DOCSLIB.ORG

National Humanities Center 2012-2013 Annual Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
National Humanities Center 2012-2013 Annual Report NATIONAL HUMANITIES CENTER ANNUAL REPORT 2012–2013 THE STUDY OF HISTORY, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND THE ARTS ENABLES US TO GAIN PERSPECTIVE ON MANY ISSUES CENTRAL TO MODERN LIFE AND SO TO UNDERSTAND MORE FULLY WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE CAN (AND CANNOT) BE. THE HUMANITIES HELP US TO SEE BEYOND THE TRIVIAL AND THE SHORt–term tO THE MORE ESSENTIAL AND ENDURING.... – Robert F. Goheen, NHC board chair (1991–96) CONTENTS 4 Report from the President and Director 12 Scholarly Programs Work of the Fellows Statistics Books by Fellows THE NATIONAL 36 Education Programs HUMANITIES CENTER does not discriminate on the 40 Human Rights and the Humanities basis of race, color, sex, religion, 42 Financial Statements national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability 46 Supporting the Center or age in the administration of The Campaign for the National Humanities Center its selection policies, educational policies, and other Center– Center Supporters administered programs. 56 Staff of the Center Editor: Donald Solomon 58 Board of Trustees Copyeditor: Karen Carroll Proofreader: Jean Houston Images: Joel Elliott, Ron Jautz Design: Barbara Schneider The National Humanities Center’s Report (ISSN 1040–130X) is printed on recycled paper. Copyright ©2013 by National Humanities Center, 7 T.W. Alexander Drive, P.O. Box 12256, RTP, NC 27709–2256 Tel: 919–549–0661 | Fax: 919–990–8535 | E–mail: [email protected] | Website: nationalhumanitiescenter.org Report from the President and Director HUMANISTIC KNOWLEDGE CAN BE OBTAINED ONLY BY A HUMAN MIND THAT PATIENTLY MIXES ITS LABOR WITH THE OBJECT, STANDING IN LIVING RELATION TO ITS MATERIAL ANd—iN THE CASE OF PUBLISHED SCHOLARSHip—tO ITS AUDIENCE. Annual Report 2012–2013 were inherently antitechnological, that they all the things in this world that were essentially craftsmen locked in a struggle “go together like a horse and against more modern, but soulless ways of carriage,” few pair bonds are as understanding. A sense of doom pervades the Otight as “thef humanities” and “crisis.” After all, volume, with humanists, cast as “the artisanate love and marriage, in the words of the sweet, of cognition,” fighting the good fight against dopey Frank Sinatra song, are not inevitably the mighty forces of technology and science. conjoined, any more than peanut butter and Interestingly, the year this work appeared jelly, scotch and soda, or lox and bagels. But (1964) is considered by many to be smack in the humanities and crisis are inseparable. the middle of the Golden Age of the humani- ties, when things were really going well. To consider the terms together, as if they each represented an aspect of the other, is to clarify On those infrequent occasions when external the meaning of both. A crisis is a rupture, a threats seem temporarily to have been neutralized, sudden shattering that puts at risk or in new crises often arise within the humanities jeopardy every confident expectation we had. themselves, as if in demonstration of Nietzsche’s The crying need, in times of crisis, is for a aphorism, “In times of peace, the warlike man reassuring sense of predictability, continuity, attacks himself.” And then there are times regularity, a sense that we have not suddenly when the humanities are threatened by crises been pitched into an incomprehensible new both external and internal. We are living world, that others have encountered and through one of those times, when many are outfaced such disruptions in the past, and saying that the larger culture is morally and that we have sustaining cultural resources politically adrift, badly in need of humanistic within our grasp—a sense, in short, of the wisdom, but that the humanities—fractured, humanities. Crisis calls forth the humanities, self–interested, and out of favor—are in no which find their most compelling raison position to offer it. Will there ever be an end to d’être in crisis. cascading crises? The answer is easy: no. Many of the crises in which the humanities But if crises are part of the ordinary rhythms have been invoked involve some unpleasant of the humanities, does this mean that the feature of modernity, including mechanization, humanities are always going to flourish? The specialization, industrialization, the dominance answer to this question is surely no as well: of ideology, the erosion of long–familiar customs nothing in this world is indestructible, including or codes, the decline or loss or abandonment the world. But perhaps the real danger for the of this or that or the other. In response to such humanities, and for the society whose deeper crises, those flying the flag of the humanities interests they serve, are those developments have announced an urgent need for a renewal that arrive not in warlike garb, speaking an of heritage, history, context, nuance, singular- alien tongue (“Education is job training!”) and ity, depth, value, or character. The very first brandishing weapons, but those that come in work (of many) to appear with the title “Crisis the guise of friendship, offering managerial in the Humanities” argued that humanists assistance in the form of “increased access” or Annual Report 2012–2013 5 “economies of scale.” And even in such cases, challenge to the humanities. The recent rise of care must be taken to distinguish friend from MOOCs—Massive Open Online Courses that foe. Judgment—a specialty of humanistic can enroll many thousands of students all over learning—is required. the world—is being touted as a wave crashing inexorably on the shores, pulverizing a few Take the case of digital technology. On the sand castles perhaps, but carrying astonishing one hand, data science has demonstrated an democratizing benefits in the form of vastly undeniable capacity to aggregate, organize, increased access to famous lecturers who and present information in new and striking otherwise remain within the cloistered walls