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Cliopatria

  • Feb 8, 2005

    The Blogging Graduate Student

    by Cliopatria

    As the blogosphere turns, the question of whether and why graduate students should blog probably comes around with a fair degree of frequency. Laura McKenna suggested in December that what bloggers need is some kind of bibliography for such"recurrent topics ... so that we don't keep repeating ourselves." But a certain amount of repetition may be salutary since the demographics of blogdom are constantly changing. Graduate stud
  • Feb 8, 2005

    More Churchill Links ...

    by Cliopatria

    The controversy around the University of Colorado's Professor Ward Churchill continues to build. Here are some additional, substantial links:

    Thomas Brown,"The Genocide That Wasn't: Ward Churchill's Research Fraud." An assistant professor of sociology at Lamar University with a doctorate from Johns Hopkins, Brown charges Churchill"has committed research fraud, and very possibly committed perjury as well." Specifically, says Brown, Ch

  • Feb 8, 2005

    Dysfunctional Families (and Scholars) of the Past

    by Cliopatria

    Great history research will make you regret your teaching: revising the historical and cultural record effectively renders our past teaching false. This is why we must maintain some uncertainty in our presentations, some transparency about the historiographical process.

    For example, I have for years used the Grimm fairy tales as sociological evidence of the frequency of remarriage and blended families in pre-modern Europe. I don't need to: there's plenty of research on real families ou

  • Feb 7, 2005

    The Liberal Case for War in Iraq

    by Cliopatria

    In February, 2003 I participated on a panel about what was clearly an impending war against Iraq. The academic culture at Minnesota State University-Mankato, where I was teaching at the time, was such that the panel organizers could not find a conservative to defend the war. Some folks knew that I had said things indicating that I might support an invasion of Iraq and approached me to be the pro-war voice on the panel. I told them that I could not do so, but that I could make a tentative libera
  • Feb 7, 2005

    A quiz from Joseph Massad

    by Cliopatria

    The Sun continues its pathbreaking coverage of the MEALAC controversy, this time becoming the first paper to bring us inside one of Joseph Massad's classes. Reporter Jacob Gershman obtained access to the notes of three students who took not Massad's class on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but a general survey called"Topics in Asian Civilization." Massad co-taught the course with the wife of Professor Nicholas Dirks--who is overseeing the
  • Feb 6, 2005

    Why Churchill Matters

    by Cliopatria

    This morning's Denver Post reports that in April, in a magazine promoting"social justice," Ward Churchill mused about the possible need for more 9-11 style attacks because of the weakness of the US anti-war movement, and contended that his long-term goal ws to see"the state gone: Transform the situation to U.S. out of North America. U.S. off the planet. O
  • Feb 6, 2005

    Some Ward Churchill Links and Comments ...

    by Cliopatria

    I have updated this list of links to discussion of Professor Ward Churchill's work and the controversy at the University of Colorado. The discussions seem liveliest at the points where several of our academic colleagues characterize others of us as a"hack".

    As this piece in the Rocky Mountain News suggests, Churchill's tenured position on the faculty seems safe, if the thirty day inquiry

  • Feb 5, 2005

    Super Bowl Preview: Pats v. Iggles in the City of the Midnight Danglers

    by Cliopatria

    I almost went to this Super Bowl. Or, to be more accurate, I almost went to Jacksonville to bask in the ambience of the Super Bowl. Money and timing kept me from even entertaining the idea of attending the last two Pats’ Super Bowls, but this one would have been somewhat viable, and I had my buddy Josh all lined up to do it. Tickets were out of range – all Super Bowl tickets are expensive, but with Eagles fans frothing at the mouth over both the chance to see their Iggs in the Big Game for the f
  • Feb 4, 2005

    More MEALAC

    by Cliopatria

    The leadership of Columbia's MEALAC Department is nothing if not consistent. Today's New York Sunreveals that last Monday, MEALAC hosted a panel entitled"One State or Two? Alternative Proposals for Middle East Peace." Since the call for a"democratic, secular" Palestine has become a recent cause celebre among the anti-Israel far left, it wasn't hard to anticipate the message.

    Naturally, no pro-Israel speakers were invited to participate.

  • Feb 3, 2005

    Howard Dean, the DNC and A Disturbing Party

    by Cliopatria

    So, on a scale of one to ten, with one being a kid’s birthday party with little furry bunnies and puppies running around and ten being a company picnic with Dr. Phil running around naked and dispensing lifestyle advice, how horrified should the Democrats feel about the news that Howard Dean is likely to be the next chair of the DNC?

    Well, how’s this for an answer?: It depends. But like most answers of “it depends,” which seem hopel