Eco-Literacy 2014

When Jenna highlighted the passage in The Hungry Tide where Piya shows the guard a picture of the Gangetic dolphin and "he asked if it was a bird," I thought immediately of the ambiguous figure of the "Rabbit Duck" (do you know this? can you see both?)

Ambiguous figures like this one are important in illustrating not only (as Jenna said) that "people with different backgrounds perceive things differently," but also that everything we perceive we might perceive otherwise (or, as I still tell my children, "you can always tell a different story"). If you are interested in thinking-or-writing more about this phenomenon (which is a visual extension of the conversation we had yesterday about the imprecision of language) you might want to explore some the material on Serendip about ambiguous figures--as a demonstration of informed guessing and (always my friend Paul's punch line) free will....

ECON 136:  Week 14Tasks

 Monday:   On Data and Persuasion    

            Background reading:

                        Data vs. storytelling      

                        Reason vs. Intuition

Wednesday:  Preparing for the Final Memorandum

 Review my comments on your written work

Review the Guide to the Final Memorandum, complete and submit through Moodle between noon on May 5 and the end of the exam period.

Friday:   We go our separate ways one last time

360:   Meet at 10 am at Pem Arch for Camden Trip

So far, I have really enjoyed reading the Hungry Tide and I keep thinking about how the novel ties back to our overarching English/360 conversation of home and exile. The themes of home, belonging, and exile come up quite frequently in the text--Piya, who's heritage and physichal appearance make her look like an insider still feels somewhat siloed from the Indian culture and way of life, and seemingly feels more at home when searching for the rare species of dolphin. Kanai, who is more of an insider than Piya, also plays the role of an outsider as he reads and learns more about Kusum's story. Another way in which home comes up in the text is when Piya recalls the memory of how attached her father was to a towel that had become an old, tattered piece of fabric. "In general, the least sentimental of men [... the cloth] was almost like a piece of his body, like his hair or nail clippings; his luck was woven into it" (73). These themes of home/belonging/exile in the text raise the questions: can one feel like and be an insider and outsider in a space that is supposed to be his or her home? Is it possible for an object to represent home? Can such an object (natural or unnatural) feel like it is a part of us? 

You can find the the map of the Sundarbans @ the start of The Hungry Tide @
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hungry-Tide-A-Novel/dp/B003IWYKOO#reader_B003IWYKOO

Albert Camus’ 1957 lecture, “Create Dangerously":
http://www.nathanielturner.com/createdangerouslycamus.htm

Jane Tompkins, "Sentimental Power: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Politics of Literary History,"
Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction:
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/english/NEH/TOMPKINS.HTM

Lauren Berlant, "The Subject of True Feeling: Pain, Privacy and Politics":
http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/politicalfeeling/files/2007/09/berlant-lauren-th_subject_of_true_feeling.pdf

How much latitude can you allow?

In my own words, latitude, the ability to allow yourself to immerse and dance around as far into the open field as much as you allow. Latitude, a force field as strong as your beliefs, your morals, and your drive. Latitude- as expandable and malleable as you want it to be. Latitude- what I have total control over. Throughout our experiences, there will be individuals sailing through several waves, facing different tides, and walking into different territories. As individuals, we can’t all be compatible and we see that with the character Lloyd Fuller in All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki and Elizabeth Costello in The Lives of Animals by J.M. Coetzee. They expand their latitude as far as they allow themselves to share their beliefs, but never bursting their force field by the harmful words of people who are against them. Latitude, unlike the scientific use, which gives an ideal measurement of a geographic coordinate, is the stretchy floating hula-hoop I as well as Costello and Fuller walk in.

Latitude can’t be measured. It’s like trying to measure how many tears you have cried- ridiculous. It’s not something that takes a form and turns into stone; forever keeping it’s shape until it is broken. The latitude an individual creates for one self is strong like rubber, to keep all its beliefs from being attacked, but also stretchy to allow yourself to stretch as far as you’re comfortable with in sharing what you believe in. Latitude is controlled by the tolerance one allows.