Save the Date for the DSO's Upcoming Conference: Arriving at Confluence (Sat. April 28)

Arriving at Confluence

Saturday, April 28

3:00 - 6:00 PM

14 University Place, 1st Floor

Wine and refreshments will be served.  

Arriving at Confluence is an interdisciplinary graduate conference organized by the Draper Student Organization. This semester’s conference focuses on the connections between social upheaval and new forms of media/art.

Presentations include:

“Toward a Cinema of Revolution: 18 Days in Tahrir Square”
Walker Gunning

“Dawn of the Web: Cyber Anxiety and Zombies”
Weldon Press

“And out of the rubble comes a glorious noise: Artistic Responses to Violence & Collapse in Ireland”
Yvonne Garrett

“Street Art Intervention: ‘Ossario’”
Nicholaus Gutierrez

As well as fiction and poetry selections from the Draper Program’s graduate journal, Anamesa.

Draper Alumna Dinika Amaral Reading in the "NYU Emerging Writers" series, 4/20

Draper alumna Dinika Amaral, now a student in NYU's Creative Writing MFA program, will be reading from her novel in progress, "The Devil's Bathtub," as part of the "NYU Emerging Writers Reading Series," on April 20. She will be reading alongside Anne Enright (winner of the Man Booker prize) and other CWP students. 

Congrats, Dinika!

NYU Emerging Writers Reading Series

April 20

7:00 PM

KGB Bar: 85 E. 4th Street

Dinika suggests that anyone attending try to get there on the early side--the space is small and these events are usually crowded.

 

"Walt Whitman's Faces": NYU, 3/27

The New York University

Colloquium in American Literature and Culture

presents

Walt Whitman’s “Faces”:

A Typographical Reading

Tuesday, March 27, 6:30 p.m.

19 University Place, Great Room

Internationally recognized letterpress artist Barbara Henry and Whitman scholar Karen Karbiener offer a first look at their collaborative effort, a letterpress book introducing a “typographical reading” of Whitman’s poem, “Faces.” Karbiener will discuss the poet’s interests in physiology, phrenology, and the faces he encountered on the streets of New York. Henry will present Whitman’s peculiar fascination with typefaces and relate how his work as a printer inspired her innovative setting of the poem.

www.nyucalc.com

Foucault Society, March 14: Reading Group on The Courage of Truth

Spring 2012

The Foucault Society Reading Group

Michel Foucault The Courage of Truth
The Government of Self and Others II
Lectures at the College de France, 1983-1984

Upcoming Meetings:
Wednesday, March 14Wednesday, March 28Wednesday, April 18
7:00-9:30pm
CUNY Graduate Center365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5409New York, NY

Our semester-long reading group on Michel Foucault’s final lecture course has gotten off to a great start. We welcome new members. If you would like to register or if you have questions about the group, please contact Kevin Jobe, reading group director.

Open to the public. Suggested donation: $5/meeting.
Registration: foucaultsocietyorg@gmail.com

Reading assignments are below and on our website.
ABOUT THE READING GROUP:

In the manuscript for The Courage of Truth (Palgrave, 2011), Foucault concluded by identifying a central point of contact in the complex relationship between veridiction-governmentality-subjectivation: namely, that of otherness. Taking these “last words” as a guideline, the Foucault Society’s new reading group will examine Foucault’s 1984 lecture course–which ended just before his death on June 25, 1984–as an “unfinished” problematization of truth and otherness. How may we join Foucault in re-thinking truth and government in relation to the problem of the other (l’autre)? How can the relationship to the other allow us, in various ways, to “get free of ourselves,” and to open up new possibilities and relations to truth?

