God fucking damn it

[lapsedmodernist]

I can't believe I didn't know about this. This is someone I know and respect. This is someone I don't just know from conferences as is the case with most academics I intellectually admire. This is someone I know from political work. This is someone who broke it down for you when a preemptive criminalization of dissent was manufactured and amplified by The Media You Trust last summer. This is someone I interviewed and videotaped for the A31 Civil Disobedience piece during the RNC last year. This is the one academic I know who doesn't sit around and wank about the alienation of the ivory tower and the role of intellectuals in public life, but puts his money where his ethics are. This is soemone at the top of the cultural capital pyramid of privilege who lives his life in an ethical way without being a wanker meta-academic who make "theorizing about activism" their schtick. This is someone that I feel lucky and proud to be on the same AAA panel with this year. This is someone who, years ago penned an article that is still my go-to piece when I try to explain to people how "Buffy" really was the most subversive, anti-authoritarian and ethical-in-a-necessary-way show on television. This is someone I wanted to go and study with at Yale back in the day.

And now he is being dismissed from Yale. Which is not unexpected, I sort of wondered periodically how he managed to stay there for as long as he has. But it's yet another nail, and a particularly personal one at that, in the coffin of the once-hopeful idea of universities as fiat lux communities of public discourse and critical thought, one of the few cautiously constructive beams in Marcuse's grim, paralzying One-Dimensional Man model back in the 1960s. Ward Churcill, David Massad, Daniel Pipes' brainchild Campuswatch. I am lucky, my department is "left," but even so over the last couple of years, I have received "gentle"/veiled, but unmistakable in nuance comments from well-meaning academics about thinking through "choices" about who I choose to publically affiliate myself with.

David Graeber is right on: "If you'd asked me six months ago, I would have probably said "academics can be activists as long as they do nothing to challenge the structure of the university," or anyone's power within it. If you want to make an issue of labor conditions in Soweto, great, you're a wonderful humanitarian; if you want to make an issue of labor conditions for the janitors who clean your office, that's an entirely different story. But I think you're right, something's changing. I mean, I'm sure it's not like there's someone giving orders from above or anything, but there's a climate suddenly where people feel they can get away with this sort of thing, and the Ward Churchill and Massad cases obviously must have something to do with that. I've been hearing a lot of stories, in recent weeks, about radical teachers suddenly being let go for no apparent reason. They don't even have to dig up something offensive you're supposed to have said any more - at least, in my case no one is even suggesting I did or said anything outrageous, in which case, at least there'd be something to argue about. If I had to get analytical about it, maybe I'd put it this way. We're moving from the neoliberal university to the imperial university."

Please take a moment and sign the petition in his support. This IS someone you want to be teaching your peers/your kids.

Comments

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

I signed.

Any word on whether he has got a new appointment somewhere else? The only thing about his account I would dispute is the assertion that it is uncommon for Yale and other top-level universities to fail to tenure at the point he was at in the process, or fail to renew a nontenure contract. They do this all the time, and for the grossest and pettiest reasons; it's almost S.O.P. Junior faculty who stick even the edge of a toe out of line simply are not tenured by these institutions, and even if they are unimpeachable they are still probably not tenured. A great many, maybe most, of the tenured faculty at such institutions are poached from other schools and brought in at senior level. That's the system, lousy as it is, and it's why the scholarship that comes out of the humanities and social science departments at these institutions is almost never radical.

Graeber may well be able to get a job elsewhere, likely a good job. Perhaps without too terribly much trouble; Ward Churchill he ain't, thankfully. It may well be much more to Yale's lasting cost that they have lost him.

[ochame.livejournal.com]

I second that opinion. And it's true not only for humanities and social sciences, natural sciences are the same way. Very few home-grown assistant/associate professors actually get tenured at those level institutions. Their policy usually is to fill senior positions with well-established faculty from other institutions.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is a revolving door, esp. at the Ivies, but even before his contract wasn't treated according to precedent for faculty of his level (2 year instead of 4 year, etc). Knowing his popularity as a professor, the political climate of that department and the extend of David's involvement in radical organizations, I have no doubt that his political affiliations had significant bearing on this decision.

