The Mask Strikes Back: Blackness as Aporia in Moby-Dick and Benito Cereno

What is the American Gothic a reaction to? Whereas other thinkers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne locates the building blocks of the American Gothic in Puritan Christianity or Amerindian Genocide, I argue that Melville posits the genesis of chattel slavery and the construction of racial category as the repressed events that haunt the Americas and return uninvited. By using the Gothic motif of the living corpse, the famed writer of Moby-Dick addresses the social bereavement which Blackness comes to represent in the Americas. By looking for truth on the skin and flesh, the main characters of Moby-Dick and “Benito Cereno” represent the Enlightenment precept that truth can be arrested via observation and interpretation. Melville presents two Black characters as impasses in this project of interpretation: Moby-Dick’s drowned boy, Pip, and “Benito Cereno’s” undead leader, Babo

Biomass estimates of Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi, in California from the 1990-91 spawning-ground surveys

The spawning biomass of Pacific herring, Clupea pallasi, estimated from spawning-ground surveys in San Francisco Bay declined to 45,850 tons this season, following a peak of 71,000 tons in the 1989-90 season. This is the first major decline since the 1983-84 El Nino. In Tomales Bay the 1990-91 spawning biomass more than doubled to 779 tons. The spawning biomass has increased the past two seasons, while the fishery has been closed. There was no biomass estimate for Bodega Bay, but an additional 95 tons of herring were caught in Bodega Bay this season. The total herring biomass for the Tomales- Bodega area is a minimum of 874 tons. Humboldt Bay was surveyed by the Department for the first time this season, and spawning biomass was estimated to be 400 tons. January was the month of peak spawning activity in all spawning areas surveyed. In San Francisco Bay, 62% of all spawning occurred alonq the San Francisco waterfront; for the first time there was no significant spawninq in the northern part of the bay. Nearly 70% of the spawning activity in San Francisco Bay occurred on January 3-6, 1991. A total of 3.5 million m2 of eelgrass, Zostera marina, was measured in Tomales Bay this season. The change in eelgrass density this season varied from bed to bed, however the overall density of eelgrass in Tomales Bay declined. (44pp.

Biological characteristics of the catch from the 1990-91 Pacific Herring, Clupea pallasi, roe fishery in California

The Tomales-Bodega Bay catch during the past two seasons has been from the northern part of Bodega Bay, due to the closure of the Tomales Bay fishery. In the Tomales-Bodega Bay area, 4-, 5-, and 6-yr-old herring Clupea pallasi, comprised 79% by number of the 1990-91 season's gill net catch. The number of 4-yr olds (1987 year class) increased to 21% of the gill net catch. Four-yr olds are an indicator of recruitment strength into the gill net fishery. Average length of herring in the Tomales-Bodega Bay area gill net catch decreased due to a shift to younger herring in the catch, as well as, poor growth characteristics during 1990. Herring age and size data obtained from Tomales Bay with a variable mesh research gill net were similar to data from San Francisco Bay obtained with the same net. All age classes were taken and herring ranged in length from 148 mm to 226 mm. In San Francisco Bay, the age composition of the gill net catch was also primarily 4-, 5-, and 6-yr-old herring, which comprised 79% of the catch. In the round haul fishery 2- and 3-yr-old herring dominated, comprising 72% of the catch. The average length of herring in the San Francisco Bay gill net and round haul catches decreased. Both are the lowest recorded average lengths by the respective gear types except for the 1983-84 El Nino season. Observed poor growth characteristics this season are attributed to reduced upwelling off central California in 1990. (26pp.

Black Praxis: The Trace of Jamesian Pragmatism in DuBoisian Scholar Activism

Philosophy and activism formed a mutualist relationship in regards to 20th-century Black American politics. Emancipatory theories undergirded the civil disobedience and reformist action of the entire century. W.E.B. DuBois, renowned African-American academic at the forefront of American and Pan-Africanist liberation movements, is often divorced from his originary philosophical roots. As he became the first Black PhD graduate of Harvard University, his mentor was philosopher and psychologist William James. James is the forefather of American Pragmatism, a school of thought still alive and dynamic in this day. DuBoisian scholars tend however to stress the German Idealist influences on DuBois’s thought. Informed by protracted and ongoing theoretical and journalistic research, my project aims to locate the trace of Jamesian Pragmatism in DuBois’s scholar activism. I argue that DuBois’s struggles with Pragmatism engendered a way of thinking that resembles Marxist thought before DuBois ever went to Berlin. Further, DuBois’s idealist revision of Jamesian logic informs his pre-NAACP activism with the Niagara Movement. All in all, my research shows how, despite his disagreements with his mentor, DuBois does not quite disavow pragmatism throughout this very political academic career. This research was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and was guided by Dr. Scott Hancock of Gettysburg College\u27s History Department

