[NON BLOG] Native Land Claims in Canlit

Over at canlit, a German student of Canadian literature has asked for help in finding Canadian fiction that relates to native land claims. If you can help, just go on over!

[LINK] heraclitus on Angel and Buffy

Angel beats Buffy. To find out why, go here.

[LINK] Notes on the Hui

Over at GNXP, Razib has two interesting posts exploring the origins of the Hui people (1, 2).

[NON BLOG] The Best Cliffhanger Ever

Hervé Guibert is the responsible party.

"je sens les mains de Vincent dans mon dos. Est-ce qu'elles me poussent ou est-ce qu'elles me caressent?"

Les Gangsters. Paris: Minuit, 1988. 109.

"I feel Vincent's hands on my back. Are they pushing me or are they caressing me."

The Gangsters. Trans. Iain White. New York: Serpent's Tail, 1992. 107

[BRIEF NOTE] Why the Soviet Koreans? Pohl explains

J. Otto Pohl, author of Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949, left an interesting comment offering explanations for the deportation of the Soviet Koreans from the Far East.

[T]he deportation of the Koreans had to do with several reasons. One underlying reason that fed the others was that like all other extra-territorial nationalities there national construction took place outside the territory of the USSR. Hence Moscow could not fully shape the national history of the group to create a fully Soviet Korean nationality the way the Soviet government could with native nationalities. They would always maintain an outside essence that could not be trusted near the borders of the Soviet Union particularly near their ancestral homeland.

Second, there was the issue of land conflict between Koreans and Slavs in the Far East that had existed since Tsarist times. Land conflicts throughout the USSR became intensified on a national level during the 1920s and 30s. In Kazakhstan and the Caucasus this led to the expulsion of Russians by natives. See Terry Martin's an Affirmative Action Empire for on how this worked in Asian ares of the USSR.

Finally, the issue of espionage which was the official rationale for deportation. It is true that the Koreans in the USSR were not well disposed to the Japanese. But, they were well disposed to fellow Koreans. It was feared that this fraternal kinship would lead them to shelter ethnic Koreans sent from Korea by the Japanese to act as spies and diversionsits in the Far East. Frequent crossborder traffic by Koreans and families with members on both sides of the USSR-Manchurian border intnesified this fear. The fact is that Koreans in the USSR could harbor pro-Japanese Koreans infiltrated into the area without knowing it. By as it were draining this sea of support by creating a completely White Soviet Far East, the Soviet government made such infiltration impossible. Any Asian caught in the Soviet Far East after the deportation of the Koreans and Chinese would just be assumed to be a Japanese spy.

There is also the issue of having harmed some Koreans that of all of them might become hostile to Soviet power. Hence the original deportation order which only covered the border regions was later expanded to include all of the USSR east of Lake Baikal. By sending the entire population to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan the NKVD made sure that no potential threat could develop among the population.

[BRIEF NOTE] Problematic Masculinities, Part 3

In previous posts in this series (1, 2), I've suggested that alienation plays a critical role in forming the identities of gay/bi men. This isn't exactly a new insight, inasmuch as non-heterosexual sexual orientations have traditionally been placed outside of the spheres of the normal and the acceptable, that is, when they've been recognized as orientations at all and not (say) compulsive and criminal behaviours.

Mass media and popular culture in the 21st century, though, might well be inflicting the same problems upon heterosexuals, at least those heterosexuals who, for whatever reason, find themselves incapable of living up to the perfection that seems to be demanded. In the 21st century, might all men be united negatively, by their common alienation from what's defined as acceptable, and yet buffered from the full force of their unacceptability by the lack of any enforcement mechanisms on the part of society?

This is encouraging; and yet. There's equality and then there's equality, and then there's simply equal suffering.