of ways, enabling scholars not just to answer expensive colleges and universities, and traditional questions with new tools but to offering institutions a thrilling way to reduce pose different, sometimes much larger their instructional budgets. The jury is still out questions to much larger “data sets,” and on that second promise, but the questions that to represent their findings in new ways. academics, students, and parents must ask Many of the prospects opened up by concern the specific impact of MOOCs on the technology are exciting even to scholars educational experience. who pride themselves on their artisanal skills and sensibility. Perhaps the “right–answer” disciplines in which the application of a teachable method On the other hand, however, some innovations leads to a single correct result can welcome associated with technology demand a more the advent of MOOCs with a clean conscience. cautious and even vigilant response from But the humanistic disciplines are different. humanists. The forms of “distance learning” in Consider a typical case: a well–known professor which many leading universities are investing offers a MOOC in, say, the political history of so heavily today, for example, pose a real France from 1789 to 1848. It’s a great set of Pamela Long SEPTember 13–25 talk entitled “Finding Ourselves: Project Talks The Humanities as a Discipline.” Shortly after Labor Day, as the The series continues monthly fellowship year begins, Fellows throughout the fall with independent gather daily before lunch to scholar Pamela Long (William present 5–minute talks on their J. Bouwsma Fellow) discussing projects. These talks not only “Engineering, Topography, and demonstrate the intellectual Knowledge in Late Sixteenth– breadth of Fellows’ research Century Rome,” Dyan H. Elliott interests but reveal common (Kent R. Mullikin Fellow) from themes and interests that Fellows Northwestern University on “The will pursue in ad hoc seminars Medieval Church as a School for and discussion groups during Scandal,” and Stefan R. Collini the year. SEPTEMBER 13 (Birkelund Fellow) from the Public Lecture University of Cambridge on NHC President and Director “Complex Words: History in Geoffrey Harpham kicks off this English Literary Criticism.” year’s public lecture series with a Annual Report 2012–2013 lectures, delivered with the style and authority number of universities, the professors working for which the professor is (increasingly) famous. in that field at those other universities suffer an But it is not the same course that the students immediate loss of status. They are reduced to at the professor’s university would receive, secondary figures offering footnotes, minor because while the students in a classroom can adjustments, little quarrels with the main line see, hear, question, and be challenged by the of analysis or argument as presented by the professor, the MOOC students—or rather rich, famous digital professor, who must customers—have no such opportunities. appear somewhat larger than life, not least Nor can online students feel the professor’s because he or she is sponsored by a large patterns of emphasis, her force and tone, her corporation scrambling for market share. slight hesitations or abrupt interventions, the Actual human beings, students and professors way she deals with unexpected questions, alike, are diminished as the scene of instruction the way she grades your papers. Moreover, is industrialized. the classroom students, being observed by the professor, are under some pressure to Since the time of Socrates, the acquisition of repay the interest, while the attention of the cultural knowledge and insight has been an customers looking at a screen in an office, a intimate and deliberate process, like slow basement, a coffee shop, can wander or depart food—for thought. Humanistic observation, without penalty, and often does. The difference analysis, argumentation—all these are conveyed between a professor and a digitized image of a if not directly, as Socrates did with the young professor is deceptively immense. men who clustered around him, then in a discourse that combines observation and Nor is the digital difference confined to the analysis with interpretation, judgment, evaluation.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: a Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism
    MAHMOOD MAMDANI Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: A Political Perspective on Culture and Terrorism ABSTRACT The link between Islam and terrorism became a central media concern following September 11, resulting in new rounds of "culture talk. This talk has turned religious experience into a political category, differentiating 'good Muslims" from "bad Mus- lims, rather than terrorists from civilians. The implication is undisguised: Whether in Afghanistan, Palestine, or Pakistan, Islam must be quarantined and the devil must be exorcized from it by a civil war between good Muslims and bad Muslims. This article suggests that we lift the quarantine and turn the cultural theory of politics on its head. Beyond the simple but radical suggestion that if there are good Muslims and bad Muslims, there must also be good Westerners and bad Westerners, I question the very tendency to read Islamist poli- tics as an effect of Islamic civilization—whether good or bad—and Western power as an effect of Western civilization. Both those poli- tics and that power are born of an encounter, and neither can be understood outside of the history of that encounter. Cultural explanations of political outcomes tend to avoid history and issues. Thinking of individuals from "traditional" cultures in authentic and original terms, culture talk dehistoricizes the construction of political identities. This article places the terror of September 11 in a his- torical and political context. Rather than a residue of a premodern culture in modern politics, terrorism is best understood as a modern construction. Even when it harnesses one or another aspect of tradition and culture, the result is a modern ensemble at the service of a modern project.
