Comments on: The Anarchist in the Academy http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Thu, 17 May 2012 01:22:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Stigmata http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-2674 Stigmata Wed, 28 Dec 2005 14:35:02 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-2674 Today's Times has a lame article on Graeber that sets him up as a whining loser: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/nyregion/28anarchist.html This is classic NYTimes coverage where on balance the problems of Graeber's politics are shown to be less significant than the overall difficulties in receiving tenure at Yale. Today’s Times has a lame article on Graeber that sets him up as a whining loser: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/nyregion/28anarchist.html This is classic NYTimes coverage where on balance the problems of Graeber’s politics are shown to be less significant than the overall difficulties in receiving tenure at Yale.

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]]> By: Keywords » David Graeber http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-2121 Keywords » David Graeber Sun, 20 Nov 2005 19:09:06 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-2121 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] UPDATE: More on Savage Minds, and Inside Higher Ed {anarchism, anthropology, union, yale} [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> [...] UPDATE: More on Savage Minds, and Inside Higher Ed {anarchism, anthropology, union, yale} [...]

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]]> By: Vernant http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-1805 Vernant Wed, 19 Oct 2005 21:15:43 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-1805 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] earches for more genuine democratic politics. ... some more on the case can be found at Savage Minds and here is an interview with Graebner in Counterpunch. 0 commen [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> [...] earches for more genuine democratic politics. … some more on the case can be found at Savage Minds and here is an interview with Graebner in Counterpunch. 0 commen [...]

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]]> By: antropologi.info - anthropology in the news (new) http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-1404 antropologi.info - anthropology in the news (new) Thu, 08 Sep 2005 08:49:19 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-1404 <strong>News on Graeber: Fired anarchist anthropologist appeals decision</strong> Yale anthropologist David Graeber has been recently fired for his anarchist activism. For a long time, there were no news, and the Graeber solidarity blog hasn't been updated either. Now, Yale Daily News writes that Graeber has formally appealed the d... News on Graeber: Fired anarchist anthropologist appeals decision

Yale anthropologist David Graeber has been recently fired for his anarchist activism. For a long time, there were no news, and the Graeber solidarity blog hasn’t been updated either. Now, Yale Daily News writes that Graeber has formally appealed the d…

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]]> By: Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Into the Network http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-533 Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Into the Network Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:10:27 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-533 [...] academic traitors? We’ve worked hard to earn such an honor, and as I’ve noted before, others from McCarthy himself to the ACTA have seen fit to recognize our c [...] [...] academic traitors? We’ve worked hard to earn such an honor, and as I’ve noted before, others from McCarthy himself to the ACTA have seen fit to recognize our c [...]

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]]> By: Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Morality and Anthropology http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-243 Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Morality and Anthropology Fri, 10 Jun 2005 07:46:22 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-243 [...] the library to bear on the political (read: moral) world around us. It is the stuff of the “gentlemen’s agreement” I wrote about earlier. Our place, we are to [...] [...] the library to bear on the political (read: moral) world around us. It is the stuff of the “gentlemen’s agreement” I wrote about earlier. Our place, we are to [...]

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]]> By: Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Funding Scholarship http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-102 Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog » Funding Scholarship Sun, 22 May 2005 15:22:02 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-102 [...] sters ensured that the students would come and work for them after graduation. Today, in a comment elsewhere on Savage Minds, I discovered a new article by Da [...] [...] sters ensured that the students would come and work for them after graduation. Today, in a comment elsewhere on Savage Minds, I discovered a new article by Da [...]

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]]> By: ReAmplification http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-101 ReAmplification Sun, 22 May 2005 13:05:59 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-101 The CIA's grip on our campuses is even tighter than even I'd thought. Check out this current piece on Counter Punch on "CIA Skullduggery in Academia": http://www.counterpunch.com/price05212005.html This goes a long way towards explaining why our title vi funding has been dropping. I guess if we are talking in class we are all working for the military. The CIA’s grip on our campuses is even tighter than even I’d thought. Check out this current piece on Counter Punch on “CIA Skullduggery in Academia”: http://www.counterpunch.com/price05212005.html This goes a long way towards explaining why our title vi funding has been dropping. I guess if we are talking in class we are all working for the military.