Our close reading of the lecture course will be supplemented by short selections from The Government of Self and Others (Palgrave 2010), as well as Foucault’s earlier works on the history of madness, abnormality, sexuality, and other figures of “otherness.“

Schedule:
Meeting 1: Wednesday, February 8
Lecture: 1 February 1984, First and Second Hours

Meeting 2: Wednesday, February 22
Lecture: 8 February 1984, First and Second Hours
Meeting 3: Wednesday, March 14Lecture: 15 February 1984, First and Second Hours

Meeting 4: Wednesday, March 28Lecture: 22 February 1984, First and Second Hours
Meeting 5: Wednesday, April 18
Lecture: 29 February 1984, First and Second Hours
Location and time for all meetings:
7:00-9:30pm
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5409
We will cover one entire lecture (first and second hours) at each meeting, which will be held approximately every two weeks.
The reading group will continue until June 2012. Future dates will be announced soon.

New members are welcome to join at any time. Some prior familiarity with Foucault's work may be helpful. We ask that participants commit to attending most sessions in order to develop a productive dialogue among group members.

Questions? Please contact Kevin Jobe atfoucaultsocietyorg@gmail.com
Reading Group Director:
Kevin S. Jobe is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at Stony Brook University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political philosophy and the philosophy of race. He presented "The Biopolitics of Homelessness" at the Foucault Society's Colloquium Series in May 2011.

About the Book:
For table of contents and more information about The Courage of Truthfrom Palgrave Macmillan, click here.

About the Foucault Society:
The Foucault Society is an independent, nonprofit educational organization offering a variety of programs dedicated to the critical study of the ideas of Michel Foucault (1926-1984). All of our events are open to the public. We welcome new participants who have an interest in Foucault's work and its impact on diverse areas of inquiry, including critical social theory, philosophy, politics, history, culture, gender/sexuality studies, and the arts.

www.foucaultsociety.orgFacebook Twitter: @foucaultsociety
E-mail: foucaultsocietyorg@gmail.com


“What I would like to stress in conclusion is this: there is no establishment of the truth without an essential position of otherness; the truth is never the same; there can be truth only in the form of the other world and the other life (l’autre monde et de la vie autre).”

–-Michel Foucault, The Courage of Truth(manuscript), June 1984


Mark your calendars:

The Foucault Society's Colloquium Series
Spring 2012

Thurs, April 12
Kelsey Borrowman“Plasticization as Necrophilia: Death, Decomposition, and the Inorganic in Foucault”
Thurs, May 17Brooke M. Beloso"'On the Other Side of Bars': Queer Theory, S*x Work and Foucault's Unreason"
Details are on our website.


Foucault Society Fundraiser
Book Sale

Michel Foucault
The Government of Self and Others: Lectures at the College de France, 1982-1983(Palgrave, 2010)
Donation: $15

Read the lecture course leading up to Foucault's The Courage of Truth.Email us
to order your copy.

Thank you for your support.

Prometheus in Drift: An Evening of Modernist Readings, 3/2

PROMETHEUS IN DRIFT an evening of modernist readings, featuring:

G o e t h e - H ö l d e r l i n - R e n a r d - K l e i s t - W a l s e r - V a l e r y
B e c k e t t - K a f k a - S t e v e n s - Y e s e n i n - B a u d e l a i r e
M y a k o v s k y - C e l a n

friday, 03.02, 7pm nyu kimmel, rm 909, 60 washington sq s

if you would like to volunteer to read one of the selections or have any questions about the event, please contact nyu@platypus1917.org

fbinvite: http://www.facebook.com/events/286054901460379/

newyork.platypus1917.org

Foucault Society, New Reading Group: The Courage of Truth (Feb 8)

NEW READING GROUP

Michel Foucault
The Courage of Truth

The Government of Self and Others II

Lectures at the College de France, 1983-1984

First Meeting:

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
7:00-9:00pm

CUNY Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5409
New York, NY

Please join us for our new reading group on Michel Foucault’s final lecture course, recently published by Palgrave Macmillan (2011).

Our intensive, semester-long group will meet every two weeks on Wednesday evenings at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Details are below and on our website.