[springheel-jack.livejournal.com]

I'm certain that's correct.

[twistedcat.livejournal.com]

my father is an influential alum (both graduate and undergrad), plus he taught there. i have sent him an email asking him to add his voice to the outcry. hopefully he finds the cause to be worthy, because when he gets a bee in his bonnet....

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

very cool!

[paracelsus.livejournal.com]

If this guy's getting a hard time, I'm fucked. I'm so left it ain't funny.

Yet Buffy not only avoids such sadistic pleasures, it openly mocks the underlying morality

The equation of sadism with 'bad' strikes me as overly simplistic. But we can argue about lordship and bondage in person, can't we? I'm in New York this Thursday, let me know when/if you're good for a drink!

Graeber

[tomorrow-devil.livejournal.com]

I like his anarchy, but I'm indifferent about his anthropology. Que sera, sera; many of us out here at the bleeding edge see some connections between Graeber's case and the case of Nancy Stoller back in the day when her proclivities and uterus made her a marked professor. But, ugh, I think many of us, who've read that excerpt time and time again, would have preferred that Graeber not put himself in the same class as Ward Churchill. Graeber is nowhere near as gauche as WC; and, trust me, I mean gauche as an indicator of political efficacy.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I think in context he meant a very specific brand of sadism, namely the semiotics of gore and pain in Christianity and Christianized brands of Western psychology over history, rather than general "sadism." The show certainly dealt with sadism as erotic/cathartic/psychologically complex in interesting ways, starting from the Drusilla/Spike/Angel triangle and througout Buffy's and Spike's relationship in season 6.

As in, tomorrow, for realz? Or do you mean next Thursday? Email me at anthrochica [at] gmail dot com w/details.

[blainerunner.livejournal.com]

What's been said about the Ivy League's tradition of not tenuring from "inside" is entirely true. That must be considered.

To convince *me* (whom you may not care to convince) to sign the petition, you need to promote Prof. Graeber's scholarship. Is he a good anthropologist? Has he published a sufficient number of artcles in top-tier journals?

Politically speaking, I'm very liberal. Academically speaking, I'm conservative. (I associate democratic reform with rigorous critical thought, which, I feel, can be cultiavted only by very sober, multi-perspectual education; in other words, I feel that politics should be given scant quarter *in* the classroom SO that people can become better political agents, if that makes sense). I don't care about a professor's life beyond the classroom. All that matters to me is that a professor be a terrific teacher and a good scholar. Can you post reviews of his work written by tenured faculty (his would-be peers) whom you respect? In college, I had a couple of professors whose liberal politics I fully endorsed YET whom I found to be lousy teachers (in part because they knew little about anything beyond their own range of interest, their own agenda).

Do you think that Prof. Graeber was "dismissed" so that the department could fill his position with a scholar of African descent? (BTW, by "dismissed" do you mean "not awarded tenure"?)

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

David Graeber has done excellent ethnographic and theoretical work on theories of value, narratives and colonialism. He may not be thematically interesting to everyone, like tomorrow_devil but his methodology and heuristic is always engaging and relevant. He is well-known within the discipline and if you were an anthropologist you would be familiar with his work. I have attended his colloquia and lectures and I know that he is an engaging and dynamic speaker, popular with students. I am not about to give you his CV because a) you can find it yourself if you are interested and b) I am not clear on whether you are interested in his accumulated peer validation on a meta-level (i.e. Does It Exist? Answer: Yes It Does) or on a concrete level...would names of people he studied with, published with and who endorse his work mean anything to you? I am not asking this to be snooty, I don't expect people outside my professional area of interest to be familiar with academics even if they are "stars" in my field b/c at the end of the day this is all just "shop talk."

If you see my comment above, you will see that I acknowledge the presence of the revolving door and explain why I think this is not necessarily the case here. By "dismissed" I mean "his contract was not renewed."

