tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post7222906387378532768..comments2024-02-27T22:20:11.974-08:00Comments on Center of Gravitas: Ethnic Studies is for EveryoneGayProfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11289510184782252498noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-4337452686081555782010-06-08T12:11:53.674-07:002010-06-08T12:11:53.674-07:00>>Silly GayProf. The answer is clearly that ...>>Silly GayProf. The answer is clearly that they just plain hate freedom. And white people. Because they're racist, of course.<<<br /><br />Ah, but you see, Mel, all the answers are a priori. <br /><br />The question assumes the answer.<br /><br />You can demonstrate this: Spin the question around and ask "If <br />Chicana activists are anything but deluded antisocial idealogues, why would the vast majority dismiss their ideas?"<br /><br />Aha. You see what happens then. Racism, the very answer you mocked, suddenly becomes the first thing you reach for, doesn't it?<br /><br />"Ethnic studies" is little more than a pointless exercise in forcing people into a descriptive box to justify "positive" racism. I.e, the concept that some ethnic group deserves some special consideration because of some special trait they posess as a group.<br /><br />The unspoken flip side is always that other groups lack that special trait. Positive racism- "ethnic pride"- always creates negative racism, it just doesn't admit to it.<br /><br />I'd replace it all with Human studies.<br /><br />I am "American" but I didn't build the Hoover Dam, land on the Moon, cure Smallpox or defeat the Nazis. Why should I be prouder of these things than any other grand and worthwhile thing other people did?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-90251624024422277212010-06-07T09:31:17.738-07:002010-06-07T09:31:17.738-07:00"you know you’ve crossed into a new horizon o..."you know you’ve crossed into a new horizon of crazy" I'm printing this on business cards as we speak (properly cited of course).<br /><br />I've been writing similar posts abt how little the uni gains econ wise by canceling ES and WS for a while now & I think you're right to point to both TX and AZ for underlining causes. And if anyone is interested there is a pretty thorough link of all of the back and forth on things to remove or add in to the textbooks available online. My "favs": remove Ida B Wells and add in Phyllis Schlafly (Ida B wasn't even in my textbook as a kid), remove references to cultural movements and leaders and add in history of The Moral Majority (which is apparently devoid of culture). The list is both amusing for its ignorance and deeply disturbing for its big reveals on what some people are really thinking about our nation, its laws, and rights to citizenship and equality.<br /><br />Interestingly, both here and where colleagues teach on both coasts, there have been moves to collapse all the ES programs and the WS program into an unnamed Identity Studies Program and in some cases fire any untenured folks. In all cases, students and faculty have stopped that from happening through joint efforts (except FL which I think actually saw WS and AFAM organizing separately) but I wonder how arguments for distinct programs/departments jives with other arguments for interdisciplinary majors (ie for having departments that look at multicultural feminisms and queer ids). One comes from the place of erasure and the other from wanting more cross-over but could the savvy administrator use the latter to achieve the former?susurronoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-79705680683513085012010-06-06T03:08:32.102-07:002010-06-06T03:08:32.102-07:00Oh Torn, no matter what,there is always hope.
Wha...Oh Torn, no matter what,there is always hope.<br /><br />What Roger said. Without education, we only see and understand our world from a singular perspective. It's sad that so many in power are doing just that.<br /><br />Great post, as usual Gayprof.Rebekahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03167931093068823806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-85177470584230237982010-06-04T22:42:20.522-07:002010-06-04T22:42:20.522-07:00This is a GREAT post. Thanks for sharing.This is a GREAT post. Thanks for sharing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-43333438212435914202010-06-02T23:43:19.761-07:002010-06-02T23:43:19.761-07:00Wonder Woman RULES!!!!!!
Though I'm not a fan...Wonder Woman RULES!!!!!!<br /><br />Though I'm not a fan of bitchy-Diana.<br /><br />Only the confident, compassionate, and loving Wondy for me!<br /><br />-DeanDean Greyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01014573083751127043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-72052633823517101262010-05-29T04:56:00.188-07:002010-05-29T04:56:00.188-07:00I for one am not holding out much hope for that la...I for one am not holding out much hope for that last line.tornwordohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16581361982939423598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-60371439211368253842010-05-28T06:22:58.455-07:002010-05-28T06:22:58.455-07:00The core issue, though, is the underlying notion t...The core issue, though, is the underlying notion that racism, sexism, et al only affect those subjected to them, so it is "their" problem. Thus ethnic studies, women's studies are "add ons" that "we don't need". <br />No, we need to know more about Jerry Falwell (TX school board).Roger Owen Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298172138307632062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-37867091479824844722010-05-28T06:20:12.770-07:002010-05-28T06:20:12.770-07:00DykeWife: Thanks for the Saskatchewan update. It ...<b>DykeWife:</b> Thanks for the Saskatchewan update. It seems that Canadian universities are grappling with the same impulses as the U.S. I am amazed that there wasn't more student protest at the dissolution of women and gender studies. You are right that university administrators are most often motivated by money. If a program can find a way to bring in the dollars, it faces no danger.<br /><br /><b>Mel:</b> Well, thankfully Arizona public schools are now going to teach them how to be individuals. Cuz, you know, they all were trapped into a single consciousness.GayProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11289510184782252498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-44193003351494493422010-05-27T19:23:37.593-07:002010-05-27T19:23:37.593-07:00"Indeed, he might even ask the historical que..."Indeed, he might even ask the historical question, 'If the U.S. is a land of such opportunity and egalitarianism, just why did Chicano/a activists ever advocate breaking off from it?'"<br /><br />Silly GayProf. The answer is clearly that they just plain hate freedom. And white people. Because they're racist, of course.<br /><br />Any question is easy to tackle if you already have <i>a priori</i> answers.Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16010478.post-2136808928155739802010-05-27T18:09:38.929-07:002010-05-27T18:09:38.929-07:00at the university of saskatchewan, religious studi...at the university of saskatchewan, religious studies, women and gender studies and anthropology have all been or are in the process of being, combined with other departments. i'm not sure religious studies is going to be anywhere, women and gender studies is being lumped into sociology and anthropology has been absorbed into archaeology. <br /><br />the move up here is more about shifting monies and resources to the trades of university, the sciences, economics, law, medicine, and of course, in the prairie province, agriculture. <br /><br />happily enough, native studies is a growing department. the university has been actively engaged in recruiting and supporting aboriginal students. in order to do so they have to have courses that interest them and are sensitive to their cultures. with the recent closing of the first nations university of canada, the u of s is going to play are more crucial role in post secondary education of aboriginal people in saskatchewan. <br /><br />also tied into the native studies department are sociology with the aboriginal justice program and law with aboriginal law. <br /><br />i'm not so naive to think that the university is going in this direction out of the goodness of the governors' hearts. there is a lot of money in the hands of aboriginal communities that are paying for this education and the university wants a part of that. if the money were to dry up, so would the departments and courses.<br /><br />oh, and my word verification is pocki.dykewifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17776768691386493709noreply@blogger.com