I am not one of those who believes generations have common characteristics and personalities — they just have certain common experiences and memories. But leaving that aside for a moment: where are the people coming from who say that it is the “baby boomers” who are responsible for the current situation of the United States? … More Open thread on the baby boom
He has published a book on the relations between Southern and Caribbean literature, and now he is working on the tropical sublime. And a friend of mine got a Guggenheim this week. These are the kinds of activities that interest me. Axé.
What would help me would be not to have this constant feeling of doom. The university will be defunded, your program will close, your workload will rise, the things you do in good faith will turn out to be wrong. I have worked in stable environments and in environments where I did not have to … More What would help
On the policy of recycling a file a day, which I do not always remember to follow, today I am recycling a photocopy of several chapters of Linda Hutcheon’s A Poetics of Postmodernism (Routledge, 1988). It is an intelligent book that I would like to read again — as a book, however, not as a … More Linda Hutcheon
At last, someone agrees with me and does not needle, preach or scream about “time management.” I who graduated a year or two early from high school, I who finished college in four years and graduate school within “normative time,” I who took more than one unattractive tenure-track job over well-paid contingent positions in desirable … More The slow professor
I was reading an article about Ortiz and the founding of Latin American anthropology. Here is a quotation which fascinated me. La opción filológica de Henríquez Ureña se debía en parte a esta alternativa: mientras que los científicos se habían equivocado al argumentar a base de hechos empíricos, tales como la mezcla racial, los filólogos … More On mestizaje, language purity and whiteness
I met someone last night who would have participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion had he not fallen ill that weekend. Axé.
Sitting at a desk reading and taking notes on a quiet morning, looking out at a gravel road. The sky is gray but not dark, and the air is mild. The refrigerator hums and there is alternative radio. It is the same as it ever was. I thought that when I became a professor there … More Sans titre
Es evidente que categorías como mestizaje e hibridez toman pie en disciplinas ajenas al análisis cultural y literario, básicamente en la biología, con el agravante —en el caso del mestizaje— que se trata de un concepto ideologizado en extremo. En lo que toca a hibridez la asociación casi espontánea tiene que ver con la esterilidad … More Cornejo II
I thought of writing another poem about Angola, to see whether it turned out to be poetic or imitation poetic, but decided I should start a series of posts about my visits to the place. I am reading Wilbert Rideau’s memoir. When Rideau he was still at Angola, and was editor of the magazine, he … More My afternoons at Angola
coldhearted scientist وداد 