Paul-- I think your point links to Helena's desire to have us keep the
context of the issues we discuss in mind. They are often behind our backs,
as Yrjo likes to say. So, for example, the behavior of W and Ashcroft (whom
I view as especially emblematic of the priv white male establishment) are
a very important contxt for all we are trying to accomplish.
My question to the group is how to exercise some agency. It gets us back
to the question of what xmca is for/about. What we are good at is
academic research and theory and our initial goals had a lot to do with
creating a space for the particular melange of theories and their associated
world views that go along with the belief that culture is constituitive of
human nature. We have broadened a lot in that continued inquiry to include
poltical economic context and institutional power contexts.
So maybe joint readings should be and remain "our thing." But our system
is open, both technically and in its practices, to other topics and concerns
that are not, so to speak, at "the core" of academic pursuits narrowly
conceived.
So should we start to work on supporting grad students? Should we, collectively,
find ways to work at enhancing diverstiy, both within xmca and our professions?
I really have no idea.
mike
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