitewashed and colonized by media, they all wanted standard east asian faces or eurocentric features like sharp eyes, straight sleek black hair and pale, pale skin. i wanted it too. instead i had big eyes, a big nose and a big puff of curly hair. i hated it. hated everything that i was. i can still feel the effects of colonial mentality wash onto me everyday, but i’m learning to fight that.

but as a kid i was surrounded by black-centric media when it used to run frequently on the kids’ shows. I never really knew the term “black” back then so it was always “africans” to me— but that’s really how i started to see black people as a kid. the culture black american media showed was as fascinating as they were beautiful. they were people with darker skin, bigger noses, curlier hair. they spoke different from white americans and it interested me even further. and i looked closer and realized some of them looked like me.

they looked like me.

now, i am not black. i don’t know if i’m of descent or partially aeta (southeast asia’s version of “Black”) but the sentiment still stays the same. my looks are still the same. as much as i’m 18 now i still feel like the child i was back then, mesmerized and star struck by the beauty of the american black community and how much it meant to me that they were represented to me as normal. i wasn’t “one of a kind” i wasn’t “weird” i was just… normal.

And it makes me upset to see that the representation has been lacking for black americans all the time nowadays. there are also children like me who will never get to see themselves as characters to be like, children who will never know what being seen is like, and have come to latch onto identities and cultures that don’t belong to them because they wanted to be seen as normal. It’s… part of the reason why I always wanted to invest my time in writing diverse characters. I want people to be able to find themselves the way I was able to find myself in. I want to be able to see the experiences of those I read about, their realities, be something that can be seen.

so i just felt like it was time for me to thank black people again for being the representation i never got to have anywhere else as a kid. you are all so important to me, and i want to thank you for a lot of it. thank you so much. thank you for making me feel normal. thank you for making me feel seen.

signed,

a sentimental filipino

[starberry-cupcake]

For the fairy tale ask, 3 & 13, I'll bring popcorn

Hi!! Thank you for sending some! 

3. What is one of your favourite non-romantic fairy tales?

Actually, my favorite fairy tale in general is non-romantic: The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen.

Andersen had, I think, a very good handle of relationship dynamics that weren't plain or just archetypal, for the genre and the time in which he published. Maybe because he was writing in a place of self fulfillment and poetic intent rather than educational, moral or linguistic pursuit, maybe because he wasn't hetero or allosexual, maybe because he was born at a time in which he could and wanted to deconstruct what he didn't agree with in other stories (especially classism), his relationships don't tend to ever be simple or clear cut, and sometimes are not even endgame.

Not only the main motivator for the story is Gerda trying to save her friend Kai, Gerda also finds friends along the way, like the tough but sensitive Little Robber Girl who turns to care for her very dearly, or the Princess who is in search for a Prince who'd be, more than anything, a good companion for conversation and shared interests.

There is a lot of strength in love without romance in The Snow Queen. Which is probably why it always confused me that people at large thought that Frozen was somewhat doing something revolutionary.

13. Do you have a folklore rant you're holding in? (Let It Out)

I've mentioned this before but it still bothers me greatly: it angers me when people think that, in order to strive for diversity and representation in fairy tales and folklore, they have to slap Eurocentric stories into non European cultures. That's colonialism.

Taking a European story like Snow White or Little Red Riding Hood and stamping on some other culture into it for more diversity is to shoehorn a lot of folkloric remnants of culture, beliefs, religion, social categories of a time and place to people who not only don't hold them but who also have our own stories to share.

To name just one example of the culture I'm most familiar with because it's my own, Berta Elena Vidal de Battini, in the early to mid 20th Century, compiled 3152 texts throughout the territory of Argentina, annotated, cataloged and accompanied by a study of the diverse language changes of all territories and the cultural influences that combined in day to day life of the territory, both the native peoples foundations and the immigration influences.

3152 texts. Stories, fairy tales, fables, rhymes, cryptid encounters, poems, native peoples narrative, popular characters, etc.

Differently from the Grimms, Laura Gonzenbach and other compilers that set to do a similar job, Vidal de Battini preserved, as much as she was able, the linguistic variety of the story tellers, bending Spanish (from Spain) grammar to adapt to the regional vernacular and pointing out why some of these cases occurred and what influence did these things have linguistically.

And that's just one example. There's so much richness in folklore and stories of every culture, because every culture has stories.

I think that what Disney is trying to do lately, of creating new fairy tales that are conceptualized on more diverse cultural foundations, is a step forward, especially since most often there are, as of late, at least partially own voices in the crew. Disney became, whether we like it or not, the biggest platform for fairy tale distribution in the world. When people think of Cinderella, most people think of a light blue dress and a blonde updo. Still, they are a US based company with a capitalist nature and a majority of white folks in positions of power, and that ends up constructing filters and problematic situations, as well as it creates a landscape in which your story needs to pass through those filters in order to be listened to, which implies, it being a US based company, that the story becomes a monetized intellectual property.

