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I have a bit more to say about the blurb for the ASECS talk. I've been thinking about moments like this for 6 months or so, and, as I noted, I listened to a conversation that claimed that Victorian Studies has a problem that 18th-Century studies has already solved. +
I told a friend last year that dragging white men on twitter was not my ministry, and that white people have to solve their white organizations’ problems w/o expecting BIPOC colleagues to do the work.
Maybe the blurb was written quickly and without much thought. It’s the pandemic. We’re all busy. Maybe this is meant to be playfully provocative. But if it really reflects an argument, then I think its premise can be productively challenged +
I listened to Ronaldo Walcott last week talking about his book The Long Emancipation, and he said something that resonated with me: “Whenever Black people move, crisis occurs.”
I don't want to abuse the sentiment, but it makes sense here +
I don't want to abuse the sentiment, but it makes sense here +
If the talk is in response to the speaker feeling his field of study is being encroached upon by those whose work challenge its foundations, then Walcott makes sense to me here. And so it seems to me that people have a few choices +
[sentiment is not the right word above: argument/observation/claim]
Early in my career, I had an interesting debate/conversation w/my favorite senior colleague about when to simply name what’s happening, when to engage/when to stop, & when to leave it all on the ice. And I've been thinking a/b how I can leave it on the ice in lasting ways. +
That's my personal work.
How people choose to spend their time, energy, professional capital is their own business. I mean that, but to stay silent here/to expect BIPOC people to show up & speak with strength and moral clarity while you quietly applaud them would be a mistake
How people choose to spend their time, energy, professional capital is their own business. I mean that, but to stay silent here/to expect BIPOC people to show up & speak with strength and moral clarity while you quietly applaud them would be a mistake
I think people who might want to dismiss it and use its flawed logic as an excuse not to take it seriously are sending a signal to their BIPOC colleagues that they are comfortable letting an environment hostile to critical modes they are more likely to engage with stand +
It is sort of like (but not exactly like) the silent mode too many white faculty adopt in faculty meetings when the usual suspects act out: "Everyone knows that X is like Y" really means: we're largely exempt so it's not worth making ourselves uncomfortable.
Obviously the sky isn't going to fall if this talk goes unanswered (truly). We're all busy, and the debate that might happen here doesn't feel new to me. And, ASECS is a handy moment to say what I've been thinking about for a little while, BUT...
If you regularly bemoan the "lack of diversity" in your field, & you want to "decolonize" your syllabus, but you don't attend to the environment at your professional gatherings, where community is built & connections are made, it's worth reexamining that space too.
I really hope this is helpful. I think naming what's what is important, but I've been thinking more about the practice of "calling in" instead of just "calling out." So this is me calling folks in to lift together.
