Grounded Vision: New Agrarianism and the Academy

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Weisberg, department of art history, University of Minnesota Throughout the nineteenth century, academies functioned as the main venues for the teaching, promotion, and display of art. In this explosive book, Houston Baker takes stock of the current state of Black Studies in the university and outlines its responsibilities to the newest form of black urban expression—rap. A frank, polemical essay, Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy is an uninhibited defense of Black Studies and an extended commentary on the importance of rap. Written in the midst of the political correctness wars and in the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots, Baker's meditation on the academy and black urban expression has generated much controversy and comment from both ends of the political spectrum.

The advent of women's studies has brought a feminist perspective into the academy—but has it made a difference there? Has it transformed our curriculum; has it reshaped our materials; has it altered our knowledge?

Grounded Vision: New Agrarianism and the Academy

In the essays collected here, nine distinguished scholars provide an overview of the differences the feminist perspective makes—and could make—in scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Carefully documented and judiciously critical, these essays inform the reader about developments in feminist scholarship in literary criticism, the performing arts, religion, history, political science, economics, anthropology, psychology, and sociology.

The authors point out achievements of lasting value and indicate how these might become an integral part of the various disciplines. Questions of academic freedom--from hate speech to the tenure structure—continue to be of great urgency and perennial debate in American higher education. Originally published as a special issue of Law and Contemporary Problems Summer , this volume draws together leading scholars of law, philosophy, and higher education to offer a fresh assessment of the founding principles of academic freedom and to define this crucial topic for the s.

The original Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure , which has been influential in determining institutional practices for the last half century, has required continual redefinition since its initial declaration. The volume begins with two overview articles: Subsequent articles address a range of issues related to academic freedom: Issues of ecology—both as they appear in the works of nature writers and in the works of literary writers for whom place and the land are central issues—have long been of interest to literary critics and have given rise over the last two decades to the now-firmly established field of ecocriticism.

At the same time, a new group of ecology advocates has emerged since the s: For agrarians, theory and academic philosophizing often seem inconsequential and even counterproductive. In Grounded Vision , William Major puts contemporary agrarian thinking into a conciliatory and productive dialogue with academic criticism. He argues that the lack of participation in academic discussions means a loss to both agrarians and academics, since agrarian thought can enrich other ongoing discussions on topics such as ecocriticism, postmodernism, feminism, work studies, and politics—especially in light of the recent upsurge in grassroots cultural and environmental activities critical of modernity, such as the sustainable agriculture and slow food movements.

Major also focuses on agrarianism itself—the valuable relationship it advocates between workers and the land they work, the politics involved in maintaining healthy communities, and the impact of contemporary agrarian writers on the world today.

Major thus shows contemporary agrarianism to be a successful instigator of the same social examination for which much academic criticism strives. It is not easy raising a family and balancing work and personal commitments in academia, regardless of gender. Parents endure the stress of making tenure with the demands of life with children. While women's careers are derailed more often than men's as a result of such competing pressures, fathers, too, experience conflicting feelings about work and home, making parenting ever more challenging. They are white, black, South Asian, Asian, and Arab.

William Major

They are gay and straight, married and divorced. They are tenured and untenured, at research-one universities and at community colleges. Some write at the beginning of their careers, others at the end. But, perhaps most important they do not look back-they look forward to new parental and professional synergies as they reflect on what it means to be a father in the academy.

The fathers writing in Papa, PhD seek to expand their children's horizons, giving them the gifts of better topic sentences and a cosmopolitan sensibility. They seriously consider the implications of gender theory and queer theory-even Marxist theory-and make relevant theoretical connections between their work and the less abstract, more pragmatic, world of fathering. What resonates is the astonishing range of forms that fatherhood can take as these dads challenge traditional norms by actively questioning the status quo. A set of creative writers here responds to the call for literature that addresses who we are by understanding where we are—where, for each of them, being somehow part of the academy.

Their personal essays delineate the diverse, sometimes unexpected roles of place in shaping them, as writers and teachers in varied environments, through unique experiences and distinctive worldviews—in reconfiguring their conjunctions of identity and setting, here, there, everywhere, and in between. Flannery, Diana Garcia, Janice M.

Henne, Rona Kaufman, Deborah A.

Grounded vision : new agrarianism and the academy, William H. Major, (electronic resource)

At once a slogan and a vision for future scholarship, interdisciplinarity promises to break through barriers to address today's complex challenges. Yet even high-stakes projects often falter, undone by poor communication, strong feelings, bureaucratic frameworks, and contradictory incentives.

This new book shows newcomers and veteran researchers how to craft associations that will lead to rich mutual learning under inevitably tricky conditions. Strikingly candid and always grounded, the authors draw a wealth of profound, practical lessons from an in-depth case study of a multiyear funded project on cultural property. Examining the social dynamics of collaboration, they show readers how to anticipate sources of conflict, nurture trust, and jump-start thinking across disciplines.

Researchers and institutions alike will learn to plan for each phase of a project life cycle, capturing insights and shepherding involvement along the way. But what kinds of diversity are being championed in their admissions and hiring practices, and what kinds are being neglected? Is diversity enough to solve the structural inequalities that plague our universities? And how might we articulate the value of diversity in the first place? The Academy of Fisticuffs.

The Italian Enlightenment, no less than the Scottish, was central to the emergence of political economy and creation of market societies. AHistory of Georgetown University. From Academy to University, , Volume 1. Art and the Academy in the Nineteenth Century. Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy. Judges and legal scholars talk past one another, if they have any conversation at all. Academics criticize judicial decisions in theoretical terms, which leads many judges to dismiss academic discourse as divorced from reality. Richard Posner reflects on the causes and consequences of this widening gap and what can be done to close it.

A Feminist Perspective in the Academy. Edited by Elizabeth Langland and Walter Gove. Freedom and Tenure in the Academy. Normal0falsefalsefalseMicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Issues of ecology—both as they appear in the works of nature writers and in the works of literary writers for whom place and the land are central issues—have long been of interest to literary critics and have given rise over the last two decades to the now-firmly established field of ecocriticism.

Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt, Editors. Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt posted the following provocative questions online: Hermes in the Academy. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Sign In or Create an Account.

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