All 8 entries tagged Asia

Kings Fatel Rozack

Kings lost their minds […] Fatel Rozack (3.XXIX.iii).

Walcott is using various historical events here to make a timeline:

• 'Kings lost their minds': (too many to choose from; don't know which mad king to include!)

• 'Jesuit […] Veracruz': a Jesuit convent in Veracruz, Mexico, burned down in 1606

• 'Sephardic merchant […] Lima Curacao': reference to Jews escaping from the Spanish Inquisition (1470s–mid-16th century)

• 'Wilberforce': William Wilberforce (1759-1833), British Member of Parliament influential in abolishing slavery

• 'Darwin […] sea': Charles Darwin (1809 -1882), British naturalist. His early research on evolution published in the 1840s and 1850s.

• 'Madrasi […] Fatel Rozack' (1845): the first immigrant ship to the Caribbean (1845). It brought indentured Indian workers. 'Madrasi' refers both to the region of India where the workers were from and the colourful traditional cotton fabric for which the area is famous. The region is now known as Chennai.

Amanda Hopkins : 06 Jul 2007 14:27 |  Tags: Asia Caribbean Colonialism Context Europe History Kings Fatel Rozack South America |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Himalayan hill stations

Himalayan hill stations (2.XXII.ii).

The Himalayas are a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. Hill stations are towns in the low mountains, popular as holiday resorts during the hot season (Bib:COD). All three countries surrounding the Himalayas have a colonial history: British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan at its independence in 1947; Tibet, conquered by Genghis Khan in 1206, was nominally ruled by the Mongol empire until 1720, when sovereignty passed to China. Some areas of Tibet were absorbed into British India, but subsequently reverted to Chinese governance in 1906; Tibet was declared an autonomous region of China in 1951 and attempts to gain independence were suppressed (Bib:PWE).

Amanda Hopkins : 28 Jun 2007 16:22 |  Tags: Asia Colonialism Context Dispossession Glossary Himalayan Hill Stations History Places |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Edens Suez

Eden's Suez (2.XXII.ii). 'Suez' refers to the Suez Canal, which links Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea, thus allowing trade between Europe and Asia without the need to navigate around Africa. The canal was built (1859-69) by the Suez Canal Company, in which the British government became the major shareholder in 1875, and led to Egypt becoming an important centre for trade (Bib:PWE). Eden here refers to Anthony Eden (1897–1977), First earl of Avon, who was Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Suez Crisis, an ill-advised attack on Egypt by Israel, Britain and France following President Nasser's nationalisation the Suez Canal in 1956 (Bib:PWE).

Amanda Hopkins : 28 Jun 2007 16:15 |  Tags: Africa Asia Colonialism Context Edens Suez Europe History Places |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Gurkha

Gurkha (2.XXII.ii).

The name of the Hindu ruling caste of Nepal since 1768, it also denotes a Nepalese soldier in the British or Indian Army (Bib:PWE).

Amanda Hopkins : 28 Jun 2007 16:10 |  Tags: Asia Colonialism Glossary Gurkha History Peoples Places |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

India crumpling

India crumpling on its knees (2.XXII.ii).

India was another colony of the British Empire, achieving independence in 1947 (Bib:PWE).

Amanda Hopkins : 28 Jun 2007 16:05 |  Tags: Asia Colonialism Context History India Crumpling Places |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

time reworded

He had no idea how time could be reworded […] their love of events (2.XVIII.i).

The idea of being unsatisfied with a colonial or power-centred record of history and so creating a 'history of the people' was explored in the 'Subaltern Studies' of South Asia in the 1970s.

Amanda Hopkins : 28 Jun 2007 14:00 |  Tags: Asia Colonialism Context History Time Reworded |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Asia

Amanda Hopkins : 23 Jun 2007 11:54 |  Tags: Asia Context |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

phony pukka

the phony pukka/tones of ex-patriates (1.V.i).

'Pukka' derives from the Hindi word 'pakka', meaning 'cooked, ripe or substantial', and in English means 'proper or genuine', of or appropriate to high or respectable society' (Bib:COD). Walcott's 'phony pukka' is an oxymoron, and the use of 'pukka' ironic: using this term to describe the genuine quality of expatriates from Britain is itself an echo of colonialism and its assimilation and destruction of other cultures. An expatriate is someone who, whether by choice, necessity or compulsion, lives away from his homeland, and so might be said, in keeping with Walcott's thematic structure, to be dispossessed of his 'genuine' place.

Amanda Hopkins : 22 Jun 2007 11:41 |  Tags: Asia Colonialism Dispossession Glossary Languages Phony Pukka Poetics |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem