[Linganth] It turns out that Jane Hill is white(!)

[Peterson, Mark]

That's true Frank, but it is also strategic. Critical theory often tries to
differentiate its language from everyday terms because those terms are
weighted by their associations with positions the scholars are trying to
critique. This kind of alienating vocabulary is common in any science where
specialized vocabularies emerge. But when media coverage of physics or
chemistry occurs, the media producers generally seek to translate the
concepts for their audiences. Here, they were deliberately making use of
Malinowski's "coefficient of weirdness" to make the discourse alienating.

Mark Allen Peterson
Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology
& Professor, International Studies Program
120 Upham Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056
513 529-5018
petersm2 at miamiOH.edu
www.connectedincairo.com

On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 11:38 AM, Frank Bechter <fbechter at gmail.com> wrote:

> Critical scholars, take a critical look at your own discursive practices.
> If the question is how to get the helpful message across, be willing to see
> your own bad chess moves. We see in this piece,
> http://jezebel.com/watch-these-two-white-ladies-freak-out-about-asus-white-1681368338,
> that Fox leads with a string of specific words -- indeed, a string of
> specific *types* of words -- found in the *course description* of the
> disputed course, U.S. Race Theory and the Problem of Whiteness:
> "... postcolonialist, psychoanalytic, deconstructionist, feminist, new
> historicist." The anchor omits the lead phrase, "Major critical schools of
> recent decades," so as to make the wash of hyper-intellectual terms as
> incoherent as possible. They are as alienating as possible, thus allowing
> any construal of "whiteness" or "problem" to fly. One cannot stop Fox and
> misguided students from selectively omitting phrases, but one should wonder
> whether the string of words that Fox did latch onto for its own purposes
> are actually helpful in any other way, i.e., in the goal of greater
> critical awareness in the world at large, or especially in a course
> description. If your goal is to equip students with tools to fight
> institutional racism and disenfranchisement, these terms are not helpful.
> They are not tools. To the contrary, they -- especially when you rattle
> them off all in a row -- are the very discursive forms which can ensure, in
> the minds of many readers, your complete irrelevance and hauteur. To me,
> they ensure that you probably don't know what you're talking about. If
> critical scholarship is to be useful in the world (which, of course, need
> not be its function), then hit hard in your advertisements of it, explain
> any big term you use, or simply don't use it. Realize what you're up
> against. If a wash of such terms actually attracts select students and
> colleagues who are content to have this discourse remain provincial,
> consider how many more you will attract with terms that are designed to
> arrest a much bigger audience, which hopefully is the real goal.
>
> Frank Bechter
> Charlottesville, VA
>
> On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 12:00 PM, Matthew Bernius <mbernius at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 12:01 PM, Peterson, Mark <petersm2 at miamioh.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> What we think of as "objective" journalism evolved in a particular
>>> historical and economic context. Before that, it was not at all uncommon to
>>> have the Republican and Democratic newspapers in the same city, each
>>> sniping at different targets the other supported.
>>
>>
>> And to that point, when one looks at the entire history of American
>> Journalism, the "objective period" (which I'd argue we are approaching the
>> end of) is more of a historical anachronism rather than the norm. To Mark's
>> point, the reality is that the Fox News approach is, in many respects,
>> closer to the traditional form of the press.
>>
>> Great discussion all,
>>
>> - Matt
>>
>> -----------------------------
>> Matthew Bernius
>> mBernius at gMail.com | http://www.mattbernius.com | @mattBernius
>> My calendar: http://bit.ly/hNWEII
>>
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>>
>>
>
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