I think it's just time to pass the microphone. If you want more diversity in stories, let those people you want to know more about tell their stories. If you are from a culture that doesn't get represented often and are more familiar with Hansel and Gretel than you are with your own folklore, or your first instinct is to re-write a European story to fit you, look around and search, because I assure you there's a lot of stuff there for you to discover and it's more wonderful than what you expect.

Thank you for sending some questions @demigodinmybed ♥ 

[mariacallous]

One of the many forms of global inequality is inequality in the production of scientific knowledge. Countries in the Global South, many of which are former colonies, have tried to solve this issue by “decolonizing” academic processes: for years, intellectuals and scientists from non-Western countries have been asserting their autonomy and challenging the West’s “intellectual authority.” Sociologist Ivan Kislenko, a visiting scholar with the Dimensions of Europeanization project at Austria’s University of Graz, believes that Russian scientists and researchers could learn a lot from their colleagues in postcolonial countries. In this essay for Meduza, he explains that for all of the Russian authorities’ talk of wanting to take part in decolonization — and even to lead it — they’re actually doing the exact opposite. The Kremlin is burning the very bridges that would allow Russian public thought to prove its value and gradually take its rightful place in global intellectual life.

Vladimir Putin has mentioned the fight against Western “neocolonialism” in the past, but in his speech at the Valdai Discussion Club on October 27, 2022, he brought the topic to the fore. This surprised some political analysts — and surprised researchers even more. Putin spoke about decolonization, criticizing Eurocentrism and Western dominance, but his words sounded dissonant coming from the mouth of a leader whose country is waging war for the sake of restoring its former dominance over its neighbors. In the speech, the Russian president didn’t denounce his ambitions to dominate other countries; it’s clear that the Kremlin has no plans to do what several European colonial powers did in the late 1950s and earlier 1960s and give up its colonial claims. In that period, many colonies in Africa and on other continents won independence.

Parallels can be drawn with the decolonial aspirations of non-Western intellectuals and their dreams of a science free of Western modes of knowledge production. Against the backdrop of Putin’s anti-colonial declarations, regardless of their sincerity, it’s worth looking at the sources of similar ideas and seeing how much they correspond to the real state of affairs — and whether any of Russia's initiatives can really be considered decolonial.

Decolonizing science in the Global South

The dream of emancipation from Western ways of knowledge production have long informed academic discussions. These ideas first arose among intellectuals in the Global South when it was beginning the project of getting rid of European powers’ colonial influence. University classrooms were temporarily empty after the departure of colonizing powers, and local scientists felt an acute need to describe themselves in their own terms rather than continuing to use the language of people studying their homes from the outside. These projects have often included the following:

Devoting attention to local problems

Assigning a special status to local values

Using a country’s own, non-English terms

An overall desire to counter the “collective West” in science

Many people are responsible for the current recognition non-Western countries’ intellectual contributions to world culture is beginning to receive.

One of the most notable attempts to draw attention to the forgotten traditions of the Global South was made by Australian researcher Raewyn Connell (born in 1944). In her book Southern Theory: a Global Dynamics of Knowledge in Social Science, she not only revealed the content of ideas from “traditionally non-sociological” regions, but also showed how they became that way.

Another person who tried to reconcile local traditions with Western scientific methods was Iranian sociologist Ali Shariati (1933–1977), who tried to bring revolutionary Marxist practices into Shia Islam. Shariati was popular among students, though due to political pressure, he was forced to flee Iran shortly before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Nigerian sociologist Akinsola Akiwowo (1922–2014) made the case in a number of works that local concepts taken from Yoruba poetry and the Yoruba creation myth could describe sociological processes taking place in West Africa more accurately than Western tools.

Indian thinkers have gone to great lengths to make sense of colonialism and subjugation. Scholars from the Subaltern Studies Group have authored multiple papers outlining these ideas in their entirety. The works of Gayatri Spivak (born in 1942), Ranajit Guha (born in 1923), and Dipesh Chakrabarty (born in 1948), who wrote the book Provincializing Europe, were especially popular.

For a long time, these ideas and ones like them didn’t penetrate the debates taking place in the Western world. It’s no mystery why: Western scholars didn’t assign importance to local research in fields where they considered themselves the indisputable authorities. This, however, just highlighted the unequal distribution of academic resources between the Global North and Global South. Only in the late 20th century and early 21st century have Western scholars with “academic power” begun paying more attention to the non-Western world. Thanks to these changes, the idea of decolonizing curricula now occupies a significant place in the social sciences — both in the Global South and in the Global North.

In other words, the creation of an intellectual language independent from Western influence and understandings of social problems that don’t exist in Western cultures is no longer limited to the Global South but is part of academia worldwide. The scientific and intellectual lives of non-Western cultures is not isolated; it’s gradually finding a place in intellectual centers throughout the rest of the world.

