Logged on today to see that Blogger has a new interface. Excitedly clicked to "switch over" to said interface. Sadly discovered new interface seems to be one big bug. Not what I expected from the finicky people at Google, even in beta. Anyway.
Weird things I've read recently, and the weirder thoughts they've inspired:
1. "Why Women Drop Out," a conversation between six of India's most powerful businesswomen on whether Indian marriages are ready to accept working women. Taking off from my earlier post about how traditional marriage and the modern economy seem to be in some sort of face-off (with the economy winning), I'll add this much: I don't think anyone will be able to adequately address this issue until we stop thinking about this as a "women's problem." Providing adequate/alternative support for "working mothers" isn't a "women's issue" it's a "family issue."
Most modern couples face an uncomfortable situation where they have to forgo one partner's income in order to ensure better childcare. Let's stop seeing it as a problem that "women can't have it all" and start seeing it as a problem that "families don't have what they need" when it comes to resources. (If we really believe that the nuclear family is the fundamental building block of Western society, which it is, and which is increasingly becoming the case in affluent India as well). Also possibly interesting on this front: a report called "The battle for female talent in India", which I, unfortunately, have not purchased but you can.
2. A rich Indian man has opened a store called the "East India Company." I feel the same way about this that I do about the American chain store Banana Republic, once I found what banana republic means. Does the English language really have so few words? And why are Indians so attached to this colonial legacy? (To be fair, I don't think this is about "Indians" obsessing, since it actually makes quite a bit of sense from a marketing perspective)
It's not hard for me to get over the fact that someone's revived the East India Company (if revival is even the right word), but it bothers me a little bit that Indians are, as a nation, so casually expected to "get over it." The philosophy of racial distinction that supported colonialism, after all, was one of the most morally destructive forces the human species has ever seen. To say that the "East India Company" has no bearing on that is to suggest that names have no power, which is absurd and wrong. To say that it doesn't matter anymore because "the world has changed" is a little too convenient, too.
Even if we divorce that name from racism and enslavement (which can be done), it still harkens to a time when the world was distinctly divided between the West and the East, with the monolithic East comprising the "exotic other." (Orientalist, in other words.) Does this matter? Your answer probably depends on your instinctive reaction to the phrase "East India Company." My reaction is one of repugnance - I don't plan to apologize for that gut instinct so don't bother telling me I should, or that I should shop there. If you have a different reaction, you can shop there. I'm not going to say that it's wrong, or that his business shouldn't exist. I just don't care for the name.
Weird things I've read recently, and the weirder thoughts they've inspired:
1. "Why Women Drop Out," a conversation between six of India's most powerful businesswomen on whether Indian marriages are ready to accept working women. Taking off from my earlier post about how traditional marriage and the modern economy seem to be in some sort of face-off (with the economy winning), I'll add this much: I don't think anyone will be able to adequately address this issue until we stop thinking about this as a "women's problem." Providing adequate/alternative support for "working mothers" isn't a "women's issue" it's a "family issue."
Most modern couples face an uncomfortable situation where they have to forgo one partner's income in order to ensure better childcare. Let's stop seeing it as a problem that "women can't have it all" and start seeing it as a problem that "families don't have what they need" when it comes to resources. (If we really believe that the nuclear family is the fundamental building block of Western society, which it is, and which is increasingly becoming the case in affluent India as well). Also possibly interesting on this front: a report called "The battle for female talent in India", which I, unfortunately, have not purchased but you can.
2. A rich Indian man has opened a store called the "East India Company." I feel the same way about this that I do about the American chain store Banana Republic, once I found what banana republic means. Does the English language really have so few words? And why are Indians so attached to this colonial legacy? (To be fair, I don't think this is about "Indians" obsessing, since it actually makes quite a bit of sense from a marketing perspective)
It's not hard for me to get over the fact that someone's revived the East India Company (if revival is even the right word), but it bothers me a little bit that Indians are, as a nation, so casually expected to "get over it." The philosophy of racial distinction that supported colonialism, after all, was one of the most morally destructive forces the human species has ever seen. To say that the "East India Company" has no bearing on that is to suggest that names have no power, which is absurd and wrong. To say that it doesn't matter anymore because "the world has changed" is a little too convenient, too.
Even if we divorce that name from racism and enslavement (which can be done), it still harkens to a time when the world was distinctly divided between the West and the East, with the monolithic East comprising the "exotic other." (Orientalist, in other words.) Does this matter? Your answer probably depends on your instinctive reaction to the phrase "East India Company." My reaction is one of repugnance - I don't plan to apologize for that gut instinct so don't bother telling me I should, or that I should shop there. If you have a different reaction, you can shop there. I'm not going to say that it's wrong, or that his business shouldn't exist. I just don't care for the name.
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