Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time”
In this essay, I explore “peripheral pedagogics”– the wholly unforeseen ways of fantasizing others, and learning 'from' them, when English situates young Indian readers of Nadine Gordimer’s 1989 story, “Once Upon a Time.” While students need little help in noticing the story’s realist port...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Anglo Saxonica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.revista-anglo-saxonica.org/articles/13 |
| _version_ | 1827843939441311744 |
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| author | K. Narayana Chandran |
| author_facet | K. Narayana Chandran |
| author_sort | K. Narayana Chandran |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this essay, I explore “peripheral pedagogics”– the wholly unforeseen ways of fantasizing others, and learning 'from' them, when English situates young Indian readers of Nadine Gordimer’s 1989 story, “Once Upon a Time.” While students need little help in noticing the story’s realist portrayal of post-Apartheid South Africa, only detailed analysis of crucial passages enables them to appreciate her ironic treatment of folktale clichés and time-worn conventions of children’s stories. Reading Gordimer in a course called New Literatures in English, they see how colonial fantasy meets postcolonial forensics in such partnered narratives; how, further, the teller and her tale reflect mutually gothic fear and the monstrous, both indeed emanating from much the same consciousness. The interpretive light Gordimer casts on Homi Bhabha’s (1988) “Other Question” and the colonial strategies of othering he discusses in 'The Location of Culture' add to their discovery that clichés are to fiction what stereotypes are to social studies. Rather than asking what stereotypes are, the class here begins to ask what stereotypes are 'for' (and why they return to wake us from deep slumber). The actual circumstances of Gordimer’s story are inseparable from its telling. No learning is complete, however, unless the peripheral recognizes that 'the telling is the story'— the one who tells and those to whom it is told share equal opportunity in this learning. Theoretical debates do not count for much if we do not believe that the values we teach are not always at odds with those inherent in such stories as Gordimer’s. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:33:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-952fee3181b1400eb8a323d0ecae3223 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2184-6006 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T08:33:03Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anglo Saxonica |
| spelling | doaj.art-952fee3181b1400eb8a323d0ecae32232023-09-02T17:27:13ZengUbiquity PressAnglo Saxonica2184-60062020-06-0118110.5334/as.1320Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time”K. Narayana Chandran0The University of HyderabadIn this essay, I explore “peripheral pedagogics”– the wholly unforeseen ways of fantasizing others, and learning 'from' them, when English situates young Indian readers of Nadine Gordimer’s 1989 story, “Once Upon a Time.” While students need little help in noticing the story’s realist portrayal of post-Apartheid South Africa, only detailed analysis of crucial passages enables them to appreciate her ironic treatment of folktale clichés and time-worn conventions of children’s stories. Reading Gordimer in a course called New Literatures in English, they see how colonial fantasy meets postcolonial forensics in such partnered narratives; how, further, the teller and her tale reflect mutually gothic fear and the monstrous, both indeed emanating from much the same consciousness. The interpretive light Gordimer casts on Homi Bhabha’s (1988) “Other Question” and the colonial strategies of othering he discusses in 'The Location of Culture' add to their discovery that clichés are to fiction what stereotypes are to social studies. Rather than asking what stereotypes are, the class here begins to ask what stereotypes are 'for' (and why they return to wake us from deep slumber). The actual circumstances of Gordimer’s story are inseparable from its telling. No learning is complete, however, unless the peripheral recognizes that 'the telling is the story'— the one who tells and those to whom it is told share equal opportunity in this learning. Theoretical debates do not count for much if we do not believe that the values we teach are not always at odds with those inherent in such stories as Gordimer’s.https://www.revista-anglo-saxonica.org/articles/13peripheral pedagogicsnadine gordimerclichés and stereotypeshomi bhabha’s other question |
| spellingShingle | K. Narayana Chandran Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time” Anglo Saxonica peripheral pedagogics nadine gordimer clichés and stereotypes homi bhabha’s other question |
| title | Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time” |
| title_full | Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time” |
| title_fullStr | Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time” |
| title_full_unstemmed | Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time” |
| title_short | Peripheral Pedagogics: Nadine Gordimer’s “Once Upon A Time” |
| title_sort | peripheral pedagogics nadine gordimer s once upon a time |
| topic | peripheral pedagogics nadine gordimer clichés and stereotypes homi bhabha’s other question |
| url | https://www.revista-anglo-saxonica.org/articles/13 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT knarayanachandran peripheralpedagogicsnadinegordimersonceuponatime |