[-empyre-] Engineering the University : Week One : Nguyen and Simpson

[elizaBeth Simpson]

First- Kevin, thank you for initiating this discussion, and for the great
introduction.

I thought of Mimi as a valuable contributor to this conversation both
because of her incisive critical perspectives on academic labor, but also
because of the ways in which I've seen her presence vital theoretical
perspectives though material initiatives, for example, the Hip Hop and Punk
Feminisms working group at UIUC, and its projects:
http://hiphopandpunkfeminisms.weebly.com/

Because this discussion is largely about how and where we work, with our
bodies and their physical dis/abilities, in specific geographic locations
nestled within social constellations that include but extend beyond
colleges and universities , I thought it was important to seek a scholar
whose initiatives blatantly transect the town/gown divide. Mimi's continued
identification with the punk scene is a great starting point for seeing
instances of intellectual work that extend outside the academy, and for
seeing academic work as a subset of more inclusive agendas.

...

Now, to Mimi...
In a recent blog post you write: "What might constitute radical self-care
under conditions of neoliberal capital?"

In a cultural U.S. archetype, the "invisible work" (sometimes called
"women's work") of homemaking (including creating spaces for rest and
rejuvenation, emotional catharsis, and physical nourishment) makes possible
the intellectual and physical "real" work of the society, whose dominant
values largely fail to recognize the interdependency of these forms.

Similarly, in academia, faculty and students must do the work of
maintaining physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being in order to
do their intellectual work (which may not recognize these interconnected
domains, depending on the discipline) in an environment that largely does
not acknowledge the legitimacy, necessity, and resource-cost of these
efforts.

Where and when have you seen academic work or work environments that
supported the full spectrum of what it takes to be intellectually
productive, including the maintenance of both individual and communal
well-being? What are the challenges and triumphs that you have seen
regarding the demands of intellectual academic labor vis a vis personal and
communal health?

Feel free to take this question and run with it!

Warmly,
elizaBeth

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 5:24 PM, Hamilton, Kevin <kham at illinois.edu> wrote:

> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
>  March on empyre : Engineering the University
>
>  WEEK ONE :
> Punk Materialities: Activism and the Academy
>
>  GUESTS:
>
>  elizaBeth Simpson
> Masters student, Department of Communication
> University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
>
>  Mimi Thi Nguyen
> Associate Professor, Gender and Women's Studies & Asian American Studies
> Conrad Humanities Scholar
> University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
>
>  LET'S GET STARTED!
>
>  Today we're starting our first of four weeks of conversations about the
> changing shape of academic labor in research settings. Each week, one of
> the grad students in our Seeing Systems (
> http://seeingsystems.illinois.edu/) cohort here at Illinois will lead a
> conversation with a scholar whose work and path lends some possible
> examples, models or theories to reflective engagement or critique of
> existing academic structures.
>
>  We're going to get started here with elizaBeth Simpson, who is currently
> a Masters student in Communication here at Illinois. She brings a rich
> history to her graduate studies of activism, teaching, facilitating and
> organizing, with an emphasis on performance, art, and storytelling as a
> basis for anti-oppression work. She has been a long-time teacher with the
> School for Designing a Society here in Urbana, IL, and a leader in our
> town's Maker and Indymedia communities.
>
>  elizaBeth invited Mimi Thi Nguyen (http://mimithinguyen.com), who though
> not part of our Seeing Systems project has been engaged in other efforts at
> home and abroad to which our faculty and students are deeply indebted.
> She's an ally and an example for many of us in her scholarship and
> organizing, and engages a wide variety of venues and forms for her
> scholarly production. From her book The Gift of Freedom: War, Debt, and
> Other Refugee Passages (Duke, 2012) to her longtime role as zine editor
> (Slander, Race Riot) and columnist (Punk Planet, Maximumrocknroll), or her
> recently published chapbook through Sara McCarry's Guillotine, Mimi has
> navigated a remarkable collection of venues and forms. She'll be our only
> guest this month who is from our own institution, and we are extremely
> fortunate to have her at Illinois and on empyre.
>
>  FIRST QUESTION:
>
>  Hey elizaBeth, could you start us off by telling us what made you think
> of Mimi's work in relation to our month's theme, and our group's efforts?
>
>  Thank you all!!
>
>  Kevin Hamilton
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
>
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