[csaa-forum] no (conciliatory) capitulation

[langley timmy]

just a very quick response to Ben Hourigan:

1.these critics dislike all disciplines ending in
'studies', not because of any (totalitarian) marxist
positions or methodologies (as mini melleuish's
latest attack demonstrates) but because these 'new'
discipline question (unsettle/challenge) universal
(male/anglo-celtic/christian/european) assumptions
that underline these critics subjectivities and
cultural positions. they feel their naturally acquired
positions of power are under threat, and will use any
attack method necessary. 
2.there can be no 'conciliatory gestures' towards
these critics unless these disciplines stop
questioning these assumptions. these vastly
heterogeneous discipline need to, in the eyes of their
critics, return to (unpolitical) readings of the
canon, and nothing else. 
3.i'm surprised ben found it necessary to email keith
windschuttle to find references on writing against
marxist cultural theory (if one were requesting
references to his own work, that's different). a
simple search on any database or subject catalogue, or
a question to a supervisor, would be efficiently
appropriate. 

cheers tim.

 --- Ben Hourigan <mail at benhourigan.com> wrote: 
> This post does eventually get back to the question
> of how we could  
> respond to critics of Cultural Studies, so bear with
> me...
> 
> In some off-list correspondence, Danny wrote to me
> and suggested that I  
> couldn't reasonably suggest that we drop Marxist
> political theory from  
> cultural studies in order to politically re-align it
> (I'm  
> paraphrasing).
> 
> (Excerpts from the email that prompted this is
> reproduced at the bottom  
> of this post.)
> 
> By writing this, Danny's reiterating a point from
> that post of Terry  
> Flew's that started the whole "Is cultural studies
> inherently  
> left-wing?" thread  
>
(http://lists.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/Week-of-Mon-20050103/
> 
> 000592.html). I don't think that's at all
> unfortunate. For the record,  
> I agree: I don't think a Cultural Studies without
> Marxist theory would  
> be the same kind of discipline we know today. Though
> part of the reason  
> that Marxist theory is so central is that the
> far-reaching (and  
> arguably totalitarian) scope of Marxism has caused
> that tradition of  
> thought to produce a quantity of cultural theory
> that is probably  
> unrivalled by any ideology active in the 20th
> century. As a  
> non-leftist, however, this reliance on Marxism
> bothers me more than a  
> little.
> 
> No doubt it bothers our 'right-wing' critics, too.
> As you can see  
> below, I'm no subscriber to Melleuish's particular
> grievances. But,  
> while we are doing the work of refuting the
> particular arguments he and  
> others put forward against Cultural Studies, could
> we perhaps make some  
> conciliatory gestures towards them, rather than
> lambasting them for  
> being 'right wing'? Could anyone ever add, to the
> current, 'leftist'  
> brand of Cultural Studies, a liberal (à la Thomas
> Jefferson, rather  
> than John Kerry) Cultural Studies? A conservative (à
> la Edmund Burke,  
> not Andrew Bolt) Cultural Studies?
> 
> In other words, could we invite Melleuish,
> Windschuttle, Miranda  
> Devine, and their like, to join us (at least from
> time to time), rather  
> than try to beat us?
> 
> (I hear you, Charles, with regard to the attitudes
> of some to your work  
> on popular music. I once wrote to Windschuttle
> asking for some  
> references on writing against Marxist cultural
> theory, and his  
> suggestion was that the people he knew [and I
> suspect Keith himself]  
> wouldn't have much sympathy for that element of my
> work. Still, he  
> passed over it tactfully, and I ended up getting my
> references from  
> someone he knew.)
> 
> EXCERPTS FROM MY OFF-LIST EMAIL TO DANNY BEGIN HERE:
> 
> Charles wrote:
> 
> > The right is all for fairness and liberal
> education, when their
> > compatriots are on the soapbox or at the lectern.
> 
> I take this to imply that, in taking a position
> against cultural  
> studies, 'the right' is against 'fairness and
> liberal education'  
> because their compatriots are *not* at the lectern.
> If cultural studies  
> lecturers are not the compatriots of 'the right,'
> then the left/right  
> spectrum can allow them only two other positions:
> centre or left. My  
> experiences with the teaching of cultural studies at
> Melbourne Uni,  
> which have involved heavy emphasis on Marxist
> cultural theory, lead me  
> to believe that it is not the centre that the
> discipline is trying to  
> occupy. Charles doesn't necessarily _need_ to
> mention the left, since  
> when Cultural Studies people gather, the assumption
> is often already  
> there that they are all leftists, for whom those on
> the 'right wing'  
> are natural opponents in debate.
> 
> Despite this, sometimes people *do* mention it, as
> Jason Jacobs did on  
> the list on 6 January 2005, saying:
> 
> > Still, I think all cultural studies scholars
> believe themselves to be
> > left-wing. Whatever that means.
>
http://lists.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/Week-of-Mon-20050103/
> 
> 000602.html
> 
> This was in the context of the "Is cultural studies
> inherently  
> left-wing?" thread. Then there was Laurie Duggan on
> Jan 6:
> 
> > It's probably true that Humanities academics (over
> and above cultural  
> > studies practitioners) are mainly of the left.
>
http://lists.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/Week-of-Mon-20050103/
> 
> 000597.html
> 
> and Terry Flew on 7 Jan:
> 
> > the globalisation of cultural studies through the
> > academic publishing market is, if anything,
> tightening the linkage  
> > between
> > cultural studies and a version of left politics.
>
http://lists.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/Week-of-Mon-20050103/
> 
> 000605.html
> 
> Are the alliances and enmities implied by these
> statements imaginary? I  
> don't think so.
> 
> Personally, I find Melleuish's attack on Cultural
> Studies just as  
> ridiculous as I suppose everyone else does, though
> it doesn't bother me  
> that he or the newspaper he publishes in might be
> 'right wing.' Rather,  
> it's because he doesn't seem to have a clear idea of
> the lines between  
> disciplines (why should Cultural Studies be
> concerned with Thucydides,  
> or whether or not students could write a
> constitution?), and that he  
> forgets that although students might not be studying
> Thucydides in CS,  
> there's nothing to stop them from taking some
> Classics subjects at the  
> same time, or taking Politics and learning about
> constitutions.
> 
> Ben Hourigan, B.A. (Hons) (Melb.)
> http://benhourigan.com>
_______________________________________
> 
> csaa-forum
> discussion list of the cultural studies association
> of australasia
> 
> www.csaa.asn.au
> 
> change your subscription details at
http://lists.cdu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/csaa-forum 

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com