What's New?
For the Week of October 3, 2001

Weekly Readings and Suggested Measures of Learning:
New material up on Monday, if I can manage it. Meanwhile, read the current issue. jeanne, Sunday, September 30, 2001.

• Modern Social Theories, Undergraduate
• Transforming Discourse
• Sociology of Law
• Graduate Theory Seminar

Teaching Essays
In Other Languages
Art and the Imaginary
Collaborative Writing Journal
Conflicts Around the World
Scholastic Resources
Lagniappe! You Gotta Read This!
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Gallery
Resource Pages:
. . . Criminology and Aging and Peacemaking and Theory
. . . and Women and Social Justice and Social Justice Issues and Writings
. . . and The Writer's Bookshelf and Poverty and Sociology of Law
. . . and September 11, 2001 and Distance Learning
Syllabi Instructions on How to Access Syllabi
Calls for Proposals: Conference and Article Plans
Kids' Site
What people are saying about Dear Habermas
Who To Take

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Teaching Essays

Teaching and Review Essay Index

New This Week:

• October Newsletter of Students' Art for Peace Art for Peace Deadlines Extended.

• United Religions Initiative Building Global Interfaith Cooperation. "URI Leadership Responds to Terrorism - From the Interim Global Council: Our pledge to create justice not revenge, healing not further violence, in the face of the devastating tragedy of the destruction of the World Trade Center and the severe damage of the Pentagon on the International Day of Peace, September 11, 2001."

• Racial Patterns and Basic Needs "Race, Racism and the Law considers race, racism and racial distinctions in the law; It examines the role of domestic and international law in promoting and/or alleviating racism. The site includes statutes, cases, excerpts of law review articles, annotated bibliographies and other documents related to race and racism." I like this law professor. She's good. And, given today's ethnic concerns, this can be an important scholarly resource. You have to hunt around a little on her sites. They're continuously under construction, like Dear Habermas.

• What Is Race? Ian F. Haney Lopez, The Social Construction of Race: Some Observations on Illusion, Fabrication, and Choice, 29 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 1-62, 6-7, 11-17 (Winter, 1994) Gives a good sense of "social constrruction."

• more patriotism run amok a PSN posting on the issue of identifying badges such as ribbons and buttons that are being worn on news announcements. Essay up soon. Discussion this week. This just came in as e-mail. It should be posted soon. jeanneThis just came in as e-mail. It should be posted soon. jeanne

• Arundhati Roy on the algebra of infinite justice A Robert Stewart PSN post from The Guardian. "The trouble is that once Amer ica goes off to war, it can't very well return without having fought one. This just came in as e-mail. It should be posted soon. jeanne

• The Lessons of Blowback By CHALMERS JOHNSON, Chalmers Johnson is author of "Revolutionary Change" and "Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire." Los Angeles Times editorial, September 30, 2001. "Even carefully planned actions can have unintended consequences. Let's not do something that ultimately benefits terrorists." backup

• Evaluating Authority and Understanding the Visual Impact The One Second Before Photograph Hoax. This file is the start of a discussion on the issue of the role of visual literacy in our belief systems.

  • Cheryl Spear's response to photo added.

• The Language of the Unspeakable War, up close and personal. Visual literacy and the means of communication that bring us back to a human level. Think about that as you think about evaluating the fake photograph. Would you like the terrorists to see it? Why? or why not?

• Civilization Envy: On Muslims, Israel, and McDonald’s. by Jonah Goldberg. September 28, 2001. The National Review Online. Conservative Perspective.

• Understanding Postcolonialism Teaching essay on postcolonialism and its importance today.

• Agency and Structural Context Tyshae Jefferson' interpretation of the Li'l Red Hen. Conceptual linking to theory.

• What does it all meme? by TR Young. 28 September 2001. TR Young's post to PSN on a PBS special Thursday, September 27, 2001, on memes and genes and evolution.