Open to the public. Suggested donation: $5/meeting.

Registration: foucaultsocietyorg@gmail.com

ABOUT THE READING GROUP: In the manuscript for The Courage of Truth, Foucault concluded by identifying a central point of contact in the complex relationship between veridiction-governmentality-subjectivation: namely, that of otherness. Taking these “last words” as a guideline, the Foucault Society’s new reading group will examine Foucault’s 1984 lecture course–which ended just before his death on June 25, 1984–as an “unfinished” problematization of truth and otherness. How may we join Foucault in re-thinking truth and government in relation to the problem of the other (l’autre)? How can the relationship to the other allow us, in various ways, to “get free of ourselves,” and to open up new possibilities and relations to truth? Our close reading of the lecture course will be supplemented by short selections from The Government of Self and Others (Palgrave 2010), as well as Foucault’s earlier works on the history of madness, abnormality, sexuality, and other figures of “otherness.“

Schedule: Meeting 1: Wednesday, February 8 Lecture: 1 February 1984, First and Second Hours Meeting 2: Wednesday, February 22 Lecture: 8 February 1984, First and Second Hours Complete calendar to be announced soon. Location and time for all meetings: 7:00-9:00pm CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 5409 We will cover one entire lecture (first and second hours) at each meeting, which will be held approximately every two weeks. We expect to conclude in June. In order to develop a productive dialogue among group members, we ask that participants commit to attending most sessions. Questions? Please contact Kevin Jobe at foucaultsocietyorg@gmail.com Reading Group Coordinator: Kevin S. Jobe is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at Stony Brook University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political philosophy and the philosophy of race. He presented "The Biopolitics of Homelessness" at the Foucault Society's Colloquium Series in May 2011. About the Book: For table of contents and more information about The Courage of Truth from Palgrave Macmillan, click here.

About the Foucault Society:

The Foucault Society is an independent, nonprofit educational organization offering a variety of programs dedicated to the critical study of the ideas of Michel Foucault (1926-1984). All of our events are open to the public. We welcome new participants who have an interest in Foucault's work and its impact on diverse areas of inquiry, including critical social theory, philosophy, politics, history, culture, gender/sexuality studies, and the arts.

www.foucaultsociety.org
Facebook
Twitter: @foucaultsociety

E-mail: foucaultsocietyorg@gmail.com

Poe Showcase - Thursday, 12/1

Community members and NYU students will come together to showcase an array of artistic mediums in celebration of Edgar Allan Poe. Drama, readings, animation and artwork are just a few of the creative expressions that will highlight the life and work of this mysterious story-teller. Reception to follow in the Poe Room. This event is free and open to the public. Please bring photo ID for entry. Click here to print a flyer for this event. Thursday, December 1, 2011 6:00 - 8:00 PM NYU's School of Law Furman Hall, Room 216 245 Sullivan Street New York, NY 10012 (between West 3rd Street and Washington Square South) RSVP to NYU's Office of Government and Community Affairs at 212.998.2400 or community.affairs@nyu.edu. Sponsored by: NYU's Office of Government and Community Affairs and Lois Rakoff, Community Director of the Poe Room

Elizabeth Bishop Centennial Conference: This Thursday and Friday (12/1; 12/2) at Gallatin

To the NYU and NYC Community:

Please join the Gallatin Writing Program at: VISIONS COINCIDING: An ELIZABETH BISHOP CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE, THIS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1ST and FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2ND.

Co-organized by the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study and the Poetry Society of America, with the support of the NYU Humanities Initiative.

