Plain and simple
The colonialist mind is hard to eradicate. Moreover the mind of the colonized is harder to break. African people have still to face white people with their knowledge and wisdom. Even in their know-how they step behind whites in worrisome of offending.
This morning I was fixing my nephews bike. I am not a mechanically inclined person, I still wonder at the simplest of mechanic things, say a sharpener, and think about the person who came up with such an idea (whoa)
As I faced a beautiful Chinese (yes, they are here too) bicycle with gear problems I asked for the help of our security guard. As he held the bicycle while I attacked it with various sets of tools, I could see deep inside he was thinking - What a moron! -Because he knew more than I did about tools and mechanic. I knew he knew and he knew I knew he knew (??), but would not at anytime interrupt and offer his assistance. He just stood there holding the bike up as I acted like a demented scientist solving the Discovery Mars Landing.
Two hours later the one-piece bicycle became a 34 pieces useless strips of metal. As I fought with cables, knots and wheels I could see his face smiling trying to make me think he admired me for my boldness and audacity. When in truth he was eager to hit me in the head with a Phillips screwdriver and get the job done in five minutes. Which is what he did, except for the hitting part, when I told him that I had to leave so we would have to continue some other time. In the time it took me to get a shower and shave, he had put the whole thing together and the bike was now tuned as fine as a Stradivarius.
The little fucker made me look like a retarded. I complained to him about the loss of time to which he answered that all he did was finished what I started. You see? Here he is, looking at me making a fool of myself engaging in manipulating parts that had nothing to do with the main problem, while he could have solved it with a simple pull and tight approach and still gives me all the credit.
I am not saying that all whites are as dumb as I am. This level of dumbness takes time and dedication. What I am here referring to is the fact of him stepping down to my level, afraid of the obvious (Prove how dumb I can be). Tomorrow I will take the piece of crap car I am driving and ask him to hold it for me.
This morning I was fixing my nephews bike. I am not a mechanically inclined person, I still wonder at the simplest of mechanic things, say a sharpener, and think about the person who came up with such an idea (whoa)
As I faced a beautiful Chinese (yes, they are here too) bicycle with gear problems I asked for the help of our security guard. As he held the bicycle while I attacked it with various sets of tools, I could see deep inside he was thinking - What a moron! -Because he knew more than I did about tools and mechanic. I knew he knew and he knew I knew he knew (??), but would not at anytime interrupt and offer his assistance. He just stood there holding the bike up as I acted like a demented scientist solving the Discovery Mars Landing.
Two hours later the one-piece bicycle became a 34 pieces useless strips of metal. As I fought with cables, knots and wheels I could see his face smiling trying to make me think he admired me for my boldness and audacity. When in truth he was eager to hit me in the head with a Phillips screwdriver and get the job done in five minutes. Which is what he did, except for the hitting part, when I told him that I had to leave so we would have to continue some other time. In the time it took me to get a shower and shave, he had put the whole thing together and the bike was now tuned as fine as a Stradivarius.
The little fucker made me look like a retarded. I complained to him about the loss of time to which he answered that all he did was finished what I started. You see? Here he is, looking at me making a fool of myself engaging in manipulating parts that had nothing to do with the main problem, while he could have solved it with a simple pull and tight approach and still gives me all the credit.
I am not saying that all whites are as dumb as I am. This level of dumbness takes time and dedication. What I am here referring to is the fact of him stepping down to my level, afraid of the obvious (Prove how dumb I can be). Tomorrow I will take the piece of crap car I am driving and ask him to hold it for me.
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...or you could just plain ask him to help you! (instead of just to hold it for you).That's the other side of helping people to see that THEY CAN: admit freely if you can't. It's a way of doing things that ends up teaching everyone involved a valuable lesson: you might also learn a thing or two about mechanics in the process. Just to use this simple example...
That is the problem. Somehow whether you tell them or not, they do not react. they Act stupid. the reason for this is that this way they can get something out from you, which they always do. Its the stae of mid that needs to be broken.
If I understand you correctly Daniel, you are referring to ingrained mind-sets on both sides of the former colonial divide, here especially the internalisation of a sense of inferiority on the side of the formerly colonised, and how difficult it is to overcome or get past this practically, the case in point, your experience with the security guard.