  • What does it all meme? Timothy Mason's comments on memes and genes and evolution and deep meaning. Notice that he mentions Richard Dawkins. Nag me to get a summary of Dawkins' piece up on Sept.11. Basically he says that religion, and our unshakeable belief that OUR religion is RIGHT is what has been perpetuating violence for centuries.

  • I don't want to sound 'Meme" by Alan Spector. Post to PSN on 28 September 2001. Important discussion clarifying the dangers of over simplifying: "As one who uses metaphors, illustration, fables, I have to constantly struggle with myself and remind my students that metaphors can illuminate processes but cannot provide reliable evidence (Rabbits and tortoises don't actually race, after all.). So it is fine to use them, important, valuable, necessary. But readers should take care that they don't take some metaphors literally. It is common, not just among sociobiologists, but even among humanists and marxists and others to write in ways that might imply "intentionality" to processes that are not "intentional" at their core."

  • Re: What does it all meme? by Paul H.Dillon. 28 September 2001. "So how can you can have an elementary unit of something that is only an abstract universal to begin with?" Notice how hard it is to nail down some of the ideas being discussed here. We need to talk about them, but we keep tripping over problem of how to say what we're trying to say. Could this be what Habermas has in mind when he speaks of a "good faith" consideration of the Other's validity claims? I think you can see the dilemma best in Alan Spector's comments.

• Psychology of the Moral Dilemma by Sandra Blakeslee New York Times Service. Thursday, September 27, 2001

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In Other Languages

• Artists of the Harlem Renaissance The Palmer Hayden is the middle picture on the page this link should take you to. It's a dance scene, probably in Paris. And there are two really lovely William H. Johnson images. The site is in German, but the images aren't. If you are interested, I'll work on a translation. jeanne. September 30, 2001.

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Art

• Art and the Imaginary:

  • Archives of American Art The Smithsonian.

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      Speaking the Unspeakable: Nicolai Cikovsky's Chickens, from his sketchbook at the Smithsonian.

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      John Graham's Diary "His 1937 pocket diary reveals the force of his imagination and his enthusiasm for Picasso."

  Artists You Should Know

  • Palmer Hayden:

    • Text in German.
    • Palmer Hayden, African American Artist

  • William H. Johnson:

    • Text in German.
      Willaim H. Johnson, African American Artist

    • Museum exhibit at Santa Monica Museum, just opened, travelling from the The Harlem Studio Museum. Nag me to put up information. jeanne

  Poetry You Should Know

  • The Eerily Intimate Power of Poetry to Console By Dinitia Smith. New York Times. October 1, 2001. backup

  • Poets' Views of the Human Predicament New York Times. October 1, 2001.

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Collaborative Writing Journal

Current work in progress on teaching and review essays
by jeanne, Susan, Pat, et alia.

• Lecture Notes Index

• Index for Sharing the Site What others are reading and their questions and comments on their reading.
  Week 6: Week of October 1, 2001.

  Reactions to Three Ravens from the Sky

  • Further developments with Kerry's response.

    Slide Show of Children's Art on the Tragedy in New York Our backup copy puts all the paintings on one file, and will shortly have discussion topics dispersed. We will look at different spheres, both public and private, in which the tragedy is depicted.

    • Reactions to New York Times Drawing Disaster Slide Show

      • Instructions on how to participate

    • Reactions to Outsider Theory

  • More comments on Alfie Kohn's article, September 11

    • Can't Wait "I agree with Perry, but . . ." Christina Beals, UWP, response to Perry, UWP.
    • yikes, she's not on my class rosters anywhere!" Journal entry by Susan.
      

    • Agency and Structural Context and the Li'l Red Hen Journal entry by jeanne. Link added September 28, 2001.

  • Antonio Gramsci: Main Table of Contents Carl Cuneo's Notes. The timeliness of Gramsci at this point means that we will want to include him in theory this semester. Essay up soon. jeanne

  • The Little Red Hen A Poem by Latisha Ali-Ramlogan.

Conflicts Around the World: