Authenticity

[mbarrick]

It's an interesting leftover of colonialism that Westerners continue to look India and the Far East for "authenticity". This fetishised Orientalism is particularly bizarre in the local context of greater Vancouver where over one third of the population has ethnic and cultural roots in these "exotic" locales, yet somehow the notion persists that in order to touch some sort of authentic spirituality one must travel to India or the Far East. What authenticity did the people who moved here lose by doing so? Did it happen to me? Is my European heritage less authentic for being here?

The local aboriginal cultures here are no less rich and equally far removed from Europe as the Far East - and one need only go the lower east side to find these authentic, exotic (from a Eurocentric point of view) people living in a colonial squalor no less real than the slums of Calcutta or Hong Kong. But it is the colonial mind-set itself that precludes this. The local cannot be authentic, only the exotically far-away and foreign. But Paris is as far from Vancouver as Tokyo or Beijing. Rome is even farther. And from the colonial perspective British Columbia is as far from Europe as India or China (and harder to get to).

Yet Europe, especially the prosperous parts of Western Europe, are excluded from being exotic and "authentic" for having been the colonial source. Only impoverished areas that fell under colonial oppression like Scotland, Ireland, the formerly Soviet controlled areas and the like manage to achieve some aspect of "authenticity". Still though, the commonly noted motivations for travelling through the great cities of Europe are "culture" and "education" but never the sort of enlightenment that motivates people of European ancestry to travel to more "exotic" countries.

Europe is no more or less authentic than anywhere else on the planet. I've never understood why someone of European descent living here would be inclined to try to find personal meaning in some place that has as little to do with their ancestry as this place right here. The very word "authenticity" implies looking to the author, the source. The source of European culture and history is Europe.

And even at that, what is so inauthentic about right here? Why should any of us living here, regardless of where our ancestors hail from, be trying to copy from, report back to, catch up with, seek the approval of, etc. of any place other than here? Isn't it about time the colonial mindset of even looking for "authenticity" elsewhere was done away with entirely so we can go about simply being Vancouverites and being our own authors?

Comments

[sovietnimrod.livejournal.com]

Yet Europe, especially the prosperous parts of Western Europe, are excluded from being exotic and "authentic" for having been the colonial source.

THANK YOU!!! I for am sick and tired of the affirmative apartheid and reverse-discrimination against Europeans all disguised under the warm and fuzzy name of multiculturalism. Being English, I am sick and tired being made to feel ashamed or guilty because my nation was a colonial power. Without my nation, none of us would be here right now.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

yeh i'll bet you've been denied tons of opportunity because of your heritage...as have i...ha ha...

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

i do find it strange that people who live here don't have more interest and appreciation for the aboriginal cultures...the west coast definitely has some interesting culture...and for that matter very old ones...and b.c.'s history is quite fascinating because it was never quite like the other provinces...it was such a far flung outpost for a good majority of the early years you got many loners and outcasts, and very hearty people coming here to make a go of it...and for the longest time they cohabitated with the aboriginal peoples, that is until more people started coming from out east and looking down on such behaviour...it was common for many europeans who married aboriginals to hide them, or leave them when more easterners started coming with the railways...

Because....

[logik.livejournal.com]

Vancouver is the centre of a culture of facade and fakes. I share your observations, in fact I was discussing exactly the same thing with Karin last night, after observing yet another shoddy art show being given the tepid applause that it so clearly did not deserve.

Much of the "looking for spirituality aspect" is simply a matter of seeking environments where psychedelic and barbituate use are not as frowned on or controlled and where the level of expected personal responsibiltiy is much lower. In otherwords, the search for spirituality in most people's minds is closely associated with not having to get off your ass and do shit. It's an emotional reaction to an overly demanding social contract that has evolved in colonial cultures.

Unfortuanely when the young seekers after wisdom and the 'authentic' discover that even in those cultures a lot is demanded out of a spiritual seeker and that discipline and dedication matter, even there, they tend to gloss over, skip or mutilate what they find into another licence for sloth.

The abomination that is practiced under the term "yoga" in North America, the hideous perversion of the concept of Karama that prevades new age thinking, and the fundamental disneyization of fetish are all perfect examples of the kind of slipshod thinking that goes into these endeavors.

So, my advice to most of these folks - either get down off your soap box and pick up a bong (B.C.'s got the best ganga in the world and you don't have travel), or if being a smelly hippie doesn't do the spirituality thing for you, get your ass off the couch and do something in your community - like volunteer at the food bank, or local shelter. If you want authenticity, maybe zip down to the local deli and pick up some nice european bratwurst.


Arrrggggh!

Of course, Shirley Maclean would dress this all up a bit better, but there you have it.

India is the Mecca of Hashish and Ganga, China - Opium, and Japan - tofu, which I think of as a particularily nasty substance.