Saturday, April 17, 2010
To Certain Intellectuals
You are no friend of mine
For I am poor,
Black,
Ignorant and slow,--
Not your kind.
You yourself
Have told me so,--
No friend of mine.
-Langston Hughes
For I am poor,
Black,
Ignorant and slow,--
Not your kind.
You yourself
Have told me so,--
No friend of mine.
-Langston Hughes
Friday, April 16, 2010
"International Islamic 'fundamentalism'
has, following the collapse of the USSR and the end of the cold war, come to be perceived as a major threat to the West. The Western military-industrial complex, it has been argued, structurally requires an external enemy and where one does not exist in the shape of communism, a replacement has to be found or invented [1]. Political analysis that interprets Islamic fundamentalism at the international level as a powerful but secretive global network, within which funds, arms, personnel, and ideologies circulate, is a key component of Islamophobic constructions. The myth of an Islamic "International" in many ways reproduce the classic antisemitic belief in a "cosmopolitan" Jewish conspiracy to gain global power through a centralized and unified network. [2] If Islamic fundamentalism is viewed as a coherent and interlocking phenomenon, this carries an attendant danger that Islamophobia may become essentialized rather than comprehended as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that can vary considerably from one specific sociopolitical and historical formation to another. At the level of the nation-state it might make sense to speak of Islamphobia in the plural, rather than in the singular. Public and governmental perceptions of Muslims are not the same in France as they are in Britain or the U.S. and elsewhere. [3]-"Islamphobia in France and the 'Algerian Problem'" by Neil MacMaster in The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy
, pg. 288
"Directed, positive resistance.
This is what the two most successful groups in America over the past two decades, women and gays, have been so successful at effecting. Not only have they made enormous political, economic, and legal gains, they have radically altered the manner in which society views them as citizens, simultaneously promoting and defending their self-defined identity as women and gays. In these achievement (and whether we agree with the substance thereof is irrelevant) women and gays have exemplified the distinction between "indigenization," that is, carving out a space for oneself in society and "assimilation," that is, accepting the place in society assigned to one by the dominant group. In the case of Blackamerican Muslims, this is a critical distinction, for, as both blacks and as Muslims, experience has suggested that the dominant culture does not have all the answers and that in many instances accepting the invitation to be included in the latter might be tantamount to accepting admission into a burning building.[80]-Dr. Sherman A. Jackson, Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection
, pg. 168-9(If you follow this blog and don't have this book by now....): :)
Classes for next semester :)
I registered for the fall of 2010 today. These are the classes I'll be taking as of now, God willing:
V18. 0601 - APPROACHES TO METROPOLITAN STUDIES (with Neil Brenner)
A broad and interdisciplinary introduction to the field of urban studies, surveying the major approaches deployed to investigate the urban experience in the social space of the modern city. Explores the historical geography of capitalist urbanization with attention to North American and European cities, to colonial and postcolonial cities, and to the global contexts of urban development. Major topics include urban politics and governance; suburban and regional development; urban social movements; urban planning; the gendering of urban space and racial segregation in urban space.
V18.0230: Intersections: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in U.S. History and Politics
Drawing on the histories of African, Asian, Latino, European, and Native Americans of both genders and many sexualities, explores the complex and important intersection of gender, race, and sexuality in the United States from the 17th century through the 20th, in historically related case studies. Starting in the period of European imperialism in the Americas, it examines the ways that gender, race, and sexuality shaped cultural and political policies and debates surrounding the Salem witch trials; slavery, abolition, and lynching; U.S. imperialism in Puerto Rico and Hawaii; the politics of welfare and reproduction; cultural constructions of manliness, masculinity, and citizenship; and responses to the AIDS pandemic in a global context.
K20.1478: The (Post)Colonial Arabic Novel
Colonialism left indelible marks on the cultures and societies of its colonized subjects. While nation-states have emerged, the colonial legacy and its various effects continue to haunt post-colonial societies and the modes in which they represent their history and subjectivity. The novel is a particularly privileged site to explore this problem. This course will focus on the post-colonial Arabic novel. After a brief historical introduction to the context and specific conditions of its emergence as a genre, we will read a number of representative novels. Discussions will focus on the following questions: How do writers problematize the perceived tension between tradition and modernity? Can form itself become an expression of sociopolitical resistance? How is the imaginary boundary between West and East blurred and/or solidified? How is the nation troped and can novels become sites for rewriting official history? What role do gender and sexuality play in all of the above? In addition to films, readings (all in English) may include Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Naguib Mahfuz, al-Tayyib Salih, Abdelrahman Munif, Ghassan Kanafani, Elias Khoury, Sun`allah Ibrahim, Huda Barakat, Assia Djebbar, and Muhammad Shukri.
and V45.0001: ELEMENTARY FRENCH LEVEL I
V18. 0601 - APPROACHES TO METROPOLITAN STUDIES (with Neil Brenner)
A broad and interdisciplinary introduction to the field of urban studies, surveying the major approaches deployed to investigate the urban experience in the social space of the modern city. Explores the historical geography of capitalist urbanization with attention to North American and European cities, to colonial and postcolonial cities, and to the global contexts of urban development. Major topics include urban politics and governance; suburban and regional development; urban social movements; urban planning; the gendering of urban space and racial segregation in urban space.
V18.0230: Intersections: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in U.S. History and Politics
Drawing on the histories of African, Asian, Latino, European, and Native Americans of both genders and many sexualities, explores the complex and important intersection of gender, race, and sexuality in the United States from the 17th century through the 20th, in historically related case studies. Starting in the period of European imperialism in the Americas, it examines the ways that gender, race, and sexuality shaped cultural and political policies and debates surrounding the Salem witch trials; slavery, abolition, and lynching; U.S. imperialism in Puerto Rico and Hawaii; the politics of welfare and reproduction; cultural constructions of manliness, masculinity, and citizenship; and responses to the AIDS pandemic in a global context.