    [Show full text]
  • AC Vol 42 No 25
    www.africa-confidential.com 21 December 2001 Vol 42 No 25 AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL RWANDA 2 RWANDA Donor diplomacy Finance Minister Donald Kaberuka Everything is risky wins high marks from donors for President Kagame prepares for national elections while his exiled his anti-poverty plan but there is military opponents regroup in Congo-Kinshasa still much carping about the Kigali government’s forays into Congo. ‘In our situation everything we do is risky...’ General Paul Kagame told Africa Confidential on 9 December in Kigali as he explained plans to open up the country’s politics ahead of national multi-party elections due in 2003. ‘We inherited a very complex situation, we cannot hope for soft solutions.’ GHANA 3 Kagame’s hard solution is to pack dozens of political and social reforms into two hectic years. His proclaimed reforms point to a national unity approach of the kind adopted by South Africa’s African No shine on gold National Congress and outgoing National Party in 1990: a power-sharing government liberalising President Kufuor’s election pledge Rwanda’s authoritarian politics and writing a new constitution in the run-up to free elections. It is no of a ‘golden age for business’ is coincidence that South Africa is the Kigali government’s strongest African supporter. now being tested. Dire public Reality on the ground is different. Political currents are now a mélange of the options suggested by finances give him little scope for improvements in health and the Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani.* 1. Israeli strategy: to create a separate political education. He is also being pushed community of Tutsi (some 14 per cent of Rwandans) beside another of Hutu.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rwandan Genocide: Combating Stereotypes And
    The Rwandan Genocide: Combating Stereotypes and Understanding the Origins Nicola Skakel Senior Honors Thesis Department of History April 9th 2018 Defense Committee: Dr. Susan K. Kent, Department of History, Primary Advisor Dr. Matthew Gerber, Department of History, Honors Council Representative Dr. Paul Shankman, Department of Anthropology, Advisor 1 Introduction On the 7th of April 1994, the small east African country of Rwanda erupted into one of the most deadly and intimate genocides the modern world had ever witnessed. Whilst the western world stood by and watched in just 100 days over 800,000 Rwandans out of a total population of 7 million, were systematically murdered in the most brutal and violent of ways. Those who were targeted made up the country’s minority ethnic group the Tutsis, and moderates from the majority group, the Hutus. For many, the legacy of Rwanda is a monstrous example of extreme pent up ethnic tensions that has its roots in European colonialism. In contrast, I will argue that the events not just of 1994 but also the unrest that proceeded it, arose from a highly complex culmination of long-standing historical tensions between ethnic groups that long pre-dated colonialism. In conjunction, a set of short-term triggers including foreign intervention, civil war, famine, state terrorism and ultimately the assassination of President Habyarimana also contributed to the outburst of genocide in 1994. Whilst it would be easy to place sole responsibility on European colonists for implementing a policy of divide and rule and therefore exacerbating ethnic tensions, it seems to me that genocide is never that cut and dried: it can never be explained by one factor.
