Mon 6.22.09| Paranoia, Empire, and Torture

Why does the US torture people who it knows have no actionable intelligence? What does paranoia have to do with torture conducted at places like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? What has the commentary surrounding the Abu Ghraib photographs crucially ignored? Anne McClintock weighs in on these and other matters.

Wed 6.17.09| History in Music

George Lipsitz, Footsteps in the Dark: The Hidden Histories of Popular Music U. of Minnesota Press, 2007

According to George Lipsitz, popular music emerges from, and tells stories about, social conditions, power relations, and collective struggles. The songs, especially those that endure, convey histories otherwise hidden from view. Lipsitz also critiques Ken Burns's documentary Jazz and describes how techno emerged from the streets of Detroit.

Tues 6.16.09| Out of the Woods?

Kai Wright, "More Mortgage Madness" The Nation

The economy is (close to) bottoming out, we're being told with increasing frequency. Is this true? And what about the foreclosure crisis: Are efforts to keep people in their homes succeeding, and if not, why not? Kai Wright highlights the role played by mortgage servicers, and Jack Rasmus argues that major economic and financial troubles lie ahead.

Mon 6.15.09| Gay Liberation

Tommi Avicolli Mecca, ed., Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation City Lights, 2009
Forty years to the month after the Stonewall Riots sparked the gay liberation movement, a new volume edited by Tommi Avicolli Mecca remembers the radical activism of the '60s and '70s and assesses the current state of LGBT organizing. Paola Bacchetta's essay recalls her involvement with a lesbian political group in Philadelphia.

Wed 6.10.09| Domestic Terrorism

Domestic terrorism comes in many forms, including the kind perpetrated by the killer of abortion provider George Tiller and that practiced by the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski. Eleanor Bader puts Dr. Tiller's May 31 slaying in Wichita in political and historical context. And Susan Choi's latest novel A Person of Interest was inspired by the Unabomber's attacks on scholars.

Tues 6.09.09| Gilroy on Multiculture and Marley

Paul Gilroy, "Multiculture in Times of War"

Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic Harvard U. Press, 1993

Paul Gilroy, Darker Than Blue: On the Moral Economies of Black Atlantic Culture Harvard U. Press, forthcoming

How do racial politics play out in a former imperial power like Britain? What do popular desires for a restoration of national greatness do to how racial others and foreigners are perceived and treated? Paul Gilroy discusses the prospects for a robust multiculturalism; he also talks about the significance of Bob Marley's music and politics.
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