[-empyre-] Big Love

[Michael Angelo Tata, PhD]

Wow!  To think: you can ride the roller coaster at Camp Snoopy, buy a giant cinnamon sugar pretzel, do a twirl at Charlotte Russe, then pop over to the University, where Kantian trustees of knowledge soak your brain in just the right combination of peptides to instill mall-managerial acuity allowing the mall to replicate.  Thanks a mil for providing me this image--maybe I can teach some Poetics of Capital courses for the mallrats--whom, to be brutally honest, I just adore.


The Sisters of Perpetual Hacking is a marvy idea.  Instead of wedding Christ, who provides the sexual stability of convents and cloisters, nuns/inductees can marry wireless keyboards, USB ports and other computer elements or accessories.  Actually, it may be the vow of poverty that gets that sisterly solidarity going, that fabulous meta-physical trove of riches they store in an alternate, celestial economy, and which makes physical earthly wealth appear trivial, passe and the exclusive property of the poor in spirit.  


*******************************************
Michael Angelo Tata, PhD  347.776.1931-USA
http://www.MichaelAngeloTata.com/




 

> Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:35:06 -0400
> From: davinheckman at gmail.com
> To: empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Shopping Mall U
> 
> Speaking of malls and Universities.... here is a link to a photo of
> National American University's branch in the Mall of America:
> http://reconstruction.eserver.org/011/public_html.3/ii18.html
> 
> About 9 years ago, I wandered around the mall and took a bunch of
> pictures, and was delighted to find a University in the mall.
> 
> Yeah, the nuns are pretty wild. I wish there was some secular
> organizations that followed similar models. We have trade unions and
> professional organizations, but they establish solidarity along
> vocational lines rather than narrative ones, which are weakened by
> their homogeneity. Wouldn't it be amazing to see the Mendicant Order
> of Hackers, who begged for things, produced hacks, built a
> "liturgical" calendar around significant dates in the history of
> hacking, and focused on building schools that focused on a hacker's
> curriculum. Could you imagine the students that might come from a
> k-12 hacker's curriculum. Could you imagine what kind of University
> the brothers and sisters could create?
> 
> Davin
> 
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 7:39 AM, Michael Angelo Tata, PhD
> <mtata at ipublishingllc.com> wrote:
> > Cool--many thanks for the link.  I guess being married to Christ helps:
> > gotta love those Dominican nuns!  I've studied with many.  Oopsola on the
> > mall misreading, but I like the idea of the shopping mall university: it
> > sounds like a Kantian dream come true (that whole "Trustees" of knowledge
> > thing Nick introduced earlier).  TTFN
> >
> > *******************************************
> > Michael Angelo Tata, PhD  347.776.1931-USA
> > http://www.MichaelAngeloTata.com/
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:28:19 -0500
> >> From: davinheckman at gmail.com
> >> To: empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> >> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Meta-
> >>
> >> Oh... the URL <www.sienaheights.edu>. Oh... and I was really just
> >> referring to malls. I don't know that I would call anyone's school a
> >> shopping mall. I don't know that I would go so far as to criticize
> >> another scholar's home institution in that way (I have a sister-in-law
> >> who works for one of the big online universities.... out of
> >> necessity... but she really tries her best to teach well regardless).
> >>
> >> Davin
> >>
> >> On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 10:22 PM, davin heckman <davinheckman at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> > My little school is called Siena Heights University.  We're sponsored
> >> > by Dominican nuns.  We have about 750 full time undergrads on our main
> >> > campus.  I think it isn't all that uncommon for some of the smaller
> >> > liberal arts colleges to be this way.  Because the so much of the
> >> > administrative work is handled by teaching professors, the
> >> > administrative bureaucracy isn't quite as potent as it is at some
> >> > places.  On the one hand, I don't have as much time to research and
> >> > write as I would like....  but on the other hand, the overall
> >> > atmosphere is very low key.  Also, if I want to advise dissertations,
> >> > I have to work as a guest advisor with another school.  But, because
> >> > we are so small, I also work with my most ambitious undergrads very
> >> > closely, which helps to satisfy that need for intense reading and
> >> > argument.
