Link to jeanne's Birdie Index Discourse Preparation: Week of March 5, 2001

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Discourse Preparation: Week 6
Week of March 5, 2001
Uploaded Saturday evening, March 4, 2001

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Locked In

Medical report: I'm really locked in, kids! That's because the virus caused an inflammation of the liver, and the doctors already had a baseline test. The figures really jumped. They have to be sure that I get over the inflammation, and that I have no signs of hepatitis because that could be very contagious. They don't expect test results before the end of the week. I'm sorry to have to stay away from you for a while, but I'm well enough to read and write, and you're welcome to send e-mail. Somehow, I think you have enough to read. We live in exciting times, yes? love and peace, jeanne

Caliifornia State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest Update: March 8, 2001
E-Mail jeannecurran@habermas.org

Shared Comments on Readings:

New Assignment for All Classes for Week 6:

On guns and killing and Basquiat: Bumper Stickers for NRA members by TR Young. This just went up on Progressive Sociologists Net, and I was fascinated by the parallels I saw to some of Basquiat's work. I tried to reflect them below.

Pay particular attention to the way in which TR Young seems to be crossing out ideas and substituting others. The addition of fear was mine. It seemed missing to me. I would like you to consider TR's list of proposed bumper stickers, and consider the social problem evoked: what does kill? jeanne, March 5, 2001.

As you ponder this drawing and the discussion I've asked you to engage in, recall the line in the video, Basquiat, in which the interviewer asks Jean-Michel why he drew people so crudely. "Because," answered Basquiat, "most people are pretty crude. I don't know too many people who aren't crude." Even if the line is apocryphal, I hope it will help you to see why I saw Basquiat in TR Young's posting on guns. jeanne

A message just came in to Progressive Sociologists Net from Jan Ford, commenting on "Guns kill." I think it fits nicely into this discussion. jeanne

On guns and killing and schools: The Santee school shootings just took place a little Northeast of downtown San Diego on Monday, March 5, 2001. The mother's description of the young shooter was "He's a little kid, sort of skinny, but he's tough." I had read this piece early on the morning of March 6, 2001. Imagine my surprise then, when I turned to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times online, to find words such as "scrawny," "puny," "punk," to describe the young shooter. Contrast these to "diminutive," "slight and baby-faced," words encountered in other articles in the hard-copy edition.

Theory and Research on Youth Violence

  • Violent Children
  • The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective
  • Discussion Questions on the School Shooter
  • Predictors of Youth Violence OJJDP publication.
  • Youth Violence: Do Parents and Families Make a Difference? Government publication.

    1. Theory: Week 6

      1. Durkheim. If you have not already done so, please read Durkheim in Farganis. Pay particular attention to the definition of social fact, and the relationship of that idea to the interdependence of agency and social structure.

        Look at the Durkheim links on the Theory Class Reference Page. I'll put up more links soon, but that should give you a good basis for discussion.

    2. Peace and Conflict: Week 6

      1. Recent Interview with Ahmad Shah Massoud, by Sebastian Junger National Geographic, March, April 2001.

        Consider the costs of conflict, and the adamant commitment to that conflict. What do you suppose drove Sebastian Junger and the photographer, Reza, to risk this interview?. See the photographs of Reza online. Link under photo at right of page.

        How do we approach the dilemma of peacemaking in the midst of such conflict? How does this relate to the destruction of the infrastructure? What about agency and interdependence in this conflict? Does Massoud have agency? Do the Taliban? How do we move from the discussion of agency and infrastructure to that of interpersonal relations?

    3. Criminology: Week 6

      1. Agency, Structural Context, and Interdependence

        Please review the concepts of agency and structural context. Review the discussion questions and try to come up with a coherent definition of constitutive criminology. Use the references linked in the list of teaching essays on Constitutive Criminology.

    4. Moot Court: Week 6

      1. There are several texts we have started reading: You may have chosen black homicide, or Basquiat and the juvenile that is different, or Darkness in El Dorado. This reading was in response to my request that you undertake the story of an entire event, to give you a sense of the issues of justice, how easily we are deflected from recognizing them, how easily we deny them.

        In your discussions I would like you to address how in each of these very different fact patterns we see difference, lack of respect for the Other, ritualization and categorization of the Other, and a coming to awareness of an interdependence. Note that many will still deny that interdependence.

        Now we start to explore ways to heighten the awareness and bring others to understand categorization and its harms.

Art and Its Social Meaning: Immigrant Life

Theory and Research on Latino Immigration

One of the recomended texts for Moot Court on reading the whole story on social justice was Juan Gonzalez' Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America. Los Kitos provides a good introduction to this text.