Being in One’s Place: Race, Ontology and the Killing of Trayvon Martin

The killing of Trayvon Martin along with the trial and acquittal of George Zimmerman provoked many discussions and debates: some touching upon painful issues, others just rather painful to listen to or read. What struck me most however were the conversations and opinions about what the killing, trial, and subsequent acquittal meant for our nation. What we came to learn is that the killing, trial and acquittal mean different things to different people. That fact should neither surprise us nor make us hesitant to examine, still further, the complex nature of the Trayvon Martin killing, its aftermath, and the history of our nation

Of Pomo Academicus, Reconsidered

This article considers the relationship between what would generally be viewed as a postmodern perspective and the rise and multiple use of the prefix “post” by those arguing that we are finally beyond certain oppressive political, cultural and social issues, and dynamics, such as the racist and sexist ideologies that have historically permeated and plagued our nation’s institutions, including higher education. Many of those who champion the prefix “post” assert that they offer us a narrative, description and framework of a post-racial and post-feminist era that they want us to acknowledge and embrace. I, however, claim that such a utilization and imposition (as opposed to the more generous sounding “offer”) of the various “posts” that we have been presented with are, more often than not, precisely little more than reactionary moves to reestablish and reaffirm the very type of thinking and structure that we have allegedly moved beyond

Meal Time as Medium: Duration and the work of AO&

This article takes the work of the Austrian collective AO& as its primary case study. Immanuel Kant's concept of ‘civilized bliss’, as considered by Peter Melville, allows for further enquiry into the history of food preparation, as outlined by Luce Giard in her research on ‘living and cooking’. The article also looks to ephemerality and meaning, juxtaposing Henri Lefebvre's assertion that the everyday is the mediator between nature and culture with notions of meal time. From a temporal perspective grounded in Henri Bergson's conception of consciousness and slowed rhythms, it is argued that the methodology of AO& allows for the extension and distillation of the everyday by rescuing an aesthetics of eating from readymade urban experience