Grace John - Refugee crisis in Asia: Overlooked displacement on Thai-Burma border (ENG 102)

 

Grace John

Benton

ENG 102

30 September 2024

Refugee crisis in Asia: Overlooked displacement on Thai-Burma border

In the world today there are many cases of ongoing human struggle, conflict and persecution. Asia does not usually come to mind when discussing humanitarian crisis, because there are other western-focused areas that gain more attention on today’s popular culture and media. Refugee displacements are one of the overlooked issues most often resulting from internal political and international conflicts. Refugees may be defined as any person outside their country of origin due to fear of cultural, religious or political persecution who are unable to safely return. By looking at Asia and specifically the southeast Asia region, we can see many prominent examples of refugee crises and displacement. This paper will focus on the Karen (Kayin) people group of Eastern Myanmar (Burma) and the Thailand border. This ethnic group is not widely known as some of the other refugee population, like the displacement of the Muslim Rohingya people of north Myanmar into Bangladesh. It is also worth noting that this paper will refer to the country as Myanmar as it’s the most widely accepted official name, however, it is important to acknowledge the fact that several countries do not officially recognize this name change from Burma, which was implemented in 1989 by the authoritarian regime that took power to establish the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. By exploring the political, social, and economic challenges of resettlement through the lens of Karen people on the Thai-Burma border, this paper will uncover the inadequacies of current refugee policies and demonstrate the need for a better international cooperation to address the increasingly complex needs the displaced population there.

The international implications of safely handling refugees are significant and even the farthest countries from the epicenter of the crises can have a lasting impact. To introduce this topic and the country of Myanmar with its surrounding issues today, we can go back to 2017 – 2018 when the country gained international headlines after the deadly crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minorities from the northern Rakine state, by the majority Buddhist people and government of Myanmar. In an important demonstration of how far reaching our influence can be in these situations, the social media platforms we all use today played a role in the digital influence on the crises. As internet access became more widely accessible during that time in Myanmar, the social media platform Facebook was heavily criticized for allowing and failing to timely act on the violent and anti-Muslim content being spread from its Burmese users in Myanmar who were able to weaponize the platform during the military campaign in 2017 to drive out the Rohingya (Trending, BBC 2018). In the globalized world today, it is more important for large organizations, companies and governments to pay attention to refugee crises and the resulting humanitarian issues. In the case of the Karen people of eastern Myanmar with the Thailand border, they are no exception in this case. Like the crises that unfolded with the Rohingya Muslim population, the Karen people have endured a long history of persecution for their ethnicity in Myanmar. To better explain the context, it is important to understand why the country is prone to such deep conflict stemming from ethnic and political differences.

The geographical features of Myanmar have shaped the balances of political and military power and have formed the borders of various ethnic minority states. The central region of the country is dominated by the majority Burmese population surrounded by mountain ranges and rivers that have formed unique cultural and linguistic groups encircling the central region. Out of the different groups of ethnic minorities, the Karen people of the eastern region of Myanmar have played a significant role in the history of the country since gaining independence from Britain (Banki, 2008). Ethnic groups that composed the Burmese military at the time broke off into different factions to oppose the rise in communism favored by the core Burmese leaders and to form their own independence from the country. The Karen ethnic military units defected and formed their own leadership and military defense forces. This led to internal armed conflict since the end of World War 2 and after British colonial occupation ended (Hill, 2023). After looking into the recent history of these conflicts, it becomes clear that the cultural and political differences have promoted the independence among the various ethnic minorities of Myanmar. These cultural and linguistic differences, along with decades of armed conflict, have not only inspired independence among Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, but also made the resettlement of the displaced groups, such as the Karen people, very challenging. After understanding this historical background, the next focus should be on the political and economic barriers that complicate refugee resettlement of the displaced people.

The complicated history and persisting conflict has created the increasingly desperate situation for the displaced and refugees fleeing across the borders. As of the August 2024 Humanitarian update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Myanmar issue published that an estimated 18.6 million people in Myanmar are described as in need of humanitarian aid. On the Thai-Burma border, estimated total number of displaced refugees is around 250,000 (OCHA, 2024). There are also numerous refugee camps that have appeared along the border in Thailand that serve as temporary home for the displaced. The first few camps started to appear in 1984 and have been growing since then. Many of these along the border are Karen refugees from the nearby Kayin border state in Myanmar, among other ethnic minorities. There have been several issues that have made living in these camps challenging, specifically access to resources and humanitarian aid through the host country, Thailand. Thailand does not recognize these camps as official grounds for resettlement of its inhabitants and currently lacks the legal and economic capacity to help support and sponsor many of the refugees (Banki, 2008: 64). This issue of economic sustainability is one of the key issues in understanding the biggest struggles of the refugees in the Thailand-Burma border.
            As Banki et al. highlight in the protracted displacement research, a significant portion of the refugee population in Thailand was classified as economic migrants rather than refugees (Banki, 2008). This misclassification poses a major problem for the refugees, as it limits the protections available to these individuals, leaving them vulnerable to unfair treatment and deportation. In a further study that uncovered these consequences, Human Rights Watch revealed that the inadequate policies towards refugees, and even discovered that the mishandling of refugee camps on the border leads to abuse, extortion and arbitrary deportation of refugees along the border (HRW, 2020). However, distinguishing between refugees fleeing political persecution and those escaping economic hardship is inherently challenging, as these two situations are often closely linked. While refugees are granted protection under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, economic migrants, regardless of their circumstances, do not receive the same recognition or protections in Thailand (Banki, 2008). The distinction between the two classes should be closely examined and more care needs to be shown towards people displaced because of persecution in their home countries. From the Thai perspective, it is difficult to classify refugees out of the many migrants who cross into Thailand from other parts of Myanmar for better economic opportunities, not only those who are displaced by the conflict for genuine humanitarian need. Thai authorities need to have greater care and discernment in their handling of the refugee crises on the border.

Research currently shows how many of the refugees in Thailand from Myanmar have struggled to find a sustainable economic solution while in the refugee camps due to the lack of legal structure in the hosting country. Humanitarian Policy Group research from 2023 shows that there has been little to no improvements on this issue in Thailand since reports started emerging on this problem. Refugees are still stuck in a stateless limbo of having to choose to find work, education and health needs within the settlement camps or to venture into Thailand where they face discrimination and a high risk of deportation and arrest due to the lack of legal protections there for refugees. The HPG paper mentioned that there may still be potential for improvements on this issue with the newly elected Thai government in 2023, however this remains to be seen (Hill, C., 2023). Perhaps a better solution to this ordeal would be to partner with other international humanitarian groups such as UNHCR who have active working relationships on the ground with Thai resources and the refugees from these areas to formulate a better process for identifying and categorizing refugee status. That way, it will become more manageable for Thai authorities to offer durable economic solutions to ease the plight of the refugee populations there.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many different countries and organizations that have helped in the resettlement effort. Uniquely positioned as a leader in resettling is the United States. Since 1980 the US has worked with the UNHCR to establish a process for resettling refugees who pass through a vetting process. The US works to ensure certain communities can receive refugees, and by partnering with volunteer organizations, are able provide resettlement assistance to some refugees. The recent executive orders from 2019 gave permission to the local governments on handling the resettlement and placing of refugees in their communities. It’s up to the local leaders to determine how to place refugees to give them the best opportunities and consider their community needs for welcoming new refugees. (Caren, 2008). The Karen refugees from Myanmar specifically are frequently settled to the US through these UNHCR programs and have been resettled mainly into urban areas over the years. Since local communities now have a part to determine if reguees will resettle to their communities, these resettlement programs should also consider the options to choose rural or small-town locations over the larger cities and urban resettlements that often takes place. One study highlights the outcomes and potential cons of this resettlement strategy in a small case study done in rural Georgia highlights some of the positive outcomes of the Karen refugees who have settled there (Gilhooly, 2017). These rural settings offer refugees a less traumatic environment, where the Karen refugees can maintain cultural practices and more effectively integrate into their new lives. The U.S. government should explore rural resettlement programs, considering key factors to ensure successful integration to communities able to welcome them and where they can have a higher chance of successfully resettling there.

