Y Announcements

Hi everyone,

As I’m sure you know, or will find out shortly, final grades were posted a short while ago. I wanted to tell you again how much I enjoyed our class and your final papers. I attached a few comments directly to your exams in Blackboard, but about midway through this process I began to jot my notes down in a Word document instead because the application in Blackboard became too cumbersome. Or it could be that my computer is too old, I’m not sure. But I’m going to go with Blackboard. In any case, if you are interested in reading my remarks, just let me know. I realize at the end of the semester some of you are ready to move on and that’s fine too.

Best of luck with whatever is next for you and thank you again for a great class.

Elizabeth

Hey everyone – just an FYI – I tried to upload my final while using Chrome and it wouldn’t let me/kept bringing me to an empty page. I ended up needing to download Mozilla Firefox in order to use the program.

If this is happening to you, it’s just a glitch in their system and try using a different browser!!

Hi everyone,

Your classmate Ellie e-mailed to ask if there is a penalty for exams that exceed the wordcount. If you go over the required wordcount you will not be penalized.

Elizabeth

I posted a reply to this question but am seeing that WordPress did not publish my reply. I’m sorry for the delay.

-Elizabeth

——–

Ellie asked:

“Can you expand on what you mean by the “conflict” between power/domination as a cultural thing rather than something institutionalized? Power can be institutionalized (i.e. systematic racism or women living under Taliban rule being prevented from going to school), but are we arguing the ways in which forms of oppressive power can also be cultural? Is it acceptable to describe the “conflict” by explaining how culture can enhance these forms of oppressive power? I’m using Abu-Lughod’s piece and “are women human” to discuss the West’s ideas about what is right for women in terms of identity and the ways in which women do/don’t have power (kind of comparing the West to the Middle East). Does it make sense to discuss the conflict relatively to the West/East and how conditions differ for women.”

Hi Ellie,

With this question, there is some flexibility on how to interpret the distinction between power as cultural and / or institutional. Just make sure you draw on the texts we’ve read to explain how you are interpreting this distinction. That said, when I drafted this question I was guided some by how this distinction is addressed in the work of Peterson and Parisi.

I hope this helps.

Elizabeth

Hi everyone,

This is just a reminder that the final exam is due this Tuesday, May 23rd, at 9pm. If you have not done so already, please make sure you login to Blackboard ASAP to make sure you have access to the prompt for the exam. The tab “Final Exam” appears in the menu bar on the left; after you click on the tab you will be able to upload your exam to the website. The prompt will be available for a few hours after the due date; however, late exams will incur a penalty (a deduction of a full letter grade). A copy of the rubric for the exam is located under “Resources” on our WordPress site. If you have not done so already, please familiarize yourself with the rubric.

Thanks,

Elizabeth

I was thinking about our discussion on my commute home this evening, and about Ellie’s comment / question about whether it is profitable to invest in protections and entitlements for labor. What Gilmore brings to this discussion is how the expansion of prisons is becoming a solution to a problem that was at one time viewed as the state’s socio-economic problems. She argues (1999:174) that this expansion of prisons is part of the state’s reorganization and restructuring of itself so that capitalist production in the U.S. is becoming more aligned with “supra-national trade” in a global political economy.

It is interesting to read what Gilmore writes about Angela Davis’ work. She notes how Davis (and others) argue that the (capitalist political-economic) system pose a limit to reform. Attempts to reform the system end up strengthening institutions rather than transforming them. As Gilmore (1999:183) explains, “At first, California planned simply to replace decrepit facilities with small (500 person) new ones. However, that plan never materialized. Instead, new power blocs (which took office in 1982 using a strategy similar to Nixon’s 1968 ‘law and order’ campaign) used the improvement plans as a template for the ‘megaprisons’ that have since been built.”

Here’s more you can read, if you are interested:

As I mentioned, Aihwa Ong’s work, Neoliberalism as Exception, lends support to the climate that Gilmore describes. Ong addresses how the terms of citizenship are altered by global capitalism. Mark Duffield’s work, Global Governance and the New Wars, traces a shift in discourses on “development” that is also connected to the global economy Gilmore describes.

This thread from Laverne Cox on twitter seems germane to our interests. Be sure to read through to the end.