Biomass estimates of Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, in California from the 1981-82 spawning ground surveys

The spawning biomass of Pacific herring in San Francisco Bay and Tomales Bay was estimated to be 99,495 tons and 7,149 tons, respectively during the 1981-82 season. This is the highest estimate to date for San Francisco Bay and continues a rising trend in abundance. The Tomales Bay population increased to the highest level in 4 years. (22pp.

Biological characteristics of the catch from 1984-85 Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, roe fishery in California

In Tomales Bay, 5-, 6-, and 7-yr-old herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, composed 75% by number of the 1984-85 season's catch. In San Francisco Bay, 2-, 3-, and 4-yr-old herring composed 82% by number of the roundhaul catch, and 5-, 6-, and 7-yr-old herring composed 68% by number of the gill net catch. The percent of 4-yr-old herring increased to a record high level in the San Francisco Bay gill net catch. Recruitment of 2-yr-old herring into the San Francisco Bay roundhaul fishery was excellent, with 2-yr-old herring composing 41% of the catch. The growth rate of herring improved in both Tomales and San Francisco Bays, after the period of poor growth during the recent El Nino, when the weight of herring averaged 20% below normal. (23pp.

Poetic Witness in a Networked Age

When online videos mobilize protestors to occupy public spaces, and those protestors incorporate hashtags in their chants and markered placards, deliberative democratic theory must no longer dismiss technology and peoples historically excluded from the arena of politics. Specifically, political models must account for the role of repetition in paving the way for unheard and unseen messages and people to appear in the political arena. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of the Performative and Hannah Arendt’s Space of Appearance, this paper assesses that critical and generative role of iteration. Repeating unheeded acts performs the capacity for those acts to be entered into discourse. The World Wide Web evidently augments such performativity with features such as accessibility, potential for ‘viral’ proliferation, and an endurance unlike non-networked acts. This paper eventually grapples with the hazards and risks of networked repetition (e.g. desensitization, trivialization, etc.) in order to propose a poetics of repetition to mitigate those dangers. Such poetics ultimately distinguishes the witness from the spectator

Biological characteristics of the catch from the 1986-87 Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, roe fishery in California

In Tomales Bay, 4-, 5-, and 6-yr-old herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, composed 85% by number of the 1986-87 season's catch. In San Francisco Bay, 2-, 3-, and 4-yr-old herring composed 88% of the roundhaul catch, and 4-, 5-, and 6-yr-old herring composed 86% by number of the gill net catch. The age composition of both the Tomales Bay and San Francisco Bay gill net catch has shifted to primarily 4-, 5-, and 6-yr-old herring. Recruitment of 2-yr-old herring into the San Francisco Bay roundhaul fishery was good, with the 1985 yr class composing 37% of the catch. The mean length of herring in the San Francisco Bay roundhaul catch decreased to 174 mm BL, and the mean length of the gill net catch decreased to 194 mm BL. The mean length of the Tomales Bay catch also decreased to 197 mm BL. Average weight at age of Tomales Bay herring is below average for the fourth consecutive year. In San Francisco Bay the average weight at age is above average, even though length at age declined slightly. (20pp.

Biological characteristics of the catch from the 1985-86 Pacific herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, roe fishery in California

In Tomales Bay, 4-, 5-, and 6-yr-old herring, Clupea harengus pallasi, composed 70% by number of the 1985-86 season's catch. In San Francisco Bay, 2-, 3-, and 4-yr-old herring composed 78% by number of the roundhaul catch, and 4- and 5-yr-old herring composed 64% by number of the gill net catch. The percent of 4-yr-old herring in both the Tomales Bay catch (25% and San Francisco Bay gill net catch (39%) is at a high level for the second year in a row. Recruitment of 2-yr-old herring into the San Francisco Bay roundhaul fishery was about average, with 2-yr-old herring composing 33% of the catch. The mean length of herring in the San Francisco Bay roundhaul catch increased to 178 mm BL, while the mean length of the gill net catch remained 196 mm BL. The mean length of the Tomales Bay catch decreased to 198 mm BL due to the increased number of 3- and 4-yr-old herring in the catch. (18pp.