tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post5997546372917305704..comments2024-03-09T03:20:20.004-05:00Comments on Tenured Radical: Why I Have A Million Little Reasons For Thinking That Roger Clemens Might Have Used Performance Enhancing Drugs (And Other Modern Lies)Tenured Radicalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-55315624600907396412008-03-07T00:19:00.000-05:002008-03-07T00:19:00.000-05:00Susan, firstly I've no idea why someone, of any ra...Susan, firstly I've no idea why someone, of any race would claim they have ancestors from any other race, when they don’t.<BR/>But I can understand if a white person was to lie about it that they would chose to lie about having Native American ancestry, over claiming they have African- American ancestors.<BR/>It's quite simple really; it would be easier to get away with it. The difference b/w a white person’s skin tone & a Native Americans is a lot less then the difference b/w a white person’s and an African Americans.<BR/>One lie people may believe, another will most likely be scoffed at. If you’re going to the trouble of lying, you might as well make it more likely to be believed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-17080802607881565962008-03-06T09:27:00.000-05:002008-03-06T09:27:00.000-05:00To Susan: Whites? Which whites? I suspect all k...To Susan: Whites? Which whites? I suspect all kinds of people -- white or otherwise -- discover all kinds of interesting/exotic/other ancestry. I also suspect there is no good study of who claims what ancestry and for what reason/s, except Native American, and that's for legal/administrative reasons. "Exotic" depends on where you stand in the narrative.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-28581729294560383592008-03-06T05:26:00.000-05:002008-03-06T05:26:00.000-05:00This is for confused: You still cite sources even ...This is for confused: You still cite sources even if you have permission to use them. Duh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-43132002258786614012008-03-05T22:10:00.000-05:002008-03-05T22:10:00.000-05:00Just in terms of racial fantasies, it's probably s...Just in terms of racial fantasies, it's probably significant that she claimed to be part Native American, not part African-American. I remember years ago a friend saying that it was quite common for whites to "discover" Native American ancestry, but few discovered African- American ancestors.<BR/><BR/>Not that this will surprise your readers, but just saying...Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09716705206734059708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-75022917486759679682008-03-05T20:25:00.000-05:002008-03-05T20:25:00.000-05:00"even" Oprah?"even" Oprah?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-51687004712343928422008-03-05T19:39:00.000-05:002008-03-05T19:39:00.000-05:00parts of it are quoted in the NY Times spread - wh...parts of it are quoted in the NY Times spread - which I think ABW is quoting - and whole sections were circulated on the internet yesterday. (I know that's not your point, but just in case anybody is interested in reading some, since it looks like you can only get used copies now from major distributers).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-19311995477106106142008-03-05T18:37:00.000-05:002008-03-05T18:37:00.000-05:00Piri Thomas?What's the controversy with him?Piri Thomas?<BR/><BR/><BR/>What's the controversy with him?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-61765554253800793442008-03-05T18:02:00.000-05:002008-03-05T18:02:00.000-05:00I haven't read the book. So, I don't know to what ...I haven't read the book. So, I don't know to what extent her book reproduces gendered racial stereotypes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-64579490380453514802008-03-05T17:40:00.000-05:002008-03-05T17:40:00.000-05:00Not to belabor the point any longer but I am confu...Not to belabor the point any longer but I am confused. So we are comparing the following:<BR/><BR/>A white woman author from a privileged and racially exclusive experience who passed as 1/2 indigenous and penned a work that supported stereotypical images of indigenous, African American, and Chican@ communities for a thirsty white audience<BR/><BR/>Oprah Winfrey's book club <BR/><BR/>Skip Gates genome supported assertion about the existence of bi-racial indigenous African Americans<BR/><BR/>Obama's uncited use of a quote by a black man running part of his campaign; which both Obama and the quoted person say he had permission to use.<BR/><BR/>Forgive me, maybe I have spent too much time watching Sesame Street with my kids lately but "One of these things is not like the other; One of these thigns does not belong."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-29457851332091528282008-03-05T17:37:00.000-05:002008-03-05T17:37:00.000-05:00Gates was not participating in the myth-making; he...Gates was not participating in the myth-making; he was exposing pervasive claims of indigenous ancestry in the black community as more often myth than not. Of course, there are black as well as white people with actual indigenous ancestry - the point being?