“At the center of the Anthropocene lies what the PNAS scientists refer to as the “present dominant socioeconomic system.” Capitalism as we know it has not simply steered the global human ecological niche off course; it has driven us completely into a ditch. “High-carbon economic growth” and “exploitative resource use” are constitutive of this system, not incidental to it. And this resource exploitation is not limited to fossil fuels and rare-earth metals. Everything from the augmented mental health regimes of white-collar workers in the Global North to increasingly destabilized and dispossessed farmers and fishermen in the Global South are part of its extractive circuit. Its causal tendrils snake back through the history of colonization, of coal and oil, of geopolitics, and, of course, profit.”
when vincent van gogh said “but you must love with a high, serious intimate sympathy, with a will, with intelligence, and you must always seek to know more thoroughly, better, and more”
… subaltern is not just a classy word for “oppressed”, for [the] Other, for somebody who’s not getting a piece of the pie… . In post-colonial terms, everything that has limited or no access to the cultural imperialism is subaltern — a space of difference. Now, who would say that’s just the oppressed? The working class is oppressed. It’s not subaltern… . Many people want to claim subalternity. They are the least interesting and the most dangerous. I mean, just by being a discriminated-against minority on the university campus; they don’t need the word ‘subaltern’ … They should see what the mechanics of the discrimination are. They’re within the hegemonic discourse, wanting a piece of the pie, and not being allowed, so let them speak, use the hegemonic discourse. They should not call themselves subaltern.
Interview with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: New Nation Writers Conference in South Africa (1992)
Indefinitive Indian Parallel Cinema List
@dancinginyourhead asked me for a list of recommendations so here are around 10 films are all on youtube & have english subtitles (exception of #4 which is in the English language). This is not a definitive list but just a list of films I feel you can’t go wrong with seeing.
- Subarnarekha/The Golden Thread (Ritwik Ghatak, 1965)
Chokh/The Eyes (Utpalendu Chakrabarty, 1983)Mandi/The Marketplace (Shyam Benegal, 1984)- The Seer Who Walks Alone (G. Aravindan, 1986)
- Mati manas/Mind of Clay (Mani Kaul, 1985)
Saaz (Sai Paranjype, 1998)Ardh Satya/Half-Truth (Govind Nihalani, 1983)- Ghare Baire/The Home & the World (Satyajit Ray, 1984)
- Garam Hava/The Scorching Winds (M.S. Sathyu, 1974)
Ek din achanak/Suddenly, One Day (Mrinal Sen, 1989)Another thing is you can download youtube videos easily and use opensubtitles.org to find many of the subtitles for films which may be too much work for others but not for some!
Also, if you are interested in more Indian cinema, please follow Ruia/@pyotra amazing film tumblr @dhrupad who posts all kinds from parallel arthouse to mainstream stretching every decade. You will find analyses and a lot of context readings to these and other films which really helps in understanding and interpreting!
Reblogging and updated since the ones crossed out have been removed. Here are additional ones to watch
countervisuality 