#HumanitiesontheEdge

Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s "Animal: New Directions in the Theorization of Race and Posthumanism&qu

Aubrey Streit Krug

Oct 27, 2015

Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s "Animal: New Directions in the Theorization of Race and Posthumanism&qu

Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s 2013 essay begins with a brief but incisive genealogy of posthumanist theory, a genealogy in which scholars like Aimé Césaire and Sylvia Wynter prefigure Michel Foucault. Jackson explains that it is Foucault’s “observation that ‘man’ is a historically contingent formation” which is most often understood as urging the humanities to critically reflect on the category of “man” at the center of humanism and to move toward posthumanism. However, Césaire,

Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s “Outer Worlds: The Persistence of Race in Movement ‘Beyond the Human’”

James Lowell Brunton

Oct 13, 2015

Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s “Outer Worlds: The Persistence of Race in Movement ‘Beyond the Human’”

Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s essay “Outer Worlds: The Persistence of Race in Movement ‘Beyond the Human’” makes a critical intervention into the discourse of post-humanism, positing the question, “What and crucially whose conception of humanity are we moving beyond?” (215). Jackson’s thesis is that post-humanist calls to go “beyond the human” risk reinforcing the “Eurocentric transcendentalism” that post-humanism ostensibly rejects because these calls often do not take an appropr

“Aristotle and Animal Feeling” by Debra Hawhee: Humanities on the Edge Lecture Review

Matthew Guzman

Sep 22, 2015

“Aristotle and Animal Feeling” by Debra Hawhee: Humanities on the Edge Lecture Review

Not liking dogs is un-human. Our longtime “besties,” besides being all cute and Lassie-like, strike me as an interesting example of our more favorable relationships with nonhuman animals. We often call “companion” species members of the family. Hell, there are people, at this moment, making a living off of haute couture nonhuman animal clothing and accessories. Yet, these nonhuman beings appear to occupy a curious position as second-class subjects. In other words, their subje

Katie McWain

Sep 15, 2015

Debra Hawhee's "Rhetoric's Sensorium"

How might we reenvision rhetoric’s relationship to sensation—to the senses, the body, and sensory experience? Debra Hawhee considers this question through a historical lens in her 2015 Quarterly Journal of Speech article, “Rhetoric’s Sensorium.” Hawhee, Professor of English and of Communication Arts and Sciences at Penn State University, studies histories of rhetoric—especially the rhetorical intersections of language and bodies. She approaches this retrospective piece for th

Christina Ivey

Sep 8, 2015

Debra Hawhee’s Rhetorics, Bodies, and Everyday Life

Over the summer, students at a New Jersey high school received the lecture of a lifetime. No, it wasn’t a groundbreaking scholar, established dignitary, or forward thinking entrepreneur; but rather, it was a lecture given by rapper Kendrick Lamar. After listening to Lamar’s summer release To Pimp a Butterfly (TPAB), teacher Brian Mooney couldn’t help but notice the connection between the lyrics’ discussion of racial identity, exploitation of black culture, and oppression with

Humanities on the Edge Lecture Review: Cristina Rodríguez

Aubrey Streit Krug

Apr 21, 2015

Humanities on the Edge Lecture Review: Cristina Rodríguez

The 21st Humanities on the Edge speaker, Cristina Rodríguez, concluded this academic year’s focus on “States of Exception” with a talk on “Immigration Reform and the Political Value of Manufactured Crisis.” Rodríguez is Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where she is the school’s first tenured Latina law professor. Her April 16 presentation was co-sponsored by UNL’s Institute of Ethnic Studies as part of their annual Spring Celebration. Rodríguez’s ov

Humanities on the Edge Article Review: Cristina Rodríguez

James Lowell Brunton

Apr 14, 2015

Humanities on the Edge Article Review: Cristina Rodríguez

In her 2013 article “Immigration, Civil Rights, & the Evolution of the People,” Cristina Rodríguez explains how two competing notions of “civil rights” operate within the context of immigration. One of these notions relies on the idea of personhood to make rights claims for non-citizens on the basis of their humanity. The other follows an incorporation model, which involves a “reciprocal” relationship between rights-seeking non-citizens and the rights/preferences of the exist

Humanities on the Edge Article Review: Cristina Rodríguez's "Law and Borders"

Raul Palma

Apr 14, 2015

Humanities on the Edge Article Review: Cristina Rodríguez's "Law and Borders"

In her essay "Law and Borders," Cristina Rodríguez prefaces her argument for immigration federalism with the following disclaimer: “Leaving immigration policy to the states may sound scary. But not every state is Arizona, and immigration federalism can work.” I love the use of this disclaimer, how it anticipates Arizona's S.B. 1070 as an objection for immigration federalism by drawing attention to the way fear has the potential to shape public opinion and policy-making. Arizo

Humanities on the Edge Lecture Review – Siva Vaidhyanathan

Robert Lipscomb

Apr 7, 2015

Humanities on the Edge Lecture Review – Siva Vaidhyanathan

On April 2, 2015, Siva Vaidhyanathan, the twentieth Humanities on the Edge speaker, presented his lecture about “The Operating System of Our Lives” before an impressive crowd gathered at the auditorium of the Sheldon Museum. Vaidhyanathan, the Robertson Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, explained in detail (and without notes) some specific and logically constructed reasons why people should be worried about current technological trends. This review of

Humanities on the Edge Article Review: Siva Vaidhyanathan

Dan Froid

Mar 31, 2015

Humanities on the Edge Article Review: Siva Vaidhyanathan

Or, What Do You Do for Fun in the 24th Century? Last summer, I attempted, and aborted, a rewatch of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I love the show, so my abandonment mostly has the demands of grad school to thank, but since my viewing I’ve been mulling over some rather puzzling issues in it. I found myself with some possible answers after reading Siva Vaidhyanathan’s “The Rise of the Cryptopicon.” In the essay, Vaidhyanathan suggests the cryptopicon as an alternative to Fouc

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