K20.1478: The (Post)Colonial Arabic Novel
Colonialism left indelible marks on the cultures and societies of its colonized subjects. While nation-states have emerged, the colonial legacy and its various effects continue to haunt post-colonial societies and the modes in which they represent their history and subjectivity. The novel is a particularly privileged site to explore this problem. This course will focus on the post-colonial Arabic novel. After a brief historical introduction to the context and specific conditions of its emergence as a genre, we will read a number of representative novels. Discussions will focus on the following questions: How do writers problematize the perceived tension between tradition and modernity? Can form itself become an expression of sociopolitical resistance? How is the imaginary boundary between West and East blurred and/or solidified? How is the nation troped and can novels become sites for rewriting official history? What role do gender and sexuality play in all of the above? In addition to films, readings (all in English) may include Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Naguib Mahfuz, al-Tayyib Salih, Abdelrahman Munif, Ghassan Kanafani, Elias Khoury, Sun`allah Ibrahim, Huda Barakat, Assia Djebbar, and Muhammad Shukri.
and V45.0001: ELEMENTARY FRENCH LEVEL I
Thursday, April 15, 2010
"Drill and Upbringing" from Islam Between East and West
The most striking and wonderful things that old books can offer us are the stories about conversion and moral revival. The worst sinners and tyrants turned overnight into humble martyrs and defenders of justice. It is always a spontaneous event; there is no process of reforming or influencing. The question is one of a move in the depths of the soul, of an experience existing together with an energy of a completely inward nature which by its own force completely changes a man. This transformation belongs to man and that is why there is no process, casualty, conditionality, causes, and consequences, or even a rational explanation. The essence of this drama is freedom and creativity. [...]
Also, this is why drill has no influence on the moral attitude of man. You can drill a solider to be tough, skillful, and strong, but you cannot drill him to be honest, dignified, enthusiastic, and brave. Those are spiritual qualities. It is impossible to impose a belief by means of decree, terror, pleasure, violence, or force. Every pedagogue can give a number of examples of how children resist persistent guidance in one direction and how they can consequently develop an interest in completely opposite behavior. This is due to the "human quality" of man. Man cannot be drilled like an animal. The inefficiency of drill and the uncertainty of education are the "palpable" proof that man is an animal endowed with a soul - that is, with freedom. [6] This is why every true upbringing is essentially self-upbringing and a negation of drill. The aim of true upbringing is not to change a man directly (because, strictly speaking, that is not possible) but to incite an inner stream of experiences and to cause an inner decision to the benefit of good by means of example, advice, sight, or the like. Beyond that, man cannot be changed; only his behavior may be changed, and that could feigned or temporary. Behavior which does not engage our deepest will is not an upbringing but rather a drill. Upbringing includes our participation, our effort. This is why the result of upbringing is always different and cannot be forsaken.-Islam Between East and West
by 'Alija 'Ali Izetbegovic, pg. 113-5
"A Man for All Seasons, Regions, and Religions"
Talal Asad, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center, who will moderate the discussion, was born in Saudi Arabia, brought up in Pakistan, and educated at Oxford University in England. He speaks in the first of three videos about his family background and the influence it had on him. His father was an Austrian Jew who converted to Islam as a young man, worked as a foreign correspondent in Saudi Arabia and India, and married a traditional Saudi Arabia-born Muslim, Assad’s mother, who was raised in India and Pakistan.
Asad’s long-term research concerns the transformation of religious law (the shari'ah) in 19th- and 20th-century Egypt, concentrating on what constitutes secular and progressive reform. Among his many notable books, his most recent, On Suicide Bombing, scrutinizes the idea of a "clash of civilizations"; the claim that "Islamic jihadism" is the essence of modern terror; and the arguments put forward by liberals to justify war in our time.
Asad speaks in the second video about the relationship of Islam and Christianity to modernity and secularity, a subject he addressed in another of his books, Formations of the Secular. In the third video, he discusses European contradictions in its approach both to Islam and secularism, and to religion in general.
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/index.htm
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
A Conversation With Dr. Nikhil Singh
Had Professor Singh guest lecture for the last three classes in my Concepts in Social and Cultural Analysis class. I'm thinking of taking his Black Urban Studies class next semester God willing :)
http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_9998.shtml
http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_9998.shtml
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
ROB PERKINSON, “The Southern Origins of the American Gulag”
SCA SPEAKER SERIES: ROB PERKINSON, “The Southern Origins of the American Gulag”
Tue Apr 13 5pm – Tue Apr 13 7pm
map
20 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
mjh419@gmail.com for marty.correia@nyu.edu
SCA SPEAKER SERIES presents: ROB PERKINSON “The Southern Origins of the American Gulag” 20 Cooper Square, 4th Fl New York, NY 10003 ROBERT PERKINSON will be presenting and discussing his new book TEXAS TOUGH, which chronicles the history of the Texas prison industry, which was originally built as a way to control the newly emancipated population after slavery was outlawed in the US. Perkinson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He received his BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his MA and PhD in American Studies from Yale University. He has written on an array of historical, social, and political topics. Recent articles have addressed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the history of the World Bank in Asia, U.S. foreign policy since 9/11, and the legacy of convict leasing. His work has appeared in numerous popular and scholarly forums, from The Straights Times and Boston Review to Radical History Review and the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. Perkinson has also worked with numerous activist and criminal justice reform organizations, among them the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i, Critical Resistance, the University of Hawai‘i Professional Assembly, and Yale’s Graduate Employee Student Organization.
source
Langston Hughes' Mother to Son
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
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