In conclusion, the crisis along the Thai-Burma border, particularly with the Karen people, represents an often overlooked yet important humanitarian issue today. The Thai government’s limited legal protections and economic capacity, combined with the misclassification of refugees as economic migrants, continue to exacerbate the struggles of these displaced populations. The resettlement process offered by countries such as the U.S., especially into urban areas, often fails to provide the sustainable solutions necessary for meaningful integration for these people. However, exploring rural resettlement programs, as evidenced by successful examples in the U.S., could offer a viable option that supports both the refugees and host communities. To effectively address these challenges, international organizations like the UNHCR must collaborate more closely with local governments to create policies that better identify and support refugees, while also ensuring their successful integration into communities of the host countries where they are resettled. Ultimately, solving the refugee crisis on the Thai-Burma border requires a coordinated global effort and a reevaluation of current policies and practices to ensure the best possible humanitarian outcome of the current and future of displaced populations.

 

Works Cited

Banki, Susan Rachel, and Hazel Johanna Lang. “Protracted Displacement on the Thai-Burmese Border: The Interrelated Search for Durable Solutions.” http://www.ashgate.com eBooks, 2008, pp. 59–81.  https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/items/4450461d-59b6-5496-beed-f51b40384102.

Caron, Rosemary M. “The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Conundrum.” Peace Review, vol. 32, no. 4, Oct. 2020, pp. 527–35. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2020.1921416.

Gilhooly, Daniel, and Eunbae Lee. “Rethinking Urban Refugee Resettlement: A Case Study of One Karen Community in Rural Georgia, USA.” International Migration, vol. 55, no. 6, Dec. 2017, pp. 37–55. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12341.

“Thailand: Refugee Policies Ad Hoc and Inadequate.” Human Rights Watch, 28 Oct. 2020, www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/13/thailand-refugee-policies-ad-hoc-and-inadequate.

Trending, Bbc. The Country Where Facebook Posts Whipped up Hate. 12 Sept. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-45449938.

Hill, C., Thako, H., Shêê, T., et al. (2023) Exploring Karen refugee youths’ aspirations and wellbeing amidst protracted displacement in Thailand. HPG working paper. London: ODI https://odi.org/en/publications/exploring-karen-refugee-youths-aspirations-and-wellbeing-amidst-protracted-displacement-in-thailand/.

“Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 40 | 16 August 2024.” OCHA, 16 Aug. 2024, www.unocha.org/publications/report/myanmar/myanmar-humanitarian-update-no-40-16-august-2024

ENG 102 2024: Resources #22

There are two selves in the the mind. One is the present self, the ship--neural activity, tacking between the elevated and the mundane. Between thoughts of the meaning of life and of how to glue a handle back on a broken coffee mug. The other is the current on which the vessel is borne: the more permanent self. The memories of childhood, learned concepts, habits and resentments--the built-up layers of previous interactions with the world. This self changes as well, but only slowly--as slowly as a river's course is changed by shifts in environment and erosion, time wiping a sandbank away or building one up anew. We consist only of change--but some change is fast, and some comes only over years, decades, a lifetime (359). The character Dr. Arnkatia Minervudottir-Chan (in Nayler, Ray. The Mountain in the Sea. Picador, 2022)

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Anderson, Elle and David Peña-Guzmán. "Reading." Overthink (May 21, 2024) ["Ellie and David consider what makes reading so rewarding, and, for many people today, so challenging! How did society shift toward inward silent reading and away from reading aloud in the Middle Ages? How have changes in teaching phonics and factors of classism, accessibility, and educational justice made it harder for the young to read? Why is reading philosophy so hard, and how can we increase our reading stamina?"]

Chambers, Guinevere. "Disability Sociology (Disability Pride)." Ologies (July 3, 2024) ["Sexuality and disability! Invisible illnesses! Airline frustrations! How many of us are disabled! July is Disability Pride Month, and professor, researcher, activist, and Disability Sociologist Guinevere Chambers joins to bust myths and provide perspective on everything from the history of ableism to sign language to eyeglasses, the criminal justice system, caregiving, how to ask for what you need, handling curious strangers, disclosing disabilities, where ADHD and autism come into play, and how to follow this study path."]

Grob, Charles. "Psychedeliology (HALLUCINOGENS) Part 1." Ologies (July 11, 2024) ["Magic mushrooms, LSD, ayahuasca ceremonies, DMT, ketamine: this episode is a grab bag of trippy facts. Renowned psychiatry professor and psychedelics researcher Dr. Charles Grob of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center sits down to talk about how much LSD is too much LSD, what juices are squirting in the brain when you're tripping out, who should NOT take psychedelics, talking to dead people, serendipitous libraries, late night phone calls, antidepressants and mushrooms, the murky history of psychedelic research, and future paths of study that may help the world. Next week, wall-to-wall listener questions and some tales from your internet dad’s own journey."]

Haidt, Jonathan. "Social Media Messed Up Our Kids. Now It Is Making Us Ungovernable." NOEMA (June 13, 2024) ["In a conversation with Noema editor-in-chief Nathan Gardels, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt discusses the impact of social media on truth in politics, the mental health crisis of today’s youth, and what to do about it."]

Hill, Matthew. "How Cannabis Impacts Health & the Potential Risks."  Huberman Lab (July 8, 2024) ["In this episode, my guest is Dr. Matthew Hill, Ph.D., a professor of cell biology and anatomy at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary and an expert on the biology of cannabis. We discuss how cannabis affects the brain to produce its psychoactive effects (feeling “high”), including altered time perception, focus, memory, appetite, and stress. We discuss how THC vs. cannabidiol (CBD) affects the brain, the effects of different routes of cannabis administration (e.g., smoking, vaping, edibles), high-potency THC, and whether cannabis is addictive. We discuss if there is a link between cannabis use and the development of psychosis, anxiety, bipolar depression, or schizophrenia. We discuss whether CBD has clinical benefits in regulating stress, promoting sleep, and treating certain diseases. We also discuss if there are real and consistent differences in the biological effects of different cannabis strains, if cannabis impacts hormones, and the uses of cannabis for the management of pain, stress, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and nausea. Listeners of this episode will get an up-to-date understanding of what is currently known about how cannabis affects the brain and body, including both its potential benefits and risks."]

