American Studies Commons^™

On The Evanescent And Reminiscent, Brad Weiss

Brad Weiss

In classic accounts, taste is dismissed as a “proximal sense,” too brutish to admit of refinement; and yet the term “taste” is also a synecdoche of aesthetic judgment itself. These contrasts inform this paper, which illustrates their expression in ethnographic particulars drawn from my research on pasture-raised pork in North Carolina. My intention is not to demonstrate what taste really is, but to ask how the multidimensionality of taste is realized in practice. This inquiry might further illuminate the connection between human perception and systems of value.

Negotiating Work And Family: Lifestyle Migration, Potential Selves And The Role Of Second Homes As Potential Spaces, Brian Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

This article is based on ethnographic research conducted in the USA with migrants who use an act of relocation as a means of deliberately constructing identity as well as seeking greater ‘balance’ and ‘control’ in their lives. Specifically, it examines how ‘second’ homes can serve as a transitional or ‘potential space’ in the lives of these migrants not only between different geographic places but also what are taken to be distinct identities and ideals associated with these places and the lives lived in them. Such behaviour is not simply about coping and adapting to a new environment; rather, it is …

Postindustrial Societies, Brian Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

The term postindustrial society presupposes categorizing society based on an economic means of classification. Its use rests on assessing the relative status of manufacturing industry as an economic sector. Significant adjustment in sectoral location and nature of employment precipitated by late-twentieth-century deindustrialization in the developed world led many social theorists and critics to predict broad changes throughout domains of everyday life. Some began to speak not only of sectoral transformation but also of an emergent ‘ postindustrial society. ’ Following earlier agrarian and industrial ‘ revolutions, ’ postindustrialism suggested yet another revolution that would again transform how societies were organized.

Building A Collection Of Contemporary Urban Material Culture, Robert Rotenberg, Alaka Wali

Robert Rotenberg

No abstract provided.

Material Agency In The Urban Material Culture Initiative, Robert Rotenberg

Robert Rotenberg

This contribution to the discussion of collecting contemporary objects reviews the implications of taking seriously how and what objects communicate, especially how we can identify the ways messages are coded in the forms of familiar objects. Of special interest are the conceptual tools that are available to differentiate these messages when objects are arranged in assemblages, including emergent implicit messages, the messages implicit in sets of objects. I advocate an approach to collecting in museums based on the tactics people use to create these assemblages at home. What theorizing about material agency offers to our collection program is a focus …

Journalism In A Pr World, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Mike Niman discusses the future of journalism in a PR-dominated communication environment. In particular, he examines the migration of talent from journalism to the PR industry, the collapse of mainstream journalism and the role of an emergent alternative media as American journalism goes through metamorphosis from what it was to what it could become. Journalism is a social good that should equip people to understand and resist spin. Niman argues that mainstream American journalism, rather than rising to this challenge, has transparently succumbed to serving as an arm of the corporate PR industry, thus laying the groundwork for its own …

Journalism In A Pr World, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Mike Niman discusses the future of journalism in a PR-dominated communication environment. In particular, he examines the migration of talent from journalism to the PR industry, the collapse of mainstream journalism and the role of an emergent alternative media as American journalism goes through metamorphosis from what it was to what it could become. Journalism is a social good that should equip people to understand and resist spin. Niman argues that mainstream American journalism, rather than rising to this challenge, has transparently succumbed to serving as an arm of the corporate PR industry, thus laying the groundwork for its own …

“On Marriage Equality” (Review Of Jay Cee Whitehead's The Nuptial Deal: Same-Sex Marriage And Neo-Liberal Governance [University Of Chicago Press, 2011]), Margot Weiss

Margot Weiss

Women Of African Descent: Persistence In Completing A Doctorate, Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

Vannetta L. Bailey-Iddrisu

This study examines the educational persistence of women of African descent (WOAD) in pursuit of a doctorate degree at universities in the southeastern United States. WOAD are women of African ancestry born outside the African continent. These women are heirs to an inner dogged determination and spirit to survive despite all odds (Pulliam, 2003, p. 337).This study used Ellis’s (1997) Three Stages for Graduate Student Development as the conceptual framework to examine the persistent strategies used by these women to persist to the completion of their studies.

’Reinvigorating The Queer Political Imagination’: A Roundtable With Ryan Conrad, Yasmin Nair, And Karma Chávez Of Against Equality, Margot Weiss

Margot Weiss

Intellectual Inquiry Otherwise: An Interview With Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Margot Weiss

Margot Weiss

Silent Subversions, Derek Dubois

Derek M Dubois

Explores the concept of spectatorship in relation to gender in the earliest period of film history in the United States known as the silent era. Argues that a new mode of spectatorship emerges for women during the 1920s, which employs to advantage the extra-diegetic components of spectacle in theater design, new customized genres for female filmgoers, fandom, and exotic male film stars, such as Rudolph Valentino. Focuses primarily on feminist film theory and on cultural studies as methodological models.

