While the first alleges that the second violates the prinicple of human equality, the second alleges that the first negates the distinctness of identities by forcing them into one homogeneous identity
this level of abstraction obscures the meaning! there's got to be a clearer way of laying out this conflict
clarification
it WAS a cancel culture (PC) moment! 1994
To even suggest this possibility, as Saul Bellow does when he allegedly said: “When the Zulus produce a Tolstoy we will read him,” is to trample on the principle of human equality.
this is so messed up. IF Bellow said it, it was racist. If Bellow didn't say it, but it was attributed to him, it's still racist. If it's being circulated as an apocryphal example of common-sensical things you "can't say" under the regime of identity politics - that's pernicious and lazy.
Here it is the potential to direct our lives that’s of relevance irrespective of what use that potential has been put and to what effects
sounds like a set-up for a "level playing field," "equality of opportunity, not of outcomes" argument
The idea that drives arguments in favour of minority identities is that it is precisely this distinctness which has been denied, insulted, effaced or otherwise assimilated into a majority identity
this sounds like a set-up for an attack on "victimology" or other disparaging characterization of "identity politics"... I'm suspicious
the rise of the politics of recognition where it begins to be asserted that every group is owed equal recongition, that such recognition is the basis of a healthy democratic society, and also that the refusal of equal recognition or worse the projection of a demeaning image can, as indicated at the outset, not merely distort but actually inflict real harm
central point
human life is fundamentally dialogical in character
right, ok, this makes sense
In place of this sense of honour which is based on exemplary achievement or birth (i.e. which is based on particularity and inequality), we have the modern notion of dignity which is used in a universalist and egalitarian sense
this seems slippery... externally conferred "honors" and internally held "dignity" aren't mutually exclusive... even under feudalism, people without external "honors" like titles had a sense of their own "honor" and formal and informal systems for asserting and defending it. Cavalleria Rusticana!
How did we get here?
Why is the historical question necessary? why does it matter how we got here from the late 18th century?
Such is the story told by certain feminists
this irritates me... why does the author distance himself and take this tone of skepticism instead of just offering women as an example of a misrecognized and un-recognized group? "Certain feminists" even suggests that there are feminists who don't regard women as a misrecognized or un-recognized group, which seems like either a contradiction OR a right-leaning nod to women who call themselves "feminists" without believeing in women's disadvantage under patriarchy!
actual materiality of books or their digital equivalents
analogous to musical instruments and recording media
profits are to be made more upon dematerialised abstractions of money than upon the gritty materiality of ‘raw materials’ themselves, in ways qualitatively different from earlier transformations of resources into money
Nichols makes a similar point about land speculation and financialization of land in westward expansion
an ‘expansionary and portable extractive logic that permeates political and textual life’?
uh oh, you lost me...
metaphorisation,
back to "Decolonization is not a Metaphor"
there is a danger that extractivist may become the adjective and epithet du jour. Along with longstanding invocations of neoliberal globalisation, ‘settler colonialism and extractive capitalism’ (to cite one recent expansionist account of extractivism) have now been added to an excoriating litany of exploitative badness – that is, the villainous forces shaping the past and present and deranging the future
Jesse's point (maybe Jesse read this while Lester was talking)
how well do the geographical, politico-economic, and material-ecological relations named by extractivism translate beyond a Latin American context, or across time from the early phase of colonial conquest in the sixteenth century to the twenty-first-century present?
wait I thought the original "extractivism" extended from the 16th-c conquest to the present, I thought that persistence through time was the point...
use (and abuse) of nature
is there "use" of nature which is not "abuse" of nature
many expressions of environmentalism, which as a founding principle look askance at the human use or disturbance of nonhuman nature
is this a straw man? no, it's not - "people are the problem" is a dominant discourse in environmentalism past and present
visions of a just human society that are premised upon and undergirded by the extraction of natural wealth would be extractivist at their very core
so there would be no "virtuous extraction"?
when does the act of resource extraction become a policy, an ideology, or a logic of extractivism?
good question, clearly expressed
observations about the possible limits and contradictions of such rhetorical moves, with a view toward forging a more rigorous and circumspect understanding
so this is a "whoa, Nelly" intervention
to read such ‘against-the-grain’ interpretations, once more against the grain
what? what was against what grain? do two "against the grain" readings make a "with the grain" reading? what would that even mean?
setting up hierarchies of value in which the privileged terms of one group become the subordinate terms of the other
okay but it's all within the professional hierarchy of published writing over speech...