How Russia is 'de-Westernizing' science

Complaints that Russia has received insufficient respect at international social science conferences, discussions about a “fault line between those who believe that reading Western books is more important than Russian ones and those who believe the opposite,” and talk of “foreign values” have existed in the Russian scientific and intellectual community for years. These complaints themselves are comparable to the requests for independence and recognition made by academics from the Global South.

Academic literature that attempts to break the neocolonial structures of Western academia pays particular attention to the power of publishing houses (for example, Springer or Taylor & Francis), which don’t pay academics for their publications, despite charging readers for access to them. Scientific indexing systems are the target of similar complaints. Russia’s Education and Science Ministry, as if to echo the discontent, imposed a moratorium this year on the availability of scientific publications indexed by the international databases Scopus and Web of Science; in other words, it no longer takes them into account when evaluating research. This isn’t a ban on publishing one’s work in Western publications, but essentially a step towards rejecting a policy that has existed for years. Moving forward, Russian science will likely be guided by a list of journals recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission under the Education and Science Ministry, or by the “white list” of academic journals that was recently published.

Nonetheless, in many former colonies of Western countries, the main path was the gradual integration into the global context. In particular, the creation of scientific institutes based on Western standards of academic work. Until recently, the same thing was happening in Russia. Continuing the development in the same direction would be the best response to the discontent at the status of Russian academic thought in the wider world.

But in practice, in the social sciences, the exact opposite path has been taken.

Authorities have been trying to revoke the accreditation of the European University at St. Petersburg and the Moscow School for the Social and Economic Sciences (MVShSEN), two of the main private universities in Russia with social science programs. MVShSEN even worked for a time without issuing Russian diplomas, instead giving its graduates diplomas from the University of Manchester. Liberal arts programs have been the target of close scrutiny from Russia’s Attorney General. The liberal arts program at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) was declared to be in violation of the Russian Constitution and the country’s National Security Strategy, as well as to be “destroying Russian society’s traditional values and distorting history.”

St. Petersburg State University’s liberal arts and sciences department was forced to end its partnership with Bard College after the American school was declared an “undesirable organization” — and the department was later largely dismantled. Russia’s Coordination Council of Nonprofit Organizations, which works closely with the Kremlin, sent a statement to the Attorney General’s office asking it to investigate claims that the department had ties to “foreign NGOs that are controlled by George Soros and are conducting destructive activities on Russian territory.”

And then came February 24.

In addition to the terminations of partnerships with foreign institutions and the exodus of scientists from Russia, symptoms of a more protracted isolationism began to appear. All of the new Western foundations that finance social science research have been banned, from the Oxford Foundation and the Institute of International Education (which runs the Fulbright program) to the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation and Heinrich Böll Foundation (which was declared an “undesirable organization”).

In May, Russia exited the Bologna Process, a series of agreements intended to ensure compatibility between higher education institutions in various European countries. The future of the Erasmus program, too, which gave many Russian students the chance to study in Europe, is in doubt: some Russian universities are currently still accepting applications to the program for the spring 2023 semester, but the Education and Science Ministry has said it doesn’t recommend institutions work with the program anymore. Meanwhile, the EU has stopped funding all partnerships that involve Russian government agencies.

Isolation instead of decolonization

All around, intellectuals outside of the Global North are seeking freedom from Western-centric means of knowledge production, educational models, and the commercial power of large publishing houses. But those who have managed to create scientific knowledge outside of Western institutions have sought integration, not isolation. These scholars want to bring recognition to diversity, not to hide the spiritual riches that the West allegedly wants to steal.

But that’s not how Putin sees it:

The West is prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the neocolonial system that allows it to essentially act as a parasite, plundering the world at the expense of the power of the dollar and its technological dictate, collecting a true tribute from humanity, and extracting its main source of unearned prosperity: rent paid to the hegemon.

These kinds of statements are only nominally related to postcolonial thought. The forced “purification” of the academic space has little to do with the decolonization of knowledge and liberation from academic dependence. Supporters of decolonization generally reject violence as such, because it was through violence that colonization in various spheres of public life was conducted.

How effectively intellectuals of the Global South have undermined the “academic power” of the Global North and created something new in its place is up for debate. But at the very least, it’s been an honest and longtime pursuit. Russian ideologues, declaring war on the West’s scientific hegemony, care more about negating something than creating something new. Though they talk about the uniqueness of the local context, the importance of scientific publications in the national language, and the special values that exist on certain territories (all of which is consistent with the spirit of decolonization exhibited by the Global South), they deny the need to focus on external scientific samples, thus breaking with the scientific method both in the West and beyond.

[...] 

