1/ Martha Washington is related to the Fitzhughs my grandfather is related to, and one of these famously had children with slaves (I am assuming all the Washingtons did, but this was more famous/verified). See https://www.csmonitor.com/…/George-Washington-s-African-Ame… 2/ Now even the NYT has a 1619 Project and is talking about the plantation as the foundation of the … More La rentrée
I truly resent Chrome and Firefox demanding your phone number or other information if you try to open e-mail at the public library; I have never given them my number nor do I feel they are justified in expecting me to even have a telephone. I do not believe their requirements exist for my own … More Google
“It is well-known that the spread of capitalism and the discovery of the New World had as an immediate result the rebirth of slavery.” Axé.
The July 29 New Yorker has a beautiful article about Natalia Ginzburg, who is wonderful, and a fascinating one about Melville. Ginzburg: imagination is stronger when you are happy – suffering makes the imagination weak and lazy – drowning in emotions, and in particular, in pain is NOT what women writers should do. This is … More Ginzburg, Melville
I 1. The national novels are disturbing for what they do with incest, race, death [originary violence, romance of origins] 2. They’ve become nat. novels and also, under influence of Jameson & then Sommer, been read as nat. allegories 3. At that point the 1920s/30s national projects, which reflect some letrado discourse from further back … More The new outline
I’ve got to create a more efficient way of noting the files I clear, but I don’t want to make the invention of e-bibliography and file systems my center project right now. Photocopies I am recycling today, great and classic articles: Ulises Juan Zevallos Aguilar 2001 on Peruvian avant-garde, a wonderful piece that I love. … More Vallejo
We don’t know, of course, if anyone believes in the common good, or the public good any more, but here are some fragmentary notes from a conversation we had. 1. We should talk much more about research. In class. College has to become more interesting – we cannot allow it to be further redefined as … More The common good
Ancient notes, I think from a conference 20 years ago, that I kept and kept. What did they say and why did I keep them? Postmodernism as grand récit flattens out the complexities of Latin American modernism, which had postmodern characteristics and also more, it was more complex. It tries to articulate national and continental … More Ancient
The BRASA deadline is extended to September 1, Gott sei Dank, and I have to double-check the situation with LASA. I’d like to go to both just to see papers, and maybe I should even if I don’t get in or don’t make the submission deadlines. In the meantime, here are some of my old … More BRASA/LASA
On these issues: it seems that despite Catherine the Great’s reservations about serfdom, serfdom rose in the 18th century due to her modernization projects. Modern projects, modern ideas on liberty, AND more serf work needed, all at the same time. Modernity rises, coloniality rises. This is interesting; people do not realize how the serfs were … More Modernity/coloniality and race
coldhearted scientist وداد 