    [Show full text]
  • Remarks on Receipt of Honorary Doctorate at Addis Ababa University, 24 July 2010
    Remarks on receipt of Honorary Doctorate at Addis Ababa University, 24 July 2010. Mahmood Mamdani Executive Director, Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University, Kampala I first heard of Addis Ababa University in 1973, the year I got my first teaching job at the University of Dar es Salaam. Addis, like Dar, was a university in ferment during those years. They were times when we were sure of ourselves: we knew what we were up against, and we knew where we were going. We were against monarchy, against dictatorship, against neo-colonialism, against imperialism. And we were for socialism, sometimes for democracy, but always for socialism. Socialism had become a language in which we spoke to one another. For some, it was a badge, for others it was a brand name. We were the first generation of post-independence African intellectuals. We thought in historical terms. We knew that history was moving, more or less like a train, heading to a known destination, and none of us had any doubt that we were on that train. We were certain that the future would be better than the past, much better. If there would be violence, it would be revolutionary, the violence of the poor against the rich, the oppressor against the oppressed. Good revolutionary violence would do away with bad counter-revolutionary violence. Two decades later, we found ourselves in a world for which we were least prepared. Not only was it a world drenched in blood, but the battle lines were hardly inspiring. There was little revolutionary about the violence around us: instead of the poor rising up against the rich, we could see poor pitted against poor, and rich against rich.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Full Essay Here
    Shades of sovereignty: racialized power, the United States and the world Paul A. Kramer The segregated diners along Maryland’s Route 40 were always somebody’s problem – mothers packing sandwiches for a daytrip to the nation’s capital, Jim Crow on their minds – but they were not always John F. Kennedy’s problem. That changed in the early 1960s, when African diplomats began arriving to the United States to present their credentials to the United Nations and the White House. Between the high-modernist universalism of the former and the neo-classical, republican universalism of the latter, at just about the place where ambassadors got hungry, lay a scattering of gaudy, ramshackle restaurants straddling an otherwise bleak stretch of highway. As the motoring diplomats discovered to their shock, the diners excluded black people in ways that turned out to be global: whatever their importance to US foreign policy, African economic 1 ministers and cultural attaches received no diplomatic immunity. The incoming Kennedy administration soon confronted an international scandal, as the officials filed formal complaints and US and overseas editors ran with the story. “Human faces, black-skinned and white, angry words and a humdrum reach of U. S. highway,” read an article in Life, “these are the raw stuff of a conflict that reached far out from America in to the world.” Kennedy, reluctant to engage the black freedom struggle except where it intersected with Cold War concerns, established an Office of the Special Protocol Service to mediate: its staff caught flak, spoke to newspapers, and sat down with Route 40’s restaurateurs, diner by diner, making the case that serving black people was in the United States’ global interests.
    [Show full text]
  • The African University As “Global” University
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Faculty Scholarship 7-2014 The African University as “Global” University Isaac Kamola Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/facpub Part of the Higher Education Commons SYMPOSIUM The African University as “Global” University Isaac Kamola, Trinity College igher education is undergoing a period of pro- Rather than fetishizing “the global university,” many African found transformation. Universities around academics are interested in what constitutes the “African uni- the world are reconceptualizing themselves versity.” Acknowledging the university’s role in economic devel- as “global” institutions, closely connected opment, there remains the recognition that many universities to—and competing with—one another. Many in Africa are also the physical embodiment of Western colonial Hargue that “the globalization of higher education” makes the governance, initially designed to displace and devalue indige- “free movement of people and ideas…the norm,” having “enor- nous knowledges and expertise. Ajayi et al., for example, wrote mously positive consequences for individuals, for universities, that the “debate about what constitutes the African Univer- and for nations” (Wildavsky 2010, 7). Others express growing sity” is central to the question of “how do we adapt the Uni- concern that universities are increasingly corroded by their versity to African culture so it can provide African develop- relationship to “academic capitalism,” producing commercial ment, not westernization” (Ajayi et al. 1996, 1–3). Many eff orts knowledge and pragmatic job training at the expense of the to think “the African university” examine the long lineage general good (Slaughter and Rhoades 2004).