Russian authorities are destroying the mechanisms that have allowed Russian scientists to integrate their knowledge with Western scientific practices. This is being done in a “top-down” manner — on the level of organizations, structures, and agreements. At the lower levels, in today’s Russian scientific space, Western scientific standards persist and are unlikely to disappear. But spokes have already been put in the institutional wheels, and they’re only going to make it more difficult to conduct science in Russia. In nine months of war, Vladimir Putin has set Russian scientific life not on a path to decolonization but on a path to self-isolation.

[angleation]

∘₊✧{Ang Babayng Way Bilbil} - Adonis Durado∘₊✧ and the Perfectionism of a Woman's Imperfections

"Ang babayng way bilbil kay morag baybay nga way kimba.

Morag sigay nga way bukobuko, tabugok nga way ata.

Sa bilbil mahibaw-an nganong bawron ang kadagatan,

Nganong gansang-gansangon ang mga batu sa hunasan.

Ang babayng way bilbil kay morag kawayang way buku.

Morag dapaw nga way katul, langub nga way tangu.

May misteryo ang bilbil nga susama sa misteryo sa lasang:

Engkanto sa pusod sa busay, minu sa pus-on sa pangpang.

Ang babayng way bilbil kay morag dan nga way kurbada,

Morag bungtod nga way subida, simbahan nga way kampana.

Ang babayng bilbilon morag sugilanong puno sa pasumbingay:

Sa gaawas-awas nga bilbil, magbunok ang akong pauraray."

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

BEAUTY STANDARDS ARE LOW STANDARDS

Most Filipinos admire the following characteristics:

Fair skin - kids are told at a very young age to stay away from the sun because they will get dark and look “ugly.” Hence the rapid incline of bleaching products and whitening supplements.

Long, straight black hair - which may either be natural or rebonded

Tall nose - People like a nose with defined and proper eurocentric features.

Eyes, preferably slanted - the crescent shape eyes or the type of eyes that disappear when you smile is much coveted. That’s what most Filipinos love about Chinitas / tos

Lastly, a slim body type.

In other words, a rather un-Filipino appearance. Some claim that Filipinos never really recovered from their colonial mentality. Others argue that having dark complexion is too frequent in this area or that it is synonymous with poverty. The stereotypical beauty standards of Filipinos is highly unfair and demands too much for natural beauty itself.

A lot of Filipino women get pressured by these beauty standards and they try to appeal to them, disregarding their natural beauty. One of these imperfections are body flabs, or bilbil. The stereotype of a "beautiful" Filipino woman is having a slimmer body. Everyone is born different and with a different body, so why should there be a specific standard of beauty when everyone is so diverse in appearance?

ABOUT THE POEM

Ang Babayng Way Bilbil is a three stanza poem with four lines each. It is a free verse poem with a reflective atmosphere. Its imagery is thick and uses a lot of compare and contrast, or parallelisms.

The first lines in every stanza has the phrase "ang babayng way bilbil" followed by a comparison of another material. These materials have important aspects that display their purpose. He uses these metaphors and similes to deliver the main point of the poem.

EXAMPLES:

baybay nga way kimba

sigay nga way bukobuko

kawayang way buko

dan nga way kurbada

Durado compares a woman without flabs to materials without their aspects, such as a church without a bell or a bamboo without a sturdy stem. On the last two lines of each stanza, he proceeds to tell the significance of these imperfections to our identities.

A REFLECTION

Upon firstly reading the poem, I found it difficult to understand because of the deep Bisaya. I had to reread it a few times to get the general idea, and ask my parents to decipher the words to pick out the smaller meanings of each line and word.

The poem is a literary piece much needed to be read by those insecure of themselves. It encourages people to embrace their flaws as it is what makes them ultimately unique. People are imperfectly perfect.

Women shouldn't follow what other people say about what makes a woman "beautiful". They shouldn't feel insecure about the strict and toxic beauty standards upheld by society. What they think are "flaws" are exactly what makes them their own person; their own selves. Everyone has their own unique features, and each one is just as beautiful as those societal beauty norms.

This poem captures the importance of validating one's self and accepting and acknowledging the physical flaws of people. It is a poem that must be recognized more, especially this era where the youth is highly concerned with their physical appearance, and just pieces similar to this poem can bring reassurance that their flaws can be beautiful too.

[blackmusicbyaesha]

ABOUT ME

I was born into a very traditional middle eastern family. We were always conservative (in a religious and cultural sense) but not so much in a political sense. When I am asked to introduce myself, I feel like plain facts do not define my experiences and perspectives. On paper, I am a 20 year old Bahraini girl born in Manama, Bahrain. But that is not enough. I feel as though I owe it on my journey in this course to provide a little more insight as to why I found this course to be one that appeals to me greatly. 

