Author: patel.3664

Text Review – Dune

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*Content Warning* Spoilers

The science-fiction thriller movie Dune (2021) by the acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve is an artistic rendition of the series Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert. The books are based around a futuristic world which is governed by a an Empire that holds power over a plethora of groups of people organized into ‘Houses’, each house with their own control over some major aspect of the society financially (business) or military. The make-up of the universe creates many levels of hierarchy, and the politics mixed with mystery, futuristic technology and conflicting interests creates a very complex universe. However, the existence of such forces that determine power and identity is what makes the Dune universe comparable with the current world.

A son of a powerful house Atreides (Paul) finds himself on a new planet (Arrakis) that his House was sent to control and do business, but was a plot by the enemies of the House and the Empire to topple his House. With the largest of powers against him, he finds himself with a group of Arrakis native (the Fremen) who are banished and are actively hunted by the Empire, to protect his House. The Empire can be viewed as the government that has absolute control over the Houses, who also make up the council of the Empire. The Houses can be viewed as various social groups as the house is a significant factor determining identity and status, thus, analogous to racial, socioeconomic, and national groups. The Fremen here resemble the groups who have been oppressed and been stolen off their resources. The plot to topple house Atreides who had gained recent power among the other houses, was carried out by the Empire being scared of a coup and Atriedes’ nemesis Harkkonen, and represent the systematic injustices carried out in terms of various political scams designed to rid oppressed groups from their rights and expression. The other houses’ silence in this case can be related to the silent majority who are scared of the power even while they see the injustice mentioned by Dr. King Jr. in his Letter, while the treatment of Fremen can be related to the treatment of the colonizers of the native populations. The master slave dynamic is observed by control of commodities that the Other wants, thus, creating political, fiscal, and economic powerhouses, that is, houses that control trade of the ‘spice’ (found only on Arrakis), transportation (transportation guild), and the mystical powers (Bene Gessuiuts). The spread of power is directly related to how power is perceived in today’s world, with the country on an international level, a company on a national level, and people with privileged status in a domestic level control commodities, either tangible or intangible that the Others want has more power. The way all these factors converge creates various ways of injustice, be it political as seen by the imperial power of the Empire, or social as seen by the power of Houses over their citizens, and the sub-political powers of other groups such as the mystical Bene Gessuits all creates a dynamic universe that falls for the same shortcomings as the current world does.

The book being set in future also raises questions about the existence of such injustices even when society has progressed as much as inhabiting different galaxies and is space oriented. The absoluteness of the powers also act as criticism of misuse of the newfound powers with technology. Then, the book as a whole is a commentary about futuristic world with similar problems and injustices as today’s world.

P.S. The books were originally published in 1965, thus, were written during the heat of the Civil Rights Movement raising solid queries about the inspiration of the social construct and the conflict depicted in the book.

Systematic Injustice in College Admissions

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It is commonly accepted that one of the major ways to fight systematic injustice is through education which raises awareness of many injustices and guides to the solution. Education is keystone in helping communities struck by inequality to overcome that inequality, however, the educational system is riddled with injustices. In a recent college application scandal, the actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman were caught trying to bribe their children into prestigious colleges, blindsiding students that compete for the same position with merit, many of them often coming from communities’ victims to systematic injustice.

While using the fame and influence to get already privileged kids to schools that provide them with opportunities that they did not deserve the other extreme is affirmative action that tend to alienate the large groups in the middle who have their own intersectional struggles to be even recognized by the various efforts of affirmative action. Many poor black and Hispanic communities are on a constant lookout to get into education and have the greater opportunities having a decent education provides, however, the many practices that are set in place that make it easier for already established communities to stay established and to help only a marginalized group that need help leave the groups that often need the help the most. College practices of generational schooling where a kid’s chances of getting into the college are increased by their parents’ alum status or by just their parents going to that college hurts the people who have worked hard to earn the merit to be qualified for the college. The practices of buying a kid’s spot not only hurts the kid’s prospects but also hurts an even larger crowd.

 

Furthermore, the measly efforts of affirmative action often tend to miss out on communities that struggle to even get into the spotlight of needing affirmative action, and it also alienates many middle-class groups. The idea of affirmative action also can be related to Ahmed’s theory of injustice where the authority, which can be seen as the oppressors, makes the decision about the expression of other groups. Affirmative action like many other authoritative practices to instill equality is also vulnerable to influence of interests and shortcomings in recognizing who needs affirmative action in the first place. The issue thus is not is the idea of affirmative action, but its execution as affirmative action in the ways it is executed sometimes can actually end up hurting the population it is intended to help as analyzed in a blog on the National Affairs.

https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/3/20/18271462/college-admissions-race-stuyvesant-affirmative-action-inequality

https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-sad-irony-of-affirmative-action


This video does a great job of clearing a lot of misunderstanding and explaining how Affirmative Action is actually used in schools today.

Contextualization and modern resemblance of “Can the subaltern speak?” by Spivak – (Week 5 context presentation)

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The essay “Can the subaltern speak?” by Spivak sheds light on similar arguments posed by Ahmed in our previous readings and points out the western perspective of most post-colonial (and definitely colonial) theories of the western world.

The philosophy of colonialism often relied on the narrative of the west saving the rest of the world, as represented by the example of the British banning Sati, an ancient practice in India where the wife was immolated with the death of the husband. The ban was viewed as “white men saving brown women from brown men” (Spivak, 1988). The ban also helped the British establish their rule over India, which then in turn what deprived the country form growth. In dissection of the events, one can recognize the many master slave dynamics, such as the local inhumane practice of Sati, and the British rule over India. The events then, in very shallow terms, is just one master suppressing the local master slave dynamic, which in western perspective is only described as well put by Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden”, which is the perspective of the west saving the east (Kipling, 1899). It is important to acknowledge the absolutes drawn in the analysis, the British ban of Sati was a major event in the growth of Indian culture which often religion extremes of practices, however, the use of such bans to establish a colony, and use of such philosophy of colonialism of the west fails to view the rest of the world in they way it views itself, the master slave dynamic, that yes the rest of the world also has its local problems with social justice, but the western interference can not be viewed as an interference for the good of the east.

Spivak also raises an argument that the rest of the world is mere subjects to the theories of the west (Riach, 2017) which is where the ideals of Ahmed and Spivak align. Although it is true that the western theories put the west in a centralized position, even drawing the parameters in which the rest of the worlds theories should exist, however, modern reflexiveness of such theories signifies the theories of the world more. The resemblance of the argument, though, can still be seen in many fields. Questions can be raised that are of relevance now such as – Is universalization of ethics neo-colonialism?

 

References:

Kipling, R., 1899. Modern History Sourcebook: Rudyard Kipling, The White Man’s Burden, 1899. [online] The Internet Modern History Sourcebook. Available at: <http://source.books.fordham.edu/mod/kipling.asp> [Accessed 6 March 2017].

Riach, G. (2017). An Analysis of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s Can the Subaltern Speak? (1st ed.). Macat Library. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781912281770

Spivak, G. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? Retrieved September 18, 2021, from http://abahlali.org/files/Can_the_subaltern_speak.pdf.