Here's the first sentence of the intro to my Cuban anthology, with footnote:
>Relations with Cuba have preoccupied the North American
>imagination[i] far more than one might expect, given the island's
>small size and minimal power. North American understanding of Cuba
>has, at the same time, been obscured by mythologies of both the
>right and the left, in which Cubans have also been known to indulge.
>
>
>[i] With apologies to Canadian readers, I have used "North American"
>to indicate a citizen of the United States. Most Latin Americans
>find it annoyingly presumptuous that we call ourselves Americans to
>the exclusion of the hemisphere's other inhabitants. Thus far the
>English language offers no equivalent to the
>Spanish estadounidense, "unitedstatesian."
Reasonable suggestions will be gratefully considered.
Mark
At 11:58 AM 9/10/2007, you wrote:
>The thing is not to find convenient terms of abuse, but simply a precise yet
>concise way of speaking. 'American' fits the bill for concision, but not for
>precision.
>
>How does Bowering deal with this?
>
>P
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> > Behalf Of Douglas Barbour
> > Sent: 10 September 2007 16:05
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: America's Guardian Myths
> >
> > That's precisely why I try to remember to follow our ex-Poet Laureate
> > when it's called for. But of course we are all Norteamericanos....
> >
> > Doug
> > On 8-Sep-07, at 9:28 PM, Halvard Johnson wrote:
> >
> > > Just don't let George Bowering catch you
> > > calling USAmericans Americans.
> > Douglas Barbour
> > 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> > Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
> > (780) 436 3320
> > http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> >
> > Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> > http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> >
> > Someone to talk to, for God's sake, some-
> > thing to love that will never hit back
> >
> > Phyllis Webb
|