Bahrain, like many countries in the Middle East, was a British “protectorate.” Which basically is a very nice way of saying we were colonised. And though unlike our brothers and sisters in East Asia, Africa and the Americas, this European intervention was not one that lead to genocide. They did not take our land. They did not physically harm our people. But to an extent, Eurocentricity and white supremacy became notions that were prevalent to those that were wealthy enough to access Western Educations, and so from then on elements of Eurocentricity lingered through generations, with no firm roots or evidence of any physical historical event where such ideas were enforced onto our people. 

I was lucky enough to be born into a political family. I am grateful for the education that I accessed. However, there were benefits and drawbacks to the education that I accessed, being that I started off the first 14 years of my educational career going to the oldest British school in the country, that was established while Bahrain was under British protection. There was no way to describe it other than the fact that it was a little British bubble, on my tiny Island. The people in this bubble never cared to leave it. They were content being surrounded with their own people. Seldom did they think to interact with the local culture. They did the best they could to replicate Britain in Bahrain. A British colony if you will. I had to juggle between two worlds. The world where I existed as Aesha Al Jowder, the daughter of a prominent Bahraini politician, and that brown kid in class. No matter how talented I was, no matter how hard I worked, between the walls of any classroom I had to work “twice as hard, for half as much” as Michelle Obama put it, when describing her own experiences as a woman from a racial “minority” in the United States. It was such a small Island, and there were barely any other people of colour who shared my experiences during earlier years at this institution, so I had no one to relate to. 

As I grew older, and became more exposed to different modes of media and culture, I began to see music as a form of release. In primary school, I had one teacher that was a woman of colour. She was my music teacher. It was from her that I first heard the old song, sung by enslaved Black People in the United States “Wade in the water.” Something about that song touched something deep in my soul. I do not in anyway compare my position of privilege to people who were entirely dehumanized and cruelly abused and marginalized into surrendering their rights to autonomy as members of an equal society, there was a lesson in that song. A desire to preserve the lives of others. There was expression. It was powerful, it was creative, it displayed a resilience of a woman of colour, who found ways to make her voice heard. 

As I grew older, I consumed media from diverse sources. Obviously, American Media has a hegemonic sphere of influence over many parts of Asia, especially Gulf Countries. I grew up choosing to read American books, follow American news sources, look into American politics. But what really moved me was American music. I found that black artists communicated feelings of marginalization that I related to. And while it was nowhere near the same scale or extent, I would often find many rap songs from the likes of J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar to communicate feelings I harboured as a young woman of colour surrounded by blatant white supremacy. And it all comes from somewhere, American Music of all genres was revolutionized by Black people. It was arguably entirely created by Black people. Behind all the popular American music we listen to today, you will find black history. Music is such a powerful tool in informing and empowering the masses. Sound in itself is a great release, and it feeds one of our senses. There is a great comfort in consuming it, just so much as there is a comfort in releasing it. Music is something I am passionate about. This is why so many corrupt Islamic clergymen tried to prove that music was forbidden c. The Iranian revolution. It was a form of censorship that I, as a Muslim woman, can credit my British education to being liberated from. 

My career aspirations align with creating social change and empowering my people. This is why I am an economics major. Economics is the study of scarcity, and how we as human beings react to it. And at the end of the day, colonization and slavery both happened with the intent of economically exploiting nations. And I just so happen to take a personal interest in how we as humans deal with these situations, and one of the greatest examples that comes to mind is the evolution of Black Music. 

[samchristian23]

Analytical Application 6

Orientalism

Orientalism is, simply put, the idea of seeing the Asian world through a European lens or point of view. It involves the commodification and simplification of Asian culture, and often leads to racist depictions of Asian people or culture in media. It’s closely related to Eurocentrism. It was developed by Edward Said in his book of the same name1.

Disney films are no stranger to racist depictions of the cultures of people of color. One obvious example is Song of the South, which, even when it was first released, was recognized for its racist depictions of Black people. But some Disney films, especially their animated affairs, can slip under the radar of many people’s prejudice detectors. One such film that does this is Lady and the Tramp. In this film, there is a scene where two siamese cats sing a song. This song shows the cats performing with vaguely Asian accents. The cats are also drawn in the way an east Asian person may be stereotypically drawn, with small slanted eyes and buck-teeth. Their singing is also accompanied by the sounds of gongs, bells, and other instruments that are stereotypically associated with east Asian culture. A key concept of Orientalism is the idea of a European fixation with Asian culture. According to Said, “The Orient is not only adjacent to Europe; it is also the place of Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant, and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the other”2. This effect can be seen near the beginning of the song, when the siamese cats walk by Lady, which prompts a look of satisfaction and interest from her. Another key tenet of Orientalism is that “In addition, the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience”2. Meaning that the Orient is seen as Europe’s opposite. This can be seen in the latter part of the song, when the siamese cats begin to wreak havoc on the house they are in, while Lady, an American dog, saves the house in their wake, firmly establishing the siamese cats as her opposite, much like the Orient to the Occident.

