“In my own work I have argued that, rather than marking a rejection (as the hegemonic writers of the nation advocated) or the denial (as their critics insist) of race (i.e. racial difference), miscegenation institutes a mode of racial subjection predicated upon the necessary obliteration of the racial subaltern subject.” (ca. 2005) That sentence is … More Ferreira da Silva
These are two different things and they don’t go together. That is important to note. I was going to write a blog post on that, as applied to the university. 1/ Where are we now? My university is one of the most neoliberalized (I think) although it mixes that with a certain homespun quality. We … More Republican and economic modernity
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