> >> >
> >> > Small schools have their disadvantages.  And, if you consider teaching
> >> > at one, it is important to make sure that the culture of the school
> >> > works for you (fortunately, Siena is progressive, but many schools are
> >> > quite the opposite).  But, they can be really fine places to work.
> >> > (More than anything, I tend to enjoy hanging out with my students much
> >> > more than hanging out with professionals.  It's more unpredictable).
> >> >
> >> > Davin
> >> >
> >> > On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 6:54 PM, Michael Angelo Tata, PhD
> >> > <mtata at ipublishingllc.com> wrote:
> >> >> What is your "little school"???  Can I see the site?  I'd love to learn
> >> >> more, especially it seems that, from an epistemological, as well as
> >> >> pedagogical, standpoint, you face some unique challenges and
> >> >> opportunities
> >> >> so richly different from the ones dealt with by professors at
> >> >> those Zoloft-enriched, air-conditioned shopping mall universities you
> >> >> refer
> >> >> to.
> >> >>
> >> >> *******************************************
> >> >> Michael Angelo Tata, PhD  347.776.1931-USA
> >> >> http://www.MichaelAngeloTata.com/
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>> Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:31:10 -0400
> >> >>> From: davinheckman at gmail.com
> >> >>> To: empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> >> >>> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Meta-
> >> >>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Steve,
> >> >>>
> >> >>> I do think that there is some good sense in maintaining at least
> >> >>> significant portions of Lyotard's understanding.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> For instance, I am working on curriculum revisions at my home
> >> >>> institution which could change the very nature of the education we are
> >> >>> providing at my little school. In the 80s and 90s, we drifted in the
> >> >>> direction of a consumer-oriented approach... we are a very small
> >> >>> school, so the argument that "We won't treat you like a number" is
> >> >>> true in a very real sense and a compelling selling point. Like so
> >> >>> many schools, we searched for meaning in the postmodern environment,
> >> >>> and, unfortunately, found it in this strategic selling point.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Fortunately, we are too small for such a philosophy to have
> >> >>> effectively changed what it is that we do. (At least as far as I can
> >> >>> tell.... I've only been here for 5 years). In many ways, we never
> >> >>> made the full shift to the service model--we all know each other and
> >> >>> our students too personally to adopt the sort of detached, serene
> >> >>> benevolence that reigns in zoloft-enriched shopping environments,
> >> >>> where secret shoppers enforce friendliness. Plus, we are in Michigan
> >> >>> and most of our students are first generation, which means that we
> >> >>> work on the edge of a precipice--on the one hand, we have known for a
> >> >>> long time that the "new economy" isn't all it's cracked up to be, on
> >> >>> the other hand, we cannot pretend that our students need to be able to
> >> >>> survive in whatever situation awaits them. So, while the "service"
> >> >>> narrative has been there, there are also, I think, stronger narratives
> >> >>> that run through the school. The task is not to make these narratives
> >> >>> official, but to hack away at the "consumer" narrative that tends to
> >> >>> detract from the organic narratives. And, to provide supplemental
> >> >>> narratives which might help guide this underlying narrative away from
> >> >>> despair, as the economy becomes grim, and turns us all towards a
> >> >>> stronger sense of mutual support, solidarity, and creativity. More
> >> >>> than anything, I don't want my students to feel helpless. I don't
> >> >>> want them to feel like they need to wait for the answer to come to
> >> >>> them over the TV or Walmart or GM or Washington. I want them to get
> >> >>> into the business of making/finding/revising their own answers, in a
> >> >>> practical sense.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> So, I see Lyotard's observation as useful. These grand narratives may
> >> >>> or may not circulate, but they do not rest upon any sort of certain
> >> >>> foundation, and even slight scrutiny has the potential to disrupt
> >> >>> them. In their place, are other narratives, and maybe they can be
> >> >>> widely held, but I think they fail to rise to the status of "Grand"
> >> >>> narratives when we accept that they tend to be agreements, which are
> >> >>> arrived at for the sake of common utility and mutual benefit, and
> >> >>> which can be discarded.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Now, this brings us back to the question of "liberalism," because this
> >> >>> certainly is a liberal understanding of commonly held narratives as a
> >> >>> sort of social contract. But I don't know that the problem is with
> >> >>> "liberalism" as much as it is with the reification of the fruits of
> >> >>> liberalism. If a particular narrative emerges as useful, and then we
> >> >>> try to firm it up in such a way that makes any questioning of the
> >> >>> narrative into nonsense or blasphemy.... then it becomes something
> >> >>> other than a social contract. This is where I tend to have the most
> >> >>> serious issue with "neoliberalism"--on its surface, it seems like a
> >> >>> valid theory, maybe open markets can lead to the extension of certain
> >> >>> freedoms (certainly, pornography has loosened up certain attitudes
> >> >>> towards sex [but it has tightened up others]). The problem is the
> >> >>> notion that free markets will always lead to the extension of all
> >> >>> freedoms, even to the absurd point that governments will restrict
> >> >>> human freedom to protect the market.... why!? Because the market
> >> >>> will lead to freedom!!!! This is not a social contract. This is
> >> >>> tyranny, because it forecloses the possibility of a social contract.