Popular Culture

Popular culture is a concept very familiar to anyone who spends their time amongst visual media. According to Stuart Hall in his essay “What is this ‘black’ in black popular culture?”3, he states that popular culture is “mass-cultural, image-mediated, technological”4 . He goes on to say that black popular culture is a space where questions of blackness are able to be discussed, so it can be said that popular culture is a space where many topics are discussed. This is how the culture is created.

Peter Pan is a benchmark in American popular culture. There have been countless spin-offs, remakes, and re-imaginings of the story of Peter Pan, Wendy, and her siblings. As with lady of the tramp, while much of this story is how we look upon it - classic, family fun - there is one part that is often overlooked when considering the film Peter Pan. The scene in question is when the kids encounter a group of Native Americans, who, in the film, impart their wisdom and culture upon the children. This depiction of Native Americans is incredibly racist. Every man is portrayed with deep red skin, as are the older women, while younger women are portrayed with brown skin, and have more realistic facial and bodily dimensions. This in of itself is a great place to start with popular culture. It’s important to note the intersectional prejudice at work here: Native American men and older women are unnatural people, while young Native American women are beautiful, and are meant to be seen performing and hit on. The film grossed $87.4 million upon its release, a large sum for 1953, and was seen by many. The fact that this song existed in American popular culture is representative of how Native Americans were treated, and are to this day. In addition, it’s interesting that we, as a culture, have decided to ignore this terrible depiction of a culture, and others like it. Peter Pan is still fondly remembered as a family classic, and, if we look at the film through Hall’s framework, which says that popular culture allows for discussion and culture creation, this means that a culture of complicity and ignorance has been created.

Stereotype

As defined by Oxford English Dictionary, stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Many famous examples of stereotypes include Asian people being of higher intelligence or of Black people being criminals. All the theorists we focused upon interact with stereotype in some way: Hall with how stereotype is created and deconstructed in popular culture, Said with his idea of Orientalism, of which stereotype plays a huge role, and Shohat and Stam in how stereotypes affect the way people are represented on screen5.

The Aristocats has the honor of being one of the only films I will be analyzing that deals with multiple stereotypes. First, stepping on the heels of what they had made fifteen years prior, Disney decided to include another siamese cat character in one of their films. This cat is viewed by the characters in the film in a much kinder light than those in Lady and the Tramp, which means it only occupies that first tenant of Orientalism, which says that the Orient is a European fascination (it should be noted that The Aristocats takes place in France). This siamese cat is shown playing the piano with chopsticks, as a young Aristocat looks on in admiration. The rest of the band is made of of cats portrayed as what can only be described as African American stereotypes. These cats perform jazz music, while wearing clothes reminiscent of Jazz performers in the 1920s, as well as one character wearing accessories straight from the soul movement of the 1960s. The instruments they play are telling as well: trumpet and upright bass the most so. We also see stereotypes (perhaps not stereotype but whatever it is it enhances the stereotype of the others) of European culture. The white Aristocat plays the harp with a French accent, calmly and gently, whereas the other players perform with fervor. The last part of this song sees the tempo pick back up, initiated by the trumpet player, and as the cats (also perhaps a stereotypical choice of animal) perform atop it, it comes crashing through the house, a signal of stereotypes that permeate all non-dominant cultures: they are dangerous, and destruction will come in their wake.

Cultural Hegemony

Cultural hegemony is a concept that sounds quite complicated, but it can be easily summarized as this: cultural hegemony is the dominant culture in a society, which then defines the culture that the rest of society ascribes to. Simply put, it is the culture as defined by those in power.

“An ape like me can learn to be human too.” This is the final line of a chorus sung by an ape in the film The Jungle Book. This analysis works best if we view Mowgli, the human character in this story, as an audience surrogate. Films in the 1960s, when this film was released, were presented for White people. So it can be said that Mowgli is meant to represent the eyes and voice of White people. With that said, let’s take a look at the song. The song begins with jazzy instrumentals, and someone begins to scat over them. We see that the scatting person is an ape. Now let’s pause here, because this is already setting off some big red lights. It seems too on the nose to have your ape character performing a jazz piece, no? The lyrics of the song express the ape’s lament for not being able to walk around the world like Mowgli does. As I said in the beginning, the final line of the chorus goes “An ape like me can learn to be human too.” This, as I see it, is where this idea of cultural hegemony comes into play. As I said earlier, films were made for white people in these days. But not only were films made for them, they were made by them. Using our knowledge of stereotypes, we can see that the ape is meant to represent Black Americans, and their need to become more like white people in order to be presentable in public. This incredibly popular film, has been seen by millions, is enforcing this idea of cultural hegemony, positioning white people at the top of society, while Black people lay below them. 

Realism

Realism is a concept heavily focused upon in the work of Shohat and Stam. Simply put, realism is an artistic attempt to portray individuals as realistically as possible. Shohat and Stam argue that realism is not a worthwhile endeavor, as realism will always be tinged with viewpoints that cannot be separated from the cultural contexts they exist within.