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC at the Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts, 1 Washington Place

THURSDAY, 12/1

6-6:45 pm: Seeing Elizabeth Bishop, by Eric Karpeles

7-8:30 pm: Bishop in Brazil Screening & Discussion, by Helena Blaker, Brett Millier, Barbara Page, and Lloyd Schwartz, with Alice Quinn

FRIDAY, 12/1

1-2:30 pm: Elizabeth Bishop and Modern Art, by William Benton and Peggy Samuels, with Lisa Goldfarb

3-4:30 pm: Editors' Roundtable, by Joelle Biele, Saskia Hamilton, Lloyd Schwartz and Thomas Travisono, with Jonathan Galassi

5-6pm: Gallatin Poet/Poetry Teacher and Student Poetry Reading, by Emily Fragos, Scott Hightower, and students Jacqueline Allen, Emma Behnke, Stephanie Rodas and Luke Vargas

6:30-8 pm: Celebratory Poetry Reading, by Frank Bidart, John L. Koethe, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maureen McLane, Mark Strand and Jean Valentine

RSVP & questions: WP Coordinator Molly Kleiman, mollykleiman@nyu.edu

Talk & Book Signing

The Coles Science Center and the NYU Libraries Information Futures Group present:

"THE INFORMATION: A History, A Theory, A Flood"

A talk and book signing by author James Gleick

DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 2011
TIME: 5:30-7:00PM
LOCATION: Bobst Library, 3rd floor, Fales Reading Room, 70 Washington Sq S, New York, NY

James Gleick, author of the best sellers Chaos and Genius, will discuss his bestselling new book, The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood.

From the invention of scripts and alphabets to the long-misunderstood talking drums of Africa, Gleick tells the story of information technologies that changed the very nature of human consciousness. His compelling characters include Charles Babbage, the idiosyncratic inventor of the first great mechanical computer; Ada Byron, the brilliant and doomed daughter of the poet, who became the first true programmer; pivotal figures like Samuel Morse and Alan Turing; and Claude Shannon, the creator of information theory itself. And bringing us up to date in a time when we often feel we are drowning in a deluge of information, Gleick tells us how we got here and where we’re heading.

The Information will be available for sale on site by the NYU Bookstore, and the author will be signing copies.

**RSVP required: http://tinyurl.com/GleickRSVP

Seating for this event is on a first come, first served basis. For more information, please contact Jill Conte at jill.conte@nyu.edu.

Draper instructor Chuck Wachtel reading 5/5

Chuck Wachtel, who teaches Draper's Human Fact course each fall, will be giving a reading, along with Yusef Komunyakaa, this Thursday, May 5th at 7:00pm at NYU's Creative Writer's House (58 W. 10th St.). The evening will be hosted by Jocelyn Lieu, who is teaching Draper's Human Fact course this spring.More info is below as well as on the Creative Writing Program's events page.

Thursday, May 5th, 7pm

Yusef Komunyakaa & Chuck Wachtel

Hosted by Jocelyn Lieu

Yusef Komunyakaa introduced by Alison Roh Park; Chuck Wachtel introduced by Emily Pan

Location: Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues

Chuck Wachtel Reads with Breyten Breytenbach, 11/4

Draper's own Chuck Wachtel (who teaches The Human Fact each fall) will be reading from his new novel 3/03 at the NYU Bookstore on Thursday, November 4th at 7:00 PM. He will be joined by South African poet and and activist Breyten Breytenbach, who will read from his recent poetry collection Voice Over: A Nomadic Conversation with Mahmoud Darwish.

More information about this event is available on the NYU Bookstore website, here: http://www.bookstores.nyu.edu/events/indexnov.html/#wachtel

Check Out Upcoming Events from NYU's Humanities Initiative

NYU's Humanities Initiative hosts a variety of panels and events throughout the year which may be of interest to you. A few of the upcoming events are listed below, but you can also find more information on their website, here: http://www.humanitiesinitiative.org/

***

Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy
September 16, 2010
5pm
20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor

A book launch for Kathleen Fitzpatrick on the occasion of the launch of The New Everyday Website and the Digital Humanities Working Research Group, and the publication of Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy (MediaCommons Press 2010)

Reception to follow.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick is Professor of Media Studies at Pomona College. She is spending this year as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Media, Culture and Communication and as an honorary fellow of the Humanities Initiative at NYU.