> >> >>> But, the official narrative is that it makes you free! And, of
> >> >>> course, this narrative is rarely questioned, except through the straw
> >> >>> men arguments against socialism (which equates even modest regulation
> >> >>> with Stalinism). [As an interesting aside: In the thick of the
> >> >>> demonization of socialism in the popular press, Bill Moyers was
> >> >>> gracious enough to interview Mike Davis:
> >> >>> http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03202009/profile.html]
> >> >>>
> >> >>> I believe that social groups need narratives in which to ground their
> >> >>> vocabulary... without them, I cannot say with any likelihood that I
> >> >>> would even begin to understand what we are talking about. We, right
> >> >>> now, are partially situated within the connective tissue of
> >> >>> postmodernist discourse. Someone says, "Lyotard this." Another says,
> >> >>> "Lyotard that." A third says, "No, Lyotard such and such." And, this
> >> >>> is obvious, we are using this common narrative to situate our specific
> >> >>> subject positions such that we can have disagreements, and hopefully,
> >> >>> come to more useful understandings of each other and the narrative
> >> >>> itself, but mostly about those things which were not initially
> >> >>> situated within Lyotard's argument.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> To bring it back to my own little project.... my little school needs
> >> >>> to talk about what kind of narrative structure we will operate
> >> >>> under... not to solidify it for all time... but to give students and
> >> >>> faculty some places where we can get some traction against the
> >> >>> prevailing narrative which people only tend to "believe" by default,
> >> >>> whenever we give off the impression that such a narrative cannot be
> >> >>> questioned. But, even if we do calcify some narrative that sees the
> >> >>> prevailing cultural narrative as insufficient, we would accomplish a
> >> >>> great deal. Nothing is worse than teaching young people that their
> >> >>> existence can be boiled down to some simple external measure of value
> >> >>> that they cannot even control, and that, statistically speaking, they
> >> >>> are destined never to succeed in. It's like a contemporary retelling
> >> >>> of the literalist interpretation of the biblical 144,000.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Peace!
> >> >>> Davin
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 3:33 AM, sdv at krokodile.co.uk
> >> >>> <sdv at krokodile.co.uk> wrote:
> >> >>> > Joseph,
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> > It always interests me how when people write of Lyotard's
> >> >>> > understanding
> >> >>> > of the post-modern they write as if his writings of 1979 remain and
> >> >>> > were
> >> >>> > accurate. As if the death of the meta-narrative of human liberation
> >> >>> > meant the death of all meta-narratives. But actually as the past
> >> >>> > month
> >> >>> > has demonstrated this is not the case.
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> > The Meta-narratives that have survived and proposed during the past
> >> >>> > 30
> >> >>> > years since Lyotard's post-modern condition was published are
> >> >>> > broadly
> >> >>> > speaking those which can be grouped under the heading 'theories of
> >> >>> > liberal governance' , the internal arguments being around the
> >> >>> > subject of
> >> >>> > how things should be governed - the critical one being
> >> >>> > neo-liberalism
> >> >>> > with it's libertarian overtones. Given its existence I don't see how
> >> >>> > the
> >> >>> > acceptance of the misreading of the 'passing of grand-narratives' is
> >> >>> > really that helpful. That the postmodern stopped believing in the
> >> >>> > narrative of human liberation did not finally mean that the liberal
> >> >>> > narratives of human governance went away,  it mean rather they were
> >> >>> > never stronger. So that when Michael writes of meta-N passing he was
> >> >>> > ignoring our actual history to maintain a particular theoretical
> >> >>> > understanding which at its best could only address the passing of
> >> >>> > one
> >> >>> > set of enlightenment discourses but not the one that we most need to
> >> >>> > critique that of 'liberal governmentality'.