Holland, Tom and Dominic Sandbrook. "Baghdad: The Forging of Islam." The Rest is History (October 2023) ["A story of great myth and of huge historical significance, the foundation of Baghdad is a fundamental episode in the development of Islam. The Umayyad Caliphate, the first great Islamic empire, stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China; no dynasty had ever presided over a greater array of conquests. But amongst growing sectarian and internal divisions, discontent on the fringes of the caliphate, and the emergence of influential religious scholars, the Umayyads are challenged by a new power, which pretends to restore Muhammad’s bloodline to rule over Islam. In the first part of our series on the history of Baghdad, Tom and Dominic tell the story of the founders of the city, the Abbasids, and delve into the roots of the revolution that saw them overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate…"]

Langer, Ellen. "Is Mindfulness the Secret to Health?" Big Brains (July 11, 2024) ["Can you heal faster just by tricking your brain? Could you lose weight with only a change of mindset? Could you think yourself into being younger? If you think the answer to all these questions is no, you haven’t read the research from renowned Harvard University psychologist Ellen Langer. ... Langer is a bit of a legend. She’s the first woman to ever receive tenure in psychology at Harvard, and her work has earned her the moniker: “The Mother of Mindfulness”. Her 40-year research career into the mind-body connection—and how mindfulness can hack that system—has delivered some unbelievable results that she believes hold the key to revolutionizing our health. She complies all of her work in her latest book “The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health.”]

Lyon, Gabrielle. "How to Exercise & Eat for Optimal Health & Longevity." The Huberman Lab (June 24, 2024) ["In this episode, my guest is Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, D.O., a board-certified physician who did her clinical and research training at Washington University in geriatrics and nutrition. She is also an expert in how diet and exercise impact muscle and whole-body health and longevity. Dr. Lyon is a bestselling author and public educator. We discuss how healthy skeletal muscle promotes longevity, brain health, disease prevention, ideal body composition, and the health of other organs and bodily systems. She makes specific nutritional recommendations for optimal health: what to eat, how much to eat, the timing of meals, the essential need for adequate quality protein (including animal and plant-based options), supplementation, and how our dietary requirements change with age. She explains why specific types of resistance training are essential to build and maintain muscle and overall metabolic health. She also describes how to include resistance training as part of your exercise regimen — regardless of age or sex. She also provides specific mindset tools to encourage sustained adherence to healthy eating and exercise practices. Women and men of all ages will benefit from Dr. Lyon’s practical, evidence-based protocols to improve muscle and whole-body appearance, function, and health."]

Romm, Jake. "We Never Left The Zone of Interest." Verso Books (June 28, 2024) ["Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest was fated for an odd reception. Not simply because he has produced another of the always controversial films about the Shoah. Not only because the film was released while Israel, which has used the Shoah as both a shield and a bludgeon, is perpetrating its own genocide against the Palestinians. But because Glazer’s film is materialist, implicating not just the viewer but the world itself."]

West, Stephen. "John Rawls - A Theory of Justice." Philosophize This! (January 2, 2020) ["But another way to think about the answer to this question is to say that every, great philosopher in their own way... questioned the fundamental assumptions that were present in the thinking of their time. That is a hallmark of a great philosopher...because when seeking solutions to philosophical problems...casting aside the cultural or linguistic assumptions of a particular snapshot in time...very often leads philosophers of the next generation to understand how those assumptions have been limiting our ways of thinking about things. The philosopher we're going to talk about today falls into this category...and he's going to question an assumption that seemed to others as radical as it was dangerous. His name was John Rawls...and this was the assumption that he questioned: Can human beings actually live and flourish for any extended period of time in liberal democratic societies? The political paradigm of the Enlightenment...liberal democratic societies. A government BY the many. Democracy. Liberal in the sense that there is a strong focus on rational discourse, the acceptance of outside ideas... the legitimacy of political ideas being decided by having conversations between competing ideas, let the best ideas rise to the top and direct the future of society for the time being, and if those prevailing ideas don't happen to be the ones you believe in, you're supposed to accept those ideas as part of the greater political process and work to defend your positions better the next time we're having a conversation."]

ENG 281: Fall 2024 Responses

Exemplary responses:

Logan Rader: Raising Arizona- A live action cartoon

Areeb Travis: "The Husucker Proxy Takes Me by Surprise!!!"

Micah Watts: Embracing the Absurd: A Reflection on Identity and Life in The Big Lebowski (1998)

Ana Ruiz: Eraserhead: Exploring Fear Through Unreality (getting published in Film Matters)

Rashaun West: Reality Bites

Micah Watts: Unraveling Horror: A Deep Dive into 'Ju-On: The Grudge

Keaton Shott - Licorice Pizza: Awkwardness and Young Love

Ana Ruiz: Reality Bites

Ana Ruiz: Licorice Pizza

Ana Ruiz: The Graduate

Rashaun West: The Graduate

Micah Watts: Licorice Pizza

Micah Watts: The Graduate

Response Tally:

Ana Ruiz 12 (The Graduate; Licorice Pizza; Reality Bites; Sabrina The Teen Witch; The Creature from the Black Lagoon; Eraserhead; Gilda; Film Matters Publication; Read My Lips; Gladiator II; A Serious Man; Wicked) - A

Areeb Travis 11 (The Graduate; Licorice Pizza; Island of Lost Souls; Creature from the Black Lagoon; Ringu; House; The Big Lebowski; The Hudsucker Proxy; Blood Simple; True Grit; Raising Arizona) - A

Ciara Womack 12 (1 credit for first two responses; Reality Bites; Eraserhead; The Fly; The Maltese Falcon; House; The Coen Brothers; Night of the Hunter; Gladiator II; Wicked; Heretic; Anora) - A

Emily Maggard 11 (The Graduate; Reality Bites; Sabrina The Teen Witch; Frankenstein; Blood Simple; Anora; The Wild Robot; Wicked; We Live in Time; The Big Lebowski; Hairspray) - A

Kadire Flowers - 0

Keaton Shott 7 (The Graduate; Licorice Pizza; The Big Lebowski; The Wild Robot; Eraserhead; Ringu; The Fly)

Logan Rader 12 (The Graduate; Licorice Pizza; The Fly; The Fog; Night of the Living Dead; Frankenstein; The Bride of Frankenstein; The Big Lebowski; Murder by Contract; Raising Arizona; Children Who Chase Lost Voices; 5 Centimeters per Second) - A

Meredith Popeck 10 (The Graduate; Reality Bites; Sabrina The Teenage Witch; The Witches; The Fly; Raising Arizona; Detour; Wicked; We Live In Time; Hairspray)

Micah Watts 12 (The Graduate; Licorice Pizza; Ju-On: The Grudge; The Witches; The Fly; The Big Lebowski; The Beat That My Heart Skipped; Dheepan; Read My Lips; Wicked; Heretic; The Wild Robot) - A

Rashaun West 11 (The Graduate; Reality Bites; The Fly: The Fly II; The Big Lebowski; True Grit; Inside Llewyn Davis; Deja Vu; Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call; Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai; Girlfight) - A

