Hybridity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So does this mean soon my guff will be summarized in 101-type lectures - my arriviste wiki moment (!!!):

Hybridity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Hybridity as a rhetorical Cul-de-sac.
The development of hybridity theory as a discourse of anti-essentialism marked the height of popularity in academic 'hybridity talk'. However the usage of hybridity in theory to eliminate essentialist thinking and practices (namely racism) failed as hybridity itself is prone to the same essentialist framework and thus requires definition and placement. A number of arguments have followed in which promoters and detractors argue the uses of hybridity theory. Much of this debate can be criticised as being excessively bogged down in theory and pertaining to some unhelpful quarrels on the direction hybridity should progress e.g. attached to racial theory, post-colonialism, cultural studies, or globalization. Sociologist Jan Nederveen Pieterse (2004) highlights these core arguments in a debate that promotes hybridity. Professor of Cultural Studies John Hutnyk stands out as another academic engaging with further development of hybridity theory in his consistent critique of hybridity as politically void."
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[My-ci] My Research on Creative Industries

Ned Rossiter makes some good points in discussion of why his research is relevant... was for a job talk, but subsequently sent to MyCI - have a look at the whole thing, its not too long...

[My-ci] My Research on Creative Industries:
"In studying the relations between labour-power and the creative
industries my interest has been twofold: first, at a theoretical and
political level, I have sought to invent concepts and methodologies
that address the question of the organisation of labour-power within
network societies and informational economies. Here, my research
relates to and has been informed by what the political philosopher
Paolo Virno calls 'the thorniest of problems: how to organize a
plurality of 'social individuals' that, at the moment, seems
fragmented, constitutionally exposed to blackmail - in short,
unorganizable?'[3] Out of an interest in new forms of agency in the
creative industries, I have investigated the political concept of
"organised networks", which can be understood as emergent
institutional forms whose mode of organising sociality is immanent to
networked forms of communications media.[4]

Secondly, my research has investigated the double-edged sword of
precarity within post-Fordist economies, of which the creative
industries belong as a service economy modulated through
informational relations.[5] The precarity of labour-power within the
creative industries is double-edged in the sense that it enables the
attractions of flexibility - the escape from the Fordist time of the
factory and the firm - yet accompanying these relative freedoms is
the dark side of what researchers such as Beck, Lash, Urry and Butler
have variously called uncertainty, insecurity, risk and complexity.
Such fields of inquiry resonate with the concept of organised
networks, both of which are rarely addressed from within creative
industries research "

Rossiter- May 2006 (Thanks Ned)
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maria_technosux's Journal

maria_technosux's Journal: "7:12pm: Intellectual guilt and take-no-prisoners
Sometimes I feel a little guilty for bashing avant garde whiteboys. They deserve it, of course, but I'm a softy deep down inside and I feel like I'm picking an easy target. I think it's because they're so damn infantile (intellectually lazy) that makes me feel like I'm picking on the lil'kids.

On the other hand, no one let me off the hook, so why the fuck should I cut them some slack? Buncha self-satisfied soggy whitebread kids, grrr!

Compared to Hutnyk's _Critique of Exotica_ I'm relatively modest. When Hutnyk bashes Kula Shaker's Crispian 'India is the Ibiza of concepts', Mills... 'I don't cut a deal' doesn't quite capture it.

http://www.leftcurve.org/LC22WebPages/souvenirs.html "

Thanks Maria - but scary news stories abound - like the caption from the pic above which says: "The Jeevas have split up.Kula Shaker have reformed. It's like 1996 all over again." - The Jeevas were Mill's failed project of 2003, lets all tremble with anticipation at the return of the nasty shakers... stifled yawn, etc.

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Lelaki Komunis Terakhir (The Last Communist)

The Last Communist (2006)

Meanwhile, NOT in Malaysia, since its been banned, this film tells the story of the early life of Malay Communist Party leader, Chin Peng:

"Synopsis A semi-musical documentary inspired by the early life and legacy of Chin Peng, exiled leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya. Interviews with the people in the towns he lived in from birth to national independence are interspersed with specially composed songs in the mould of old-fashioned propaganda films".

Official Film website here.

"This is a hybrid documentary, not because it combines fact and fiction, but because it combines testimony with song. Chin Peng (real name: Ong Boon Hua) was born in 1924 and is the last leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya. He now lives in Thailand because the Malaysian government does not allow him to return, despite his repeated attempts to go through the courts.
The Communist Party of Malaya was set up in 1930 (in a ceremony attended by Ho Chi Minh) and recruited from the working class (mainly ethnic Chinese) exploited by colonial British economic interests. The CPM played an active role in the anti-Japanese resistance movement during World War Two, and cooperated with the British. But once the Japanese surrendered, the communists wanted to take over the country for themselves. This is when they and the British became enemies once again. 1948-60 is the era known as the Emergency, the longest and bloodiest undeclared war in Commonwealth history. ..."

