Julian, who identifies himself as a white, gay, Jewish man, posted a comment at The Primary Contradiction which could stand as a post of its own, so I am making it one. It is about selves, identities, categories, and power, and it is worth reading and thinking about. I have bolded the sentences and phrases … More On the Self-Determined Life
Our featured post for this evening is Lumpenprofessoriat’s Academic Love. It is of course right up my alley since it discusses the vicissitudes to which interdisciplinary programs are subjected, in the context of “academic rigor and standards” – principles to which we subscribe, but which are often ignored when they ought not to be, and … More Unchain My Heart
Dancing in the classical Egyptian style. Axé.
I do not know whether it will be interesting as this mural, but the new date for the annual meeting of the Louisiana Conference of the AAUP is April 21, from 12:00 to 3:00. The meeting will be held on the Tulane University campus, in the Faculty/Staff Dining Room of the Lavin-Bernick Center for University … More AAUP
Always of interest to me are the ways in which folk and ethnic musics are deployed in the service of national projects. Penny M. Von Eschen’s Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War (Harvard, 2005) discusses one such case. From Brian Morton’s review (The Nation, June 27, 2005, 38-41): Between 1956 … More Jazz Ambassadors
“This article criticizes the writings of a person of color. In particular, it identifies and criticizes several forms of racism in the writer’s work. As a Euro-American, cannot condone any criticism of any aspect of any work by any person of color, for any reason. It is not for me to say so if that … More Return of the Nice White Lady
Here is Jimmy Cliff live. I cannot find a video of the Melodians on Rivers of Babylon. Axé.
Oso Raro illustrates his description of this blog with a still from Alberto Gout’s film Aventurera (Mexico, 1949). Actually Ninón Sevilla’s dress would fit me just right and is in my style. I like his general description of the blog, too: This blog is the most like poetry than any of the others here, a … More Aventurera
The pervasiveness of agonism, that is, ritualized adversativeness, in contemporary western academic discourse is the source of both obfuscation of knowledge and personal suffering in academia. Framing academic discourse as a metaphorical battle leads to a variety of negative consequences, many of which have ethical as well as personal dimensions. Among these consequences is a … More Acad-agonists
The Primary Contradiction and various commentators are suffering from self-doubt. It is always worth remembering that self-doubt, at least of the variety being described, is a result of oppression. In my para-Christian education self-doubt and humility were virtues, and they may be instructive indeed for the arrogant and the entitled. In other situations they are … More Labyrinth of a Faun
coldhearted scientist وداد 