In a children’s film with talking animals, you would think that there wouldn’t need to be an attempt at realism made, for realism loses all form when confronted with something so unrealistic as talking animals and, in the case of Dumbo, flying elephants. As will all the songs seen previously, “When I See an Elephant Fly” deals heavily with stereotypes. The mouse character, which is the least of the stereotypical characters, has a thick New York Italian accent. The birds who sing the song are portrayed as Disney’s favorite punching bag: Black people. They wear clothes reminiscent of those that would have been worn during the  reconstruction-era. If this isn’t enough, the birds are also performed by Black singers, as well as being portrayed as crows, a black bird. This is the antithesis of realism. Or rather, it speaks to the pitfalls of realism that Shohat and Stam express. Let’s just say, for a moment, that this song really was an attempt at an accurate portrayal of African Americans. According to Shohat and Stam, “The issue, then, is less one of fidelity to a preexisting truth or reality than one of a specific orchestration of ideological discourses and communitarian perspectives”6. Meaning that an attempt at realism is tarnished by the unrealistic opinions of mass-culture when it comes to groups of color. We can see that plainly here in Dumbo. This portrayal of Black Americans is not realistic to their true experience, even if they are portrayed as birds.

Works Cited

1Said, Edward. “Introduction.” Essay. In Orientalism. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1978.

2Said. “Introduction”. Orientalism, 9-10

3Hall, Stuart. “What Is This ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?” Essay. In Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1996. 

4Hall. “What Is This ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?”. Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, 469

5Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. “Stereotype, Realism, and the Struggle Over Representation.” Essay. In Unthinking Eurocentrism. London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1994. 

6Shohat and Stam. “Stereotype, Realism, and the Struggle Over Representation”. Unthinking Eurocentrism, 180

[aboutanancientenquiry]

Herodotus and the destruction of the Acropolis of Athens by the Persians

I reproduce below a video on Herodotus and the destruction of the Acropolis of Athens by the invading Persian army of Xerxes in 480 BCE, posted by Dutch scholar Janric van Rookhuijzen on the youtube channel of Herodotus Helpline. I will explain immediately afterwards why I find the video and the revisionist theories of van Rookhuijzen problematic. I will reproduce also in this post a text by an important American Classical archaeologist (John McKesson Camp), which summarizes the current consensus among scholars on the reality of the destruction of the Acropolis by Xerxes.

Now, my remarks on van Rookhuijzen's video:

In this video van Rookhuijzen essentially dismisses gratuitously all the ancient Greek sources about the destruction of the Acropolis of Athens by Xerxes.

He also essentially and equally gratuitously dismisses the academic consensus which prevails today among historians and archaeologists about the reality of the destruction of the Acropolis by the Persians, with as main argument that this consensus would be just a product of the influence of Herodotus, of Eurocentric ideology and of Orientalism, an argument which is very weak and in fact itself very ideological.

The truth is that van Rookhuijzen has more generally his own idiosyncratic revisionist theories on the Acropolis that almost none other scholar shares, for instance that what we know as the Parthenon and the Erechtheion ....are not the real Parthenon and Erechtheion!

Moreover, obviously he does not have much sympathy for the struggles of the Greeks for independence and liberation of their land from the foreign yoke (that he sees in outrageous way as "Greek conquests of Turkish and Bulgarian territories"!) or for philhellenism.

(Btw a person posted some days ago on this site the same video, with the comment that they would have learned from it "how german racist nationalism in archaeology influenced greek racist nationalism using Herodotus"! This is a very stupid comment and shows serious deficiency of historical knowledge from the part of the person who made it- moreover, it exaggerates grossly what even van Rookhuijzen claims. Really, since when "Greek racist nationalism" would be something comparable to the very real German racist nationalism, which caused two world wars, genocides, and immense suffering in humanity? I would add for the sake of the historical education of the person that made this comment that the Greeks paid a very heavy price for their resistance to German racist nationalism in its most extreme form -nazism- in WW II).

To clarify my position, I don't deny that the destruction of the Acropolis by Xerxes, an event with a very serious impact on the collective memory and identity of the Athenians and more generally of the ancient Greeks, has been used ideologially in modern times to justify theories about the inherent barbaric character of the East and the unescapable character of the conflict of the West with it, in a historical period of domination of the world by Western colonialism. But historical events are open to different evaluations of their significance in the more general historical process and, if we disagree with a given evaluation or exploitation of an event, it would be totally erroneous to deny the very reality of this event, if there are good reasons to accept it as real, as it is the case with the dectruction of the Acropolis by Xerxes. To put it differently, if we want to reject the exploitation in the past of the destruction of the Acropolis by Xerxes' Persians in the service of theories about the inevitable eternal conflict between East and West and about the inherently despotic and barbaric character of the East, it would be totally unnecessary and wrong to try to deny against the academic consensus and practically with no solid argument the very reality of this destruction. We cannot accept or refuse the historicity of events according to our more general ideological and philosophical positions, even if our positions and intentions are the best, although of course we can refute particular evaluations and interpretations of the same events. On the other hand, it is obvious to me that the replacement of Eurocentric views of the past with views idealizing the empires of the East like the Achaemenid Persian Empire and denying the historical importance of the fight of the Greek city-states to maintain their freedom face to the Achaemenid imperial expansionism, as it is fashionable today to see things in some quarters, would not be a progress.