Hopeless Romantic - Music Mix #34

Dead Horses; Future Islands; X; Boomtown Rats; Harry Katz and the Pistachios; GZA; Revyn Lenae; King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizards; Thee Marloes; SadBlackLab; The Beths; Father John Misty; Fantastic Negrito; Caleb Landry Jones; The XX; R.E.M.; GROUPLOVE; Alice in Chains; Muse; Damian Marley; The Smashing Pumpkins; Oasis; Vampire Weekend; Hole; Angelika Garcia; Carlos Ares; Bleachers; The The; Cannons; Sylmar; Nilufer Yanya; Iron Maiden; Gelexaida; Shearwater; Ben Sollee; Delafaye; Hurray for the Rif Raff; BLACKSTARKIDS; Simon and Garfunkel; 87 Nights; Johnny Cash; Elvis Costello and the Attractions; The Tragically Hip 

Hopeless Romantic - Music Mix #34

Licorice Pizza (USA: Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021)

 

 Licorice Pizza (USA: Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021: 133 mins)

Anderson, Paul, et al. "On Licorice Pizza." Film at Lincoln Center (March 24, 2022)

Chang, Justin. "Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza is a valentine to the Valley. And Alana Haim." Los Angeles Times (November 15, 2021)

Dargis, Manohla. "Licorice Pizza: California Dreaming and Scheming." The New York Times (November 25, 2021)

Dueren, Sean Van, Tucker Johnson and Scout Tafoya. "3 on Licorice Pizza." Apocalypse Now (January 3, 2022)

Ehrlich, Dave. "Licorice Pizza: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Coming-of-Age Comedy Is a Perfect Slice of ’70s Nostalgia." IndieWire (November 15, 2021)

Flight, Thomas. "The Evolution of Paul Thomas Anderson." (Posted on Youtube: December 21, 2021)

Hicks, Luke. "Michael Bauman on Lighting Licorice Pizza and Bringing Paul Thomas Anderson’s Vision to Life." The Film Stage (December 20, 2021)

Hudson, David. "Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza." The Current (December 1, 2021)

Jenkins, David. "Licorice Pizza." Little White Lies (January 4, 2022)

Lack, Hannah. "Alana Haim on Her Role in Offbeat Coming-of-Age Film, Licorice Pizza." AnOther (January 4, 2022)

Lang, Brent. "Paul Thomas Anderson on Licorice Pizza and Moviemaking: ‘Anyone Who’s Done This Knows That Confidence Is an Illusion.'" Variety (December 2021)

Lemire, Christy. "Licorice Pizza." Roger Ebert (December 24, 2021) 

Licorice Pizza Soundtrack

Nayman, Adam. "Show Biz Kids: Paul Thomas Anderson on Licorice Pizza." Cinema Scope #89 (2021)

Reilly, John C. "Alana Haim Talks to John C. Reilly About Her Life-Changing Acting Debut." Interview (October 25, 2021)

Warren, Ethan. "The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha (Columbia University Press, 2023) New Books in Film (March 29, 2023) ["Paul Thomas Anderson’s evolution from a brash, self-anointed “Indiewood” auteur to one of his generation’s most distinctive voices has been one of the most remarkable career trajectories in recent film history. From early efforts to emulate his cinematic heroes to his increasingly singular late films, Anderson has created a body of work that balances the familiar and the strange, history and myth: viewers feel perpetually off balance, unsure of whether to expect a pitch-black joke or a moment of piercing emotional resonance. The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha (Columbia UP, 2023) provides the most complete account of Anderson’s career to date, encompassing his varied side projects and unproduced material; his personal and professional relationships with directors such as Jonathan Demme, Robert Altman, and Robert Downey Sr.; and his work as a director of music videos for Fiona Apple, Joanna Newsom, and Haim. Ethan Warren explores Anderson’s recurring thematic preoccupations―the fraught dynamics of gender and religious faith, biological and found families, and his native San Fernando Valley―as well as his screenwriting methods and his relationship to his influences. Warren argues that Anderson’s films conjure up an alternate American history that exaggerates and elides verifiable facts in search of a heightened truth marked by a deeper level of emotional hyperrealism. This book is at once an unconventional primer on Anderson’s films and a provocative reframing of what makes his work so essential."]

Wilkinson, Alissa. "Licorice Pizza proves Paul Thomas Anderson is a master of unexpected romance." Vox (November 26, 2021)

The Graduate (USA: Mike Nichols, 1967)

One of the most beloved American films of all time, The Graduate earned Mike Nichols a best director Oscar, brought the music of Simon & Garfunkel to a wider audience, and introduced the world to a young actor named Dustin Hoffman. Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) has just finished college and is already lost in a sea of confusion and barely contained angst when he becomes sexually involved with a friend of his parents’, the indomitable Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), before turning his attention to her college-age daughter (Katharine Ross). Visually imaginative and impeccably acted, with a clever, endlessly quotable script by Buck Henry (based on the novel by Charles Webb), The Graduate had the kind of cultural impact that comes along only once in a generation. -- Criterion

It's the great American danger we're all in. That we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it. - Mike Nichols (quoted in More Than Meets the Lens' video essay "Why The Graduate is So Timeless.")

Occasionally in the arts, a work manages to speak to its contemporaries in a powerful and timely way that seems to capture the essence of its era. The usual fate of such works is that they become historical artifacts, of interest only to historians and sociologists. A few works, however, manage to continue to speak across time, renewing their hold on each generation because of their richness, complexity, and treatment of universal concerns and experiences. This ability to transcend different eras is what makes a work a classic. In American film history, one such work is The Graduate, originally released in 1967. - Howard Suber (1987)

The Graduate (USA: Mike Nichols, 1967: 106 mins)

Criterion Collection introduction and commentaries for The Graduate

Henry, Buck. "On His Career and The Graduate." Pinewood Dialogues (June 22, 1996)

Insdorf, Annette. Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes. Columbia University Press, 2017. ["Your professor has a copy of this book."]

Koski, Genevieve, et al. "The Graduate (1967) / The Meyerowitz Stories (Part 1)." The Next Picture Show #100 (October 31, 2017)

Kuersten Erich. "CinemArchetype #6: The Intimidating Nymph." Acidemic (March 2, 2012)

"Mike Nichols." Auteur Musuem #2 (September 1, 2015)

Nichols, Mike. "On His Filmmaking Style and Directing Actors." Pinewood Dialogues (March 1, 1990)

Rich, Frank. "The Graduate: Intimations of a Revolution." Current (February 23, 2016)

Shone, Tom. "Should Film Critics Care About Cinematic Technique." The Guardian (April 11, 2014)

Suber, Howard. "The Graduate." The Current (December 6, 1987)

West, Stephen. "The Frankfurt School: Erich Fromm on Love." Philosophize This! #150 (February 6, 2021) ["Key Takeaways: The Problem of Human Existence and Separateness: Erich Fromm posits that a fundamental issue in human existence is the feeling of separateness or existential loneliness. This awareness of being separate from others and the universe drives people to seek connections beyond themselves, often through love, to alleviate this sense of isolation.
Transactional vs. Genuine Love: The podcast explores the difference between transactional love (where love is treated as a commodity in a personality market) and genuine love. Fromm criticizes the former as being about mutual benefit and not true love, suggesting it leads to relationships that are shallow and likely to fail.
Love as an Active Faculty: Fromm argues that love should be viewed not as a passive emotion that happens to someone, but as an active faculty, a skill that can and should be developed. True love involves a constant, active effort to connect and care for others.
Mastering the Art of Love: The episode discusses Fromm's view of love as an art form that requires dedication and practice, similar to mastering any skill. He emphasizes the importance of humility, courage, faith, and discipline in developing the ability to love genuinely and deeply.
Recommended Reading:
Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm (1994): This book explores the psychological challenges associated with the transition from traditional societies to modern freedom, and how this shift can lead to authoritarianism.
"The Art of Loving" by Erich Fromm: A profound analysis of love as an art that must be actively practiced and developed, rather than a passive feeling. Fromm explores how love, in its various forms including romantic love, familial love, and self-love, is an expression of one's life and a key to human fulfillment.
The Essential Fromm: Life Between Having and Being by Erich Fromm (2014): This work encapsulates Fromm's views on achieving a fulfilling life, focusing on the dichotomy between 'having' and 'being', and the art of living well."]

