First, a wee bit o’ liveblogging:
Amardeep’s panel: “Politics of writing- act of writing as political”
Who is your audience?
Amardeep: I’ve written for mags/lit crit…very fixed idea of those readers, they’re like me…left, progressive, academic…on SM, I have no idea who is reading, there are so many types, many armchair warriors. Hindu natl’ists tend to respond to me. Even if these are people you don’t like/detest for their views…you have to be willing to work w/them to define what history is, @ this particular juncture. I find it invigorating, even though it’s rancorous/unpleasant. In a sense, I find it more interesting to talk to more conservative people to work out consensus vision, if consensus is possible.
As a Sikh, do you separate your identity…or is it subjective?
People don’t really seem to care about what I think of mainstream authors, in that sense my identity comes through. They want to hear about E M Forster, instead of my thoughts on Graham Greene…enven though thoughts on Greene more relevant/interesting.
On SM, people see my pic and are expecting a certain perspective to inform what I do.
Mira Kamdar (author of Planet India): On internet, there are multiple audiences and things are instantaneous. Rxns rarely come back to me, they come to the blog sites, in comments. Had to create a sep email add for editorial on India lobby, on recommendation of papers editors…ended up needing it. Internet has complicated audience.
As for authorial identification- it’s always strange, my name is very Indian and my physical appearance isn’t. Am I really a desi person, am I not? As a child, I asked “Mommy which way am I half-n-half, up and down or sideways?” I just write whatever I want to, sometimes I put out my ethnic identity. I felt the need to speak out about Gujurat riots…still get death threats and hate mail for my pains.
I’m one of the only women writing about nuke deal…can you think of many others?
(Mod is adorable and so funny. ;) Especially when she’s revising her questions.)
Sita Bhaskar (author of Shielding Her Modesty): (after discussing her short stories) I was told by my brothers, “don’t mess with Jayalalitha!”
Even though I wrote fiction, I was told by my family not to visit India, b/c of (controversial themes).
I’m a computer consultant and project manager, everything we say while working is very right (pc)…my friends say, “you literally take off your skin when you go to work”…so I put a little message/identity in stories.
Audience question: Is there a space where writers and artists can use to put out their work, where they don’t have to comply…commodify…
Moderat: If I can answer that…the internet…publishing is facing what music industry did, where the way artists distribute work has changed…there’s also self-publishing…it’s a negotiated process right now.
Mira Kamdar: I think the internet/blogs are so popular because they are free spaces where people can get around things and say whatever the hell they want…if your book is published by a smaller press…academic press, you’re going to have a totally different experience than if you go through a big house.
Random, confusing, now-forgotten-b/c-I-was-commenting-below question:
Amardeep: On internet, you have to marshal your facts, b/c if you don’t, you’ll hear about it immediately, from everyone, that you were wrong. You’ll hear that it was “okay that 500 people died in this conflict, because of this factor”…you have to be prepared.
Mod: …same with Sri Lanka…the conflict. Your subjective experience on the ground and your ethnic identity you’re bringing to this colors every (news) report…there’s just no way to know.
SALMAGUNDI:
Viagra as recurring joke:
Mira’s new email, the one she created for the India Lobby article— she got lots of viagra offers among the hate and “strong” reactions.
Sita Bhaskar has a short story involving an older couple who come to America— the husband decides he wants viagra, the wife blames this on U.S. Sita sends this tale to her brother, who is one of her “editors”, he said, “No 50-year old Indian male is like that!” Also, in Pakistan, Bhaskar’s cover is criticized but they LOVE the viagra story!
Mira Kamdar: It was Baton Rouge, LA, I was 30 yrs old, a woman with a PhD…I had such a social life let me tell you— there was no need for viagra.
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Yes, yes drama is coming, please to be patient, it’s HILARIOUS.
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GETTING KICKED OUT OF BUILDING. :D i.e. no more net! Speaking of…
I was able to do this thanks to the highly awesome Corinne, who helped me get online! THANKS CORINNE. :)
