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Cliopatria

  • May 19, 2005

    Karate History

    by Cliopatria

    Craig Colbeck has written a fascinating meditation on the problem of martial arts history.
    Labeling karate a tradition relieves it of the obligations of a rigorous historicity; or rather, it establishes a distinct set of historical expectations. The relationship between tradition and history is problematic: by definition, every tradition needs a history, for legitimacy is founded in part on a recounting of origins, yet history is t
  • May 19, 2005

    Mmmmm, Hot Dogs . . .

    by Cliopatria

    If you happen to be near Maine, and if you like hot dogs, (and if you don't like hot dogs, what kind of human being are you, anyway? And why are you reading this blog? Freak.) this sounds like one of the greatest places on earth.

    Which brings up today's question: What are the greatest hot dogs or hot dog places in America (or elsewhere, but I don't want to hear about no beret-wearing, bagu

  • May 19, 2005

    Is hubris contagious?

    by Cliopatria

    In the vein of Graham Larkin’s post, I wish to suggest that hubris is not limited to David Horowitz or the ideologues of the Right. I just picked up a rather interesting-looking new tome, Melanie E.L. Bush’s BREAKING THE CODE OF GOOD INTENTIONS: EVERYDAY FORMS OF WHITENESS (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), which deals with the views of students at CUNY (Bush’s home institution) on race and class. The Foreword is written by Joe R. Feagin. Feagin is a well-known Marxist scholar who is a past presi
  • May 18, 2005

    The Newsweek Fiasco

    by Cliopatria

    I've been reticent about the whole Newsweek/Koran fiasco because everybody has an opinion and they have expressed it. The one question I have for those who are harping on this issue is: What do you want to have done? Newsweek ran with a story without enough evidence. It apologized and retracted the story. Yes, people died in riots, but here is the rule of thumb, folks: When people die at the hands of others, the responsible parties are the ones who actually do the killing. That's
  • May 18, 2005

    The American Chalabi

    by Cliopatria

    It finally hit me who Chalabi's American counterpart was. James Wilkinson, the duplicitous head of the army in the 1790s who collected a salary from Spain while he was also on the US payroll. Most Americans have heard nothing about him. That's too bad. It's helpful to remember the scalawags from history. And Wilkinson was one of the greatest. Among his sins was that he conspired with Aaron Burr to detach several western states in a crazy plot that was to end with Burr's naming himself leade
  • May 18, 2005

    Trope Trove, or Colonial Fairy Tales

    by Cliopatria

    I’m teaching my “Image of Africa” course again next semester, and I’ve decided to try and work some more on a pedagogical strategy that has had pretty good results in several of my cultural history classes. Basically, I take a catalogue of persistent images or tropes that are recognizable, persistent presences in post-1950s American or global popular culture and ask the students to do some detective work leading to a long research essay in which they track down the genealogies and if possible or
  • May 18, 2005

    And the Sun is a Ball of Hot Gas

    by Cliopatria

    Cross-posted on Historiblography

    This is a major news flash, I know, but Victor Davis Hanson has written something dumb. The fun part is that he wrote something dumb in response (or in"response," since he doesn't really bother to respond) to a question I asked him:
    In a March answer to a reader, you wrote on your website that"race studies,” queer studies, gender studies, etc
  • May 17, 2005

    Perspectives

    by Cliopatria

    Congratulations to Ralph Luker and Manan Ahmed for their well-written and useful articles about blogging in the latest issue of the AHA magazine Perspectives . Ralph gives a capsule history of historians' blogs, while Manan provides aspiring bloggers a Guide to the Perplexed (Maimonides would have loved it!). The highlight of Ralph's article is the extended narrative by Timothy Burke as to why he became a blogger
  • May 17, 2005

    Leonard Thompson Memorial

    by Cliopatria

    If any of you live in the Tri-State area, a memorial service for the great South African historian Leonard Thompson is planned for Friday, May 20 at 2 pm at Dwight Chapel on Yale's Old Campus with a reception immediately thereafter.
  • May 17, 2005

    The Oil Can Returneth!

    by Cliopatria

    Dennis"Oil Can" Boyd returned last night to pitch for the Brockton Rox in hopes of someday being able to establish"Oil Can Boyd's Traveling All Stars."

    This makes me as happy as any news I have seen this week. Oil Can is something of a cult hero in New England. There has not been a bigger character in baseball in the last several decades. Oil Can could spin a malopropism

  • May 16, 2005

    The Constitution, Values, and Science

    by Cliopatria

    A few entries down, there is an interesting post by Greg Robinson that has stimulated a good discussion concerning homosexuality and the Constitution. These comments began as a response to a comment there by John Lederer, but they took on a life, a length, and therefore an entry, of their own.

    The relationship between the interpretation of the constitution and the values of society is a difficult one. One reason is that values change as

  • May 16, 2005

    Don't Ask, Don't Tell

    by Cliopatria

    As Ralph Luker has mentioned, I recently received orders from the army for 18 months of active duty. One unfortunate consequence of the army's generous invitation is that I'll be leaving two weeks before the end of the quarter at UCLA, where I am a teaching assistant in a survey course on ninteenth century U.S. history.

    I've been considering a question without much success at finding an answer: What do I tell the students in my discussion sections? I graded their midterms and first
  • May 16, 2005

    Coolest Name Drop Ever

    by Cliopatria

    Imagine, if you can, being a historian toiling away on your work on pop culture. You focus on a cool topic, but you are still a historian. Your book comes out to solid reviews. It has a great cover. It even sells some copies. Then imagine that a couple of years down the road a member of a defunct but indubitably great hip hop group drops the name of your book in an interview as being on his bedside table.

    Ray Haberski, welcome to your closeup! An OU PhD and friend of Rebunkers, Haberski i