Articles

“Pazha pônè maschettou, ” I will never get used to it.
Nothing beats our koduvakatthi. Panchami drops the machete and takes the end of her sari to wrap the injured finger. A few drops of blood mixed with cane sap fall onto the hot ground. The red sun at its zenith is merciless.
The young woman wipes away the beads of sweat running down her neck.
Cane sap, drops of blood, beads of sweat—her life on the plantation is far from being dry

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Jeg kan ikke synge Marseillaisen, for jeg kjenner mitt folks historie», sa fotballstjerna Christian Karembeu. Det var dét den første kanaken som vant et fotball-VM pleide å si gjennom hele karrieren. Spillerens sinne er forståelig når man tenker på historien om koloniseringen av Ny-Caledonia, den tidligere franske kolonien som i dag er fransk oversjøisk territorium i Stillehavet. De siste ukene har voldsomme protester herjet øya, etter at den franske nasjonalforsamlingen foreslo en omstridt stemmerettsreform. Den 15. mai ble det til og med innført et Tiktok-forbud, fordi forkjempere for uavhengighet brukte appen til å samle tilhengere for å demonstrere mot franske myndigheter. Forbudet er enestående i europeisk sammenheng og viser hvor desperat president Macron er i å beholde fransk kontroll over øya.

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–Corrigez-moi si je me trompe, mais vous êtes fasciné par un temps qui n’est plus. A savoir le Comptoir Français de Pondichéry. C’est délibéré ou pas ?

–Il me parait important de raconter mes histoires et l´histoire de la colonisation française en Inde, à travers ma perspective dans une langue commune que je partage avec le pays qui m´a colonisé. Les histoires de ces blessures anciennes qui peinent à cicatriser doivent être écrites par les Indiens, pour que les Français aussi n´oublient pas leur passé colonial. En racontant l´histoire de Pondichéry, je raconte aussi un pan de l´histoire de l´esclavagisme et de l´engagisme qui n´a jamais été raconté.

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I land som har vært, eller har hatt, kolonier, finnes spor overalt, ikke minst i maten. I Nederland, der jeg er fra, vitner innslag fra det indonesiske og surinamske kjøkken om vår brutale fortid som koloniherrer, samtidig som rettene har blitt en del av nederlandsk matkultur, gått inn i lappeteppet som er en nasjon.

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There are a lot of Pondicherrians who have written scientific books , non-fiction, about medicine, law, but fiction, no. Novelists, almost non-existent. There was a guy called Karavalan St Jean, who wrote poems against colonialism, but he did not get published. So I thought it was very interesting, writing about Pondicherry as a local author, through the indigenous perspective. Then it became a drug, I got addicted, …

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«Hvorfor skriver du ikke på morsmålet ditt?» Ngugi wa Thiong’os spørsmål ble hengende i luften. Vi satt i et rom hvor vi drakk kaffe, og spørsmålet overrasket meg ikke på noen som helst måte. Den kenyanske forfatteren som hadde vært i eksil i flere tiår, ble fengslet av britene for å ha trosset kolonimakten ved å skrive på kikuyu, morsmålet hans. Siden den gang er forfatteren kjent for sin aktivisme for litteratur skrevet på morsmål.

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In his 1922 essay titled “Medusa’s Head,” Sigmund Freud interprets the Greek myth of Medusa and her slayer Perseus as the overcoming of a castration complex in men. Tyrant king Polydectes desires Danae, the mother of young Perseus, and challenges him to slay Medusa the Gorgon in an attempt to get Perseus out of the way as he pursues Danae. Medusa is the monstress with snakes for hair, scales on her necks and a toothless mouth, and those who meet her gaze turn to stone. Perseus succeeds in killing Medusa and brings back her head in a sack only to find that his mother had gone into hiding to escape Polydectes’ abuse.

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It was a glacial winter evening in 1713, the court dwarf Frøken Elsebe broke out in a cold sweat. Queen Charlotte Amalie of Hasse Kassel seemed hypnotised by the newcomer. It was a bad omen. Her future was at stake right now. The man who stood was of medium height, his dark skin shining under the large chandelier.

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Africanity entered my life at the age of 40, when I visited my native island of Madagascar for the first time. I was overwhelmed with an inexplicable pride when I saw some pictures of my great-grandfather and my grandfather. Both of them were Africans! Thus, I was part of the great African family! Because until that day, I only knew about a part of this lost family, through souvenir photos.

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At the time I was reading the books that I list below, nothing seemed predestined for me to become a writer. As I read them, I was amazed by the talent of these writers, who transported me into these wonderful worlds. And since I have now become one of them, I often go back to that moment of wonder and get inspired by their novels.

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Kurusukuppam, the working-class locality in Pondicherry is far from the quaint picturesque portrait of the erstwhile French colony that most tourist brochures paint.

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Franco-Tamilian writer Ari Gautier traces the history and future of French writing out of India….

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Veldig få har brukt sitt eget morsmål som verktøy for å bekjempe lingvistisk imperialisme. Ngugi wa Thiong’o var en av de første som utfordret kolonimakten gjennom lingvistisk kamp. Selv om de brakte ham i landflyktighet kunne de ikke sende ordene hans i eksil.

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