Political Science

I.

Our discussion of the Paris attacks engaged a number of important topics. I noted the following:

Howdy all. Here are some readings that I would suggest (all of which, I should not, come recommended by my good friend Laura Grattan with the exception of the Coates essay on reparations). Please add your own suggestions as comments.

            Earlier this year, I had the privilege of visiting the National September 11^th Memorial. The museum opened in late 2011, and is built on the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed during the September 11^th attacks. The museum architects strove to preserve what was remaining of the wreckage after 9/11, and many of the original architectural structure of the building, such as the survivor staircase, are still remaining. Central to the museum was an enormous exhibition art piece shaped like a cube, with another inner cube. When entering, visitors can see, projected on the vast walls, the faces of the almost 3,000 who died.

While reading Personal Politics by Sara Evans, I was immediately struck by the liberal use of the term “women”. Throughout the book, although intersections of gender and class and race are acknowledged at time, Evans speaks of “women” as if there is a shared experience of women in the U.S. My understanding of modern mainstream feminism is that it’s very exclusionary and focused mostly on upper/middle class white women and does not often consider the needs of a majority of women in the U.S. I believe that the specificity of the women’s liberation movement of the late 20th century directly informs mainstream feminism in the United States today.

From “Mammy” to “Mama”:

Black Female Service Before, During and After the Civil Rights Movement 

I.

I'd like to begin by taking some time to talk about the attacks in Paris on Friday. While this may seem afield of our readings and recent discussions, I think these events actually raise a number of themes we've been examining all semester: violence and force in society; forgiveness; the idea of prefiguration and non-violence; and, most generally, how logics of crime and punishment (and retribution) structure so much of our world. Think of the language in response: the attacks were "barbaric" according to Obama and Pope Francis; Francois Hollande, the President of France, declared that ""France will be merciless towards these barbarians.” 

If you have time, I'd suggest looking at the following two articles for alternative responses to the events:

Write down general thoughts/ questions/ concerns about "The Souls of Black Folk" (3 mins)

Every1 is divided into groups of three and each group picks at least one quote to analyze in-depth

In groups, each teams gets 5 minutes 2 answer these questions:

• What is DuBois trying 2 say here?
• Who is his audience?
• What is the significance of this quote in relation to the larger text?
• How does this quote relate to what has been said before?
• What parts of this quote do you disagree or agree with?

      Please represent, as a team your thoughts, reactions, and interpretations of the quote as you choose

I was dissapointed to miss our prison vist this week while I was at a conference in Orlando. I have read some posts about Thursday's class and Friday's tour and it seems like the former was really successful and the latter was very agitational. Since I didn't go inside this week, I will write a little bit about what I did in Orlando. The conference I attended was the biennial for the Union for Reform Judaism, a progressive Jewish movement and the largest group of Jews in the U.S. I was there with a cohort of J Street U students, promoting transparency, asking tough questions, and building relationships in the community. There were a plethora of panels and plenaries, breakout sessions, meals, music, tabling, meetings, and lots of running into old friends (And making new ones).

Sometimes, I forget that the people inside are people outside of our classroom. It is eerily easy for me to operate as if our classroom exists in a vaccuum. We enter the prison, head straight to the room, and we don't see the inmates until they're just outside our door. Class goes on every week, just as we planned, and we say goodbye. The people inside go back to... to where? to what? to whom? While back to the van we go, ready to decompress and listen to the latest handful of #1s on the radio. As group we spend so much collective energy planning the class amidst discussions of the prison industrial complex, and thus attempting to address the experiences that the people inside are coming to class with.

I.

I'd like to pick up where we left off, thinking about education and challenge to society as a starting point. To return to the notes from last week: Thinking about education and empowerment, I'd like to start with this quote from James Baldwin's "A Talk to Teachers":

"Precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience, you must find yourself at war with your society. It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person."

How does this prompt you to think about what we've been doing in the jail? Or experiences of education in your own lives?

II.