Iowa City Foreign Relations Council with Speaker Marion Bloem
Dorothy Paul, host of the reading, introduces Clark Blaise, director of the IWP, who then introduces the speaker Marion Bloem. Bloem discusses being an Indonesian in Dutch society and having to deal with racism and being viewed as an outsider. Bloem’s parents moved from Indonesia to Holland because of the Muslim revolution that was taking place in Indonesia. Bloem reads an excerpt from one of her children’s stories, but the title is not mentioned. In the story, Bloem’s parents are discussing whether or not they should move from Indonesia to Holland and Bloem, inside her mother’s womb, is fearful of moving to a new place and beats her, not yet fully developed, fists against the inside of her mother’s stomach in protest. Questions are taking from the audience after first 25 minutes of recording. Bloem fears the growing discrimination that exists in Europe against people of color. Bloem says that she writes in order to help people understand what it feels like to be viewed as an outsider, in hopes that this will help change people’s prejudice against outside cultures, help people understand each other. Brief interruption 30 minutes into recording while tape is being changed to side B. Bloem draws the session to a close by reading two more of her stories about racism in Dutch society and Indonesian culture. The first story’s title is not given, but the second story is titled “Master of the Rain.”
In: International Writing Program Archive | Fiction
Authors: Marion Bloem
Date Recorded: November 23, 1993
Works Read: Bloem reads a story titled, "Master of the Rain."
Program: --
Format: reading
Contributors: Dorothy Paul and Clark Blaise
Topics: Discrimination; prejudice; Indonesia; Dutch society; cultural differences