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Conclusion INTERCULTURAL HOPE: ALTERITY POST-9/11 In the decades to come, it is possible that a new era in “Western” civilization will need to be named and described. It has been suggested that September 11, 2001, was a break-point between the postmodern era and a new emerging historical moment. It is not possible to characterize alterity in the midst of this moment, but this concluding chapter speculates on the role of narratives in the creation of Western identities beyond what has been termed the postmodern era. Several weeks after the attacks of September 11, the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame held their annual conference. As was typical at many academic conferences that autumn, even where panels and keynote addresses did not directly address terrorism, September 11 was consistently the subtext. One speaker in particular made a profound impact on the audience. His prediction was that September 11 would force a return from the “vacation from history” that scholars have enjoyed in postmodernity. In a way, the previous chapters are a response (however minuscule) to the implications of that speaker’s observation. Perhaps the “vacation from history” had more to do with contemporary cultural relativism than with the past itself. During the postmodern era, as this book argues in chapter 7, the hero is one who crosses boundaries easily and is open to a wide range of possibilities. Trickster does not reject any orientation; everything is possible . No wonder one can feel disconnected from the past in such a context. 191 If everything is possible, nothing is impossible; relativism rules the day. So, in many ways the end of the “vacation from history” may mean a turning toward ethical judgment once again. This conference speaker also may have been the first to voice a point that has become rather common lately: perhaps the postmodern era is over altogether. This seems highly plausible. After all, a chapter that speculates on the hero of postmodernity would have been impossible without some kind of finality to the moment, some kind of bracketing process wherein time seems solid and the peculiar characteristics of an historical moment become crystallized. It is easier to perceive epochs in retrospect, rather than as one is living through them. Empirical evidence also suggests that in some pockets of Western society, provinciality is emerging where once there was mere multiculturalism. The rising insularity of some religions, for example, suggests a return to tradition and history on at least a vernacular level. And there is a certain paradox to this return to history. The quests to identify post-postmodernity or to immediately perceive alterity post-9/11 are symptomatic of a particular Western bias pertaining to time and identity. Chapter 6 addressed this bias: it is the assumption that history is progressive and in each era the West improves technology, acquires more wealth, and moves toward a greater destiny. Most Western cultures perceive time as linear and monochronic. Like the other motifs in this book, this perception is tied to an ancient narrative. Lake (1991) points to the classical Greek motif of “time’s arrow” in identifying a root of this Western bias. Recall too that chapter 4 examined some connections between Othello and the Native American veterans that Silko (1977) depicts in her novel Ceremony. Another important lesson from Silko’s book is that the Laguna worldview presents time not as an “arrow” but as a hoop, where everything is interconnected —including past, present, and future events. As Grandma says at the end of the book: “It seems like I heard all these stories before. Only thing is, the names sound different” (Silko, 1977, p. 351). With this casual statement she reinforces a view of “history” as more present than past. As I stated in the introduction, most Western cultures are not quick to perceive the potential circularity of history. The previous chapters attempt to break out of the monochronic worldview somewhat, by illustrating the recurrent nature of narrative motifs and intercultural conflicts. And in many of the analyses, it seems the underlying tenor of the narrative is one of lament and despair. The discussion in chapter 7 about MacArthur’s (2002) experiences of loss among the Marshallese is one example. MacArthur’s response, a collection of meditations on Trickster, is highly meaningful and yet tinged with a sort of helplessness about the liminal place he inhabits as a Western researcher among the islanders. One could presume that MacArthur is simply a product...

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