    [Show full text]
  • Imperialism and Fascism in Uganda
    Imperialism and Fascism in Uganda Mahmood Mamdani Smior Ucturtr m Political Scimre, .lfaktrere L'niuni!v. Kampala, l./ganda HEI:\'EMA:\':'-i EDUCATIONAL BOOKS :-iAIROBI IBADAN LO:-IDON . ___.-- L-; Heinemann Educational Books Ltd 433 Contents 22 Bedford Square, London WCIB 3HH PMB 5205, lbadan · PO Box 45314, Nairobi J}j EDINBURGH MELBOURNE At.'CKLAND A/}3 List ofT abies HONG KONG SINGAPORE KUALA LUMPCR Acknm.. ·ledgcments NEW DELHI KINGSTO:"i PORT OF SPAIN ;913 Introduction © Mahmood Mamdani 1983 P:\RTONE: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROl'ND First published 1983 I Co/onia!imt and Anti-colonialism 5 . ( British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data The Economics ofCulonialism 6 Mamdani, Mahmood The Politics nfColoni.tlism 8 Imperialism and Fascism in Uganda. 2 Tramition to ..\'eo-colonialism 17 l. Uganda-Politics and government A :'\t•o-collmial Indqwndc!H.T 19 2. Uganda-History \"("o-colonialism in Practicr 23 I. Title .-\n Imperialist Coup 29 967.6'104 DT433.262 PART TWO: NEO-COLO'IIIAL FASCISM 33 ISBN 1}...435-96503-4 3 The .4min Regime The Period of Tramitition: "Thr Economic War" and the Role ol Opportunists 37 4 The Fascist State 42 Fascism and the Economic Crise-s 46 Fascism and Socirt\ 52 The Search for a So~ial Base 55 PART THREE: l\'EO-COLO'IIIAL FASCISM Al\'D IMPERIALISM 59 5 cl Period ofTransition: 1971-73 61 Thr Break with Britain 65 6 The AT71!.r and the So~·iet Connection: 1973-78 68 Strained Relations and !he Angolan Crisis 72 Thr So\"iet.J ustiftcation 75 7 The State Research Bureau and the CS-UK Conntction 78 The Bnti~h Connection
    [Show full text]
  • “Reimagining 'Good Muslim, Bad Muslim': Public Theologies of Citizenship and Belonging in the Republic of India” Meghan
    “Reimagining ‘Good Muslim, Bad Muslim’: Public Theologies of Citizenship and Belonging in the Republic of India” Meghan Koushik April 2013 Advisor: Dr. Nukhet Ahu Sandal, Post-Doctoral Fellow in International Studies, The Watson Institute, Brown University Second Reader: Dr. Anthony Watson, Associate Director, Department of Middle East Studies, Brown University Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Middle East Studies, Brown University Koushik Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Abstract 4 Introduction 5 Chapter 1: The Substantive Dimension 19 Chapter 2: The Spatial Dimension 39 Chapter 3: The Spiritual Dimension 59 Chapter 4: The Temporal Dimension 81 Conclusion: 104 Bibliography 109 2 Koushik Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the help of several people. Primarily, I am grateful to my thesis advisors, Dr. Nukhet Sandal and Dr. Anthony Watson, for their extensive feedback on earlier drafts, and for the many hours they have both spent on providing me with advice and insights into formulating this thesis. I am also grateful to my professors Lina Fruzzetti and Vazira Zamindar for their invaluable feedback on portions of this thesis. Meera S. and Renita Mendonca, who were my former history and civics teachers at the National Academy for Learning, Bangalore, were invaluable in providing firsthand insight into citizenship education in India. They are also responsible for inspiring my interest in the politics and history of my homeland. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Ravi and Sarita Koushik, and my friends for their continued support and encouragement through the process. I could not have done this without them.
    [Show full text]
  • Boundarying, Geographic Thought and the Exceptional
    BOUNDARYING, GEOGRAPHIC THOUGHT AND THE EXCEPTIONAL GEOGRAPHIES OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLES A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Stephen R. Butcher May 2010 Dissertation written by Stephen R. Butcher B.S., Kent State University, Geology, 1998 B.A., Kent State University, Geography, 1998 L.S.M., Kent State University, Liberal Studies, 2002 M.A., Kent State University, Geography, 2004 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2010 Approved by ___________________________, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. James A. Tyner ___________________________, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. Patrick G. Coy ___________________________, Dr. Surinder M. Bhardwaj ___________________________, Dr. Shawn M. Banasick ___________________________, Dr. Mark F. Bracher Accepted by ___________________________, Chair, Department of Geography Dr. Thomas Schmidlin ___________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Dr. John Stalvey ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………. v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….. 1 Chapter Summaries…………………………………………………………….. 12 II THE BOUNDARY…...……….………………………………………………… 16 Cognitive Science………………………………………………………………. 18 Embodied Cognition…………………………………………………………….. 26 Embodied Realism………………………………………………………………. 35 Boundarying, Space, and Place………………………………………………….. 44 Borders, Boundaries, Binaries and Boundarying………...…………………… 44 Space, Place,
    [Show full text]
  • University of Cambridge Mphil IR & Politics International Security 2017-2018
    University of Cambridge MPhil IR & Politics International Security 2017-2018 Lecture: Tuesdays 11am – 12.00pm, ARB Room SG1 Seminar Group A: Tuesdays 4.00pm – 5.30pm, ARB Room S3 Seminar Group B: Wednesdays 4.00pm – 5.30pm, ARB Room 119 Dr. Stefano Recchia Course Description: This course is designed to provide MPhil students with a foundation in contemporary international security studies. The course is divided into three parts. The first part reviews the main paradigms in international relations theory and introduces students to relevant conceptual issues. The second part deals in-depth with some of the main concepts, theories, and issues in traditional international security studies. Our main focus in this part is on the causes of war, the conditions of peace, and the appropriate relationship between soldiers and civilians in decision making on national security. The third part of the course deals with “new” security issues, including humanitarian intervention, state failure, ethnic conflict, nuclear proliferation, and transnational terrorism. Throughout the course, we will apply different theories to select historical and contemporary cases in order to illustrate how theory can help us make sense of complex, real-world events. Students with no prior background in international relations theory will benefit from reading one of the two following introductory textbooks ahead of the course: Michael W. Doyle, Ways of War and Peace (Norton, 1997); or G. John Ikenberry, Michael Mastanduno, and Joseph Grieco, Introduction to International Relations (Palgrave, 2014). Course Materials: Students are encouraged to purchase the following edited book, given that it contains a significant portion of the required course readings: • Richard K.