Director's blog on the Ban here.

Red Salute.
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Struggling with identity?

Hari Kunzru doing the rounds, this week he's in KL (a British Council gig, but see also PEN)...

This 'cool dude' report is from "The Star" 14 May 2006 (excerpt) :

Struggling with identity?:

"Award-winning author and all round Renaissance man Hari Kunzru was in the country on Tuesday and shared his thoughts on writing and how he stared at a cursor for a month with SHARON BAKAR.

A sense of dislocation makes for good art, says Hari Kunzru.

I'D read enough of Hari Kunzru's journalism to know that he is something of a polymath with an interest in everything from literature, art and music to philosophy, technology and politics.
His reputation for being an extremely 'cool dude' had also preceded him: besides being one of Britain's hottest young novelists, he's written for some of the trendiest magazines (Wired, Wallpaper), spins vinyl as a DJ, and apparently knows how to mix a mean martini cocktail.
For all that, Kunzru is remarkably down-to-earth and approachable, as I discovered when he was in Kuala Lumpur last week on a visit sponsored by the British Council... "

"...Noise is a compilation of surprisingly dark short stories exploring the implications of an increasingly wired world. “I enjoy opening up a little world that works according to its own logic,” Kunzru says, adding that he hopes to write more short stories after the publication of his third novel next May..."

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/5/14/lifebookshelf/14220911&sec=lifebookshelf

powered by Clarissa - thanx
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"I am a socialist, I will infect you".

I remember someone at a Rally Against Capitalism saying something like this to gales of laughter. Its a quote that, well, remains amusing here under the hand of Hugo Chavez, who is currently visiting London and offering some of us cheap heating oil.

The shivvers are not in the spines of those looking for a warm hearth however. Ha ha ha.

That said, I do want to note that I personally am not someone who wants to be identified as a socialist - my terminal condition is much much worse than that! Look out, I will try to sell you little red books, just like the Panthers did nearly 40 Years ago.

Lal Salaam.
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Sunaina Marr Maira: Desis in the House

Sunaina Marr Maira: Desis in the House: "Desis in the House
Indian American Youth Culture in New York City

Sunaina Marr Maira

'Desis in the House is what cultural studies ought to be. Sunaina Maira gets deep inside of the social and cultural worlds of second generation Indian Americans and illuminates the links between the local and global, history and nostalgia, nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Maira's perceptive insights into the complex and fluid styles, music, dances, desires and dreams of desi youth will force us all to think about cultural identities in new ways.'
- Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's DisFunktional! Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America

She sports a nose-ring and duppata (a scarf worn by South Asian women) along with the latest fashion in slinky club wear; he's decked out in Tommy gear. Their moves on the crowded dance floor, blending Indian film dance with break-dancing, attract no particular attention. They are just two of the hundreds of hip young people who flock to the desi (i.e., South Asian) party scene that flourishes in the Big Apple.

New York City, long the destination for immigrants and migrants, today is home to the largest Indian American population in the United States. Coming of age in a city remarkable for its diversity and cultural innovation, Indian American and other South Asian youth draw on their ethnic traditions and the city's resources to create a vibrant subculture. Some of the city's hottest clubs host regular bhangra parties, weekly events where young South Asians congregate to dance to music that mixes rap beats with Hindi film music, bhangra (North Indian and Pakistani in origin), reggae, techno, and other popular styles. Many of these young people also are active in community and campus organizations that stage performances of "ethnic cultures."
In this book Sunaina Maira explores the world of second-generation Indian American youth to learn how they manage the contradictions of gender roles and sexuality, how they handle their "model minority" status and expectations for class mobility in a society that still racializes everyone in terms of black or white. Maira's deft analysis illuminates the ways in which these young people bridge ethnic authenticity and American "cool."

Excerpt

Read an excerpt from Chapter 1 (pdf).

Reviews
"Sunaina Maira guides us into the bog of nostalgia where beleaguered immigrants of color forge a memory that is at odds with their homeland, but also with the dreams of their home boys and home girls. An honest ethnography gives us ample evidence that nostalgia is a feint. Rather than leave us with this conclusion alone, Maira posits something called critical nostalgia, and you'll find out what that is when you read this important book."—Vijay Prashad, author of Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity"

I remember / je me souviens

I remember / je me souviens: "Wednesday, March 29, 2006
I remember wondering why Cinderella's slipper didn't change back at midnight. I still do.