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]]> By: David Graeber http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-97 David Graeber Sat, 21 May 2005 03:31:31 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-97 But you know, the irony is: in the end, I wasn't really fired for breaking any tacit rule. I didn't campaign for the union or anything. In the end, I was fired for being a responsible teacher. Some of the senior faculty went after a grad student organizer claiming she was a bad student and tried to kick her out of the program and I was the only faculty member, at first, willing to stand up and say the obvious truth: that her work was good and she shouldn't be kicked out. In the end, with the help of the union and some other faculty members, we managed to save her. But then they came after me. At least, that certainly was what appeared to be happening from my perspective. Of course had they not already tried to kick me out for being an anarchist I wouldn't have been in a vulnerable position to begin with and it never would have happened. On the "gentleman's agreement" - something like that surely exists, and I knew I was pushing it by being an activist at all. Still, one has to live with oneself. Anyway, you can see some of my own initial reflections on the theme in my "political metaphysics of stupidity" essay which some of my students put on the web page they created for me: www.geocities.com/graebersolidarity/. It'll soon appear in The Commoner (http://www.commoner.org.uk/) David Graeber But you know, the irony is: in the end, I wasn’t really fired for breaking any tacit rule. I didn’t campaign for the union or anything. In the end, I was fired for being a responsible teacher. Some of the senior faculty went after a grad student organizer claiming she was a bad student and tried to kick her out of the program and I was the only faculty member, at first, willing to stand up and say the obvious truth: that her work was good and she shouldn’t be kicked out. In the end, with the help of the union and some other faculty members, we managed to save her. But then they came after me. At least, that certainly was what appeared to be happening from my perspective.
Of course had they not already tried to kick me out for being an anarchist I wouldn’t have been in a vulnerable position to begin with and it never would have happened.
On the “gentleman’s agreement” – something like that surely exists, and I knew I was pushing it by being an activist at all. Still, one has to live with oneself. Anyway, you can see some of my own initial reflections on the theme in my “political metaphysics of stupidity” essay which some of my students put on the web page they created for me: http://www.geocities.com/graebersolidarity/. It’ll soon appear in The Commoner (http://www.commoner.org.uk/)
David Graeber

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]]> By: oneman http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-87 oneman Fri, 20 May 2005 04:01:10 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-87 Frankly, I don't care if it's to be expected or not. If it should come as no surprise that there is backlash from "some quarters", then it should also come as no surprise that there is resistance to the arbitrary use of power by its victims. The bottom line is, the academic space is a contested one. Folks like Lynne Cheney would like to see it used solely as a tool for indoctrination -- for "defending civilization" (yeah, right). Folks like Graeber would like to see it used as a space for developing, elaborating, and testing ideas -- and in the social sciences, that means not only ideas about how society <em>is</em> but how society <em>ought to be</em>. Anthropology, along with sociology and economics, entered the academy as reformer sciences, directed outwards from the academy into society as a whole. Cheney's vision -- and Horowitz's, while I'm at it -- is the reverse, the constraint of the academic space by society. The "gentlemen's agreement" I mentioned is a middle ground, a Faustian bargain that is essentially a stalemate between the two -- ideas trapped in an Ivory Tower while society continues on as before. That this is unsatisfying all around should, if I may be so bold, come as no surprise to anyone. Frankly, I don’t care if it’s to be expected or not. If it should come as no surprise that there is backlash from “some quarters”, then it should also come as no surprise that there is resistance to the arbitrary use of power by its victims. The bottom line is, the academic space is a contested one. Folks like Lynne Cheney would like to see it used solely as a tool for indoctrination — for “defending civilization” (yeah, right). Folks like Graeber would like to see it used as a space for developing, elaborating, and testing ideas — and in the social sciences, that means not only ideas about how society is but how society ought to be. Anthropology, along with sociology and economics, entered the academy as reformer sciences, directed outwards from the academy into society as a whole. Cheney’s vision — and Horowitz’s, while I’m at it — is the reverse, the constraint of the academic space by society. The “gentlemen’s agreement” I mentioned is a middle ground, a Faustian bargain that is essentially a stalemate between the two — ideas trapped in an Ivory Tower while society continues on as before. That this is unsatisfying all around should, if I may be so bold, come as no surprise to anyone.

