Listen to this interview about ocean Wong and comment (without forgetting your intersubjective relation to what was said / personal opinion) on either or both of these:
a) a thought or sentence that strikes you on the subject of diasporic subjects in the USA
b) links with the novel (or even reactions to the short excerpt Ocean reads from)
a) My two favorite sentences are: "anger is the death of creativity" and "weather you live in victimhood or not is up to you".
ReplyDeleteb) Such a sensitive and heartwarming reading. Ocean Voung, you are the briefly beautiful!
Toda a entrevista de Ocean Vuong aborda temas essenciais ligado ao conceito de diáspora (desde trauma geracional, à descoberta da sexualidade e criação da identidade num in between cultural) mas considero particularmente interessante a distinção que o autor faz entre imigrantes de first e second generation: "the second generation wants to be known (...) but the elders tell us 'its time to hide yourself in order to protect yourself'". Se, por um lado, a segunda geração consegue observar com uma certa imparcialidade duas culturas/etnias distintas e, na sua maioria, estudar e aprender mais sobre as duas Histórias, a primeira geração de imigrantes chega à América pouco informada, pouco culta em vários aspetos, e marcada por traumas causados pelas dificuldades que a obrigou a mudar de país. Sendo obviamente inegáveis os problemas enfrentados pela geração que cresce nos EUA em familias de imigrantes, pessoas como Ocean Vuong tiveram acesso a uma educação mais completa, desenvolvendo-se num contexto social que lhes permitiu falar mais abertamente sobre as suas heranças culturais. Em vez de terem de se esconder para sobreviver, com o único objetivo de não chamar atenções indesejadas, podem almejar à visibilidade do seu background étnico e à sua emancipação, e ao ativismo social. Já não tendo necessidade de se esconderem (pelo menos não tanto como os seus familiares mais velhos), podem contar as suas histórias para "serem vistos".
ReplyDelete“ Asian-American life, working out of poverty, within poverty in Hartford was a powerful moment for me to say - This life that many people just pass on the freeway, this life gave me my imagination. “ - https://youtu.be/9OZIwsk9cAM?t=139
ReplyDeleteB. The short passage read by Ocean Vuong (page 76) captures what I consider to be a crucial component of immigration to the United States: the vast majority must start at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
ReplyDeleteAccordingly, the novel's main characters are well aware of their social standing in American society, and they chose to wield their powerlessness (e.g., "Sorry" and "Lo siento," p. 76) as a weapon in their struggle for survival: “submission (…) was also a kind of power” (p. 95).
This theme of survival also ties in with the search for notoriety mentioned in the interview. Much like the “kipuka” (p. 133), any person, no matter how ordinary or insignificant they may feel, becomes visible when enduring and surviving extreme hardships. Therefore, any Diaspora author in America has the duty of employing these acquired lived experiences and imparting them to a broader audience, thereby assuring themselves that they have finally earned their place in American culture.