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Dlffernce: 'A Speclal Third World Women lssue'
Trlnh T Mlnh-ha
substitutes) without feeling that our presence, like that of the native
(who happens to be invited) among the anthropologists, serves to mask
the refine(I sexist and/or racist tone of their discourse, reinforcing
thereby its pretensions to universality. Given the permanent status of
'foreign workers', we - like the South African blacks who are allowed
to toil on white territories as 'migrants',but are gotten rid of and reset-
tled to the homeland area as soon as they become unprofitable labour
units continue in most cases to be treated as 'temporarysojourners',
even though we may spend our whole lifetime by their side pleading a
common cause.
the white rancher told Chato he was too old to work for him any more,
and Chato and his old woman should be out of the shack by the next
afternoon because the rancher had hired new people to work there.
That had satisfied her. To see how the white man repaid Chato's years
of loyalty and work. All of Chato's fine-sounding English didn't change
things. (SiLko,1978:57)
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StiU from Naked Spaces- Living is Round
In other words,
to imply . . . that all women suffer the same oppression simply because
we are women, is to lose sight of the many varied tools of patriarchy.
(1980: 97)
Should you visit San Francisco one day, be sure to be there sometixne
in late January or February, for you will be witnessing one of the
most spectacular festivals celebrated in America. Chinatown, which
until recently was the 'wickedest thoroughfare in the States', the taint
of 'America's dream town', a vice-ridden and overcrowded ghetto
where tourists rarely venture, is now the not-to-be-missedtourist at-
traction, an exotica famed for its packed restaurants, its Ariental
delicacies, its glittering souvenir-crammed shops and, above all, its
memorable Chinese New Year celebration. Over and over again, the
(off-)scenerepeats itself as if time no longer changes. How is theparade
born? Whwreand in what circumstances was it invented? 'Backhome'
- whose spirit this parade pretends to perpetuate - did the Chinese
celebrate their New Yearsqueezed up along the sidewalks with several
dozen of hefty policernen fAxnericanand Chinese almost alike) perch-
ed high on foot, on horseback and on motor bikes (no Chinese
policeman, however, has been seen on horsebackor on a motor bike) to
guard (what is supposed to be) their parade, shoo them, push thexn
back, or call tkm to order if they happen to get off the line while wat-
ching the procession? What do you think the motives are behind such
an ostentatious display of folklore/ of arrogance and coercive power
(besides the invariable it-is-for-your-own good answer Order usually
provides you with)?ForI myselffail to see any sign of 'celebration' in
this segregated masquerade, wherefeasters are forcibly divided into
actors and spectators, while participation exclusively consists in
either exhibiting oneself exotically on the scene, or watching the ob-
jects of exhibition distantly off the scene. ChineseNew Year thus takes
Difference, Identity and Racism 21
Notes
Trinh T. Minh-ha is a writer, film maker and composer. She has contributed
writings in the areas of theory and criticism, film, music, feminism and Third
Worldliterature. Her work also includes the books Un art sans oeurre, African
Spaces (in coll.), Woman, Native, Other (forthcoming) and En min?ules (a
book of poems), and the films ReassembZge and Naked Spaces - Living ts
Round. She presently teaches in the Department of Cinema at San Francisco
State University.
References