posted by william 10:15 PM"

net critique � Blog Archive � Blog about endangered Delhi settlement

net critique � Blog Archive � Blog about endangered Delhi settlement: "Monica Narula of the new media centre Sarai in Delhi has written the following call about the eviction of a settlement in Delhi where one of Sarai�s media labs (called Cybermohalla) is based:
Dear friends,
Over last 35 years we have seen many an internal dislocation of habitations and life worlds within the city of Delhi. This is something that started with high intensity from the early 70s. Now the process of this internal dislocation has become intense and harder.
Nangla Maachi is a 30 year old habitation. It was made by its inhabitants over this period. It is along the river bank and next to Pragati Maidan (Progress Grounds). It has now become valuable real estate as it is prime land for new urban development fairly close to the centre of the city.
The process of its dislocation has, therefore, begun.
In Nangla Maachi Sarai/Ankur had set up a cybermohalla lab two years ago. Many practitioners have been through the lab.
Over these two years, diaries have been written by the lab practitioners and many of the entries have been about life in Nangla. These diary entries are also a way to stubbornly remind us all that Nangla was made into a lively, heterogeneous habitation by countless people�s efforts, and needs to be remembered for this creative act of making and finding ways of living together.
A recent entry reads - �Packing up and leaving from Nangla has begun.� The diary is now a record of a contested terrain of the violence of dislocation.
We have set up a blog in both English and Hindi, to share with a wider public the various diary entries of the practitioners. Do visit it, read it, circulate it, share it and link it further. Your comments and stories will be very valuable.
English language blog:
http://nangla.freeflux.net/"

recomposition of a communist politics

Institute for Conjunctural Research


"The narcissism of renegades?The spectres of recuperation, repetition and imitation have always haunted the various ideologies of resistance, at least those not all too happy to celebrate the joys of ambivalence and the hybrid, those for which resistance is not just the name of a minimal inflection – a torsion, a distance, perhaps even a perversion – in the densely articulated space of hierarchies, partitions and dominations. In order to make a contribution to specifying what resistance may mean today, whether the term is even applicable or operative, what its minimal lineaments may be, I would like to turn to a relatively minor, if, as I hope to argue, symptomatic, episode in the vicissitudes of this concept: the intellectual trajectory that led some figures emerging from the current of French Maoism, first, to formulate an ideology of pure revolt, or absolute resistance, countering the complicities of Marxist-Leninist revolutionary politics vis-à-vis the perennial mechanisms of power and oppression; second, to revise the latter theory of ‘angelic’ or non-dialectical revolt into a tragic theory of morality, separating the resistance exemplified by moral protest and the defence of human rights from any notion of revolt, now considered ‘barbaric’ – thus adopting, despite all protestations to the contrary, the key thesis of the nouvelle philosophie, as instigated and ‘produced’ by Bernard-Henri Lévy, to wit, that there is a bloody thread running straight from Das Kapital to the Gulags, and that it is philosophy’s collusion with mastery and the state that lies behind the ‘totalitarian’ disasters of the 20th century. The aforementioned trajectory is encapsulated in two works arising from the collaboration of Christian Jambet and Guy Lardreau, philosophers schooled at the École Normale at the time of the May events, and militants in the Gauche Prolétarienne, the most visible of the post-68 Maoist organisations, famously supported by Foucault and Sartre against the censorship of its newspaper, La cause du peuple. The GP disbanded in 1974 after its increasingly patent inefficacy on the shop-floor and its last-minute retreat from the option of armed struggle. It would be easy, and perhaps even useful, to reduce the two works in question, L’Ange and Le Monde, to mere effects of an exquisitely Parisian sequence, which led a few children of the elites, ‘the little princes of the University’, as Lacan sardonically noted, into a spectacular but ineffectual, and misinformed, embrace of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, through a period of inevitable disappointment, into an equally overblown and narcissistic exploitation of their personal failures for media effect, and, finally, to the collaboration with the increasingly hegemonic ideology of human rights and humanitarian interventions, still with us today ....".

The New School Weekly Observer

The New School Weekly Observer: "A FEW WORDS FOR IMOGEN BUNTING

Imogen Bunting, one of the most liked and accomplished graduate students at the university, died in her native England in late April from complications following a heart attack. She was 25.
Imogen received her first-class honors BA in social anthropology from Goldsmiths College, University of London, in June 2002. In 2003, she spent five months in Chiapas, Mexico, doing volunteer work and preliminary research for her intended doctoral project. She also worked as the project assistant for an equal rights program at Britain�s Trades Union Congress. In fall 2004, Imogen began her MA and PhD studies in anthropology, focusing on the political legacies of internationalism in the contemporary context of globalization.
In view of her scholarly promise and admirable political commitments, she was recruited by Robert Kostrzewa, assistant dean of The New School for Social Research. �Imogen Bunting was one of our star students, a beloved member of our community, and an extraordinarily kind and caring human being,� he said recently. �She combined academic excellence, deep commitment to the ideal of justice, and concern for others, especially the voiceless and dispossessed. She was the type of student who makes it worthwhile to be a faculty member or an administrator. The loss of Imogen to our school and to our intellectual community is immeasurable. That her life and her enormous potential were cut short is overwhelming.�
Imogen was a cherished member of the student senate, where she passionately spoke her mind on numerous institutional and labor issues affecting her colleagues, school employees, faculty, and other members of the university community. When others doubted the merits of certain progressive causes, Imogen often convinced them to stand strong with her. The sincere embrace of the "