I add that, if it is true that the argument of the struggle against Oriental despotism has been used often by Greeks and philellenes to gather support for the Greek War of Independence and the other wars of liberation fought by the Greeks, it is equally true that the Ottoman empire was really despotic and oppressive and often even barbaric towards the peoples conquered by it, especially when the latter revolted. Therefore, one should not confuse the use of this argument by Greeks and philellenes in the context of the Greek struggles for national liberation with the use of similar arguments about Oriental despotism in the service of the justification of the Western colonial expansion, as the contexts of these uses were very different.

And now I will reproduce the first paragraphs of a text by John McKesson Camp,  Director of the Athenian Agora Excavations at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor of Classics at Randolph-Macon College, to show what is the current scholarly consensus about the reliability of the ancient Greek sources concerning the destruction of the Acropolis of Athens by Xerxes (John McKesson Camp "The Persian Destruction of Athens. Sources and Archaeology", in the collective volume of S. Fachard-E.M. Harris (editors) The Destruction of Cities in the Ancient Greek World. Integrating the Archaeological and Literary Evidence, Cambridge University Press 2021, pp 70-84, text available in its entirety on https://newdiscoveries.sites.uu.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/712/2022/04/The-Persian-Destruction-of-Athens.pdf ):

"DESTRUCTION

The Sources The Persian sack of Athens in 480/479 B.C. is one of the landmarks both for Greek archaeology and the history of Athens. Thucydides and Herodotos are concise but absolutely unequivocal as to the damage done. Herodotos gives the more detailed account of the actual events, telling us that Xerxes, when he took the citadel: “plundered the temple and burned the entire acropolis” (8.53) and when, ten months after the battle of Salamis, and having wintered in Thessaly, the Persian general Mardonios returned and occupied Athens and then withdrew to Plataia, he “first burnt Athens, and utterly overthrew and demolished whatever wall or house or temple was left standing” (9.13). Thucydides, setting the stage for his description of the Themistoklean wall writes: “For of the encircling wall only small portions were left standing and most of the houses were in ruins, only a few remaining in which the chief men of the Persians had themselves taken quarters” (1.89). Diodoros Siculus gives the longest account of all, drawing on sources other than Herodotos or Thucydides. For the first attack, “Xerxes entered Attika and ravaged the countryside, and then he razed Athens to the ground and sent up in flames the temples of the gods. And while the king was concerned with these affairs, his fleet sailed from Euboia to Attika, having sacked on the way both Euboia and the coast of Attika” (11.14). And for the second assault and occupation: “Mardonios was so angry with them that he ravaged the entire countryside, razed the city to the ground, and utterly destroyed the temples that were still standing” (11.28.6). So, there we have it. Athens was wiped off the map. The literary sources are clear and largely unanimous as to the extent of the destruction: total. The primary question we are asked to consider is: “How reliable are the sources?” Our best way of checking is to turn to the archaeology.1

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE: ATHENS AND ATTIKA

When we consider the archaeology of Athens in the early fifth century B.C., we find ample evidence of Persian destruction. On the acropolis, the Old Temple of Athena – made of limestone, with marble trim and pedimental figures of a gigantomachy – was destroyed. So was the Older Parthenon, with its superstructure of marble, unfinished and under construction at the time. The Older Propylon which gave access to the sanctuary, and the Archaic version of the Athena Nike temple were also destroyed. That is, all three Archaic temples dedicated to Athena and the gateway into the sanctuary were all destroyed in the first half of the fifth century B.C. Also ruined were several small limestone Doric buildings, decorated with pedimental sculpture, all recently restudied by N. Klein, and often referred to as “treasuries” because of their similarity to buildings at Olympia, Delphi, Delos, and perhaps Nemea.2 In addition to buildings, broken votive sculptures of korai and animals, marble perirrhanteria, inscribed bases, and shattered votive pottery were found in great numbers. Dozens of scholars of different disciplines – architecture, pottery, sculpture, stratigraphy, and epigraphy – have been over the evidence with a fine-toothed comb, and there are few if any dissenting voices expressing doubt that the acropolis fared as recorded in our sources. The evidence shows that the buildings and sculptural monuments of the principal sanctuary of Athena were reduced to rubble, burned or broken, or both."