    [Show full text]
  • Epideictic Without the Praise: a Heuristic Analysis for Rhetoric of Blame
    EPIDEICTIC WITHOUT THE PRAISE: A HEURISTIC ANALYSIS FOR RHETORIC OF BLAME Elizabeth L. Church A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2010 Committee: Kristine L. Blair, Advisor Lisa M. Dimling Graduate Faculty Representative Richard C. Gebhardt Lance Massey ii ABSTRACT Kristine L. Blair, Advisor This dissertation is a historical and theoretical exploration of epideictic rhetoric of blame as it functions to build community and teach civic virtues. I have assembled a set of heuristics – concentrating on three strategies of creating ethos, establishing place, and utilizing ekphrasis – to examine the didactic nature of epideictic, especially in environments where social change is being demanded by the rhetor. The heuristic model encompasses 13 guiding questions, which then are applied to two case studies of rhetoric of blame: the writings of journalist Ida B. Wells to stop the lynchings of African-Americans during the 19th century, and a current website created by the Save Darfur Coalition to intervene in the genocide in Darfur, Africa. While a significant amount of research has examined epideictic rhetoric of praise, existing scholarship on rhetoric of blame is minimal. Thus, this project helps to fill the gap both by furnishing evidence of historical and current instances of epideictic rhetoric of blame as it functions to build community and teach civic virtues, and by demonstrating a methodology to assess such discourse. At a time in our nation and neighborhoods when words of condemnation are often flung about too quickly and carelessly, a reliable methodology is needed for creating and analyzing rhetoric of blame – and how it accomplishes a rhetorical purpose beyond that of a one-sided volley of insults.
    [Show full text]
  • Explaining Rwanda's 1994 Genocide
    H UMAN R IGHTS & HUMAN W ELFARE Explaining Rwanda’s 1994 Genocide By Paul Magnarella A review of Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001. 364 pp. and John A. Berry and Carol Pott Berry (eds.), Genocide in Rwanda: A Collective Memory. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1999. 201 pp. In 1994, Rwanda erupted into one of the most appalling cases of mass murder the world has witnessed since World War II. Many of the majority Hutu (about 85% of the population) turned on the Tutsi (about 12% of the population) and moderate Hutu, killing an estimated total of 800,000 people. Since genocide is the most aberrant of human behaviors, it cries out for explanation. The two books under review attempt to do this. To appreciate them, a short journey through Rwanda’s history is necessary. From 1894 until the end of World War I, Rwanda, along with Burundi and present-day Tanzania, was part of German East Africa. Belgium claimed it thereafter, becoming the administering authority from 1924 to 1962. During their colonial tenure, the Germans and Belgians ruled Rwanda indirectly through Tutsi monarchs and their chiefs. The colonialists developed the so- called Hamitic hypothesis or myth, which held that the Tutsi and everything humanly superior in Central Africa came from ancient Egypt or Abyssinia. The Europeans regarded Hutu and Twa (about 3% of the population) as inferior to Tutsi. Sixty years of such prejudicial fabrications inflated Tutsi egos inordinately and crushed Hutu feelings, which coalesced into an aggressively resentful inferiority complex.
    [Show full text]