Writer and community organizer working in the intersection of art, activism and academia. Part of the research faculty of the Department of English and American Studies, Humboldt University Berlin. Team member of the ERC research group "Tales of the Diasporic Ordinary" (https://blogs.hu-berlin.de/todo) Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Elahe Haschemi Yekani Address: Berlin, Germany
The negotiation of (in)visibility remains a crucial point for oppressed and minoritized communiti... more The negotiation of (in)visibility remains a crucial point for oppressed and minoritized communities. The desire to remain invisible seems to be counterintuitive when visibility seems to promise emancipation. At the same time, aspirations toward invisibility seem delusionary in an age of technological control and surveillance. The representation of collective identities and struggles persists to be a focal, yet controversial topic in relations to political mobilization, discourse and agendas. Activists, scholars and artists alike have criticized how the gains of social justice movements are absorbed into a neoliberal market of social change. Here, the particular interests of minority groups are made visible in mainstream culture just enough to generate profit while doing little to affect the majority and society structurally at large. This gives the illusion that a few members of minoritized groups can transcend into the so-called mainstream, it strengthens the misleading narrative that the power of a few can change the whole (Neon Chen 2). This is a false promise of emancipation that also upholds colonial economic structures. At the same time, reductionist representation politics that attempt to make complex social issues comprehensible not only affect how minority groups are perceived, but also limit the ways in which they can express themselves beyond the didactic.
Black writers adapted jazz music to “say the unsayable” or employed the “jazz aesthetic,” which i... more Black writers adapted jazz music to “say the unsayable” or employed the “jazz aesthetic,” which includes improvisation, citation, and variation as a stylistic device to distance their literature from European forms of narration. These elements can also be found in M. NourbeSe Philip’s poetry collection She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks (1988) which rigorously challenges the way language and words are perceived. Philip denounces the Western ideology of non-ambiguity, dichotomies, and narration altogether by engaging the reader as jazz musicians engage their audience. What role did music play in the Black resistance? What is the “jazz aesthetic” and how is it incorporated into Black diasporic literature? How does jazz music create community and how did Black female musicians speak up in a rather hypermasculine jazz universe? How does Philip incorporate the jazz aesthetic, improvisation, and womanist thoughts in her poems? And what is the intention of noise, dissonance, a...
This paper will introduce two feminist utopian writings that present fictive worlds in whichmater... more This paper will introduce two feminist utopian writings that present fictive worlds in whichmaternity is not only valued but stands at the center of the whole community, essentially includingevery citizen in reproductive work. Focusing on Charlotte Perkin Gilman‘s Herland (1915) and Marge Piercy‘s Women on the Edgeof Time (1976), this paper will trace the notion of motherhood in feminist utopian writing by working with a historical approach which examines the voices of first-wave and second-wave feminism correspondingly. Quinessentially, Gilman and Piercy put motherhood in the center of society to criticize the limiting definition of womenhood as motherhood and its imposition on women which restrain active participation in economical, political and societal issues by women in a patriarchal world. This andocentric reality stands in opposition to the feminist utopia that is flourishing in the hands of „mothers“. In the following pages these question will be subject: What is the feminist critique of motherhood? Who is qualified to be a mother? How do the maternal-centered worlds of Gilman and Piercy reflect feminist theories? How can utopian writing have realistic effects on political visions despite its fantastic content?
Tracing back the meaning of sentimentality through time, this paper aims to illustrate the cultur... more Tracing back the meaning of sentimentality through time, this paper aims to illustrate the cultural and social importance of the Sentimental Novel (1790-1860) as well as its particular impact on society despite the much deployed claim of lacking “intellectuality.” It analyzes established feminist work by sentimental novelists and feminist concepts found between the lines of sentimental texts such as Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson, The Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Part One explores the concept of (pure) rationalism since the ancient Greek and how its philosophy has impacted literary and social discourse until today. Part Two examines early feminist work that can be found in sentimental texts. Part Three sheds light on female body politics discussed in sentimental work. Part Four discusses the question of empathy.
With every step American women have taken on the road to equality, critics had different approach... more With every step American women have taken on the road to equality, critics had different approaches on what these advancements mean for men. A recurring claim is the crisis of masculinity. This paper examines the various media responses to this prominent thesis and how it reflects the idea of feminism over time. Part One explores masculine insecurity documented in American gender history since the nineteenth century. Part Two illustrates and examines media publications on the “demise of men”. Part Three analyzes how they reflect the understanding of feminism. Part Four picks up thoughts on feminism that presumably got lost in the making.
