Dec 21, 2006

More Noted Things

by Cliopatria

Emory University has announced that it will spend $2 million to make Deborah Lipstadt's website, Holocaust Denial on Trial, available in a number of non-English languages, including Arabic, Farsi, and Russian. The initiative is partially in response to Iran's recent so-called conference on the Holocaust. Professor Lipstat also blogs at History on Trial.
Update: The Somalian immigrant and Dutch parliamentarian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, has an important op-ed,"Why they deny the Holocaust," LA Times, 16 December, about the need for this kind of information in the Muslim world. Thanks to Nathanael Robinson for the tip.

If you've thought about becoming a blogger and your field is American foreign policy or you have a professional interest in contemporary Mexico, South Africa, or Central Asia, the Foreign Policy Association may be looking for you. It is recruiting voluntary bloggers about a select list of topics. Thanks to David Adesnik at Oxblog for the tip.

Eugene Volokh's"Washington State University Professor Calls Student ‘White Shitbag' at Demonstration," The Volokh Conspiracy, 20 December, is a must-read. This case is somewhat similar to that of St. Xavier's Peter Kirstein four years ago.

You're too young to remember radio comedy like"Fibber McGee and Molly," but via YouTube you can hear their"On the Night Before Christmas," Parts One and Two. Thanks to Brandon Watson at Siris for the tip.

Congratulations to the winners of The Weblog Awards, 2006, including several friends of Cliopatria: The Volokh Conspiracy for Best Law Blog, Michael Bérubé for Best Educational Blog, Pharyngula for Best Science Blog, Respectful Insolence for Best Medical/Health Issues Blog, and Betsy's Page for Best of the Top 251-500 Blogs.

Finally, Nathanael Robinson's looking for someone to give him the Anthony Giddens in his Study Lego Set for Hannukah. Hey! They've also got Judith Butler!

More Comments:

Ralph E. Luker - 12/22/2006

I think that's a point well made, Manan. If the folk who maintain this site fail to post scholarship from the Muslim world that is serious about Holocaust studies and has the advantage of not having to be translated, one has to wonder to what degree they are really interested in disseminating scholarship that is likely to influence public opinion.

Manan Ahmed - 12/21/2006

I'll do it for 500K and I even know Arabic, Persian and Urdu.
More importantly, there is tons of 'native' scholarship that they can put. Cuz, you know, those billions of Muslims aren't ALL holocaust denyin' nuts after all.

Oscar Chamberlain - 12/21/2006

If it is static--that is, if it's just a matter of scanning and postin--I'll do it for $90k. But if it is meant to grow, if it needs staff to response to requests, etc., then 2 million might be needed over a period of a few years.

Besides it might need a lot of redundancy in all the languages to surive the hackers and attackes.

Alan Allport - 12/21/2006

I like this snippet from 'Shitbag' prof John Streamas' website:

Streamas's interests include the racializing of poverty, the racializing of wartime cultures, race and geography, constructions of Pacific peoples in American popular culture, "war brides," race in children's culture, the imperative of a narrative theory of race ...

Yes, yes, I think we got that already!

Scott Eric Kaufman - 12/21/2006

I'm a fan of Lipstadt's work, but $2M for translation and bandwidth? Am I missing something? An ad budget? Hell, throw $100K my way and I'll learn the languages, buy the bandwidth and hold off the hackers.