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> > steve
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> > joseph tabbi wrote:
> >> >>> >> The transcendence of Meta-Narrative as itself a Meta-Narrative?
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> Logically, Michael, that makes sense. I suppose it's a question of
> >> >>> >> where one situates oneself. Lyotard, after all, made the absence of
> >> >>> >> meta-narratives into a narrative of a new, emergent period, a
> >> >>> >> 'post-modern' era defined by the loss of faith in the grand
> >> >>> >> narratives
> >> >>> >> of modernity. Freud, Marx, and Durkeim, once so powerful and
> >> >>> >> capable
> >> >>> >> of explaining so much, with the passing of time could be seen as
> >> >>> >> expressive of the hopes, aspirations, oppressions and (consequent?)
> >> >>> >> repressions of a certain /period/. The fact that the old
> >> >>> >> explanations
> >> >>> >> failed to convince, or failed to convince in ways that could
> >> >>> >> inspire
> >> >>> >> widespread dedication to a cause, was an indication that society
> >> >>> >> had
> >> >>> >> reached a different moment. The transformation in sensibiity
> >> >>> >> occurred,
> >> >>> >> palpably, whether or not the post-modernists were paradoxical or
> >> >>> >> contradictory in how they described the occurrence.
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> It does seem to be the case that, by Lyotard's time (1970s, '80s),
> >> >>> >> the
> >> >>> >> only narratives to attain an (admittedly restricted) power, were
> >> >>> >> those
> >> >>> >> that admitted their own contingency, their dependence on a
> >> >>> >> particular
> >> >>> >> subject position, their construction of a situated identity. If
> >> >>> >> there
> >> >>> >> were not so many actual 'petit histoires' on offer, in the cultural
> >> >>> >> domain, the meta-narrative of postmodernity would not have been
> >> >>> >> persuasive (at least, not for as long as it was persuasive).
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> (for as long as it has been persuasive?)
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> But maybe there's another way to look at this. Michael's
> >> >>> >> observation
> >> >>> >> expresses a paradox: the observation of the passing of grand
> >> >>> >> narratives is itself a grand narrative. Right. But what if we
> >> >>> >> simply
> >> >>> >> recognize the development /as/ a paradox? and then take this
> >> >>> >> paradox
> >> >>> >> as a starting point? as a way of legitimating the proliferation of
> >> >>> >> mini-narratives? an acknowledgment that our time is derivative, not
> >> >>> >> likely to have a dominant narrative of its own any time soon?
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> Deflation of grandiosity certainly is the rhetoric of the day. "Yes
> >> >>> >> we
> >> >>> >> can" is about as grand as we can hope for, these days. Yes, /we/
> >> >>> >> can -
> >> >>> >> even if Big Government, that mythical grandee, purportedly can't.
> >> >>> >> (Can
> >> >>> >> I be forgiven for thinking back with nostalgia  to 'nothing to fear
> >> >>> >> but fear itself,' a slogan from long before I was born?  If the
> >> >>> >> Obama
> >> >>> >> team really wants to jump-start the economy, the President's
> >> >>> >> speachwriters might consider the power of paradox and the logic of
> >> >>> >> the
> >> >>> >> bootstrap.... )
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> An admission of paradox (not as a problem in logic but as a
> >> >>> >> starting
> >> >>> >> point) is in fact the approach taken by Luhmann, when he
> >> >>> >> inaugurates
> >> >>> >> an alternative to the 'petit histoires' of postmodernity, and when
> >> >>> >> he
> >> >>> >> attempts to replace talk of "cultures" with descriptions of
> >> >>> >> "functional systems." I'm away from my library, but I recall
> >> >>> >> Luhmann's
> >> >>> >> opening an early major work, with something like the sentence: "We
> >> >>> >> assume there are systems." An essay that I can look up now, online,
> >> >>> >> opens with a similar move (the systems theorist was nothing if not
> >> >>> >> consistent):
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >>   "No one, I think, will dispute the fact of a global system."
