In Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, the story can be framed as a brief snippet of the battle between Jes Grew and Atonism that has been going since the beginning of civilization. As we have discussed in class, supporters of Atonism are depicted in a negatively yet humorously caricatured way by Reed throughout the book (an example would be the way in which Hierophant 1 and the Wallflower Order relish in the elimination of species). If we look at what Atonism is at its core, though, we can see the basis of our academic lives.
Obviously, there are many parts of Atonism as described by Reed which are less than palatable (like the whole "European culture is the best and all others must be wiped out" aspect). However, Atonism at its core is probably not about its white supremacist aspect, given that Atonism essentially began with Set. The book describes in great and often humorous detail of how Set went about opposing Osiris and his dancing, but it also shows that the reason Set was so opposed to Osiris was that Osiris "would not know how to deal firmly with the enemies of the Egyptian people." While Osiris was so in tune in nature, Set shut it out and basically created discipline. This is sort of what the conflict between Atonism and Jes Grew boils down to. Osiris and Jes Grew are more in touch with nature and with the spiritual world, and as often expressed through dancing Osiris and followers of Jes Grew definitely seem to enjoy life more than Set and the Atonists. Set and the Atonists essentially view Osiris and Jes Grew as irresponsible and incapable of running the world, and are set on wiping out Osiris and Jes Grew.
The culture we have at Uni (and as we said in class throughout academia) is way closer to Atonism than it is to Jes Grew. We have an academic culture in which we study a largely Western-based history and literature, as well as science which in itself is described as an Atonist convention (obviously this is not a bad thing in and of itself). We study these things with so much discipline to the extent that we dedicate most of our time to study, all in order to advance further in these studies until we get a job, based in one of these Atonist fields. When we are so engrossed in our academic lives, however, we don't get in touch with our spiritual selves; we don't get in touch with Jes Grew. The things that make us enjoy life don't have anything to with the Atonist career path we're going towards, rather, they're the things that tug at our emotions and speak to our souls. It would appear that although the way of Jes Grew is what makes us happy, the discipline of our Atonist academic career path overwhelms it (this rings true if we eventually end up in a job in an Atonist field that takes up large chunks of our time), and that a lot of us probably will choose the Atonist Path over Jes Grew.
Obviously, there are many parts of Atonism as described by Reed which are less than palatable (like the whole "European culture is the best and all others must be wiped out" aspect). However, Atonism at its core is probably not about its white supremacist aspect, given that Atonism essentially began with Set. The book describes in great and often humorous detail of how Set went about opposing Osiris and his dancing, but it also shows that the reason Set was so opposed to Osiris was that Osiris "would not know how to deal firmly with the enemies of the Egyptian people." While Osiris was so in tune in nature, Set shut it out and basically created discipline. This is sort of what the conflict between Atonism and Jes Grew boils down to. Osiris and Jes Grew are more in touch with nature and with the spiritual world, and as often expressed through dancing Osiris and followers of Jes Grew definitely seem to enjoy life more than Set and the Atonists. Set and the Atonists essentially view Osiris and Jes Grew as irresponsible and incapable of running the world, and are set on wiping out Osiris and Jes Grew.
The culture we have at Uni (and as we said in class throughout academia) is way closer to Atonism than it is to Jes Grew. We have an academic culture in which we study a largely Western-based history and literature, as well as science which in itself is described as an Atonist convention (obviously this is not a bad thing in and of itself). We study these things with so much discipline to the extent that we dedicate most of our time to study, all in order to advance further in these studies until we get a job, based in one of these Atonist fields. When we are so engrossed in our academic lives, however, we don't get in touch with our spiritual selves; we don't get in touch with Jes Grew. The things that make us enjoy life don't have anything to with the Atonist career path we're going towards, rather, they're the things that tug at our emotions and speak to our souls. It would appear that although the way of Jes Grew is what makes us happy, the discipline of our Atonist academic career path overwhelms it (this rings true if we eventually end up in a job in an Atonist field that takes up large chunks of our time), and that a lot of us probably will choose the Atonist Path over Jes Grew.
I agree with most of what you said and I think you brought up a lot of awesome and valid points. One thing that I would slightly tweak is that I don't think that somebody who has been raised in an "Atonist environment" (academic school) has to necessarily work in an academic career. (Ex: Osiris learned the basic dances from the university that he went to in Yemen.)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think about how much attonism really has affected our lives, especially in school where we literally go to school for 12 years, and then go to college, and get a job based on all that, as you mentioned. I definitely think that the world today views attonism as a path that everyone can follow. We can all agree for the most part on science, or math, or history, and their validity. So we all can relate on that and use it as a basis for moving forward. How can we welcome a more Jes Grew type of lifestyle, and what would that look like across cultures? Interesting to think about. Or do we even need to accept some Jes Grew into our lives?
ReplyDeleteOne question I would pose is as a member of the State Champion Uni Scholastic Bowl team, how do you see the Atonist model of education relating to the questions you are posed in competitions? Are their categories for Art, Music, Literature, etc. that are not Eurocentric? If not, why doesn't anyone challenge the body that creates the questions/categories? Is this an oissue frequently brought up in the Scholastic Bowl community?
ReplyDeleteActually in the past couple of years this has been one of the biggest conversations in the quizbowl community. A lot of the questions are definitely Eurocentric, as most of the people asked about in quizbowl whether they are historical figures, authors, scientists, or artists are probably too often white European males. The category of fine arts is definitely Eurocentric as 90% of those questions are about either classical Western music or European artwork. Quizbowl is kind of like competitive school, and it tries to reflect for the most part material that is learned in school. However I think quizbowl is pretty far ahead of our school curriculum in terms of not being super Eurocentric. For every question on European literature, there's about one question on China's Four Great Classics, or the second most famous Nigerian author Wole Soyinka, or James Baldwin's Go Tell It On a Mountain (which decided a match yesterday). I think quizbowl will always be Atonist for reflecting school curriculum, but at the same time the quizbowl community is trying to not make the questions so Eurocentric. Here's some links for recent discussion in the quizbowl community:
Deletehttp://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20965&p=341396&hilit=women+in+quizbowl#p341396
http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=176&t=20177
http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=117&t=20865&p=339617&hilit=africa#p339617
At the same time I think there are definitely ways quizbowl could do a lot better in not being so Eurocentric, and quizbowl has a lot of work to do in that department.
DeleteI think this concept of Atonism vs Jes Grew manifests itself in the grades vs. no grades debate as well. Being graded based on how well one retains information is an inherently Atonist viewpoint. To change this to a more dynamic and less work based learning system would be in line with Jes Grew, yet it would also go against the grain of society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the culture at Uni is highly "Atonist" because we are so focused on academia ans STEM in particular. However, I wonder what a class that taught Jes Grew would look like especially in a school setting like ours.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if any class taught in a school setting must be Atonist by nature. I'm leaning towards no, since Osiris' dances were written down in a book (Book of Thoth), presumably to be studied. In that way, the subject matter matters more, which makes putting Jes Grew in our lives something more feasible than overthrowing our whole way of life. I still think Jes Grew needs to be taught outside of our conventional school setting to fully be achieved, and I don't really know what this would look like outside of perhaps a religious setting.
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