Re: Graeber

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I like his anthro work, but then, again, theories of value are much more up my alley of research interests than yours.

I know what you are saying about WC, but I guess it's all relative. My problems with WC notwithstanding, I am still appalled at what happened to him, unlike, say, in the instance with Nick DeGenova where I will weigh in with some baseline nominal "free speech" argument after which I will shrug and say "you know what? That asshole deserves everything he gets."

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Do you think that Prof. Graeber was "dismissed" so that the department could fill his position with a scholar of African descent?

Also I do not understand where this question is coming from.

[el-christador.livejournal.com]

I would dispute is the assertion that it is uncommon for Yale and other top-level universities to fail to tenure at the point he was at in the process, or fail to renew a nontenure contract

Certainly, in the field I'm in (science) the conventional wisdom is that no one who gets hired as an assistant professor at Harvard gets tenure at Harvard (there may be rare exceptions, but being clearly on the Nobel-prize track isn't enough for them to make an exception, or so people say). The claim is the only way to get tenure there is to become a superstar elsewhere.

That's Harvard, not Yale, but nonetheless the conventional wisdom is that at elite schools tenure is anything but automatic. I have no information about what people say about renewal of contracts.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Yet again, this is not about him getting tenured. This wasn't a tenure review. I'd like to thank all of my commenters for paying homage to my favorite Onion institution, Point/Counterpoint: David Graeber was not offered a contract renewal and circumstantial evidence seems to show that his political activities are the culprit VS Ivy Leagues don't tenure their "revolving door" junior faculty.

[blainerunner.livejournal.com]

I just felt that your appeal was along the lines of "I endorse him (and he's a fellow-traveler), and that should be enough." (Despite my love for 'Buffy', a scholarly attitude toward the show does not, of itself, in my opinion, a serious candidate make.) Your announcement/request/injunction just seemed a bit dismissive of your audience's critical autonomy (you didn't give us enough info to make up our own minds on the matter). I'm sure you're correct; however, I felt that your appeal could be more democratic.

In college, my advisor, whom I liked immensely, was not awarded tenure. Many students protested this decision. I was of two minds, because I knew in my heart that he was a very sloppy teacher (he had no idea of how to direct classroom conversation). Those who strongly supported him agreed with me (on the down-low) yet supported him because of his politics.

Some autobiography: Attending Sarah Lawrence has left me conflicted about politicized academic environments. While there, I read a lot of smart marxian stuff; however, upon graduation (and this may have been unique to me), I couldn't have told you the difference between the Reformation and the Restoration. My ignorance regarding "canonical" knowledge left me at a distinct disadvantage when arguing with more well-grounded conservatives. I could rant against, but i couldn't intelligently assail their arguments.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I was providing personal background about my relationship to this person, not "appealing" to anyone. The article and the petition I linked to provide all the information one would need to make up their mind as to whether they wanted to support him or not. I would certainly not expect anyone to sign based on my personal affection and respect for him.

[blainerunner.livejournal.com]

One of my bestest friend's (an anthropologist at UWM) best friend's (whom I've never met) was denied tenure by Carelton's Anthro. dept.. Apparently, he was a very popular teacher; however, he was a white guy teaching courses on Indian culture. As I understand it, despite his students' fondness for him (and for the quality of his work), the undergraduates lobbied to have him replaced by a professor of Subcontinental/South Asian descent. To them, such seemed more appropriate. (This is the story as I know it.)

Affirmative action is a tough issue; it's both a good thing and bad thing (mostly, however, it's a decoy. (If the public schools were funded as they should be (that is, with the military's budget), it wouldn't be so necessary).) If I'm correct, Graeber studies Madagascar, Africa (my facts may be wrong). Perhaps he was dismissed for an ostensibly "progressive" reason (but, then, reaction can alwasy wear the mask of liberalsim). That's all.

[blainerunner.livejournal.com]

My bad; I missed the extra information.

