The contrast between the body, narrative and politics is very interesting. A narrative is a story, the body is the physical structure of person, and politics is the governance of something. When reading the poetry this week, I looked to see what stories were being told, and what those stories said about governance over the body depending on who's narrative was being told. Stay with me here.
In Joseph's poem Then, we are placed inside of Joseph's body with the pain splitting his heart, and the slowing of the breath. Joseph the person is connected to his body - we know his name, and how he was feeling. We even learn about Joseph's father and a sense of how his body looked and felt. Here the body is connected to the person/heart/soul. Although this poem didn't know it was going to be alongside side's Nafis's work, I think it's interesting that in this poem the male bodies have importance. Though the male bodies are in pain, centering Joseph, his physical sensations as well as has thoughts gives him some relevancy.
Whereas in Conspiracy - What the Doctor Says to the BlackGirl, “We will try to maintain anatomy.” The female body that is being operated on is just a physical body. It is talked about amongst doctors but we don't know who the woman is, what she feels mentally or while she's going through the examination. This popped out to me because women are often invalidated or erased, and our bodies are usually not our own. Employers, husbands, the government etc. has more say-so over women's bodies than women's do and the differences in language that Joseph and Nafis use make that obvious to me. When a man tells a story (narrative) the main character seems to have ownership (politics) over the body, but when told from a woman, that ownership is lost. This is reinforced again in the What the Paper on the Kitchen Table Say about the BlackGirls's Sister "patient was advised to terminate." We don't get names, we don't get emotions from the black girl or her sister. Who they are as people isn't what's important, the only thing that matters is governing their bodies.
Who is telling the story about body is it's own set politics outside of what the poem/story is actually saying about the body as well. Not just for these two particular poets but society at large.
Thanks for this Brea! I stayed with you and it was well worth it. The line that hit me the hardest: "When a man tells a story (narrative) the main character seems to have ownership (politics) over the body, but when told from a woman, that ownership is lost."
ReplyDeleteI see this in so many written bodies, too. And I've been wondering what kind of conversations this class will have around body (because you can teach a whole Poets of Color class on the body). This makes me think even more on what I focused on in my blog (around body reclamation) and how can we craft body reclamation as women or being of feminine energy and/or being of color.
Thanks!
Van I agree! The body and poets of color can be it's own separate syllabus.
DeleteHi Brea,
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this, I expressed something similar to your commentary on "What the Doctors say to the Black Girls". As you stated the poet Angel Nafis, gives us zero emotion, or dialogue between the Doctor and the patient. The patient is simply reduced to a physical body that is being questioned without caring about the answer and is being used to exhibit and show other students in the room without caring about the privacy of the patient.
I really like how you mention that the only importance given is the authority of the governing body.
Thanks,
Daisy
So in this set of responses and blogs, I first think of disembodiment not a male-female terms but in trauma terms. I often think that each time a woman does go to the doctors there's a certain amount of trauma because we lose complete control. It's a very interesting set of comments
ReplyDelete