Friday, Feb 25`

Sundquist spends a lot of time talking about what is encoded in the spirituals at the beginning of each chapter. What does he mean by this and what are some of the things that he sees as encoded in these songs?

Wednesday, Feb 23rd

What does Rampersand mean when he argues that Du Bois is putting forth a new neo-slavery narrative to replace the "Up From Slavery" narrative of Washington?

Monday, Feb 21st

"Of the Passing of the First Born" and "Of the Coming of John" are rather unique chapters in this book. The first is a very personal account of the death of Du Bois's child, and the second is, in fact, a short story. Do these chapters belong in a socialogical study of the African-American experience? Why or why not? Are your conclusions related to race, or would you say the same thing about a white-authored study?

February 18 assignment

As Du Bois sees it, what are some of the benefits and drawbacks to Christianity in the African-American experience?

The Golden Age

DuBois would want cowboys to die.

I came to this idea while reading, of all things, this week’s LARP book, which is on the fast food industry and it’s impact on America. Don’t be amazed that a LARP book could actually enter into an intellectual discussion, here; after all, I’m one of the people who picked the thing, and you know what a snob I am. There was a chapter on the beef industry, the slow conglomeration of cattle ranches into cow mega-complexes which then sell their bovine bounty to the major fast food chains and supermarkets, cutting out the little guy. You know, that bold rugged individual so idolized and beloved by the American mindset. The author, Eric Schlosser, a journalist for Atlantic Monthly, bemoaned the loss of this culture, this individual who was truly in touch with nature, and all the simple and elegant beauty the lone rancher represents.

This is the kind of romanticized nonsense I’d expect from a New England urbanite.

The glorious and rugged lifestyle that Schlosser places on a marble pedestal is fully revealed by DuBois. The breathtakingly poor men and women, who are held to the land not through affection but through desperation, work the soil as well as they can but are continually looked down on by society, or held down forcibly by richer individuals. To put it simply, these people are fucking miserable, living the lives of “quiet desperation” which Thoreau described even before W.E.B. came along.

When DuBois spoke of the greatness of higher education, and how it leads to the advancement of the human intellect, he meant it. He had no delusions about the reality of Washington’s life-model, working the land for nothing but profit. He wanted better for not only his people, but for mankind. And now that the manner of killing yourself for crop production is fading, and is left in the hands of the few instead of the many, leaving a greater majority of people to pursue higher ideals and goals, half-wits like Schlosser come along and shed tears over its loss. There’s nothing romantic about tilling soil. It’s a necessity, and as glad as I am that there are people around who are willing to do it (perhaps some of your familes are among them), I am even more glad that our nation produces a massive surplus of food with less farmland than has ever been used before, leaving the former farmers to become current collegiates. This is the progress DuBois spoke of. This is improvement.

I can’t say for sure if any of this is right, or if I even believe half of it. But I’m bothered that what DuBois would have called “advancement” in 1903 is today called “progress” with a cynical intonation by an individual who owes his New York Times bestseller status to the very same consumer culture which he is condemning. If the lifestyle of “quiet desperation” is dying in America, it’s because there’s something better standing beyond it.

Wednesday, Feb 16th

The Souls of Black Folk may be seen as one of the first examples of African-American studies. Considering these two chapters in relation to the rest of the book so far, what is the subject matter Du Bois is studying? What are the elements that this subject matter encompasses? What conclusions might he be coming to?

Monday, Feb 14th Assignment

These three chapters -- “Of the Meaning of Progress,” “Of the Wings of Atalanta,” “Of the Training of Black Men” --are DuBois's analysis of the education of African-Americans. What does he see as the relation between education and the advancement of the race? How might these three chapters be seen as an indictment of Booker T. Washington's theories?

On DuBois and Washington

What was so anathema to DuBois about Washington's program? What's wrong with a doctrine of work and money?

A hundred years later

It looks like this might be the first “response paper” posted here to the website, so I’ll try to be as crass and negative as possible so you all have something to look good next to. Actually, I’m just a crass and negative person, so I suppose it’s not an acquired stance, now is it?

Anyway.

After going thirty-three pages into DuBois, and let’s not forget the introduction which read like a piece of Greek epic poetry praising the hero’s mighty deeds and besmirching his cowardly enemy Booker T., I feel this is going to be a long month. DuBois’s language is pretentious verging on bombastic (though I understand this is probably a way of proving to the white scholars of the time that a black man could write on their level, so it’s excused though I’m still allowed to dislike it) (and who the fuck am I to criticize, when I’m spouting out phrases like “pretentious verging on bombastic?”). And for some reason, the second chapter on the history of post Civil War civil rights efforts was as dull as the razor I use to shave my slightly oversized head.

But for all that, there is one thing I can’t fault it for, and that is relevance. I have heard people argue that in our modern society, racism is effectively a thing of the past. In a nicer moment, I would say these people are morons. The racism of today may look tame compared to DuBois’s time, and the absence of separate water fountains for whites and “coloreds” is certainly a sign of progress from our past, but the institutions which oppress African Americans are still in place. The older generation which grew up racist is still alive, after all, including my father who still uses the word “jigaboo.” One only has to turn on the television or go to a movie to see “black culture” depicted as the “low culture.” In fact, go to a video rental store and pick out two movies, one with a predominantly white cast and the other with a predominantly black cast, and almost certainly the second movie will present you with twice as many images of poverty, crime, and poor education than the first film. There is still a perception of the African American as being somehow lesser, and no amount of black politicians, lawyers, and doctors will stop WASP America from associating “blackness” with rap, drugs, and trailer homes.

The racism of today is certainly more subtle, and perhaps it’s more a matter of perception, a mental disorder collectively shared by the pale-faced refugees of suburbia, rather than an active oppression that forces African Americans into a blatantly inferior position. But racism still exists, and the problems DuBois spoke of have not disappeared in 2005. You’d think in a hundred years we’d be able to get rid of something so fucking ridiculous as judgments based on skin color, but… well, there are reasons I’m a cynic.

Ted Kooser

I believe I mentioned that Ted Kooser would be speaking on Friday at the Hotshops. Indeed, that is correct. What I did not know at the time is that the cost to hear him is $100. If anyone is going, feel free to pay for me to come along as an interpreter.

Some clever random stuff with swear words

This is some brilliant and amazing shit. Seriously, you should all be bloody freaking amazed here. I am.