In general, I tend to be more of a gadfly with people with whom I'm in agreement (more or less) than with people with whom I'm in strong disagreement. I give fellow liberals (generic term) a hard time because, I feel, it's too easy for us to allow upsurges of indignation and incredulity to throw-off our aim. Those opposed to Bush must be, I fear, twice as scrupulous in all ways as those who support him. The right-wing is good at using our own enthusiasm against us.

[monkey-flower.livejournal.com]

I signed it. Thanks for posting this, even though it's horribly disappointing. What the fuck is going on?

[warpsmith.livejournal.com]

I signed it and read his Buffy essay. Very entertaining! How could I possibly have missed Buffy leading a worker uprising with a hammer and sickle in hand? HAW!

[isolt.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much the first thing I noticed about that episode. ;)

i figured you knew...

[vertigo1021.livejournal.com]

I'll give you a head's up when Michael Hardt get's fired from UNC (although i don't think he's Anthro and nowhere near as likely to have the sleeves rolled up --- see: Marx v. Bakunin... some things never change)
All bullshit aside, TowardsanAnthroMeanValue/False Coin is one of the best books I've ever read. Academically, it's probably THE best from any living author at least and I only say "probably" because I'm afraid I may have forgotten something. I'm politics with little to no anthro background, so his explanations/thoughts/examples on possible interpretations of the origins of those little things had a huge impact on me and pretty much placed that central question of where "this value" comes from/what it represents in the forefront of a lot of the work I did as an undergrad. (In the interest of full disclosure, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology or shatever wasn't quite my thing, but I'm 100% in agreement with your sentiments above. {because i'm sure you need the validation of a stranger})

I would be VERY interested in checking out the interview you did with him for the A31 demonstration. What are the odds of that ever happening?

Re: i figured you knew...

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Hardt isn't anthro, I don't think, he is one of those comets that traverses multiplie humanities/sosh science skies. I am sort of with you on Fragments, I think his economic anthro scholarship is excellent, and I think his activist work is admirable, he is a witty and compelling speaker when he integrates the two (again, not in a nasty deadening fetish academia gaze way) in lectures, but I don't know if it works in a BOOK.

About the A31 thing, hm. Well, he was part of the representatives from the A31 coalition who did a press conference at St. Mark's church a few days beforehand, I filmed it and interviewed him and the other organizers afterwards for...I am trying to remember now. Either it was for Blacked Out Media that is done through the NYC IMC and broadcast on Free Speech TV or it was in prep for the UnConventional TV live show we did for Manhattan public access for a week during the RNC. Either way, I didn't edit that tape, I think someone from the IMC did. I am sure it exists somewhere in some incarnation, but I am not sure of the details. I will look around and see if I still have the original master tape kicking around somewhere...

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I don't know how you missed it! It was at the end of "Anne," the third season opener, where she liberates all the workers from the underground factory, and there is that iconic shot of her with the commie props that became the last shot of the credits for the next two or three seasons, until it was replaced with the shot of her/Buffybot from "The Gift."

David Graeber

[devanderson.livejournal.com]

Not having had any familiarity with this individual before, I was wondering if you would perhaps be able provide me with the names of the essays mentioned in the interview:

"I started writing essays defending anarchism, and getting involved in big mobilizations against the IMF and G8 as well organizing with the peace movement."

Re: David Graeber

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

well, there is his little book "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology"

you can also check this out
http://www.choike.org/documentos/wsf_s503_graeber.pdf


There are more but I am blanking on the names right now. He frequently writes for "In These Times" so if you google them with his name you should be able to find some. Here is one about Genoa: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27d/057.html

Re: David Graeber

[devanderson.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I figured I'd stepped out of line somehow with my querry, so I did some Googling myself the other day and located these links:

his writing:
http://www.makeworlds.org/node/84

http://circlealpha.com/library/newanarchists.html

in his defense:
in his own words:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naspir/message/1656

http://www.counterpunch.org/frank05132005.html

Andrej Grubacic's:
http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos16405.html

Re: David Graeber

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

how on earth would have your query been out of line??

I just didn't see it till now!