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Daughters of Smoke and Fire


A blisteringly powerful tale of standing up to oppression and terror ... [a] ...
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Discuss: "It's not only our homeland that's colonized. Our self-worth is hijacked too. Tyranny can stimulate unwitting self-sabotage. Our self-worth is hijacked. Pain needs to be...outsourced"

Created: 08/12/21

Replies: 6

Posted Aug. 12, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Discuss: "It's not only our homeland that's colonized. Our self-worth is hijacked too. Tyranny can stimulate unwitting self-sabotage. Our self-worth is hijacked. Pain needs to be...outsourced"

Leila says, "It's not only our homeland that's colonized. Our self-worth is hijacked too. Tyranny can stimulate unwitting self-sabotage. Our self-worth is hijacked. Pain needs to be managed— perhaps, in a sense, outsourced" (page 296). What do these sentences mean to you?


Posted Aug. 12, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Marcia S

Join Date: 02/08/16

Posts: 505

RE: Discuss: "It's not ...

I loved this quote. Leila is referring to the fact that the Kurds were viewed as "less than" and their culture as "beneath others" This would definitely affect one's self-worth.


Posted Aug. 14, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
bookfabulous's Gravatar
bookfabulous

Join Date: 08/01/19

Posts: 23

RE: Discuss: "It's not ...

Totally agree with this sentence and with the sentiment behind it. Leila and other Kurds like her were not only robbed of a homeland but were denied every right to practice any aspect of their culture including their language. As Kurds were forced into a culture that devalued their existence, it created pain, loss of identity and self-worth, anger and bitterness as well as a divide within the community itself as this colonisation caused a generational tear in which the colonised young, believing that the cultural values of the coloniser are inherently superior to one's own, ultimately severed from their parents' culture and language and developed a stunted self-worth in the process.


Posted Aug. 14, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Ms. Kitty

Join Date: 10/02/17

Posts: 5

RE: Discuss: "It's not ...

This is what happened in Native American boarding schools where children were beaten for speaking the language they learned from their mothers. To be made to feel and believe that another culture is superior devalues your self-worth.


Posted Aug. 18, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lorrained

Join Date: 12/04/20

Posts: 137

RE: Discuss: "It's not ...

This is true throughout the world in varying degrees. It is openly demonstrated in the countries traversed in this story. It is covertly demonstrated in other societies. It is unfortunately blatant in certain segments of our own US society at this time.


Posted Aug. 18, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
LisaBB

Join Date: 05/12/19

Posts: 14

RE: Discuss: "It's not ...

I appreciate lorrained's comment above about some of the aspects of this novel manifesting covertly in other societies, including the U.S. It's easy to look at the world in black and white. We're constantly being given simplistic messages from the news media and politicians and expected to believe that America is a free democracy where everyone is given the same opportunities and respect. It makes it easy for us to feel complacent and better than other countries or cultures where persecution may be more overt. Leila's feelings and the terrible things described in the book were not at all foreign to me and they shouldn't be to anyone with a firm grasp of American history and current events.


Posted Aug. 19, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ireneh

Join Date: 11/22/19

Posts: 31

RE: Discuss: "It's not ...

"Book Fabulous" has nailed all of the relevant issues connected with the suppression of one's language and culture. She reiterates what we learned in the book very clearly. As she and others have said, we can trace this loss of self-esteem which comes from the destruction of an individual's origin identity in the experiences of American indians, the peoples of the Caribbean, and Americans of African descent or Afro-Caribbean ancestry. Having who you are denigrated and erased leaves you searching for an authentic identity which is not derived from the popular culture in which you are forced to live.


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