Monthly Archives: August 2004
Naipaul on W.E.B. and Booker T.
In two chapters of A Turn in the South entitled “The Truce with Irrationality” (I and II) Naipaul interviews mostly black Southerners in Tallahassee, Florida, and Tuskegee, Alabama. The title comes from Naipaul’s gloss on a literary quote. “The most … Continue reading
Up from Slavery: "A painful coded work"
On this journey I read [Booker T. Washington's] Up from Slavery twice. On the second reading, after I had been nearly four months in the South, I found that the book had changed for me. It became more than the … Continue reading
Yapese Spelling Reform: "That Damn Q!"
Like Marshallese speakers at the eastern end of Micronesia, Yapese speakers at the western end seem to be resistant to spelling reforms designed by outside linguists. The most recent Yapese Bible orthography makes do with only 5 vowels, but writes … Continue reading
Filed under language, Micronesia
Identity as Religion, Religion as Identity
Naipaul interviews theology students in northern Georgia. Identity as religion, religion as identity: it was the very theme of another theology student, a young man from a background quite different, a mountain community in northern Georgia. He said, “When I … Continue reading
Politics as Identity, Religion as Community
Mountain family, old planter family: old ideas of community no longer served, and the descendants of those families were finding a new community in the ministry. But it hadn’t been quite like this for Frank. He grew up in a … Continue reading
Filed under religion
Muslim WakeUp: Progressive Muslim Voices
Muslim WakeUp, a site I just discovered via One Hand Clapping, has a couple of stories with nice ironical twists. The first concerns a young Muslim woman, whose singing is banned in North America but welcome in Southeast Asia. If … Continue reading
Filed under Indonesia
Confederates and Shias
Naipaul interviews the scion of a former plantation owner in South Carolina. The North was now very concerned with all its minorities. It might have been thought that they would have considered the South a minority area. But they didn’t. … Continue reading
Stepin Fetchit in Trinidad
“Does the name Stepin Fetchit mean anything to you?” It certainly did. Stepin Fetchit was adored in my childhood by the blacks of Trinidad. He was adored not only because he was funny and did wonderful things with his seemingly … Continue reading
Marshallese Spelling Reforms
The public renunciation by several media giants of spelling reforms promulgated in Germany less than a decade ago has generated some discussion in the blogosphere, notably on Rainy Day, Crooked Timber, and a Fistful of Euros, the last two with … Continue reading
Filed under language, Micronesia
U.S. Dialect Survey Map and Results
Like so many of the old Anglo-immigrant stock along the coasts from Cape Cod to Chesapeake Bay, I say ahnt and peeKAHN. I alternate between UMbrella when I’m not thinking about it and umBRELLA when I stop to think. And, … Continue reading