In the case of speech and writing, for example, speech has been treated as the privileged, central member of the dyad, while writing has been considered inferior and marginal. Speech has been connected to the presence of the voice as the guarantee of the speaker’s meaning, while writing has been treated as a derivative phenomenon, as a mere supplement to the fullness of speech, as its defective transcription
Maybe in theory, but obviously NOT in academic profession, where published writing = Productivity, and speech acts are less valued... you have to publish a talk or lecture in order to get full credit; you get invited to speak on the basis of what you've written/published.
something like an antimethod that will ask how current methods work by examining their enabling conditions
this doesn't sound like what "an antimethod" would do...
we write about music
who are "we"? US academics? musicologists? at a certain career stage or of a certain generation?
In a world where religious fundamentalisms flourish alongside scientific rationality, where global capitalism coexists with ethnic rivalries, in a world of reflexive modernization, of the implosion of information, what can be said about music?
this string of questions seems very prescient when you consider the technological and political changes that exploded in the 20 years since book was written. OR maybe they are not prescient, but generic? maybe these conditions are constant in capitalist modernity, and it's the manifestations that change (the particular tech that accelerates communication and access to information; the specific ethnic rivalries and fundamentalisms...) Maybe it's just PSEUDO-prescient, i.e. pretentious
today
(in 2003)
the ecofascist tendencies (even if unintentional) of white cis-heteronormative ableist ignorance in mainstream concerns about eco-anxious youth
hoo boy
the mainstream’s concern about eco-anxiety
so this is kind of a meta issue - a larger group (the mainstream) is "concerned" about the eco-anxiety of a smaller group (the youth). Are the youth eco-anxious, and the mainstream are anxious about the youth's eco-anxiety? that seems like a weird move of deferral... like people of my gen don't worry about the climate, we worry about our kids worrying about the climate? I feel like the age/generation aspect gets lost as the article goes on, though... is eco-anxiety specific to "the youth"? or do we (the mainstream) worry about it specifically for the youth? Is "the mainstream" implicitly older/parental+ ?
the existential threat of climate change is posed to a certain way of inhabiting the planet that I call habit-ability
ok but man this is a clunky sentence. "Habit-ability" is a cool wordplay - deserves some flair!
what Kyle Powys Whyte terms crisis epistemology.
this sounds interesting
.
that wouldn't answer the question, though. I don't see how the question and the proposed answer are connected
Sanctioning Guidelines for the Early Resolution Option
CUT if the ERO is no longer an option
Conditional Suspension
confusing name for this - maybe "Suspension with conditional reinstatement"?
shall be treated as though suspended from the university
is this different from "suspended"? how and why?
Learn more
more than what?
the Judicial Advisor shall inform the panel during the penalty phase of deliberations
what? the panel for the SECOND offense should know about the FIRST offense.
A. Formal Warning
each of these should be linked to the list above
After three years, based on feedback from the Stanford community and the Office of Community Standards staff, the BJA voted to adopt the following amendment to the Student Conduct Penalty Code on May 25, 2016 that determines that the Office of Community Standards should use the following guidelines in determining sanctions for ERO agreements.
I think it's confusing and unnecessary to include this HISTORY of feedback and revisions here - just put the CURRENT POLICY
probation—a period of observation and review—until conferral the terminal degree and a one-quarter suspension held in abeyance, 40 hours of community service, and an online training on academic integrity.
format as list; don't define "probation" - link to definition elsewhere on page; I don't understand the difference between "probation" and "suspension"; "suspension held in abeyance" seems redundant!
The order of the penalties in the list does not suggest their frequency or likelihood,
the order seems random - I suggest putting them in order of severity
The Judicial Advisor shall inform any member of the community whose role in implementing the penalty requires that person to be informed of a penalty imposed by the Judicial Panel. The Judicial Advisor shall also inform the reporting party of any penalties imposed by the panel.
these seem to contradict the sentence above, if "a penalty imposed by the panel" is "information contained in a student's disciplinary record"
No information contained in a student’s disciplinary record will be released without the written consent of the student.
doesn't follow from the previous 2 sentences
It is applicable only to the actions of the judicial entities
so abstract!
