Some Muslim girls campaign against the hijab, some campaign for it.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Al-Jazeerah: Schroeder Supports Ban for Teachers
Dec 24th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
German Chancellor opposes headscarf for teachers but not for students.… Read the rest
French Press Reacts to Headscarf Ban
Dec 24th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Some papers welcome the move, others think it’s irrelevant.… Read the rest
Top Celebrity Speaks on GM, Nanotechnology
Dec 23rd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Prince of Wales ‘operates on prejudice, not evidence, but because of his position he is listened to.’… Read the rest
Dictator Kitsch
Dec 23rd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How does one reconcile a personality cult with ‘scientific’ Mao Zedong Thought?… Read the rest
Paul Krugman on Inequality
Dec 22nd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Even that leftist rag Business Week has noticed.… Read the rest
Grade Inflation at the Theatre
Dec 22nd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If every play gets a standing ovation, how do we know which ones stink?… Read the rest
Sludge, Clag and Gruel
Dec 22nd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Managerese has infiltrated the English of politics, bureaucracy, education, the arts. … Read the rest
Fashion
Dec 22nd, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Being a Unique Individual like everyone else.… Read the rest
The World at Large
Dec 21st, 2003 8:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonHere, on the other hand, is a comment on the MLA and hipness [in the comments on the post] that is quite another matter – and says (from inside the academy as opposed to outside it) what I’ve been thinking for a couple of days, as well as for many years:
… Read the restAt the moment (ask me again on Dec. 30 how I feel), the bottom line seems to me that many serious scholars of literature and culture, who would very much like to engage in a serious, generous, forthright way with the world-at-large, often find themselves prevented from doing so by both the internal demands of the scholarly universe (publishing in the “right places” demanding certain kinds of technical language
The End of the Trilogy
Dec 21st, 2003 7:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonChapter 3. (And I still had some items I wanted to examine from the fuss over ‘Hear the Silence’ – some of the odd assumptions behind the rhetoric – but that’s such a long time ago now. I’m just not speedy enough, clearly.) Because there is still a little more. And it really is quite interesting, how very defensive and righteously indignant the defenders of the ‘professional discourse of the humanities’ get. As if people who tease them were committing lèse-majesté, invading the Temple, polluting the inner sanctum. Why? Why do they take themselves so very seriously? Why is a joke (and a damn funny one at that) seen as an outrage? Why are professional discoursers so deaf to humour … Read the rest
Imaginings of Escape
Dec 21st, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
So many literary characters say: let me out of here.… Read the rest
Professional Convention
Dec 20th, 2003 9:01 pm | By Ophelia BensonI have some more comments I want to make and others I want to quote. Comment boards on blogs are not always the best place to do research on attitudes, naturally, because the people commenting can be anybody and everybody – people who’ve misplaced their meds, people who haven’t been prescribed any meds yet, people who are just that little bit too interested in aluminum foil. So keep that in mind. But the comments at Invisible Adjunct do seem to represent some real attitudes in that sector of the academy that’s under discussion. So let’s dissect one or two of them on that assumption – the attitudes are worth a look even if these particular exponents of them are bogus.… Read the rest
Jefferson v. Napoleon
Dec 20th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scalia, other judges agree: Jefferson guilty of prolonging slavery, deporting American Indians.… Read the rest
Thurmond Relatives are Displeased
Dec 20th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
At Strom? No, at his secret illegitimate daughter, for going public after 78 years. The nerve.… Read the rest
Yes But What Does ‘Spirituality’ Mean?
Dec 20th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Vicar of Putney prefers passionate atheists, Madonna likes the Kabbalah.… Read the rest
Blake Morrison on Frank Furedi
Dec 20th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Therapy Culture omits too much, such as the fact that therapy can help.… Read the rest
The Provokies
Dec 19th, 2003 11:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell, this is a rich resource at Invisible Adjunct. Sort of a treasure-chest of lame alibis, bogus analogies, whining, flag-self-wrapping-in, efforts to seem important via association, verbiage, accusation, attempted guilt-mongering, accidental self-revelations, messenger-blaming, conceit, and much much more. It’s funny but it’s also rather depressing. However, it’s not exactly a news flash that people in the literary theory game have gone a little odd lately, is it.
The fuss is about a hilarious brief piece Scott McLemee wrote for the CHE about ‘The Chronicle’s First Annual Awards for Self-Consciously Provocative MLA Paper Titles (also known as the Provokies).’ There’s an Award for Transgressive Punctuation, the Andrew Ross Award for Dangerous Hipness (if you’ve read Strange Weather you know how funny … Read the rest
Meera Nanda in Frontline
Dec 19th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Postmodernism, Hindu nationalism and ‘Vedic science’ … Read the rest
‘Transgressors’ Squawk When Teased
Dec 19th, 2003 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Behold ‘the insular narcissism of people whose chief virtue is not intellectual seriousness but a certain docility…in their relationship with institutions.’… Read the rest