ENG 102 2024: Resources #21

Why should an artist’s way of looking at the world have any meaning for us? Why does it give us pleasure? Because, I believe, it increases our awareness of our own potentiality.
— John Berger, Permanent Red: Essays in Seeing (1960)

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Alter, Adam. "Feeling Stuck? Here’s How To Achieve a Breakthrough." Big Brains (June 27, 2024) ["We've all been stuck at some point in our lives — whether we've been stuck at a job and wanting to make a career change, stuck in a location and wanting to move somewhere new, or stuck in relationships or friendships. But the method to getting “unstuck” and achieving a breakthrough might be easier than you think. Using research-backed tools, New York University's Adam Alter shares his tips for how to get unstuck in his new book, Anatomy of a Breakthrough. Alter shares success stories from some of the world's most successful people, and explains how altering your thoughts and habits could lead you on a better path to success. Alter is a professor of marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business and the Robert Stansky Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow."]

Ford, Phil and J.F. Martel. "The Beauty and the Horror." Weird Studies #171 (June 12, 2024) ["This week on Weird Studies, Phil and JF explore the intersections of the beautiful and the terrible in art and literature. There is a conventional beauty that calms and placates, and there is a radical beauty which, taking horror’s pale-gloved hand, gives up all pretense to permanence and fixity and joins the danse macabre of our endless becoming."]

Gardner, Caden Mark and Willow Catelyn Maclay.  "On the Trans Film Image." The Film Comment Podcast (June 25, 2024) ["In April 2021, Film Comment published a Trans Cinema Roundtable Podcast, in which two trans film critics and two trans filmmakers answered questions submitted by listeners on what constitutes a cinema of transness. Now, two of those panelists—Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay—are about to publish a new book on that very subject. Corpses, Fools and Monsters is a thorough inquiry into the history, present, and future of what Caden and Willow call the “trans film image”—not a fully developed cinema, yet, but gestures, glimpses, and traces that have been visible in film from its earliest days and have now gained a renewed creative force. On today’s episode, Caden and Willow join Film Comment Editor Devika Girish to talk about the extensive research they undertook for the book, why representation can be a complex term for trans cinephiles, and films from reappraised classics like Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) to new works by trans filmmakers, including Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow."]

Hollis, James. "How to Find Your True Purpose & Create Your Best Life." Huberman Lab (May 13, 2024) ["In this episode, my guest is Dr. James Hollis, Ph.D., a Jungian psychoanalyst, renowned educator and author on finding and pursuing one’s unique purpose. Dr. Hollis is also an expert in the psychology of relationships and healing from trauma. We discuss how early family dynamics and social context create patterns of both adaptive and maladaptive behavior and internal narratives that, when examined, lead to better choices and a deeply fulfilling existence. We discuss discovering your unique self-identity and purpose through specific practices of reflection, meditation and conversations with others. We also discuss self-perception and the evolution of roles within marriages, parent-child relationships, and work. Throughout the episode, Dr. Hollis provides both basic knowledge and practical tools to help us assess ourselves and better understand who we are and what we really want in careers, relationships of all kinds, and society."]

Kenworthy, Nora. "What Fixes Medical Debt." Today, Explained (May 14, 2024) ["It's gotten so bad in America, people are crowdfunding their doctor bills. Vox's Dylan Scott and associate professor Nora Kenworthy explain an imperfect solution and offer a better one."]

Keyes, Corey. "Why You Feel Empty." Hidden Brain (June 10, 2024) ["Have you ever had an unexplainable feeling of emptiness? Life seems perfect – and yet – something is missing. This week, sociologist Corey Keyes helps us understand where feelings of emptiness come from, how to navigate them and why they’re more common than we might assume." Features a discussion of his 2024 book Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down.]

Means, Casey. "Transform Your Health by Improving Metabolism, Hormone & Blood Sugar Regulation." Huberman Lab (May 6, 2024) ["In this episode, my guest is Dr. Casey Means, MD, a physician trained at Stanford University School of Medicine, an expert on metabolic health and the author of the book, Good Energy. We discuss how to leverage nutrition, exercise and environmental factors to enhance your metabolic health by improving mitochondrial function, hormone and blood sugar regulation. We also explore how fasting, deliberate cold exposure and spending time in nature can impact metabolic health, how to control food cravings and how to assess your metabolic health using blood testing, continuous glucose monitors and other tools. Metabolic dysfunction is a leading cause of chronic disease, obesity and reduced lifespan around the world. Conversely, improving your mitochondrial and metabolic health can positively affect your health span and longevity. Listeners of this episode will learn low- and zero-cost tools to improve their metabolic health, physical and mental well-being, body composition and target the root cause of various common diseases."]

Napier, Daniel. "Was Jesus a Philosopher?" Parker's Pensees #260 (June 13, 2024) ["I'm joined by Dr. Daniel Napier to discuss his work on the philosophy of Jesus, especially in his new (and fantastic) book, The Soul Whisperer: Jesus' Way Among The Philosophers."]

Slingerland, Ted. "Why Trying Too Hard Can Backfire On You." Hidden Brain (June 3, 2024) ["Thinking is a human superpower. On a daily basis, thinking and planning and effort bring us innumerable benefits. But like all aspects of human behavior, you can sometimes get too much of a good thing. This week, we talk with philosopher Ted Slingerland about techniques to prevent overthinking, and how we can cultivate the under-appreciated skill of letting go."]

West, Stephen. "The importance of philosophy, justice and the common good. (Michael Sandel)." Philosophize This! (June 23, 2024) ["Today we talk about some of the benefits of being a practitioner of philosophy. Michael Sandel's view of the three main approaches to justice throughout the history of philosophy. The strengths and weaknesses of all three. The consequences of replacing social norms with market norms. And the importance of the common good as a piece of a just society that is able to endure."]

ENG 102 2024: Resources #20

This is the mystery we thrust ourselves into: A single neuron is not conscious of its existence. A network of billions of unconscious single neurons is. These monads living in a world without perception become a being that perceives, thinks, and acts. Consciousness lies not in neurons, but in a sophisticated pattern of connectivity (125). - Dr. Arnkatla Minervudottr-Chan in Nayler, Ray. The Mountain in the Sea. Picador, 2022.

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Angwin, Julia and Will Knight. "The AI Hype Machine." Today, Explained (May 22, 2024) ["Big Tech companies have rolled out a new batch of AI-powered products, improving upon what came before. But as Wired's Will Knight and investigative journalist Julia Angwin explain, they’re not even close to living up to the world-changing technology the Big Tech CEOs promised."]

