“FISH CHEEKS”
An introduction to Post-Colonial Themes
• To (re)familiarize you with the skills of a reader
(C.I.A.S.E.)
• To introduce the basic concepts of postcolonialism.
• To practice viewing stories through a postcolonial lens and to practice constructing
focused C.I.A.S.E. questions.
•What do you think about
this kind of food?
•How is a snack like this
looked at by people from
your culture?
•Does it bother you if
people from other cultures
think your culture’s
preferences and behaviors
are unusual?
Third Culture Kids (TCK)
•Sociologist Ruth Hill Useem coined
the term "Third Culture Kids" after
spending a year on two separate
occasions in India with her three
children, in the early fifties.
•Initially they used the term "third
culture" to refer to the process of
learning how to relate to another
culture;
•in time they started to refer to
children who accompany their parents
into a different culture as "Third
Culture Kids."
•Useem used the term "Third Culture
Kids" because TCKs integrate aspects
of their birth culture (the first culture)
and the new culture (the second
culture), creating a unique "third
culture"
“A third culture kid is a person who has spent a
significant part of his or her developmental
years outside their parents’ culture. The
third culture kid builds relationships to all
the cultures, while not having full ownership
in any.
• “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan
• Amy Tan:
– Born in Oakland, California
– Parents were 1st Generation immigrants
from China.
– Writing draws highly from personal
experience
“In America nobody says you have to
keep the circumstances somebody
else gives you. “
– Particularly focused on motherdaughter relationships, and on her
mixed American – Chinese heritage
Comprehension • Explaining and describing
Interpretation
Analysis
• Making judgments and inferences
• Deconstructing and examining
Synthesis
• Comparing, connecting and applying
Evaluation
• Assessing and criticizing
Comprehension • Explaining and describing
Interpretation
Analysis
 Write 2 Questions
• Making judgments and inferences
 Answer 2 Questions
• Deconstructing and examining
 Answer 2 Questions
Synthesis
• Comparing, connecting and applying
Evaluation
• Assessing and criticizing
 Create a SCENARIO
(complex question)
• ISQ Administration takes over.
• ISQ Teachers come into our classrooms.
• ISQ students join our classes.
•The folks over at ISQ have finally had
enough!
•As the city’s largest international
school (based on student population),
they feel they deserve to have the
city’s best campus. They are going to
take matters into their own hands and
seize the beautiful new campus that
QISS has been using.
•At the same time, they know that
QISS has a strong position in the
community and has staff and students
that are very “useful” to their own
purposes.
•They believe that a forced “merging”
of the two schools (with the iSQ
teachers and administrators in
control, of course) would be the most
beneficial course of action.
• As teachers and students of QISS, what consequences
(both positive and negative) should we expect this
forced merger to have on us?
• As teachers and students of QISS, what consequences (both positive and negative) should we
expect this forced merger to have on us?
The QISS Resistance Army
The ISQ “Outreach Facilitators”
A field of study that focuses attention
on the after-effects of the processes
of colonialism and imperialism.
Generally this includes looking at stuff
like…
•The effects that it has on the
colonized people.
•The intentions, attitudes, and
methods of the colonizers.
•The ideological beliefs and
organizational systems that allow it to
happen.
• STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY
When new people (like colonial
powers) move in and try to force you
into a particular role, struggles for selfdetermination will surely emerge.
Self-determination is the freedom and
right to create your own identity,
rather than having other groups or
individuals tell you who you are or
should be.
In literature, you may find that
conflicts about NAMES or TITLES can
be a good indication that an identity
struggle is taking place.
You may also come across characters
who struggle to really understand their
own identity.
• OLD vs. NEW
(or tradition vs. progress)
When new cultures enter into a place,
they bring with them all sorts of
changes to traditional ways of life.
Sometimes these changes are smooth
and gradual (and may not meet with
much resistance), and in other cases
the changes are forced, violent, and
severe (and may be met with strong
resistance).
The way that individuals or the society
as a whole deals with and
accommodates these changes to their
lifestyles and beliefs are often
discussed in post-colonial works of
literature.
• Exploitation and Subjugation
Exploitation refers to using someone
or something for your own personal
benefit. (typically without regard for
the harm it does to the ones you’re
using)
Subjugation means “making a subject
of” someone – which implies that the
process involves one individual or
group assuming superiority over the
other, and taking on the power to
control the other “inferior” one.
Look for any relationships in literature
that show an imbalance of power and
control. These can be part of a postcolonial message.
• Exile and Alienation
Exile refers to the forced banishment
from somebody’s native / home land.
Alienation is the feeling that you are
foreign , “alien” or “other” than what
is predominant or accepted in that
place.
Characters in post-colonial literature
typically experience exile – which may
be either a physical or an emotional
disconnection from themselves, their
community, or from a physical home.
• Migrancy and Diaspora
Diaspora refers to any cultural group
that has been dispersed (spread out)
outside of its original homeland.
The Jewish diaspora is a good example
– there are many Jews living in Eastern
Europe, and America, but their
traditional homeland is in the Middle
East.
Diaspora can be created by forced or
by chosen migrancy (immigration).
The concept of 3rd culture kids that we
discussed earlier is one example of
looking at how diaspora has real
effects on the lives and identities of
people.
• Hybridity
Very much connected to the ideas of
Identity and Diaspora mentioned
earlier, hybridity is all about
“blending”.
The process of colonization typically
leads to “blended” cultures, where
languages, cultural practices, and even
genetic bloodlines get mixed and
create something new.
Look in literature for examples of
characters or behaviours that don’t
“fit” neatly into a single category but
which are a mix of two different
things.
Interpreter of Maladies
• Jhumpa Lahiri
– Born in London to Bengali
parents
– Grew up in Rhode Island,
USA.
– Collection of short stories
“Interpreter of Maladies”
– The stories are about the
lives of Indians and Indian
Americans who are caught
between the culture they
have inherited and the
"New World."