Possessing The Past

A major scholarly work, published in conjunction with the exhibition titled "Splendors of Imperial China: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei" (on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during 1996, and scheduled for several other American cities during 1996-1997). Written by scholars of both Chinese and Western cultural backgrounds and conceived as a cultural history, the book synthesizes scholarship of the past three decades to present the historical and cultural significance of individual works of art and analyses of their aesthetic content, as well as reevaluation of the cultural dynamics of Chinese history. Includes some 600 illustrations, 436 in color. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Since the birth of modernity, Western thought has been at war with clichés. The association of philosophical and cultural integrity with originality, and the corresponding need for invention and novelty, has been a distinct concern of a whole spectrum of ideas and movements, from Nietzsche’s polemics against the ‘herd’, the ‘shock of the new’ of the artistic avant-garde, the Frankfurt School’s critique of mass culture, to Orwell’s defence of political dialogue from ‘dying metaphors’. This book is the first examination of the cliché as a philosophical concept. Challenging the idea that clichés are lazy or spurious opposites to genuine thinking, it instead locates them as a dynamic and contestable boundary between ‘thought’ and ‘non-thought’. The book unpacks the constituent phenomena of clichés – repetition, circulation, the readymade, same-ness – through readings of ‘anti-philosophical’ thinkers such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Paulhan, de Certeau, Derrida, Sloterdijk, Badiou and Groys. In doing so, the book critically articulates the techniques and technologies through which the boundary between ‘thought’ and ‘non-thought’ is formed in modern Western philosophy. Rejecting the idea that clichés should be dismissed out of hand on normative frameworks of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ thinking, or ‘new’ and ‘old’ ideas, it instead interrogates the material, cultural and archival ground on which these frameworks are built.

From their earliest encounters with Indigenous Pacific Islanders, white Europeans and Americans asserted an identification with the racial origins of Polynesians, declaring them to be racially almost white and speculating that they were of Mediterranean or Aryan descent. In Possessing Polynesians Maile Arvin analyzes this racializing history within the context of settler colonialism across Polynesia, especially in Hawai‘i. Arvin argues that a logic of possession through whiteness animates settler colonialism, by which both Polynesia (the place) and Polynesians (the people) become exotic, feminized belongings of whiteness. Seeing whiteness as indigenous to Polynesia provided white settlers with the justification needed to claim Polynesian lands and resources. Understood as possessions, Polynesians were and continue to be denied the privileges of whiteness. Yet Polynesians have long contested these classifications, claims, and cultural representations, and Arvin shows how their resistance to and refusal of white settler logic have regenerated Indigenous forms of recognition.

One of the greatest tragedies in the Body of Christ today is an identity crisis. It is unfortunate that some believers have lost their Kingdom identity while others have a distorted view of thier identity in Christ. The reality is that, until you rediscover your Kingdom identity, possessing your possessions remains elusive. This unfortunate situation has led to untold hardship and frustration among God’s people. Friend, if you are in any of the above categories, I believe God has put this book in your hands to help you rediscover your Kingdom identity and stir you to rise up and possess what has been freely given to you in Christ Jesus.

We feel blessed to have got divine grace to compile the major events of the divine personality of Shri Lord Chidambara Swami of Murgod,Karnataka It was the fervent desire of Late shrimant Shankara Dixit, the Poojya Peethadipati, to bring English version of biography of Chidambara Swami. His desire was explicit in his Aashirvachana given to us during his visit to Vijayapur years ago. It was Swami Diwakara Dixit, the present pontiff of Muragod Math,who encouraged us to undertake writing English summary of the available Kannada and Marathi source material,more so of being indebted to prof Dr Balaji Kulkarni, whose Kannada book gave us a logical coherence in compiling the source material for the present book. We remain indebted to all of them. Their brilliant expressions in their writings are inimitable more so in English language. We have honestly tried to summarise the salient events in English language. Since the present writing is not a translation or transliteration exactly,it is simply an attempt to summarise the source material in English. We do not claim any source material to be our primary source or as of our research work.It is an attempt to put the matter straight and easy to understand for comman readers. Since,English is not our mother tongue,we admit that many errors must have surely remained unaddressed,we beg the indulgence of the readers to concede our shortcomings and forgive us in lapses if any remained in the book.It was our devotional exercise to make a humble attempt to introduce the divine glory of lord Chidambara Swami to English readers within the narrow range of our understanding and the skill of the language. What is good in the book is not ours,but whatever is not appreciable in this writing surely it is due to our own inability. We pray indulgence of the readers to be sympathetic and guide us further to be more correct and useful for readers. We offer this small attempt at the Lotus feet of Lord Chidambara Maha Swami.