At this point in my career I find myself situated in two different worlds of the university: I teach for gender and sexuality studies (my course at the moment is called “Bodies Out of Bounds”), and I co-edit a … Continue reading “Bridging Feminist / Queer Theory and Practice”
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No Kid Play
eng-beng lim
Of the many questions raised in the academy as well as the blogosphere, one stands out for its poignancy and compassion: are we as a society capable of loving queer kids? Artist David Wojnarowicz’s 1990 image, Untitled (One Day … Continue reading “No Kid Play”
Comrades in the Barrio
Nicholas Gamso
Reviewed: Fernandes, Sujatha. Who Can Stop the Drums?: Urban Social Movements in Chávez’s Venezuela (Durham: Duke Univeristy Press, 2010) Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is known for his popularity among the urban poor: they’ve provided a major voting bloc in three victorious national … Continue reading “Comrades in the Barrio”
HBO's postcolonial melancholic
Tavia Nyong'oSeason Three of HBO’s therapy verite series is now airing, so of course I am glued to the tube. This season’s analysands — whose sessions grants us a fly-on-the-wall view of — are especially engrossing. Jesse, the promiscuous, talented gay teen; Frances, the narcissistic mid-career actress; and Sunil, the postcolonial melancholic.
Social Text Special Issue 104: Introduction
Social Text CollectiveThe cover article and accompanying special report in the September 9, 2010 issue of The Economist, “A Latin American Decade?” somewhat tentatively hail renewed ties between the region and the “developed” world after attempts to foster national industries and intraregional integration “have stagnated or fallen apart.” Not surprisingly, the ties that matter to the magazine derive from market-oriented reforms and commodity-driven booms that are “starting to attract increased interest from outsiders.” Despite a pattern of similar claims about foreign interest that began around 1492, The Economist knows what it sees: the transnational moment has arrived.
Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy
Social Text CollectiveThis talk, drawn from David L. Eng’s recent book The Feeling of Kinship, has been canceled and will be re-scheduled for 2011.
Affective Tendencies: Bodies, Pleasures, Sexualities
Social Text CollectiveOctober 7th – 9th
ST Collective members David Eng and Jasbir Puar will be among the Keynote Speakers.
Curtis Jackson and the Jeweled Skull
Chris Randle
It’s hard to say that someone had a bad year because they made fewer millions than usual. And it’s even harder to pity 50 Cent under any circumstances. But still, 2009 was rough on the hip-hop superstar otherwise known as … Continue reading “Curtis Jackson and the Jeweled Skull”
Resources of Hope
Ashley DawsonLast Saturday was a remarkable day of NYC-based, globe-spanning eco-activism. The day began with a trip up to the South Bronx, where friends of mine were involved in various local environmental justice initiatives. The organization Sustainable South Bronx sponsored a … Continue reading “Resources of Hope”
Trolling and refueling the tank of spectacle
Biella ColemanSo I got to Internet Trolls via my work on Anonymous vs the Church of Scientology but I have remained interested in grappling with them independent of Anonymous. In the last few weeks, I had the chance to bump up … Continue reading “Trolling and refueling the tank of spectacle”
From Bolivia to the Bronx and Beyond
Ashley DawsonJoin ST collective member Ashley Dawson on Saturday, September 18th for a forum on Climate Justice featuring Father Miguel D’Escoto, former President of the U.N. General Assembly, Bolivian Ambassador Pablo Solon, Tanya Fields of Mothers on the Move (Bronx), and … Continue reading “From Bolivia to the Bronx and Beyond”
Impact: an Introduction
Tariq JazeelThe new system for assessing the quality of research produced by institutions of higher education in the UK and the academics they employ will be known as the “Research Excellence Framework” (REF). Replacing the “Research Assessment Exercise” (RAE), the inaugural … Continue reading “Impact: an Introduction”
The Real Knowledge Transfer
stefano harneyIn Britain, knowledge transfer (KT) is taking a new turn. As a university policy, KT emphasized intellectual property rights. The dream of the managers of the university was to patent knowledge produced in university departments, laboratories, and lecture halls. This … Continue reading “The Real Knowledge Transfer”
The Impact of "Impact"
ananya jahanara kabirReading a grant application for a Danish research project that I participate in, the following sentence caught my eye: “[A]pplicability is desirable, but not a demand. Grundforschung is the main aim.” Taking “applicability” to be roughly equivalent to “impact,” the … Continue reading “The Impact of "Impact"”
Counting Towards Tenure
Tavia Nyong'oWho is counting on tenure? We are all counting on tenure, it seems, as the professional horizon of intellectual work, as the foundation of security upon which any edifice of independent thought might withstand the forces of erosion in our time. However, as far as the New York Times can tell, tenure primarily counts as a politically neutral reward for professionalism and an accommodation to a hierarchical ideal of expertise. Missing from this is any body count of those intellectuals whose activity inside and out of the academia, while crucial to its functioning, are not tracked for tenure.