.
confusing to list 2 versions of the Charter
Violations
inaccurate heading
and what the ramifications are for a student.
"ramifications" seems like the wrong word
when
is it really about "when"?
Ego must give way to the collective enterprise.
easy to say, and not always easy to determine who is being driven by "ego" and who is speaking for "the collective enterprise"
The right artist for opera embraces this tapestry, while the artist insisting on individual achievement will always struggle
Wonder who he's talking to here...?
too often pitted against each other by a system predicated on the achievement of the rugged individual
"rugged individualism" seems like the MOST prejudicial explanation for what pits directors and conductors against each other - even in the best-faith collaboration, they can have competing goals and priorities!
the company’s traditional and predominantly white audience were challenged by the score. Not so the Black members of the audience, many of whom reported attending an opera for the first time
i would like to see evidence for this essentialist statement
New York City Opera premiere
1986
An elite approach to opera demands that everyone approach the work from the same level and scolds anyone who “doesn’t get it”
again, this feels like a straw man
Rather than expect education before the opera, I would see it as a sign of success if an audience member wants to learn more after the performance.
these aren't mutually exclusive, and ideally there's a feedback loop between enjoying and learning
a deep experience of opera should not be predicated on any prior knowledge: of the art form, of a foreign language, of the work being performed
I agree with this.
although they can afford tickets to the opera, the musicology and history degrees that seem a prerequisite make the experience feel out of reach
wait WHAT? I mean I have degrees in musicology and history, so maybe this comment isn't for me... but it still seems like an exaggeration. Maybe people are intimidated because they sense that the composer's name is supposed to mean something to them, and it doesn't? Recognizing a composer's name and connecting it with a language, country, century, and style isn't "musicology and history degrees"...
Even though supertitles are now the norm at most opera houses
yeah this is a straw man since supertitles are pretty much universal now.
I believe it’s the air of assumption, exuding from the opera house architecture, that attendees already belong to a certain class and a certain level of education.
Hmm, so this suggests several "interventions" - change the architecture? change the venue? change the attendees (demographics)? change the codes of dress and behavior that signal class and education?
.
True. It's not the AMOUNT, it's the enjoyment you expect to get from the $$
“Because nobody likes it, so the entitled people enjoy the fact that they have a differing opinion.”
this statement doesn't even make sense! not worth quoting in the NY Times!
“The Ed Sullivan Show” — which, in the estimation of The New York Times, “defined American taste” from 1948 to 1971
OK, but 1971 was a long time ago, and the TV variety show as taste-maker seems totally archaic! (Was Yuval born in 1971??)
on his radio
(radio has a different place and status than TV... this sentence seems tucked in, and also name-dropping!)
”
I suspect opera singers were still presented as visitors from "highbrow" culture in those mainstream contexts... there's a dissertation there!
the art form is most exciting and viable when it is a subversive act
this statement would be more compelling if you defined "exciting" and "viable"
affirming authority in their work
i.e. affirming POLITICAL authority
opera always fares best when it goes against the grain
define "fares best"? this could mean many things.
made without the consent of other collaborators
THIS seems like a violation of academic integrity.
including graduate students
There are no graduate students on the list of presenters in this event.
A remarkable film demonstrating how generative AI perceives the field of Ethnomusicology
This is a weird displacement of responsibility for the film, and even insinuates that the AI was responsible for the 3 slides with slogans? this is a ridiculous evasion
there was a late addition
bad practice
was contributed by a member of the collective in the hours before the event
contributed by a member - but not reviewed or approved by the other members? it sounds like one member took advantage of the collective-authorship context and even sabotaged the group's presentation.
that briefly used a controversial Palestinian phrase
technically accurate, but misleading
No one in our collective, including the author of the film, had prior knowledge of the affects these words carry for the harmed individuals
Naive, given the extensive coverage of the past 2-3 weeks.
the Indigenous graduate student-presenters
???
—and also what allegedly happened to Indigenous graduate student presenters after it was over.
this "-- and also..." construction is weirdly melodramatic. It suggests that the use of the slogan was bad, but balanced by a bad action against the grad student presenters. "Allegedly" casts doubt on whether that balancing event actually happened. ALSO, I don't think any of the 6 presenters listed on the conference website were grad students
the scholars’ experiences.
and yet the scholars on the panel could be said to have experienced many of the things they were analyzing
”
How does McDonald know this?