Co-sponsored by Media Commons/The New Everyday, The Humanities Initiative & The Digital Humanities Working Research Group, NYU Press, NYU Libraries, and the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.

Food Politics
September 22, 2010
5pm
20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor

A book launch for Marion Nestle to celebrate the new edition of Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety (University of California Press 2010)

Reception to follow.

Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. She also holds appointments as Professor of Sociology at New York University and Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. A prolific author, her most recent books include Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine, Feed Your Pet Right: The Authoritative Guide to Feeding Your Dog and Cat, and What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating.

The Politics and Poetics of Refugees
September 23-25, 2010
20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor

This three day symposium will draw together academics and practitioners working on refugee-related issues to explore how crisis, sovereignty, representation and culture intersect in the figure of the refugee. By highlighting the social agency, political activism, and cultural expressions that refugees enact, we hope to trouble conventional representations of the regugee as the fearful subject, bereft of speech, for a more robust sense of the political aspirations of these subjects.

Co-sponsored by the The Institute for Public Knowledge, the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, the Asian/Pacific/American Institute, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, the Department of English, the Department of Anthropology, the Anglophone Project, and the Office of the Dean for Humanities.

For more information, including a conference program, please visit refugeesymposium2010.blogspot.com.

Fanaticism: The Uses of An Idea
September 28, 2010
5pm
20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor

A lecture by Alberto Toscano, exploring the critical role fanaticism plays in forming modern politics and the liberal state, and undermining the idea that liberalism and fanaticism are irrevocably opposed.

Reception to follow.

Alberto Toscano is a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of The Theatre of Production, translator of Alain Badiou's The Century and Logics of Worlds and co-editor of Alain Badiou's Theoretical Writings and On Beckett. His most recent book, Fanaticism: The Uses of an Idea, is published by Verso.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Media, Culture and Communication.

Draper Alumna Elizabeth Streb: Reading Tomorrow (8/12) at McNally Jackson

Draper alumna Elizabeth Streb (May 2008) has just published a new book entitled Streb: How to Become an Extreme Action Hero. She'll be reading from this new work at the McNally Jackson bookstore tomorrow, Thursday, August 12th, at 7:30 PM. Details are below. Congrats, Streb!

STREB: How to Become an Extreme Action Hero
Elizabeth Streb
Foreword by Anna Deavere Smith
Introduction by Peggy Phelan

"Fearlessness and intelligence combined--that is what makes Elizabeth Streb's work so potent and beautiful."

-Mikhail Baryshnikov-

You are cordially invited to a reading at 7:30pm on Thursday August 12th at:

McNally Jackson Books
(b/t Lafayette & Mulberry)
New York, NY 10012

Elizabeth Streb has been testing the potential of the human body since childhood. Can she fly? Can she run up walls? Can she break through glass? How fast can she go? Combining memoir and theory, Streb conveys how she became an extreme action choreographer, developing a form of movement that's more NASCAR than modern dance, more boxing than ballet. This book is for those who try or are willing to do just about anything to become a hero in their own way.

STREB book reading -- 8/12

From Draper alumn Elizabeth Streb...

STREB: How to Become an Extreme Action Hero
Elizabeth Streb
Foreword by Anna Deavere Smith
Introduction by Peggy Phelan

"Fearlessness and intelligence combined-that is what makes Elizabeth Streb's work so potent and beautiful."
-Mikhail Baryshnikov

You are cordially invited to a reading at 7:30pm on Thursday August 12th at:
McNally Jackson Books
52 Prince St.
(b/t Lafayette & Mulberry)
New York, NY 10012
212.274.1160

Elizabeth Streb has been testing the potential of the human body since childhood. Can she fly? Can she run up walls? Can she break through glass? How fast can she go? Combining memoir and theory, Streb conveys how she became an extreme action choreographer, developing a form of movement that's more NASCAR than modern dance, more boxing than ballet. This book is for those who try or are willing to do just about anything to become a hero in their own way.