From what you have written, it appears that it was obvious to both you and the security guard that he was probably the more capable of you two in repairing the bicycle, but you didn't ask and he didn't offer. I believe both context and power dynamics (of the situation) add another dimension to the story. Though the setting is a post-colonial one, seen from the guard's standpoint, not only are you "white" but also part of the employer's family, so he wouldn't want to upstage you and risk displeasure. Also, if he has not been a long time with you, is part of a rotating security guard service, and consequently doesn't feel an extended part of your family, like say, housekeepers, then why should he do anything which is not part of his job-description within this context? If you ask or tell him to repair the bicycle, it is still an order from his employer for which he doesn't get anything extra. Yet, in the end, he did repair the bicycle - after - you made a fool of yourself and like you write, felt retarded. He gave you credit all right (see above explanation) but, like you write, did prove you dumb as far as repairing the bicycle goes.
Keeping in mind that we do not know what the security guard actually thought about that incident, and basing it on what you have written, considering it from a post-colonial angle, I interpret the conduct of the security guard (as belonging to the formerly colonised) as not only asserting his "agency", ability to act on his terms, but also successfully offering "an act of resistance" (not in a premeditated sense) to perceived (colonial) and real (economic, social) inequality here, whether or not there was a need for it.
Also, you say whether you asked or not, the reaction would have been the same in order to get something out of you. You wished he would have said outright, "Mr. Valls, I know what the problem with the bike is, I can repair it in five minutes". But, you both acted on pre-conceived notions of the other based on your respective experiences or "inherited" mind-set.
So, yes, I agree with the essence of your essay. Both the former coloniser and the former colonised need to be aware of this legacy, but free themselves from being burdened by it. As Frantz Fanon wrote, "Each must move away from the inhuman voices of their respective ancestors so that a genuine communication can be born".
Indeed, both sets of mind need to change. However in my defense (??) I must say that I did not act in accordance to what post colonized mindset goes, but in the order on a male subject thinking he could fix everything with a screwdriver and some duct tape.
Aha! A man thinking he can fix everything - that now, is of course a different discussion altogether... !
No need for defence, because there is no accusation, if so, I am guilty as well, depending on where I happen to live. Besides, I understand your other post (Economy of scale) as taking a shot at fallacious colonial assumptions of superiority, using a sexual metaphor to posit a counter image to stereotypical representations, highlighting the need to question the colonialist mind-set, making that the first part of the present essay.
What I was trying to underscore through my analysis (and based on experience), was that whatever our subjective thinking may be (on any side), there are other factors we need to be aware of especially in a laden context such as this one.
E quando é que bebemos uma bebida junto ao mar?
precisas de ajuda com a bicicleta? tenho um alicate e uma pinça.
Abraço
Jorge
Wow. Impressive analysis, anonymous. It answers, on a much deeper level than I expected, a question to Danny I left unasked: what does the guard get out of you by acting that way?
If I understand the Frantz Fanon quote correctly, I guess the bottom line is that the best way to deal with a fellow human being is in a way that's devoid of prejudice?...
I guess anonymous is right in many wayys. However I still see the fact that it is not fair to think that the guard wants something out of it. It is more accurate to say that he did not want to complicate things further being hard enough to make a living the way he does. This attitude, on both sides, creates an Mediocre atmosphere and the reason why many nations used to recieving for free dares not take chances to lose it.
Jorge...dame o teu telefon. Desde que cheguei que estou a tua procura..
indicativo Mcel + 8276600, amanha dou um salto ao Chókwe em serviço devo estar cá por volta das 14h.
Inté
Thank you, Ariadne. Like you rightly observe, the "what does he get out of it" is not on a tangible level, if at all one were to think in those terms. In general, it is about the unconscious ingrained patterns in the psyche of both the former coloniser and the former colonised (because of the particular condition of colonialisation and the associated dehumanisation of the other) and how they possibly play a role in interactions even in a post (in the sense of after) colonial environment. I don't know if Daniel intended it to be read/ interpreted that way or not, but as I wrote in my earlier comment, I see this post as the second part illustrating the second sentence of, "The colonialist mind is hard to eradicate. Moreover the mind of the colonized is harder to break.", which reminded me of what Fanon examines in "Black Skin, White Masks" from which my quote was taken. Yes, that is how I understand it too, dealing with each other without prejudice, here, specifically free from the oftentimes unconscious (and unnecessary) burden of colonial legacy.
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