The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
UBC Okanagan News
  • Home
  • Services for Media
  • Faculty and Staff
  • Submit Your Story
  • Events
  • Contact
Home / 2011 / January / 14 / Acclaimed novelist speaks in Kelowna on terrorism and Islamophobia

Acclaimed novelist speaks in Kelowna on terrorism and Islamophobia

By Jody Jacob on January 14, 2011

Amitava Kumar, award-winning author and Vassar College professor of English

Amitava Kumar, award-winning author and Vassar College professor of English

"How many people here have met a terrorist?"

That is the question Amitava Kumar, award-winning author and Vassar College professor of English, posed to a full house at Kelowna's Rotary Centre for the Arts on Thursday night. The free public talk was presented by the UBC Distinguished Speakers Series.

Using humour and story-telling, Kumar weaved together passages from his most recent book, A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb, with his personal experiences of post-9/11 travel and one-on-one interviews with convicted terrorists to paint a poignant picture of the art and literature of terror, war and Islamophobia.

"Most of us have never met a terrorist, yet the terrorist is a symbol very intimate to us now," said Kumar. "In a way, it is a figure who lives our lives with us because we do all these things that are calibrated by the terrorist amongst us. We behave in certain ways. But why is it we feel we know the terrorist?"

Citing the 9/11 Commission Report as an example, Kumar noted that drama and imagination have played, and continue to play, a significant role in creating the image of the modern-day terrorist.

"(Terrorism and Islamophobia) is rich with absurdity. It is rich with human drama,” said Kumar. "The 9/11 Commission Report was on the best seller list for non-fiction for several weeks. I wasn't surprised -- it’s a very clear prose, it's very dramatic and easy to understand. But what was startling to me is that when you get a few chapters in, it says something like 'we have to bureaucratize the use of imagination.' The fact a government document should demand the use of imagination I think is startling."

It is this imagination, continues Kumar, which can lead to stereotyping and projecting.

"There is something to be said about people not affixing -- very quickly, prematurely, and in a naïve way-- identities on people. One way in which hate is a failure of imagination is because it reduces the complexity of human lives into something utterly simple and crude."

Kumar suggests that by placing people or ideas into pre-developed slots Western society is actually toying with the same principles that motivate terrorists to act.

"Terrorism springs -- like totalitarianism -- from a mode of thinking where everything has already been decided. That is what fundamentalism is: a rigidity of thought that cannot bend," said Kumar.

Kumar's other literary works include Husband of a Fanatic (The New Press, 2005 and Penguin-India, 2004), Bombay-London-New York (Routledge and Penguin-India, 2002), and Passport Photos (University of California Press and Penguin-India, 2000). He has also written a book of poems, No Tears for the N.R.I. (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1996).

The novel Home Products was published in early 2007 and was short-listed for India's premier literary prize, the Crossword Book Award. It appeared in the U.S. under the title Nobody Does the Right Thing.

-- 30 --

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Posted in News Features | Tagged Distinguished Speaker Series

  • Previous
  • Next

Contact

Jody Jacob
Assistant Communications Coordinator
University Relations

The University of British Columbia
Okanagan campus
Tel: 250-807-8463
E-mail: jody.jacob@ubc.ca

See other posts by Jody Jacob

UBC Okanagan Events

See what’s happening at UBC Okanagan. Explore the events calendar for performances, talks, workshops, community events, info sessions, and more.

View Events

Archives

UBC's Okanagan News
Okanagan Campus
3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7
Find us on
  
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.