Woman, Native, Other Trinh Minh ha

1. Woman, Native, OtherTrinh Minh ha Prepared by: Dr. Kay Picart

2. Guide Question • How does Minh-ha view story-telling?

3. Multiple Choice: • A. As a process that never begins and ends • B. Built on Sameness • C. Is Non-totalizable • D. Is like an “Empty” Gift • E. Can always be possessed • F. Is Inexhaustible within its Own Limits • G. All of the Above • H. A and C only • I. D-F Only • J. None of the options Named Fits Perfectly

4. Guide Question • What is the “triple bind” Minh-ha talks about?

5. Multiple Choice • A. Three conflicting Identities as a Writer of Color, A Woman Dancer and a A Woman of Color • B. Three conflicting Identities as a Thinker of Color, A Woman Artist and a Woman of Color • C. Three Conflicting Identities as a Writer of Color, A Woman Writer and a Woman of Color • D. Three Conflicting Identities as an Activitist of Color, A Feminist Writer and a Woman of Color

6. Discussion Questions • Why does Minh ha find that she is torn between these conflicting loyalties? • How does Minh ha view authorship?

7. Guide Question • What is the “guilt” Minh ha talks about?

8. Multiple Choice • A. The guilt of indulging in “pure art for art’s sake” • B. The guilt of writing for herself alone • C.The guilt of disavowing her gender and race • D. The guilt of wanting a “room of her own” • E. The guilt of being privileged to write • F. A & B only • G. C & D only • H. D & E only

9. Guide Question • How does Minh ha view writing in relation to Sartre’s ideal of liberty?

10. Multiple Choice • A. She identifies with Sartre’s notions of an absolute choice of self and proud assertion of consciousness • B. She believes that it is in the name of My freedom that I stamp out others • C. She believes that “writing for the masses” requires “massification” of the other • D. A & B only • E. A & C only • F. B & C only • G. None of the above fits perfectly

11. Discussion Question • What does Minh ha think of the opposition between “art for art’s sake” and “political art”?

12. Demystifying another dichotomy • “Thus the notion of ‘art for the masses’ supposes not only a split between the artist & her/his audience—the spectator & consumer—but also a passivity on the part of the latter. . . This means that despite the shift of emphasis the elite-versus-masses opposition remains intact. . . One of the functions of this “art for the masses” is, naturally, to contrast with the other, higher “art for the elite,” & thereby to enforce its elitest values. The wider the distance between the two, the firmer the stand of conservative art. . .” (13)

13. Discussion Questions • How does Minh ha view “correct/well behaved” writing versus writing that “steals”? • Do you agree with Minh ha’s characterization of these two types of writing?

14. On Writing • “Clarity is a means of subjection, a quality both of official, taught language & of correct writing, two old mates of power: together they flow, together they flower, vertically, to impose an order. . .” (17) • “Yet I-the-writer do not express (a) reality more than a reality impresses itself on me. Expresses me.” (18)

15. Discussion Question • Why does Minh ha refer to (ideal) writing as an “infinite play of mirrors”?

16. Writing as mirroring mirrors • “A writing for the people, by the people, and from the people is, literally, a multipolar reflecting reflection that remains free from the conditions of subjectivity & objectivity & yet reveals them both. I write to show myself showing people who show me my own showing. I-You: not one, not two. In this unwonted spectacle made of reality & fiction, where redoubled images form & reform, neither I nor you come first.” (22)

17. Guide Question • What is the “Quiller-Couch Syndrome” or “Lady Painter” Syndrome as Margaret Atwood describes it?

18. Multiple Choice • A. States that “masculine writing” is “objective” and “feminine writing” is “subjective” • B. States that “masculine writing” is “universal” and “feminine writing” is “confessional,” and “personal” • C. States that “masculine writing” is “healthy/sane” while “feminine writing” verges on the “sick/neurotic” • D. States that “When she is ‘good,’ she’s a painter; when she’s ‘bad,’ she’s called a “lady painter.” • E. None of the above fits perfectly • F. All of the above

19. Guide Question: • What are the traits of “writing woman” according to Minh-ha?

20. Multiple Choice: • A. The “Priest God Scheme” • B. “And I grow younger as I leave my me behind” • C. “Writing/being written by my body” • D. The body in theory as “fragmenting to decentralize rather than dividing to conquer” • E. A & B only • F. All of the above except A • G. All of the above except B & D • H. None of the above fits perfectly

21. Final Quote • “ ‘Writing the body is that abstract-concrete, personal-political realm of excess not fully contained by writing’s unifying structural forces. Its physicality (vocality, tactility, touch, resonance), or edging and margin, exceeds the rationalized ‘clarity’ of communicative structures and cannot be fully explained by any analysis. It is a way of making theory in gender, of making a theory of politics of everyday life, thereby re-writing the ethnic female subject as a site of differences.” (44)