Course platforms

Here is Alan Liu’s course in which I am interested more for the platform and organization of materials than for its course content. That is interesting as well, but then so are all courses. I like the plaform. I have a course on Piazza, which I like better than Moodle, but I like this (even) better. It … More Course platforms

Maristella Svampa

She has a smart book on civilization and barbarism that I found out about from the Spanish Professor and am now using to teach Facundo. Here is a snippet from my simplifying notes for class: Con la Revolución Francesa se introduce la idea de que la barbarie se halla también en el interior del continente … More Maristella Svampa

Síntomas criollos

This was from the Guadalajara LASA, in 1997. I am wondering now whether cultural exceptionalism is a “criollo symptom” — of the attempt to grapple with the fact of being in what Mignolo (and others) call “coloniality” when their imperative is to join the modernity (again Mignolo) from which they are barred by definition. This … More Síntomas criollos

Emperor Norton

In 1876, Dom Pedro II, the Emperor of Brazil, visited San Francisco and asked to meet the Emperor of the United States. They met at a royal suite at the newly opened Palace Hotel and talked for more than an hour. Dom Pedro never let on whether he realized that the United States really didn’t … More Emperor Norton

Rebrillante

Facebook refused to post this: Bien, tenés razón Natalia, lo interesante sería ver literatura del mundo hispanoárabe actual. Yo en lo que pensaba para mi actual clasecita era alguna jarcha con fotos de Córdoba, algo así, y asustarlos con la noticia de que no es del todo cristiana la madre patria. Pero veo algo más … More Rebrillante

Dream

Now I see the origin of my dream: I was Chatting with a friend from long ago, and we were looking at pictures on Facebook of our mutual friends from then, and talking about how old everyone was now. I dreamed of myself. I was not like myself at all: I was an older lady, … More Dream

KCRW

Look at the microphone: this is from KCRW. That is a radio station in the promised land. Agua de rosas she says, but it is citrus I remember. Axé.  

Other sides of modernity

There was Spinoza, contra Descartes and perhaps contra Kant. Explain/explore the possibility of not having the mind/body split. There was the counter-Enlightenment but what about critiques of Enlightenment that are not dully postmodern? Modernity carries values like authenticity, and believes in foundations, whereas the postmodern does not. This is why I am far more modernist … More Other sides of modernity