Arablouei, Ramtin, et al. "The Labor of Love." Throughline (May 9, 2024) ["There's a powerful fantasy in American society: the fantasy of the ideal mother. This mother is devoted to her family above all else. She raises the kids, volunteers at the school, cleans the house, plans the birthday parties, cares for her own parents. She's a natural nurturer. And she's happy to do it all for free. Problem is? She's imaginary. And yet the idea of her permeates our culture, our economy, and our social policy – and it distorts them. The U.S. doesn't have universal health insurance or universal childcare. We don't have federally mandated paid family leave or a meaningful social safety net for when times get rough. Instead, we have this imaginary mother. We've structured our society as though she exists — but she doesn't. And we all pay the real-life price. Today on the show, we look at three myths that sustain the fantasy: the maternal instinct, the doting housewife, and the welfare queen. And we tell the stories of real-life people – some mothers, some not – who have fought for a much more generous vision of family, labor, and care."]

Azeb, Sophia and Zachary Samalin. "Campus Uproar." Open Source (May 9. 2024) ["We’re sampling the uproar rising from American campuses: it’s a full blown, leaderless movement by now, in an established American tradition, but still contested, still finding its way, looking for its pattern. Columbia and USC have cancelled graduation ceremonies. Many more schools are threatening suspensions or worse if students don’t remove their encampments. In our neighborhood, Harvard Yard is encamped, closed to people without Harvard ID. Harvard students are catch-as-catch-can. We are dropping in conversationally on faculty players we know on either side of the country: Sophia Azeb at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Zachary Samalin at New York University in Manhattan. Santa Cruz is encamped in tents and abuzz with notably civil and inclusive debates about rights, wrongs, and history—all the arguments about Palestine that Congress doesn’t have. You could wonder: what if the 19-year-olds who have preempted the conversation from the campuses are, in fact, the leaders we have been looking for?"]

Butcher, John. "Mythology (Storytelling)." Ologies (February 26, 2018) ["Superhero movies. Bastardized fairy tales. The psychology of celebrity. Star Wars. And yes, some ancient Greek and Roman myths. Professional mythologist and screenwriting consultant John Bucher spins some yarns and unravels some mysteries behind what makes a good story, and why we so desperately need them. Also: rethinking your own life's narrative and gaining a greater appreciation for Elvira. Trust me."]

Ford, Phil and J.F. Martel. "Art is Another Word for Truth: On Orson Welles's F is for Fake." Weird Studies (May 29, 2024) ["Orson Welles made F for Fake in the early seventies, while still bobbing in the wake of a Pauline Kael essay accusing him of being cinema's greatest fraud. Ostensibly a documentary on the famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving (a talented faker in his own right), the film blurs the line between fact and fiction in an effort to explore art's weird entanglement with illusion, magic, and ultimately, the search for truth. This is a film unlike any other, and it is arguably Welles's most important contribution to the evolution and theory of film aesthetics."]

Greenberg, Udi. "The Abuses of Prehistory: Beware of theories about human nature based on the study of our earliest ancestors." The New Republic (May 10, 2024) ["With such diametrically opposed claims, it may seem that these books share little beyond pretentious titles. But as historian Stefanos Geroulanos reveals in his original and exciting new book, The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession With Human Origins, both are part of the same intellectual tradition: the ambitious desire of European and North American thinkers to transform humanity by reconstructing its deep past. Geroulanos charts the history of this effort, which began in the late eighteenth century, with a dazzling survey of countless anthropologists, scientists, and artists. By studying bones, art in caves, or nomad tribes, these thinkers believed they could answer humanity’s fundamental questions: Are we cruel or compassionate? Monogamous or polygamous? Are there “natural” ways to organize our families, religious rites, or social institutions? The answers they offered varied enormously and often led to bitter disputes. What they all shared, and what they left for us, was the belief that prehistory is the key to understanding ourselves."]

Haidt, Jonathan. "How Smartphones & Social Media Impact Mental Health & the Realistic Solutions." The Huberman Lab (June 10, 2024) ["In this episode, my guest is Dr. Jonathan Haidt, PhD, professor of social psychology at New York University and bestselling author on how technology and culture impact the psychology and health of kids, teens, and adults. We discuss the dramatic rise of suicide, depression, and anxiety as a result of replacing a play-based childhood with smartphones, social media, and video games. He explains how a screen-filled childhood leads to challenges in psychological development that negatively impact learning, resilience, identity, cooperation, and conflict resolution — all of which are crucial skills for future adult relationships and career success. We also discuss how phones and social media impact boys and girls differently and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of how smartphones alter basic brain plasticity and function. Dr. Haidt explains his four recommendations for healthier smartphone use in kids, and we discuss how to restore childhood independence and play in the current generation. This is an important topic for everyone, young or old, parents and teachers, students and families, to be aware of in order to understand the potential mental health toll of smartphone use and to apply tools to foster skill-building and reestablish healthy norms for our kids."]

Moses, Dirk. "Genocidology (Crimes of Atrocity)." Ologies (May 8, 2024) ["The world is confusing, but there are experts in everything. In our least funny episode ever, we thankfully convinced a global expert, professor, researcher, author, and Genocidologist (it’s a real word) Dr. Dirk Moses to answer the questions that we may secretly have: What exactly is genocide? How long has it been happening? Is it a war crime? Is it a crime of atrocity? Who makes up humanitarian law? What's self-defense — and what's offense? How is it litigated? Whose business is it? Why do we do this to each other? What can be done? It’s a dense, long episode with lots of asides for history and context, but it might be just what you need to give you perspective on the conditions — and cycles of trauma — that can lead to crimes of atrocities."]

Procter, Robert N. and Londa Schiebinger, eds.  Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance. Stanford University Press, 2008. ["What don't we know, and why don't we know it? What keeps ignorance alive, or allows it to be used as a political instrument? Agnotology—the study of ignorance—provides a new theoretical perspective to broaden traditional questions about "how we know" to ask: Why don't we know what we don't know? The essays assembled in Agnotology show that ignorance is often more than just an absence of knowledge; it can also be the outcome of cultural and political struggles. Ignorance has a history and a political geography, but there are also things people don't want you to know ("Doubt is our product" is the tobacco industry slogan). Individual chapters treat examples from the realms of global climate change, military secrecy, female orgasm, environmental denialism, Native American paleontology, theoretical archaeology, racial ignorance, and more. The goal of this volume is to better understand how and why various forms of knowing do not come to be, or have disappeared, or have become invisible."]

West, Stephen. "The Improbable Slavoj Zizek - Pt. 1." Philosophize This! #196 (February 26, 2024) ["Complexity of Zizek's Ideas: The episode discusses Slavoj Zizek's philosophy, highlighting the challenge of making his complex ideas accessible to a broad audience. Zizek's provocative style is not mere trolling but aims to disorient and awaken people from ideological complacency. Zizek's Philosophical Influences: Zizek's philosophical framework is deeply influenced by Hegel, Marx, and Lacan. This combination allows Zizek to offer unique interpretations of culture and society, particularly in critiquing global capitalism and exploring human subjectivity. Ideology and Subjectivity: The episode emphasizes Zizek's view on ideology. Zizek argues that everyone is influenced by ideology, and it's crucial to be aware of this in our pursuit of truth. This perspective challenges the simplistic view of ideology as something only others possess, highlighting its universal impact on human subjectivity. Analyzing Zizek's Communication Style: Zizek's method of delivering his philosophy is analyzed. He often starts with a progressive position, makes it appealing, then flips it to show its contradictions. This disorienting style is intentional, designed to reveal the limitations of ideology and encourage deeper critical thinking."]

