> ........ I find it kind of incongruous
> that we readily defer to what is the equivalent of "Mr/Ms Joe Public" in
> Indian land and consider them as "experts" in all matters pertaining to
> Indian-ness. If we reversed the role and asked the common American (whom
> ever that is) to comment on something, we call that "an opinion." My
> sentiment is that we need to create or access a pool of Indian people who
> are qualified to present these issues on the basis their accomplishments
> (whether culture-based or academically learned).
I agree! There is a catch-22 working in the concern for "authentic"
voices: one one hand, no body except an "authentic" ethnic person is
supposed to be able to perceive and articulate the experiences of the
"ethnic group" concerned; on the other hand, no one is supposed to insist
that an "ethnic" person be limited to working within the boundaries
of their "group." The result is that whole areas of human experience
are effectively silenced -- in the name of opening the "mainstream"
to these very voices! And as Ted says, to top it off, anybody who can
claim to be an "ethnic" person is presumed to be able to speak for the
"group."
George Orwell couldn't have thought of a better way to obscure the
possibilities for real dialogue!
-- Peter d'Errico phone: 413-545-2003 Legal Studies Department fax: 413-545-1640 University of Massachusetts/Amherst 01003 dErrico@titan.ucc.umass.edu