<BR/><BR/>What I'm getting is that fantasies about and, in some cases, the desire to be the Other is not limited to any one social category of people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-59498024876779557562008-03-05T17:31:00.000-05:002008-03-05T17:31:00.000-05:00If this story were passed off as "fiction," it wou...If this story were passed off as "fiction," it would then be obviously racist since it's penned by a white woman stereotyping African American gangbangers and calling her foster mother "Big Mom" (clearly an indication that she's <I>not</I>a woman of color because who talks like that?!), as prof black woman already pointed out. <BR/><BR/>Seriously, what is the fascination that certain whites have about the racial Other, especially this need to "pass as Native/brown/black"?Anxious Black Womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14533957811121643966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-25336298134130979862008-03-05T17:20:00.000-05:002008-03-05T17:20:00.000-05:00How do you feel about borrowing the words of other...How do you feel about borrowing the words of others without attribution? Even when it's your friends...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-68468780330640347892008-03-05T17:14:00.000-05:002008-03-05T17:14:00.000-05:00The worst part of the story is that the book would...The worst part of the story is that the book would have been just as interesting if she had written it honestly, as an observer. Or as fiction.<BR/><BR/>It is a shame - so many people's careers damaged.Amyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11342425698876916791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-56529405209467680022008-03-05T17:00:00.000-05:002008-03-05T17:00:00.000-05:00anon - hope you saw my reference to the colonial ...anon - hope you saw my reference to the colonial fantasies of the readership and the publisher; I'm not just talking about the author. Smith and Green both talk about the entire audience for such narratives. (sorry TR haven't read Deloria)<BR/><BR/>I don't know about Gates and his myth-making; clearly there is a long history of that in both the Af-Am and white community perpetuated in part by the marketing of "the Indian Princess" images. However there are actual black people with indigenous ancestry as several anthologies on the topic, an annual conference, as well as well-publicized oustings of afro-indigenous people from native nations in the last 20 years attest to. It's an interesting connection to go from a white undergrad writing a stereotypical poverty turned good narrative to one of a famous black academic claiming a piece of indigeneity, especially after claiming she "demonstrate[s] a remarkable understanding of that which she is not." Hmmm things to think about it . . . tho I am sure I have thrown your blog off focus once again TR. sorry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-59673230942658311092008-03-05T13:48:00.000-05:002008-03-05T13:48:00.000-05:00What I find fascinating about this story is that t...What I find fascinating about this story is that this apparently affluent white woman convinced everyone she was otherwise. We certainly should consider that this may be an instance of "colonial fantasy" or white people's desire to to be Other but we should not ignore the other side of this issue. If she did indeed "[tap] into a historical phenomena in which white authors put on literary black face," she also 'tapped' into her readership's imaginary and desire for such "authentic" stories of life on the margins. Doesn't the fact that she convinced so many people (even Oprah) by assuming a voice that wasn't hers demonstrate a remarkable understanding of that which she is not and of what her readers long for. Rather than assuming this is a manifestation of her desire to be Other, couldn't other things be at work here? <BR/><BR/>And no one saw Henry Louis Gates Jr. on PBS recently, demonstrating the myth of indigenous ancestry among African-Americans?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-65414437568008778682008-03-05T13:43:00.000-05:002008-03-05T13:43:00.000-05:00Absolutely TR – No doubt it had something to do wi...Absolutely TR – No doubt it had something to do with his sexuality, which probably caused some sort of identity crisis, resulting in ideological extremism.<BR/><BR/>It’s very much a part of the self-delusion / lie theme; some people actually think that a significant number of others care about their sexuality, when in fact very few people care the slightest whit about another person’s sexuality (or bathroom habits, or pick any other biological function.) <BR/><BR/>It’s surely a pity when a biological function, instead of a critical analysis of truth and how it pertains to the human condition i.e. economic well-being, freedom from political tyranny, etc, ends up driving a person’s ideology, isn’t it? <BR/><BR/>-RickAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-88544355490599029812008-03-05T09:33:00.000-05:002008-03-05T09:33:00.000-05:00Dear Rick,Tell me about it -- remember David Brock...Dear Rick,<BR/><BR/>Tell me about it -- remember David Brock, who wrote <I>Blinded By the Right: the Conscience of an Ex_conservative,</I> in which he admitted that he made up nearly everything he wrote about the enemies of the conservative establishment, including the hatchet job on Anita Hill, and writing all those homophobic tracts when he himself was a closet queer?