ENG 102 2024: Resources #19

"In the end, confusion is not a lack of understanding. It's more understanding. Mainstream reporting and some people in power want to make everything clear to people--at the expense of the very issues and people they deal with. They can't. If it's complicated. Leave it as complicated. Give people a chance to think."

--Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, "Dreamland and Disillusion." (Film Quarterly: Fall 2011)

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Allen, Brittany. "For philosophy newbs: five thinkers to follow today." Literary Hub (April 29, 2024) ["To paraphrase the novelist Sheila Heti, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately wondering: how should a person be? These are vexy times, on both global and local theaters. Big questions structure the day. Questions like, what is gender? What is speech? What is democracy? What do we owe one another, or the planet? (Picture the pipe now, rising to my lips…)."]

Andrews, Kristin, Monica Miller, and Gabriel Rosenberg. "Living in a Zoopolis." Hi-Phi Nation (April 18, 2023) ["A zoopolis is a future society that philosophers envision where wild, domesticated, and denizen animals have full political and legal rights. What would that look like? In this episode, we look at how animals were put on trial in medieval European courts, and how animal rights advocates are bringing animals back into the courtrooms to sue people and the US government. We then look at what the science of animal minds tells us about how much agency animals have, and envision what political and legal rights various animals would have in a zoopolis. From there, we discuss and debate whether we should be allowed to farm animals, control their reproduction, and have them work for us. Co-produced with Alec Opperman, guests include historian Gabriel Rosenberg, attorney Monica Miller, and animal minds researcher Professor Kristin Andrews."]

Bellot, Gabrielle. "On America’s Two-Party System… And the Damage It Has Done."  Literary Hub (April 23, 2024)  ["As it is, our tacitly two-party system makes it feel normal, if not outright necessary, to demonize the members of the other political party—at times of heightened tension, as now, to demonize them in the starkest Manichean terms of good versus evil—and to see each election in violently stressful terms, for each election under such a worldview sees victory as safety and loss as an existential threat. (And, in a world where polarization has resulted in authoritarian strongmen like Trump, those existential threats are all too real.) The binary has become a battering ram against the door of the soul. I’d like to dream of a better system. Imagine an America where you don’t just have one of two choices, Democrat or Republic, but six or seven or eleven, each distinct, each unconstrained by the norms of a larger party they are trying to fit themselves within like round pegs into square holes because they are not trying to fit themselves within anything but a party that represents them, that truly represents them. Imagine being able to vote for a progressive party that is wholly committed to such ideals, unconstrained by centrists; moderates, too, could vote for their own interests more easily. And imagine, then, that we no longer rely on such an egoistic winner-take-all system, but one where each political party is awarded a proportional share of power based upon their performance, so that no one party “rules” when an election is decided, but must form coalitions with the other well-performing parties to succeed. Imagine an America where political conversation and compromise weren’t quaint, quiescent notions, relics of romanticization, but necessities for passing legislation, as no one party is likely to dominate the House or Senate as is the case now."]

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 2006. ["One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler's Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of 'the masculine' and 'the feminine'. Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated social performance rather than the expression of a prior reality. Thrilling and provocative, few other academic works have roused passions to the same extent."]

Ford, Phil and J.F. Martel. "Visions of the Wasteland: On George Miller's 'Mad Max' Films." Weird Studies #168 (May 1, 2024) ["There are artists who express the vision of a place, person, or thing so vividly and originally that it sets the bar for all future imaginings. With his four Mad Max films, this is what George Miller did with the image of the Wasteland. No one has been able to capture the stark, raw energy and chaotic beauty of a post-apocalyptic desert quite like Miller. His portrayal not only defines the aesthetic of a cinematic world but also prompts us to think about the meaning of civilization, technology, humanity, and how they intertwine. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss how Mad Max challenges our perception of civilization, and our conception of the human."]

Holland, Tom and Dominic Sandbrook. "Custer vs. Crazy Horse: Horse-Lords of the Plains (Part 3)." The Rest is History (May 8, 2024) ["Of all the great characters entangled in the story of George A. Custer and the American Indian Wars, few are as captivating as Crazy Horse. A mighty warrior of the Lakota Sioux, and a tremendous military tactician, he was a charismatic but enigmatic figure. The Sioux, of which the Lakota are a subculture, are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains. Their way of life was transformed by the introduction of horses to North America, but their nomadic lifestyle and dependence upon buffalo hunting was severely threatened by the imposition of telegraph lines, forts and then railroads upon their lands. So it was that, reluctant to be confined to the reservations outlined for them by the U.S. Government, they decided to fight back, under the joint leadership of the politically savvy Red Cloud, and the fated, fearless, tactically brilliant, Crazy Horse… Join Dominic and Tom as they plunge into the world of the Lakota Sioux, looking at the history of their people in the American plains, their rich, complex culture and often gory rituals, and the fascinating characters who would challenge George Custer and the U.S. Government."]

---. "Lord Byron: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Part 1)." The Rest is History (April 14, 2024) ["Few lives from history can have contained as many strange and exciting strands as that of Lord Byron's, whose story reflects the great dramas of the Napoleonic era. A vampiric hero of devilish charisma; a martyr for liberty, a licentious lothario; Byron’s cultural and literary impact cannot be underestimated. The remarkable course of his life, and his mercurial nature can in part be explained by the dark events of his childhood, and the outlandish history of his own family. Born with a club foot - his “satanic mark” - to “Mad Jack” Byron, a former gigolo dogged by incest and financial ruin, and an unpredictable mother, a strange curse seemed to lie over the family. Impoverished before the inheritance of his title and a romantic ruin in Nottinghamshire, the plump and provincial boy would finally find solace at school and university, where he transformed into the glamorous rake he would become. There too would he discover the dubious sexual passions that would haunt his life…"]

Reskinoff, Ned. "Hollywood’s Nomads: On Pamela Robertson Wojcik’s Unhomed." Los Angeles Review of Books (April 10, 2024) ["In Unhomed, Wojcik demonstrates at length that Hollywood’s denialism is a break from precedent: earlier American films show a consistent preoccupation, even fascination, with homelessness and housing insecurity. A professor of film studies at the University of Notre Dame, Wojcik is the author of two other books about the role of home and place in American cinema—Fantasies of Neglect: Imagining the Urban Child in American Film and Fiction (2016) and The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film and Popular Culture, 1945 to 1975 (2010). In her latest, she traces the evolution of film’s itinerant wanderers from the tramps and hobos of the silent era up to the titular drifters of Nomadland (2020). According to the book’s introduction, “Unhomed is about a curiously neglected dominant in American culture: mobility without Manifest Destiny, movement without terminus, geographic mobility that does not produce hope of social mobility.”"]

Robinson, Nathan J., et al. "The Bourgeois Morality of 'The Ethicist.'" Current Affairs (April 24, 2024) ["The New York Times advice column, where snitching liberal busybodies come to seek absolution, is more than a mere annoyance. In limiting our ethical considerations to tricky personal situations and dilemmas, it directs our thinking away from the larger structural injustices of our time."]