Such hostility is in violation of SEM’s anti-harassment policy, and we deeply regret that it occurred.
This is a weird statement. "We deeply regret that someone violated our policy" is not the usual response to a policy violation! "Violating a policy" implies consequences. "It occurred" suggests that the event has been investigated and confirmed. What good is a policy if the only response is "we are sorry someone did that"?
.
When does a senior scholar criticizing a grad student at an academic conference become a verbal attack?
the event’s presumed focal point was blurred by an unexpected interpolation of visual and sonic references
passive; no attribution of responsibility
You need to educate yourself.”
confusing - Hahn is the current/outgoing President of SEM
They
i.e. the 6 unnamed scholars who complained to Hahn
That colleague
did the reporter not get this person's name? or choose not to name her?
quickly moved on from the Middle East
had the presentation been about the Middle East before the 15-30 seconds for these 3 slides? Info above and below suggests not - that 3 slides about the Middle East popped up in an unrelated context.
the presentation screen went black and displayed the controversial slogan for less than five seconds, then transitioned to similarly brief slides reading “Free Palestine” and “End Israeli Apartheid.”
questions about the creation and operation of the slide deck
it has never meant an advocacy for destroying Israel.
So Prof. McDonald seems to be distancing himself from the controversy and the negative reactions, and offering a more neutral/ordinary take on the slogan
according to two professors who attended the event
do we infer that these two professors were the reporter's first source? main source?
.
This paragraph only gradually reveals that the author/reported wasn't present at the event. How did the reporter hear about it?
comfort/discomfort as important affective conditions for thinking
relationship of "hospitable" to "comfort/discomfort" - moving away from hospitable = comfortable to hospitable = welcoming, attentive, well-resourced, intentional, careful
the concept of the “global intimate,” coined
Define?
connect the (dis)comforts experienced in relation to one’s home(s) to “the global,” this putatively all-encompassing, transcendental-spatial whole
And…?
wanting to maintain critical purchase
= challenging the status quo
comfortable these modalities of inquiry were becoming, in their signposting and methodological expression, and the likelihood that they would just be integrated
Assimilated, losing the edge of challenge participants and potential to transform narratives, epistemology, power dynamics
Schenkerian Theory
this jump to Schenker feels abrupt to me, maybe because I never got as far as Schenker in my music theory/analysis studies. You have to argue that Schenker is the point of origin behind basic theory (triads, Roman numerals, tonal harmony, phrase structure, antecedent-consequent forms, baroque-classical forms...) and I think that's giving Schenker too much credit. Also, there are settler-colonial historical explanations for the white-classical-european canon of American music education, including theory, and history is much more persuasive to me than this individual attribution to Schenker
I had never once run across the word soars (used as a plural noun) and couldn't deduce its meaning from context clues. Mildly ashamed at my complete unfamiliarity with what James seemed to be employing as a piece of standardly accepted music-analytical lingo, I googled the term, to discover that the only hits online were an obscure 2011 article that seems to have coined the term and a blog post by James.
OMG I had this exact same experience
I think it is my duty to absolve, preemptively, the reader
AMEN
the insuperable difficulties I had in appreciating, simply at a ground-floor expository [End Page 126] and rhetorical level, what The Sonic Episteme is trying to say and why it is trying to say it.
yes PREACH
I got off the boat early, or never quite got on it, in reading The Sonic Episteme
ME TOO
negative, omnibus term—a catch-all, garbage-pail category—for very nearly any at all recent, at all repugnant aspect of social reality, from automation to Zoom calls, and from alpha males to Omega ratios
i love this :-)
she defines ‘woke’ as 1.) a reduction of each individual to the prism of marginalization; 2.) a focus upon inequalities of power rather than attempts to foster justice; and 3.) the conclusion that, because the historical record is rife with crimes against humanity, then all history is criminal
ok! thank you for this succinct and substantial synopsis
reproduction.
This “expanded sonic practice” sounds exactly like musicology/ethnomusicology
As a practice, music is positively obsessed with its media specificity
What kind of patently false statement is this? How narrow a definition of “music” would you need to make this statement true?