> >> >>> >>    http://www.generation-online.org/p/fpluhmann2.htm
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> I cited that once, in an email conversation with Stefanie
> >> >>> >> Strickland,
> >> >>> >> and Stef responded (immediately): '/I/ dispute it!'
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> But the point is not, really, whether a global system exists or
> >> >>> >> not.
> >> >>> >> There are certainly narratives of globalization that many people
> >> >>> >> believe in, or we act as though we do. If people believe in a
> >> >>> >> system,
> >> >>> >> a  description, or a narrative, then that belief offers a starting
> >> >>> >> point, something to build on. (Not a foundation - that only comes
> >> >>> >> later, after the system establishes itself, after a sufficient
> >> >>> >> investment in the system is established, and belief in the system
> >> >>> >> becomes widespread and self-sustaining.)
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> "We don't do grand narratives anymore." That's what society tells
> >> >>> >> itself nowadays. But this mode of self-understanding doesn't have
> >> >>> >> to
> >> >>> >> be a contradiction; it can be a way of seeing the grand
> >> >>> >> meta-narratives of the past for what they are, and marking our own
> >> >>> >> society as /different/.  We don't do foundations or universals, we
> >> >>> >> deflate anyone who attempts a grand claim. Or history does the job
> >> >>> >> of
> >> >>> >> deflation for us: "Mission accomplished" is unlikely to be
> >> >>> >> remembered,
> >> >>> >> even ironically, for long. Maybe 'You're doing a heckuva job,
> >> >>> >> Brownie,' will fare better as ecological crises pick up.
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> We've gotten over 'grand,' That is what makes our current systems
> >> >>> >> powerful and also democratic (so we can tell ourselves). Those
> >> >>> >> small
> >> >>> >> acts of resistance cited by Marc Herbst, "the glorious miasma of
> >> >>> >> identities [having] the capacity in little and big ways to tilt at
> >> >>> >> windmills" - what are these, if not elements in a current
> >> >>> >> counter-narrative to those bygone grandies. Instead of revolution
> >> >>> >> orchestrated by the state, we have resistance in the everyday,
> >> >>> >> unorganized and emergent. These acts of resistance are observable,
> >> >>> >> certainly, for those who know where and how to look for them (in
> >> >>> >> Ithaca and everywhere, every day). But the notion that these small
> >> >>> >> acts can add up to something, that they can effect a change or
> >> >>> >> affect
> >> >>> >> a system in beneficial ways - that is a matter of belief, plain and
> >> >>> >> simple.
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> To observe a system (a former grand narrative), and to use that
> >> >>> >> observation as a way of marking our own difference: that is a kind
> >> >>> >> of
> >> >>> >> /re-entry/ (another key term in systems theory). Once we can mark
> >> >>> >> our
> >> >>> >> difference, the old narratives become no more, or less, grand than
> >> >>> >> the
> >> >>> >> stories we tell ourselves about  our own place in, solidarity with,
> >> >>> >> and/or resistance to, the current world system.
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >> JPT
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 10:27 PM, Michael Angelo Tata, PhD
> >> >>> >>> <mtata at ipublishingllc.com> wrote:
> >> >>> >>>
> >> >>> >>>> I am reminded of Rorty: contingency and irony as a basis for
> >> >>> >>>> solidarity.
> >> >>> >>>> Despite pomo-ism, have we transcended the meta-N, or is a meta-N
> >> >>> >>>> of
> >> >>> >>>> no
> >> >>> >>>> meta-N a meta-N after all?
> >> >>> >>>>
> >> >>> >>>> *******************************************
> >> >>> >>>> Michael Angelo Tata, PhD  347.776.1931-USA
> >> >>> >>>> http://www.MichaelAngeloTata.com/
> >> >>> >>>>
> >> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >> >>> >> empyre forum
> >> >>> >> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> >> >>> >> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> >>
> >> >>> > _______________________________________________
> >> >>> > empyre forum
> >> >>> > empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> >> >>> > http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> >> >>> >
> >> >>> _______________________________________________
> >> >>> empyre forum
> >> >>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> >> >>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> >> >>
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> >> >>
> >> >
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> empyre forum
> >> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> >> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> >
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