"Elizabeth courts danger, tricks the eye, and thrills the spirit. She is a dynamic force. She's superhuman. She's Superwoman."
-Trisha Brown, choreographer and visual artist

"In this inspiring and passionate book, ultra-tenacious Elizabeth shares with the reader some of her surrealist goals: leaving a room through the walls; never landing after jumping; and moving so fast that you stand still. Wow!"
- Philippe Petit, high wire artist-in-residence, Cathedral St. John the Divine

Reading and Book Launch Party for Chuck Wachtel, 6/17

Dear Students-

Please join us in congratulating Chuck Wachtel, who teaches "Human Fact I" for Draper each fall, on the publication of his new novel, 3/03. The Lillian Vernon Creative Writers' House will be hosting a reading and launch party for the book next week on Thursday, June 17th, and Draper students are invited to attend. More information is below.

Congrats, Chuck!

***

Reading/party: For Chuck Wachtel's new book 3/03
Readers: Chuck Wachtel, Hettie Jones, Robert Hershon

Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House
58 West 10th Street (bet 5th and 6th Avenues)

Thursday, June 17, 6:30pm-8:30pm
Free & Open to the Public

Robert Hershon's most recent book is Calls from the Outside World, his 12th collection. His work has appeared in The Nation, American Poetry Review and Poetry 180, and numerous other magazines and periodicals, and he has recently written for the Poetry Foundation and Best American Poetry websites. Among his awards are two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and three from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Hershon has edited Hanging Loose Press since 1966 and served as director of The Print Center since 1976.

Hettie Jones has published three collections of poems: Drive (winner of the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber Award), All Told, and Doing 70. Her celebrated memoir of the Beat Scene, How I Became Hettie Jones, is regarded as a model of the genre. Her many other books include, No Woman No Cry, co-authored with Rita Marley, and several books for children. Jones lectures widely and currently teaches in the Graduate Program in Creative Writing at the New School and at the 92nd Street Y.

Chuck Wachtel is the author of the novels Joe The Engineer, winner of the Pen/Hemingway Citation, and The Gates; a collection of stories and novellas: Because We Are Here (all Viking-Penguin); and five collections of poems and short prose, including The Coriolis Effect and, most recently, What Happens to Me. A new novel, 3/03, will appear in summer 2010. He has written the screenplay for Joe The Engineer currently in pre-production as a film. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at N.Y.U.

Race, Culture & Black Identity series tomorrow, 3/25

The Institute of African-American Affairs, Afro-Latin@ Forum, and
Programs in Africana Studies and Latino Studies at NYU present:

TANGLED ORIGINS:
Race, Culture & Black Identity in the U.S.
3-part series

The ways that people of African descent in the U.S. have defined themselves have always been complex but recent demographic changes are posing new questions and new challenges. Can one become Black? Can one “migrate” into blackness? What does it mean to be Black when you aren't African American? What are the processes that permit or discourage changes in our understanding of blackness?

“Tangled Origins: Race, Culture & Black Identity in the U.S.” is a series of three conversations at New York University that will look at the shifting notions of race and the current redefinitions of “blackness” throughout the U.S. Discussions will center on the overlapping complexities in the histories, cultures and politics among peoples of African descent.

Join us for the final part of this series, where we engage creativity and cultural expression.


PART III - "UNTYING THE KNOTS: DIASPORIC CULTURAL LINKAGES"

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 6:00 PM
Where: Department of Social & Cultural Analysis
20 Cooper Square, 4th Floor New York, NY 10003

Performances & Readings by Charan P., Kevin Nathaniel Hylton, & R. Erica Doyle

Panel Discussion & Conversation with Awam Amkpa, Juan Flores, Angelique V. Nixon, & Rich Blint

Verse Chorus Reading at KGB Bar feat. Yvonne Garrett, Tomorrow, 12/15

Head to the KGB Bar tomorrow, Tuesday, December 15th from 7:00 - 9:00 PM for a Verse Chorus reading featuring Draper student Yvonne Garrett!

