Cultural Criticism

Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives Identity and the Politics of (Re) Presentation in the United States Suzanne Oboler 1995 Spring

Hispanic or Latino? Mexican American or Chicano? Social labels often take on a life of their own beyond the control of those who coin them or to whom they are applied. In Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives, Suzanne Oboler explores the history and current use of the label “Hispanic,” as she illustrates the complex meanings that ethnicity has acquired in shaping our lives and identities.

Tribal Secrets Recovering American Indian Intellectual Traditions Robert Warrior 1994 Fall

“Robert Warrior writes at once to the memories of tribal survivance and the critical confidence of his generation; he ascertains intellectual histories that have been largely unconsidered in other studies of Native American Indians . . . a courageous comparative textual criticism.” --Gerald Vizenor, University of California, Berkeley

The Administration of Aesthetics Censorship, Political Criticism, and the Public Sphere Richard Burt, Editor 1994 Fall

Calls attention to the crucial difficulties inherent in censorship when it is used as a tool for cultural criticism.

Formations of Ritual Colonial and Anthropological Discourses on the Sinhala Yaktovil David Scott 1994 Spring

Yaktovil is an elaborate healing ceremony employed by Sinhalas in Sri Lanka to dispel the effects of the eyesight of a pantheon of malevolent supernatural figures known as yakku. Scott’s investigation of yaktovil and yakku within the Sinhala cosmology is also an inquiry into the ways in which anthropology, by ignoring the discursive history of the rituals, religions, and relationships it seeks to describe, tends to reproduce ideological-often, specifically colonial-objects. “A challenging work that is on the one hand a fine descriptive ethnography of a Sri Lankan ritual and on the other hand an examination of the presuppositions that went into the construction of 'demonology' in Sri Lanka. It will, I am sure, provoke a vigorous debate on the nature of ethnographic writing.” --Gananath Obeyesekere, Princeton University

Anti-Apocalypse Exercises in Genealogical Criticism Rowena Lee Quinby 1994 Spring

Drawing on feminist and Foucauldian theory, Quinby offers a powerful critique of the millenarian rhetoric that pervades American culture. Tracing the deployment of power through systems of alliance, sexuality, and technology, the author promotes a variety of critical stances-genealogical feminism, an ethics of the flesh, and “pissed criticism”-as challenges to apocalyptic claims for absolute truth and universal morality.

Latin American Identity and Constructions of Difference Amaryll Chanady, Editor 1994 Spring

Takes a new look at Latin American identity, viewing it as a hybrid and heterogeneous cultural construction, characterized by problems specific to postcolonial societies. In contrast to previous works on the subject, this volume situates itself within the context of the most recent American and European literary and cultural theories, and makes a significant contribution to current debates over ideas of identity, postcolonialism, the marginalization of the Other, and postmodernism.

The Politics of Everyday Fear Brian Massumi, Editor 1993 Fall

The contemporary consumer is bombarded with fear-inducing images and information. This media shower of imagery is equaled only by the sheer quantity of fear-assuaging products offered for our consumption. The contributors address questions raised by the saturation of social space by capitalized fear.

Fear of a Queer Planet Queer Politics and Social Theory Michael Warner, Editor 1993 Fall

In this diverse and balanced collection, the contributors explore the impact of ACT UP, Queer Nation, multiculturalism, the new religious right, outing, queerness, postmodernism, and shifts in the cultural politics of sexuality. Contributors: Lauren Berlant, Douglas Crimp, Elizabeth Freeman, Diana Fuss, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Jonathan Goldberg, Cathy Griggers, Janet E. Halley, Philip Brian Harper, Andrew Parker, Cindy Patton, Robert Schwartzwald, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Steven Seidman.

Transfigurations of the Maghreb Feminism, Decolonization, and Literatures Winifred Woodhull 1993 Fall

Through readings of some of the best-known texts in Algerian literature in French, Woodhull both challenges the separation between French and Francophone literatures and cultures in the academy and explores the ways in which “femininity” has been represented in the texts of North African and French writers since the mid-1950s.

Gender on Ice American Ideologies of Polar Expeditions Lisa Bloom 1993 Fall

Bloom focuses on the conquest of the North Pole as she reveals how popular print and visual media defined and shaped American national ideologies from the early twentieth century to the present.

Allegories of Empire The Figure of Woman in the Colonial Text Jenny Sharpe 1993 Spring

Brings the historical memory of the 1857 Indian Mutiny to bear upon the theme of rape in British and Anglo-Indian fiction.

Discourse Analysis as Sociocriticism The Spanish Golden Age Antonio Gomez-Moriana 1993 Spring

Gómez-Moriana applies contemporary literary theory to classical texts of the Spanish Golden Age, including Lazirillo de Tormes, Don Quijote, Tirso de Molina’s Don Juan play, and Columbus’s Diary. “Gómez-Moriana’s skillful handling of literary theory is matched by his thorough scholarship and excellent knowledge of history.” --Nicholas Spadaccini

Ruthless Criticism New Perspectives in U.S. Communication History William S. Solomon and Robert W. McChesney, Editors 1993 Spring

The Phantom Public Sphere Bruce Robbins, Editor 1993 Spring

In a postmodern society, can we still speak meaningfully of a public sphere? The contributors address this question by presenting the public sphere and the public/private opposition as a truly interdisciplinary field of inquiry. Among the issues discussed are Jesse Helms’s censorship campaign and the televised Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas Senate hearings.