Rachel's Spot

Rachel's Spot: "May 02, 2006 heaven gained an angel ::: *DUSK rest in power*

dusk,
last night u appeared in my dreams. it was typical you stood behind the tables, spinning some rare grooves, latin funk and rap that took me back. you nodded in your usual way, a smirking grin and a little lip to say what's up. i wanted to speak, build, hear about your latest project to make the world a better place.
most only know you for the beats but you gave the world so much more:
on race relations
on youth
on language, discourse and power
for mumia
and it don't stop. can't stop, won't stop.
a drunk driver took all that from all of us.
a little bit of the music died with you.
LA will never be the same.
i'm still in shock.
you will forever be missed.
i will stay dreaming about dancing at the rootdown.
LUV IS LUV.
-rachel" http://blog.lib.umn.edu/raim0007/RaeSpot/
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CrapEmployee�� adventures in the left-wing of capital

Hi Ben - over the top then, with gusto. J

CrapEmployee�� adventures in the left-wing of capital: "finally! mission accomplished
Well, yeah!
Sacked via e-mail, on a work account that they then cancelled so fast that I cannot even include the priceless text on this blog until I get the hard copy that I assume has been mailed to me: suffice to say I am accused of 'terrifying' and 'harassing' my manager, the President and the Treasurer (well, nihil humani a me alienum puto etcetera). However, they did send out an e-mail to all MSA staff, office-bearers and MSA representatives concerning my good self, which is here:
1. Effective as of Monday the 24th of April, the employment of our Policy Planning Officer, Benjamin Ross, ended.
Management has advised Mr. Ross that subsequent to the collection of his personal affects, we expect that he will not enter the premises (specifically all MSA space) as he will neither be a staff member nor student of this University.
We ask that all staff and OBs report any attempts by Mr. Ross to enter the premises and pass on any and all communication with Mr. Ross to their Manager or preferably a member of the Executive.
Kane Wishart
Treasurer
Though neither the Treasurer nor my manager would actually have a conversation with me, my manager, Gerry, did take the time to remove (what he falsely claimed to be) all of my possessions from my office and also to tell me that if I didn�t get out of the MSA space that he would call security.
They make a desolation and they call it peace: Happy days are here again.
On to the next adventure."
I recommend perusal of the rest of this blog, even after its avowed mission has terminated.

Shareholders join Rio protest

Shareholders join Rio protest
From: AAP
May 04, 2006

SHAREHOLDERS have joined protesters outside the annual general meeting of mining giant Rio Tinto in Melbourne, concerned about the company's mining practices in Papua New Guinea.
Organised by the Mineral Policy Institute (MPI) and Free West Papua campaign, the protest – outside the Sofitel hotel in busy Collins Street – was against alleged corruption and human rights abuses at the giant Freeport mine in Indonesia's Papua province.
MPI said the Freeport mine was engaging in similar irresponsible conduct to that at the Rio Tinto-owned mine in Bougainville, which led to a 10-year civil war.
It follows the release of a report by the Indonesian Environment Forum which alleged that Rio Tinto was releasing copper tailings from its Freeport mine into a nearby river.
Shareholder John Poppins said he was concerned about the report and was there to support the protest as well as voice his opinion at the AGM.
"I have a growing level of concern as I grow older in the way in which my dividends are earned, and the impacts on the other people, particularly in countries where the law is not as strong as it is here," Mr Poppins said.
Mr Poppins said he was concerned about the report which was released this week by the Indonesian Environment Forum.
"Deeply, yes. It seems in my youth I invested all my savings in the bad guys," he said.
"There are really only two alternatives: you can sell in disgust or you can hold on to the shares and start to question the company."
Some shareholders had given their proxy votes to Papuan and environmental activists, allowing them to attend the meeting.
Herman Wanggai, one of the Papuan asylum seekers recently given visas to stay in Australia, was at the protest and said there was one thing he wanted to ask at the AGM.
"The question I ask is why are we suffering for the rich resources?" Mr Arumisore said.
Moses Havini, who described himself as the international representative for Bougainville, said Rio Tinto should be held accountable for what it was doing to the environment in Papua.
"There seems to be two rules: one for Rio Tinto in other countries; and the other one is in other countries such as Bougainville and Papua New Guinea where it is fine to pump mine tailings directly into the water systems and the sea," Mr Havini said.
Rio Tinto has invested $2.2 billion in the mine.
http://finance.news.com.au/story/0,10166,19022917-31037,00.html
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