More information is available on the KGB Web site:
http://kgbbar.com/calendar/events/verse_chorus_reading/

Tonight!

Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU presents
An Ethics of Betrayal:
The Politics of Otherness in Emergent U.S. Literatures and Culture
Book Talk with Crystal Parikh
Moderated by Ann Pellegrini

Thursday, September 24, 2009
NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis
20 Cooper Square, 4th Floor
6PM-8PM

RSVP immediately online at http://www.apa.nyu.edu or email: apa.rsvp@nyu.edu or call 212-992-9653.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.apa.nyu.edu.

In An Ethics of Betrayal, Crystal Parikh investigates the theme and tropes of betrayal and treason in Asian American and Chicano/Latino literary and cultural narratives. In considering betrayal from an ethical perspective, one grounded in the theories of Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida, Parikh argues that the minority subject is obligated in a primary, preontological, and irrecusable relation of responsibility to the Other. Episodes of betrayal and treason allegorize the position of this subject, beholden to the many others who embody the alterity of existence and whose demands upon the subject result in transgressions of intimacy and loyalty. In this first major comparative study of narratives by and about Asian Americans and Latinos, Parikh considers writings by Frank Chin, Gish Jen, Chang-rae Lee, Eric Liu, Américo Parades, and Richard Rodriguez, as well as narratives about the persecution of Wen Ho Lee and the rescue and return of Elian González. By addressing the conflicts at the heart of filiality, the public dimensions of language in the constitution of minority "community," and the mercenary mobilizations of "model minority" status, An Ethics of Betrayal seriously engages the challenges of conducting ethnic and critical race studies based on the uncompromising and unromantic ideas of justice, reciprocity, and ethical society.

Crystal Parikh is Assistant Professor of Social & Cultural Analysis and English, and Ann Pellegrini is Associate Professor of Performance Studies and Religious Studies at NYU.

Co-sponsored by the NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

Draper Student News: Yvonne Garrett, Reader in Sixth Annual Marathon Reading of "Song of Myself"

On Sunday, September 6th, Draper student Yvonne Garrett participated in the Sixth Annual Marathon Reading of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself." Yvonne writes about the experience below.

This past Sunday I was one of some forty New Yorkers who read aloud Walt Whitman’s epic poem “Song of Myself.” Organized by the Whitman Project, the reading was hosted by NYU Professor Karen Karbiener and took place aboard the tall ship Peking at the South Street Seaport Museum in Lower Manhattan.

Jack Putnam from the Museum started the reading with a brief historical background and Prof. Karbiener provided an introduction to Whitman and his work. Each of the readers was vastly different in reading style – some very straightforward and others highly theatrical. All ages and many accents – Manhattan, Brooklyn, Southern, some I couldn’t identify – were represented giving the reading a decided Whitman-esque quality. Although the day started out sunny and fair, by the time my sections came up (36 and 37), the wind had picked up, the sky was filled with ominous clouds and the temperature had dropped – a fitting backdrop for those sections which start, “Stretch'd and still lies the midnight/Two great hulls motionless on the breast of the darkness..” Most of the readers read from the project-provided Dover Thrift edition although some used their own preferred version of the poem. Whitman was famous for his revisions (some claim that these revisions often did not improve the poem) and hearing the back and forth between the different versions gave the reading a unique depth that a straight reading can’t provide.

The reading itself took nearly three hours – an exhausting but also exhilarating event. This is my second year participating and the uniquely New York experience of hearing and reading this poem aloud with so many other New Yorkers in such an apt setting (the foredeck of a 19th Century barque) is one I highly recommend.