The negotiation of (in)visibility remains a crucial point for oppressed and minoritized communiti... more The negotiation of (in)visibility remains a crucial point for oppressed and minoritized communities. The desire to remain invisible seems to be counterintuitive when visibility seems to promise emancipation. At the same time, aspirations toward invisibility seem delusionary in an age of technological control and surveillance. The representation of collective identities and struggles persists to be a focal, yet controversial topic in relations to political mobilization, discourse and agendas. Activists, scholars and artists alike have criticized how the gains of social justice movements are absorbed into a neoliberal market of social change. Here, the particular interests of minority groups are made visible in mainstream culture just enough to generate profit while doing little to affect the majority and society structurally at large. This gives the illusion that a few members of minoritized groups can transcend into the so-called mainstream, it strengthens the misleading narrative that the power of a few can change the whole (Neon Chen 2). This is a false promise of emancipation that also upholds colonial economic structures. At the same time, reductionist representation politics that attempt to make complex social issues comprehensible not only affect how minority groups are perceived, but also limit the ways in which they can express themselves beyond the didactic.
Black writers adapted jazz music to “say the unsayable” or employed the “jazz aesthetic,” which i... more Black writers adapted jazz music to “say the unsayable” or employed the “jazz aesthetic,” which includes improvisation, citation, and variation as a stylistic device to distance their literature from European forms of narration. These elements can also be found in M. NourbeSe Philip’s poetry collection She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks (1988) which rigorously challenges the way language and words are perceived. Philip denounces the Western ideology of non-ambiguity, dichotomies, and narration altogether by engaging the reader as jazz musicians engage their audience. What role did music play in the Black resistance? What is the “jazz aesthetic” and how is it incorporated into Black diasporic literature? How does jazz music create community and how did Black female musicians speak up in a rather hypermasculine jazz universe? How does Philip incorporate the jazz aesthetic, improvisation, and womanist thoughts in her poems? And what is the intention of noise, dissonance, a...
This paper will introduce two feminist utopian writings that present fictive worlds in whichmater... more This paper will introduce two feminist utopian writings that present fictive worlds in whichmaternity is not only valued but stands at the center of the whole community, essentially includingevery citizen in reproductive work. Focusing on Charlotte Perkin Gilman‘s Herland (1915) and Marge Piercy‘s Women on the Edgeof Time (1976), this paper will trace the notion of motherhood in feminist utopian writing by working with a historical approach which examines the voices of first-wave and second-wave feminism correspondingly. Quinessentially, Gilman and Piercy put motherhood in the center of society to criticize the limiting definition of womenhood as motherhood and its imposition on women which restrain active participation in economical, political and societal issues by women in a patriarchal world. This andocentric reality stands in opposition to the feminist utopia that is flourishing in the hands of „mothers“. In the following pages these question will be subject: What is the feminist critique of motherhood? Who is qualified to be a mother? How do the maternal-centered worlds of Gilman and Piercy reflect feminist theories? How can utopian writing have realistic effects on political visions despite its fantastic content?
Tracing back the meaning of sentimentality through time, this paper aims to illustrate the cultur... more Tracing back the meaning of sentimentality through time, this paper aims to illustrate the cultural and social importance of the Sentimental Novel (1790-1860) as well as its particular impact on society despite the much deployed claim of lacking “intellectuality.” It analyzes established feminist work by sentimental novelists and feminist concepts found between the lines of sentimental texts such as Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson, The Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Part One explores the concept of (pure) rationalism since the ancient Greek and how its philosophy has impacted literary and social discourse until today. Part Two examines early feminist work that can be found in sentimental texts. Part Three sheds light on female body politics discussed in sentimental work. Part Four discusses the question of empathy.
With every step American women have taken on the road to equality, critics had different approach... more With every step American women have taken on the road to equality, critics had different approaches on what these advancements mean for men. A recurring claim is the crisis of masculinity. This paper examines the various media responses to this prominent thesis and how it reflects the idea of feminism over time. Part One explores masculine insecurity documented in American gender history since the nineteenth century. Part Two illustrates and examines media publications on the “demise of men”. Part Three analyzes how they reflect the understanding of feminism. Part Four picks up thoughts on feminism that presumably got lost in the making.
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Papers by Thao Ho
Part One explores the concept of (pure) rationalism since the ancient Greek and how its philosophy has impacted literary and social discourse until today. Part Two examines early feminist work that can be found in sentimental texts. Part Three sheds light on female body politics discussed in sentimental work. Part Four discusses the question of empathy.
Part One explores the concept of (pure) rationalism since the ancient Greek and how its philosophy has impacted literary and social discourse until today. Part Two examines early feminist work that can be found in sentimental texts. Part Three sheds light on female body politics discussed in sentimental work. Part Four discusses the question of empathy.