Sugar, Christianity, Slavery and the Making of Race

Here is yet another fascinating book to want, on race and sugar, and there is an issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies I should get, and many articles from this journal are available from TANDF for free — at least, they are to me as an ERIP member.

I should send sent my Cecilia proposal, the one already sent to the symposium here, to this edited collection.

I am not convinced at all about this book. It makes the point that the U.S. has long been mixed, which is well taken — not new, but not the dominant story, as this author points out. But is he suggesting mixture creates equality (he does remark that he is not saying anything so simple)?

I am always suspicious of the mixture-creates-equality thesis because it looks down on the unmixed — the darker side of mestizaje — and because I fear it is cover for deculturation. Not to mention that I know mestizaje and racism coexist.

Americans seem not to know this, which is the major difference between them and me, it seems. They also think Vasconcelos is a largely unknown figure, whereas I consider him famous and canonical.

Posted in Colonialisms, Créolité, Haiti, Race | Leave a comment

O meu livro

My central claim in my book is that the texts in question embody struggles over racial meaning. The book has to start with a discussion of Cecilia Valdés, since the title refers to this novel.

I will also translate Regin Dahl’s poetry, as discussed via Facebook chat today.

Posted in Hispanism, Identity, Poetics, Siglo XIX, What Is A Scholar?, Working | Leave a comment

Changó, el gran putas

I will acquire and read this novel, as it is made for me. It is a poematic novel with loas and sugarcane, and it has theories of mestizaje.

Posted in Race | Leave a comment

Nelson Osorio

In slideshare, a nice book by Nelson Osorio on the 19th century. Really I am looking for his discussion of vanguardia as reajuste cultural, but this is also good.

Posted in Siglo XIX, Vanguardias | Leave a comment

SASS – Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study

It is here.

Posted in Poetics, What Is A Scholar?, Working | Leave a comment

How to approach a critical essay — for teaching graduate students

DEH: Z and I have both been thinking about how we teach our graduate students. Here are the beginnings of a reading/discussion assignment I will try out. I don’t yet know what essay I’ll use, but I want to ask these questions:

Learning to approach a critical essay

As you read, use a different color to highlight each of the following:

→argument (logical inferences, grounds, warrants, examples)
→new information
→theoretical concepts

What signals help you to identify these different threads of an essay?

How does the author deploy new information?

Are there places where you could disagree with the argument?  On what grounds?

What theoretical concepts does the author assume you understand?   How could you find out more about them?  List some resources you might use.

How does the author use theoretical concepts?

How do argument, information, and theory work together and influence each other?

Posted in What Is A Scholar?, Working | Leave a comment
Posted in Identity, Race, Subject Theory | Leave a comment