I am a lover of art museums, so Chapter 23 -- the scene in the Mu'tafikah den -- hit me where it hurts. However, I'm also a lover of the critical nature of postmodernist writings, and Reed makes some very valid points about the artificial and restrictive nature of the Western idea of consumption of art. So, it was a section I enjoyed, even if it was a little painful to read.
One of the concepts that I've been following since before Ragtime is the arbitrary -- or at least, seemingly arbitrary -- nature of what we consider to be noteworthy enough to have some sort of cultural or historical relevance -- what we choose to deem to be important. It's a concept that keeps popping up. In the embryonic stages of the course, we discussed the completely overwhelming nature of trying to preserve one time period, trying to capture even the smallest moment in history, setting us up for critiquing metanarratives, for those are the stories that we have chosen to capture. In Ragtime, the fixation upon the Morgan Library reminds us of how the "notable" items from other cultures shapes our perception of them. In the White readings, we are given some guidelines for determining what matters and what doesn't. And now, in Mumbo Jumbo, we receive perhaps the most forceful statement about preservation of non-Western cultures: that objects are to be placed under the control of the powers-that-be in an attempt to remove their power.
A paradox exists in the Wallflower Order's attitude towards African, Asian, and South American culture. On one hand, they value their art -- masks, sculptures, etc. -- as "treasures," and attempt to display them to the public at the Center for Art Detention. On the other hand, they do everything in their power to stop the spread of a different form of culture that same African culture, Jes Grew. Initially, I thought Reed made a point to illustrate this contradiction with the mu'tafikah, and to portray the randomness with with the empowered groups selects meaningful focal points in the culture of the disempowered group(s). However, upon further examination, Reed has a much different thesis: that the Wallflower Order purposefully displays global artifacts in the C.A.D. as a sort of cultural strangulation; as a way to control them.
Jes Grew is much harder to control because it cannot be popped inside a glass case. The powers-that-be are unable to contain it, which is why they denounce Jes Grew while hailing tribal masks as invaluable. When we think of Reed's analogy of non-white cultures as plagues, the C.A.D. takes on the qualities of not simply a prison, but a quarantine. All the precautions of an art museum --thick glass, no touching of the pieces, standing back __ number of feet -- are reminiscent of precautions taken against the spread of a disease.
Agora Week's reading about the Egyptian equivalent of Mumbo Jumbo's 1920s account of the spread of black culture discussed how the Templar's religion -- Christianity -- "compromised" with the Osirian traditions -- turning Isis into the Virgin Mary, for instance. Here is another example of the Wallflower Orders seeming to have embraced and incorporated some elements of non-white culture with the purpose of controlling the other culture and undermining its spread.
I like the points you make here about the Atonists trying to sanitizing aspects of African religion to make it fit with their own narrative. In the reading we did over Agora Days though, and really throughout the entire novel, it's been interesting for me to see how Reed is rewriting the metanarrative from the Afrocentric perspective. In a way, he too is sanitizing details of other cultures to make his reader think in a certain manner. It really all goes back to this idea of competing narratives that we've been talking about since the beginning of the semester. Which version of the story is right? Which perspective can we most trust? I don't know the answer, but at least, in this class, we've been exposed to some alternate ways of thinking about our world, even about such supposedly beneficial institutions as museums.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting point to think about: sanitizing/controlling the spread of a culture by boxing it in, physically surrounding it. Putting the cultural pieces into the glass cases of a museum is one direct manifestation of this idea, but I was also reminded of the Book of Thoth itself. It is a physical form that captures the spirit of Jes Grew; the "text" serves to empower Jes Grew but at the same time it is framing the movement in a physical, condensed, closed form. The text and the museum pieces are enclosed in fundamentally different fashions and for different intentions, but I do think the distinction is interesting.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I like how you talked about the Wallflower Order and their attempts to control the spread of Jes Grew. It's hard for them to do this in the same way other powers have tried to, by locking it in a glass case in a museum, as you pointed out. What interested me are the other ways in which they tried to contain it. For instance, today in class we discussed their use of the Talking Android in the reading over Agora. Some had the opinion that Gould's reading of the substandard poem served to undermine African American culture in a different way.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be Reed's goal to turn everything we, as westerners, have come to love and value, on it's head. Of course this is a typical postmodernist approach, but I agree with you the Reed's particular portrayal of Western culture has really hit me in the gut. I think it's partly because of the way he makes things so completely black and white, right or wrong, in the exact opposite lights as they have been painted by Westerners in the past. I understand the need to combat equally villainous stereotypes of Black culture and polytheistic religions, but I do find it kind of annoying that he paints all monotheistic religions as utterly controlling and wrong. Then again, this book was written at a different time, when these stereotypes of monotheistic religions may have actually been more true.
ReplyDeleteI had just used quarantine to describe art detention in another comment but I wasn't aware of the allusion to plague (and thus Jes Grew) it created. Now I remember that one of the mu'tafikah said they were taking artifacts to "see the gods return and the spirits aroused," which within the analogies of this novel means they were going to spread disease by taking these objects out of quarantine. I think the overarching theme of controlling culture is built up really well with analogies like that.
ReplyDeleteThis is a significant analysis, but I think the real sort of "point" of this subplot is Reed's continued critique of whiteness. Thor Wintergreen's almost immediate betrayal of his black comrades is one of the most striking scenes in the novel (even if it is pretty funny), and I almost feel like Reed uses the Muta'fikah and the Center for Art Detention as merely a backdrop.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if, in addition to seeing "art detention" as a way to controlling cultures the Wallflower Order seeks to oppress, we can also see it as a way of discrediting them. Putting art, pots or masks in a museum, calling them "artifacts" seems to say "These things are antiquated, maybe not even relevant anymore. They're quaint. Isnt it crazy to see how people used to live way back when?"
ReplyDeleteI think what you're describing fits perfectly with the pattern of appropriation of black music in America, but on a larger scale (incorporating even more cultures). By publicly celebrating the products of these cultures, in a way Western society is taking ownership of them.
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