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]]> By: goesh http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-84 goesh Fri, 20 May 2005 02:57:00 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-84 Sociologists have approached this issue from a number of angles, the most recent and popular being the genre of Public Sociology, in particular as espoused by Burawoy from Berkeley. The political and academic arena may well mix and mingle, but when the political is brought into the academic for advocacy purposes, the nature and behaviors of the audience are not always predictable. Reactionary responses certainly manifest and historically always have, so it should come as no great surprise to anyone that there is some serious backlash in some quarters. Sociologists have approached this issue from a number of angles, the most recent and popular being the genre of Public Sociology, in particular as espoused by Burawoy from Berkeley. The political and academic arena may well mix and mingle, but when the political is brought into the academic for advocacy purposes, the nature and behaviors of the audience are not always predictable. Reactionary responses certainly manifest and historically always have, so it should come as no great surprise to anyone that there is some serious backlash in some quarters.

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]]> By: Crooked Timber » » The right to be fired http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-62 Crooked Timber » » The right to be fired Wed, 18 May 2005 17:09:56 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-62 [...] AUT votes | Main | The right to be fired Posted by Henry Savage Minds posts on the decision of Yale’s Department of Anthrop [...] [...] AUT votes | Main | The right to be fired Posted by Henry Savage Minds posts on the decision of Yale’s Department of Anthrop [...]

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]]> By: oneman http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-42 oneman Tue, 17 May 2005 19:10:15 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-42 He'd have a show on PBS instead of that schmuck Carlson... He’d have a show on PBS instead of that schmuck Carlson…

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]]> By: tak http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-41 tak Tue, 17 May 2005 18:32:50 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-41 Yes oneman, Moos' PRISP project (thanks for the Chronicle URL) and with Horowitz's doublespeak writ, are quite disconcerting, to say the least. Reading your original post, I felt that perhaps David Graeber is depicted as the one breaking the 'gentleman's agreement.' I wonder how established and agreed-upon is this silent rule? But as we anthropologists know, public secrets are a bit difficult to get at. Your mention of Bourdieu's <em>Homo Academicus</em> led me to another thought: how would a case like David Graeber's pan out in countries such as France or Japan, where university professors are much more accepted as public intellectuals (in both the activist and public servant sense) by the society at large? Yes oneman, Moos’ PRISP project (thanks for the Chronicle URL) and with Horowitz’s doublespeak writ, are quite disconcerting, to say the least.

Reading your original post, I felt that perhaps David Graeber is depicted as the one breaking the ‘gentleman’s agreement.’ I wonder how established and agreed-upon is this silent rule?

But as we anthropologists know, public secrets are a bit difficult to get at.

Your mention of Bourdieu’s Homo Academicus led me to another thought: how would a case like David Graeber’s pan out in countries such as France or Japan, where university professors are much more accepted as public intellectuals (in both the activist and public servant sense) by the society at large?

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]]> By: oneman http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/comment-page-1/#comment-38 oneman Tue, 17 May 2005 17:39:16 +0000 http://savageminds.org/2005/05/16/the-anarchist-in-the-academy/#comment-38 One more thing: the "gentlemen's agreement" is clearly subject to erosion from the other side as well. Horowitz' "Bill of Academic Rights" and the legislation inspired by it are clearly intended to extend the gaze of the state back into the classroom. Felix Moos' PRISP (see http://chronicle.com/colloquy/2005/03/spies/), while not necesarily intended to do so, would have the same effect. Leaving us in the unenviable position of *defending* the already-unfavorable lines drawn in the '70s... One more thing: the “gentlemen’s agreement” is clearly subject to erosion from the other side as well. Horowitz’ “Bill of Academic Rights” and the legislation inspired by it are clearly intended to extend the gaze of the state back into the classroom. Felix Moos’ PRISP (see http://chronicle.com/colloquy/2005/03/spies/), while not necesarily intended to do so, would have the same effect. Leaving us in the unenviable position of *defending* the already-unfavorable lines drawn in the ’70s…

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