Going Anti-Postal: What Kind Of Nation Won't Fund A Post Office, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Ron Paul + Potheads = Racist Dopes, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Ron Paul’s popularity, given his history of racism, is troubling. More troubling, however, is the willingness of his supporters, an odd coalition of one-percenter corporatists and anti-war pothead libertarians, to ignore or excuse these views. Read more: http://artvoice.com/issues/v11n5/getting_a_grip

Slaves, Cannibals, And Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race And Religion Of Zombies, Elizabeth Mcalister

Elizabeth McAlister

This'll Kill Ya: Pepper Spray And The Modern Lexicon Of "Less Than Lethal" Oppression., Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

The Seven Spices: Pumpkins, Puritans, And Pathogens In Colonial New England, Michael Sharbaugh

Michael D Sharbaugh

Water sources in the United States' New England region are laden with arsenic. Particularly during North America's colonial period--prior to modern filtration processes--arsenic would make it into the colonists' drinking water. In this article, which evokes the biocultural evolution paradigm, it is argued that colonists offset health risks from the contaminant (arsenic poisoning) by ingesting copious amounts of seven spices--cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, vanilla, and ginger. The inclusion of these spices in fall and winter recipes that hail from New England would therefore explain why many Americans associate them not only with the region, but with Thanksgiving and Christmas, …

I Didn’T Mourn Steve Jobs, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Apple is good at separating consumers from their money, but the price its workers pay is much greater, writes Michael I. Niman

The Shanti Sena “Peace Center” And The Non-Policing Of An Anarchist Temporary Autonomous Zone: Rainbow Family Peacekeeping Strategies, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

This article utilizes ethnographic methods and government documents to examine the self-policing and peacekeeping strategies of the Rainbow Family, a nonviolent acephalous intentional community that holds massive weeklong gatherings around the globe. It is a case study that examines the efficacy of these methods, comparing them to those traditional police agencies employ under similar conditions. It contextualizes these strategies by examining other utopian and anarchist communities and movements such as Critical Mass bike rides. This study demonstrates how smiling, chanting, listening, social pressure, and social capital all play into forming a more effective and less violent approach toward peacekeeping.

I Am The Enemy: A Unionized Public Employee Speaks Out, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

According to right wing commentators, university professor Michael I. Niman is one of those public employees responsible for the coming downfall of Western civilisation

I'M Okay, You're Criminally Insane: Life In A Neurotic Fear State, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Michael I. Niman finds a direct line between the shooting of an Arizona congresswoman and the creation of a neurotic fear state. Mixed in with all the logical, rational condemnation of violent rhetoric, however, is a bit of kneejerk lunacy

Tax The Rich, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Tax The Rich, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Fed up seeing your life become increasingly stressed with more debt and less cash in your pocket? Michael I. Niman has the answer, in three words

Our March Toward Intolerance, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

We're Marching Toward Intolerance, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Bp's Dumb Investors Demand Their Dividends, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

It's Enouch To Make You Die Laughing, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Snow, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

‘Snowpocalypse’ isn’t an act of god; it’s a combination of anti-tax southerners and a changing climate, says Michael I. Niman

Designing, Producing And Enacting Nationalisms: Contemporary Amerindian Fashion In Canada, Cory Willmott

Cory A. Willmott

Today, generations after the adoption of European styles, Amerindian peoples’ everyday clothing is almost indistinguishable from that of other residents of North America. Until recently their culturally distinct clothing has been mainly reserved for ceremonial occasions such as powwows and religious rituals. This bifurcation of clothing styles and contexts parallels the dichotomy between ‘traditional’ and ‘assimilated’ Native identity that has been imposed by the dominant society. The dichotomy is a double bind: adopting ‘traditional’ identities, Native peoples are cast into a static ahistorical frame, while appearing ‘assimilated’ erases cultural distinctiveness. In both cases, Native peoples cannot effectively stake claims to …

You Can’T Be Nonviolent Without Violence: The Rainbow Family’S Nonkilling Nomadic Utopia And Its Survival Of Persistent State Violence, Michael I. Niman Ph.D.

Michael I Niman Ph.D.

Since 1972, the Rainbow Family of Living Light, a nonhierarchical nomadic community, has been holding large temporary gatherings in remote forests around the world to pray for world peace and to create a model of a functioning utopian society. Wherever and whenever they gather, the temporary Rainbow city remains essentially unchanged, modeling what anarchist theorist Hakim Bey calls the Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ). Revolutions, Bey writes, seek permanent change and, in doing so, lead to violence and martyrdom. Revolutionaries aim to hold territory. The TAZ, by contrast, does not directly engage the state, but instead “liberates an area (of land, …