Mining the Archives
There were some very kind responses — both here and on Facebook — to the very short talk that I shared in this space last week. And one of the things those kind responses made me think about was how often those of us who work in academic settings put things out into the world […]
18 Things
Larry Grossberg (who was my Ph.D. adviser) retired this year. There was a lovely gathering in May of 40+ years worth of his friends, family, colleagues, and students (past and present) to celebrate Larry and wish him well in this next chapter of his life. As part of this event, I was asked to moderate […]
White Lies
My friend and (many years ago) former student, Wendy Adams, was kind enough to invite me to give a talk as part of the International Film Series that she runs at the College of Central Florida. And this seems like as good as anywhere to share what I had to say about To Kill a […]
Videos of the week
If we’re going to be finicky about it, these are videos of the past month or so. And that month is about when I encountered them, rather than when they first appeared. They have nothing obvious in common with each other. But they’re all clips that stuck with me long after the initial trips down […]
Mic check
One, two! One, two! Is this thing on? It’s been a while, I know. And this post is admittedly not much more than a tease. But I’m sliding back into this blogging thing slooooowly… Coming soon-ish to a digital space near you, a new podcast — Culture Media Language — hosted by myself and Giulia […]
Reminds Me of Somethin’
So I did a thing tonight as part of this thing. And though I know no one came to see me, when the real stars of the show were Shelby J and Dr. Fink, several people said kind words to me after about my talk. So I figured I’d share it here, with a few […]
Running the race
You’ve heard about them, I’m sure. Special interest groups who think it’s fine to disrupt the everyday routines of ordinary people so that they (the special interest people, that is) can promote their own agenda. Shutting down major roads, blocking traffic, getting large crowds of people to yell in the streets for hours on end […]
Fifty shades of red
The more I read about the Rachel Dolezal story, the angrier I get. But not at her. Because, as I mentioned before, none of us know enough to say with any certainty who or what she “really” is. Race isn’t that simple. Identity isn’t that simple. Yet all sorts of people — too many to […]
Fifty shades of black
I don’t know the truth about Rachel Dolezal or her heritage. And neither do you. Yet an awful lot of people seem quite confident — even as they acknowledge the slipperiness of racial identity and/or the artificiality of race itself — that they know she’s really white. Maybe they’re right. Maybe. But the swiftness with […]
2015 ACS Institute: updates, Early Bird registration deadline approaching
Register now to secure a spot at the 2015 ACS Institute! This is a reminder that early-bird registration for the third Association for Cultural Studies Institute ends on the 30th of July 2015. The Institute will be held from 7-12 December 2015 at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The theme […]