They Say/I Say Activity on Vinh Nguyen's Article, Queer Intimacy and the Impasse: Reconsidering My Beautiful Laundrette

Instructions:

The point of this exercise is to let you know that when you are writing about someone else’s argument, you must not simply copy and paste the argument of the author, but also comment on them using their argument by using their words to either support or disagree with them - to make your own argument even more valid.

Always think:

• What you say
• What they say
• Consider the following questions:
• Are the topic sentence and wrap-up sentence in your own words?
• Are they pointed to the thesis statement?
• Are you saying too little or too much?
• Are they saying too much for you?
• They say what they want to say; frame what they say so that what they say points to your thesis statement or topic sentences. 

From the following selections, choose a passage/point that Spivak uses to either agree/disagree to her argument to make your own argument. You will first write out in bullet points:

• their argument
• your own argument 
• Support: you can cite a specific example/or write briefly, an example you have in mind
• How their argument contributes/disagrees to your own argument
• Write it out into 3-4 sentences as a mini paragraph. 

**My paragraph example is a bit long, but yours doesn’t have to be that long!

Before I introduce the passages, as a summary, look at what the article is doing: 

• Nguyen begins the article by contextualizing the surrounding academic argument of how critics initially praised the film for its groundbreaking depiction of race and sexuality.
• He then outlines the backlash that the film also received such as Spivak sees My Beautiful Laundrette’s ending of “cleansing” as dismissing and erasing the history of racism, contemporary racial and class tensions.
• Whilst considering Spivak’s aspect, Nguyen says he sees the union as not a form of resolution of racial and queer intimacy, but as a way to see a temporary potential of coexistence.
• His argument: Omar and Johnny occupy a queer impasse in which there is a holding out for something as yet undetermined, where pleasure does not cancel violence and “together” does not mean “one.”

Choose a passage to respond to, and have a thesis of your own in mind regarding My Beautiful Laundrette. You don’t have to respond to the whole passage but a part that you agree/disagree to in order to accentuate your own argument. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E3IOcAqg1XjGCopFxQ_o8V_M2MwrSH9uUEzBdldNgWo/edit?usp=sharing 

They Say/I Say Activity on Olivia Loksing Moy’s Article: Reading in the Aftermath: An Asian American Jane Eyre Worksheet

Instructions:

The point of this exercise is to let you know that when you are writing about someone else’s argument, you must not simply copy and paste the argument of the author, but also comment on them using their argument by using their words to either support or disagree with them - to make your own argument even more valid.

Before I introduce the passages, as a summary, look at what the article is doing: 

• Moy speaks of the ornamental Chinese woman that has not been as emphasized, while there is much emphasis on Victorian history/culture. She finds a need to highlight ethnic studies even within the realm of Victorian studies.
• Many have regrettably said ethnic studies do not fit Victorian studies, but Moy sees there is a fine line since, Victorian culture does indeed have ”Others” and people of color that need to be reconsidered through texts like Re Jane. These neo-Victorian (new-Victorian texts) do not merely mirror the Victorian criticism of ”Others” from the 19th century, but come to reassess and reflect on what could have been different and how it should be changed. She calls these ”aftermaths.”
• Comparing and contrasting Jane Eyre and Re Jane, Moy shows the aftermaths that Re Jane shows. The first one being the reassessment of ethnic bodies such as Jane who gets similar treatment of physiognomy like the Victorian era, but in a different form of Asian bodies/faces. The second one being the lack of “third world woman” / third wave feminism that Victorian novels had, and how characters like Beth hinder Jane from being a true feminist. The third one being the critique of that second wave feminist such as Beth but how Jane subverts such figures and becomes comfortable in her own skin by embodying both Jane Eyre and Bertha.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yanbi6Dh3TF--LrQpzObPT7hpZkqXZEtneUhq6xi2EI/edit?usp=sharing