<BR/><BR/>Boy, what people will do when they are convinced of their ideological superiority.<BR/><BR/>TRTenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-26752425808189742622008-03-05T02:23:00.000-05:002008-03-05T02:23:00.000-05:00Sorry about that; you didn't leave that part out. ...Sorry about that; you didn't leave that part out. <BR/><BR/>And I agree he had 3 years to check her story out but I think it was the whole sway of colonial fantasy that made it possible. If she is 1/2 indigenous living amongst black and brown drug running youth than it confirms a number of liberal and conservative stereotypes/myths/desires about the lives of urban youth of color. If she is white writing fiction, then it is harder not confront the racialized (and gendered) gaze in which she writes these fantasies into being.<BR/><BR/>Anyway it will be interesting to see how she spins it as she wraps up that creative writing degree.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-86379884510914455422008-03-04T22:44:00.000-05:002008-03-04T22:44:00.000-05:00You mean like Ward Churchill? And all those Soviet...You mean like Ward Churchill? <BR/><BR/>And all those Soviet and East German "chicks" from the 70s? (I'll take a double-dose of whatever Marion was using over that stuff, thank you.)<BR/><BR/>Yep, a whole lotta lyin’ goin' on; been goin' on for years. It’s amazing what people can convince themselves of when they’re sure of their ideological superiority…<BR/><BR/>-RickAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-25434330184480285682008-03-04T21:14:00.000-05:002008-03-04T21:14:00.000-05:00Dear professor black woman,Right you are -- Piri T...Dear professor black woman,<BR/><BR/>Right you are -- Piri Thomas for one, <I>Down These Mean Streets</I>. I didn't quite leave it out that she was "playing Indian," as Phil Deloria and Rayna Green, in addiiton to Smith, would say: <I>"The faux memoirist, Margaret B. Jones (pictured above left), who claimed to be a part Native American woman raised by a foster family of African-American gang bangers, was turned in by her (white) sister. The sister from the white suburban family she actually grew up in."</I><BR/><BR/>But yes -- your point is correct: whether you want to call it racial masquerade or minstrelsy, it is a long tradition. And it is usually associated with a kind of white "longing" -- for authenticity, for love, for an idealized "home."<BR/><BR/>And yeah, I guess they did meet in Starbucks. But jeez, academia does few things right, but I don;t know anybody who would turn over a 100K research account over a cup of coffee to someone they hadn't checked out at all.<BR/><BR/>TRTenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-833476092752542892008-03-04T20:01:00.000-05:002008-03-04T20:01:00.000-05:00OBAMA WINS VERMONT.OBAMA WINS VERMONT.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-12685624684990486052008-03-04T18:24:00.000-05:002008-03-04T18:24:00.000-05:00It is unlikely that this particular author has met...It is unlikely that this particular author has met any of those subaltern who are speaking without her help in Eugene Oregon or in her private Episcopalian school before college.<BR/><BR/>More importantly, unlike other "liars," this "memoir" taps into a historical phenomena in which white authors put on literary black face particularly with regards to indigenous and urban communities. What your piece leaves out is that she not only wrote a memoir in the voice of drug dealing, subsistence level, foster kids of color but that she passed herself off as 1/2 indigenous. Her reliance on gendered racial stereotypes and the "perils of indigenous female identity" are ones that are all too common in literature and some historical journals. <BR/><BR/>When I heard this news break last night, I immediately thought of Andrea Smith's book Conquest in which she addresses similar narratives of trying on indigenous identity in literature, memoir, and journal writing as one of many acts of colonial fantasy. Under the circumstances I think she is less symptomatic of the modern turn toward lying in print and part of a much larger history of cultural appropriation and neo-colonial fantasy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-77394868344196816122008-03-04T18:20:00.000-05:002008-03-04T18:20:00.000-05:00But she DID meet the subaltern face to face - at S...But she DID meet the subaltern face to face - at Starbucks!TheCrankyProfessorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15044204782286107779noreply@blogger.com