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27 - Ava DuVernay's Political Courage
Welcome to issue twenty-seven of The Attention Span Newsletter by me, Canan “Ja’anan” Marasligil. I’m a writer, a literary translator and an artist based in Amsterdam. Every other week, I take the time to reflect and offer a glimpse of how I see and feel the world through the lens of culture, art, translation, poetry and literature.
Subscribe: www.theattentionspan.com/subscribe
Support:
When I launched the attention span newsletter, thoughtful friends convinced me to start a Patreon page. I received support for a full year from some of you, which has allowed me to pay for logistical costs. I stopped the Patreon page to simplify supporting ways to one-off payments starting at 2,50 EUR. Do support if you can and want to: via PAYPAL.
EPISODE 27 SHOW NOTES
The poem I am referring to: by Emily Dickinson, put into music by Pete Josef, “Hope”.
Ava DuVernay’s limited series When They See Us.
The book Caste: The Origins of our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson.
Deep South: A Social Anthropological Study of Caste and Class, a groundbreaking study conducted by a black and a white couple: Allison Davis, Elizabeth Davis, Burleigh B. Gardner, and Mary R. Gardner.
Ava DuVernay turned to philanthropists to finance her film.
Origin is available for rent or purchase on different streaming platforms (Apple TV in The Netherlands).
WATCH
Talking of artists with political courage, this is also one great example: Macklemore’s protest song: HIND'S HALL. The title is a reference to pro-Palestinian activists’ renaming of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University to "Hind's Hall" in honour of Hind Rajab, the Palestinian six-year-old killed by Israeli forces. I invite you to watch the video clip online. Not only does Macklemore speak truth, but he’s one of the rare artists with such a gigantic platform in the music industry, to openly take a stand against the funding of violence by his government. I’m not sure what the others staying silent are afraid of, since Macklemore keeps giving sold out concerts in arenas across the world. He is creating solidarity with a powerful discourse of love and demand for freedom for all, against violence and hatred, he stands against polarization (see for instance this poignant video he shared on his Instagram page). We’re hungry for such care and call to love. I wish our politicians and the media would carry discourses like this one instead of dividing us all through fear.
LISTEN
Where is your pride, a song by Moby with Benjamin Zephaniah. Writer, poet, professor and musician Benjamin Zephaniah died on 7 December 2023, at the age of 65, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks previously. It was a terrible shock and immense loss. The suddenty of his death is a painful reminder of the fragility of life. Moby wrote a song last year together with Zephaniah, whom he says, on his Instagram page, is his favourite animal rights activist. Moby says about this song: “Where is your pride is a testament to Benjamin and an honour to his legacy.”
READ
Souleymane Bachir Diagne is a philosopher at Columbia University, a marvellous thinker and philosopher of translation. I have recently come across his work, and now I am listening to every single interview he did (those on French public radio are excellent) and catching up with reading his rich oeuvre. I am currently reading De langue à langue. L’hospitalité de la traduction (From Tongue to Tongue. Hospitality in Translation). I cannot find an English translation of this book. He is also the author of an autobiography, Le fagot de ma mémoire, which I cannot wait to dive into. For those of you who don’t read in the French language, Bachir Diagne has also many books in English, and I invite you to explore his work.
View all episodes
By Canan (Ja’anan) MarasligilWelcome to issue twenty-seven of The Attention Span Newsletter by me, Canan “Ja’anan” Marasligil. I’m a writer, a literary translator and an artist based in Amsterdam. Every other week, I take the time to reflect and offer a glimpse of how I see and feel the world through the lens of culture, art, translation, poetry and literature.
Subscribe: www.theattentionspan.com/subscribe
Support:
When I launched the attention span newsletter, thoughtful friends convinced me to start a Patreon page. I received support for a full year from some of you, which has allowed me to pay for logistical costs. I stopped the Patreon page to simplify supporting ways to one-off payments starting at 2,50 EUR. Do support if you can and want to: via PAYPAL.
EPISODE 27 SHOW NOTES
The poem I am referring to: by Emily Dickinson, put into music by Pete Josef, “Hope”.
Ava DuVernay’s limited series When They See Us.
The book Caste: The Origins of our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson.
Deep South: A Social Anthropological Study of Caste and Class, a groundbreaking study conducted by a black and a white couple: Allison Davis, Elizabeth Davis, Burleigh B. Gardner, and Mary R. Gardner.
Ava DuVernay turned to philanthropists to finance her film.
Origin is available for rent or purchase on different streaming platforms (Apple TV in The Netherlands).
WATCH
Talking of artists with political courage, this is also one great example: Macklemore’s protest song: HIND'S HALL. The title is a reference to pro-Palestinian activists’ renaming of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University to "Hind's Hall" in honour of Hind Rajab, the Palestinian six-year-old killed by Israeli forces. I invite you to watch the video clip online. Not only does Macklemore speak truth, but he’s one of the rare artists with such a gigantic platform in the music industry, to openly take a stand against the funding of violence by his government. I’m not sure what the others staying silent are afraid of, since Macklemore keeps giving sold out concerts in arenas across the world. He is creating solidarity with a powerful discourse of love and demand for freedom for all, against violence and hatred, he stands against polarization (see for instance this poignant video he shared on his Instagram page). We’re hungry for such care and call to love. I wish our politicians and the media would carry discourses like this one instead of dividing us all through fear.
LISTEN
Where is your pride, a song by Moby with Benjamin Zephaniah. Writer, poet, professor and musician Benjamin Zephaniah died on 7 December 2023, at the age of 65, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks previously. It was a terrible shock and immense loss. The suddenty of his death is a painful reminder of the fragility of life. Moby wrote a song last year together with Zephaniah, whom he says, on his Instagram page, is his favourite animal rights activist. Moby says about this song: “Where is your pride is a testament to Benjamin and an honour to his legacy.”
READ
Souleymane Bachir Diagne is a philosopher at Columbia University, a marvellous thinker and philosopher of translation. I have recently come across his work, and now I am listening to every single interview he did (those on French public radio are excellent) and catching up with reading his rich oeuvre. I am currently reading De langue à langue. L’hospitalité de la traduction (From Tongue to Tongue. Hospitality in Translation). I cannot find an English translation of this book. He is also the author of an autobiography, Le fagot de ma mémoire, which I cannot wait to dive into. For those of you who don’t read in the French language, Bachir Diagne has also many books in English, and I invite you to explore his work.