West, Stephen.  "How much freedom would you trade for security? (Foucault, Hobbes, Mill, Agamben)." Philosophize This! #187 (August 31, 2023) ["On today's episode we talk about the upsides of a surveillance state. The ongoing social dilemma of freedom vs security. The value of privacy. States of exception. And Deleuze's Postscript on Societies of Control."]

ENG 102 2024: Resources #18

Abraham, Yuval. "‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza." Monthly Review (April 5, 2024) ["During the early stages of the war, the army gave sweeping approval for officers to adopt Lavender’s kill lists, with no requirement to thoroughly check why the machine made those choices or to examine the raw intelligence data on which they were based. One source stated that human personnel often served only as a “rubber stamp” for the machine’s decisions, adding that, normally, they would personally devote only about “20 seconds” to each target before authorizing a bombing–just to make sure the Lavender-marked target is male. This was despite knowing that the system makes what are regarded as “errors” in approximately 10 percent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all. Moreover, the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes–usually at night while their whole families were present–rather than during the course of military activity. According to the sources, this was because, from what they regarded as an intelligence standpoint, it was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses. Additional automated systems, including one called “Where’s Daddy?” also revealed here for the first time, were used specifically to track the targeted individuals and carry out bombings when they had entered their family’s residences."]

Beslile, Brooke. "AI and the End of Photography." UC Press Blog (March 7, 2024) ["Recent headlines are announcing the end of photography, as AI changes what counts as a photograph or makes it impossible to judge. The New York Times has published multiple, interactive articles prompting readers to test whether they can “believe their eyes” by distinguishing between photographs and AI-generated images. Results suggest that most readers are so bad at this task that our performance skews past random: we are good at getting it wrong. The implications of this uncertainty—or overconfidence—extend beyond problems of fakery and tricks of photorealism to raise broader questions about visual mediation in our moment. As AI changes how images are understood to capture and convey whatever they depict, our everyday ways of seeing and knowing through images seems to be in crisis. What does it mean, if I am more likely to identify an AI-generated image of a human face—which was rendered entirely from patterns of data about other images—as a “real person” and more likely to label a photograph of an actual person a “fake”? This is not just about AI but about aesthetic and cultural logics that condition what a “person” looks like and how personhood is pictured in photographs. My recent book, Depth Effects: Dimensionality from Camera to Computation offers a long view of questions like these, which have become all the more important with the rise of AI."]

Brotz, Lucas. "Jellyfishing for Answers." Future Ecologies 1.8 (October 10, 2018) ["How are human activities changing our oceans, and why do these changes all seem to support a new age of jellyfish? What are these ancient, diverse beings: harbingers of doom, or simply the most well-adapted form of life in the sea? In this episode we go jellyfishing for answers with preeminent jellyfish researchers Dr. Lisa-ann Gershwin and Dr. Lucas Brotz."]

Conti, Paul and Andrew Huberman. "How to Improve Your Mental Health." The Huberman Lab (September 2023) ["This is episode 2 of a 4-part special series on mental health with Dr. Paul Conti, M.D., a Stanford and Harvard-trained psychiatrist currently running a clinical practice, the Pacific Premiere Group. Dr. Conti explains specific tools for how to overcome life’s challenges using a framework of self-inquiry that explores all the key elements of self, including defense mechanisms, behaviors, self-awareness and attention. We also discuss our internal driving forces, how to align them and ultimately, how to cultivate a powerful “generative drive” of positive, aspirational pursuits. Dr. Conti also explains how to adjust your internal narratives, reduce self-limiting concepts, overcome intrusive thoughts, and how certain defense mechanisms, such as “acting out” or narcissism, show up in ourselves and others. The next episode in this special series explores how to build healthy relationships with others."]

 ---. "Therapy, Treating Trauma & Other Life Challenges." The Huberman Lab (June 5, 2022) ["My guest this episode is Dr. Paul Conti, M.D., a psychiatrist and expert in treating trauma, personality disorders and psychiatric illnesses and challenges of various kinds. Dr. Conti earned his MD at Stanford and did his residency at Harvard Medical School. He now runs the Pacific Premiere Group—a clinical practice helping people heal and grow from trauma and other life challenges. We discuss trauma: what it is and its far-reaching effects on the mind and body, as well as the best treatment approaches for trauma. We also explore how to choose a therapist and how to get the most out of therapy, as well as how to do self-directed therapy. We discuss the positive and negative effects of antidepressants, ADHD medications, alcohol, cannabis, and the therapeutic potential of psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin and LSD), ketamine and MDMA. This episode is must listen for anyone seeking or already doing therapy, processing trauma, and/or considering psychoactive medication. Both patients and practitioners ought to benefit from the information."]

Farrell, Maria and Robin Berjon. "We Need to Rewild the Internet."  NOEMA (April 16, 2024)  ["The internet has become an extractive and fragile monoculture. But we can revitalize it using lessons learned by ecologists."]

Frohlich, Xaq. "On the History of Food Labeling." Peoples & Things (March 18, 2024) ["Peoples & Things host Lee Vinsel talks with Xaq Frohlich, Associate Professor of History at Auburn University, about his new book, From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information Age (University of California Press, 2023). From Label to Table tells the fascinating history of the US Food and Drug Administration’s spreading authority of food regulation over the 20th century, which, after many twists and turns, culminated in the mandatory standardized food label featured on all packaged foods sold in the United States. The pair also talk about more recent controversies, such as labeling around genetically modified organisms, organic farming, and trans fats. Finally, they discuss Frohlich’s plans for future work, including fascinating potential projects on the history of the Mediterranean Diet and the history of food packaging."]

Gardner, Nathaniel. "The Study of Photography in Latin America: Critical Insights and Methodological Approaches." New Books in Latin American Studies (April 18, 2024) ["The Study of Photography in Latin America: Critical Insights and Methodological Approaches (University of New Mexico Press, 2023) provides an insider's perspective to the study of photography. Nathanial Gardner provides readers with a carefully structured introduction that lays out his unique methodology for this book, which features over eighty photographs and the insights from sixteen prominent Latin American photography scholars and historians, including Boris Kossoy, John Marz, and Ana Mauad. The work reflects the advances of the study of photography throughout Latin America with certain emphasis on Brazil and Mexico. The author further underlines the role of important institutions and builds context by discussing influential theories and key texts that currently guide the discipline. The Study of Photography in Latin America is critical to all who want to expand their current knowledge of the subject and engage with its experts."]

Gero, Shane, et al. "Listening to Whales." To the Best of Our Knowledge (August 24, 2024) ["What can we learn from whales – and whales from us? Technology like AI is fueling new scientific breakthroughs in whale communication that can help us better understand the natural world. And, there’s an international effort to give whales a voice by granting them personhood."]

Hinton, David. "An Ethics of Wild Mind." Emergence (April 30, 2024) ["How would our response to the ecological crisis be different if we understood that our own consciousness is as wild as the breathing Earth around us? In this conversation, poet, translator, and author David Hinton reaches back to a time when cultures were built around a reverence for the Earth and proposes that the sixth extinction we now face is rooted in philosophical assumptions about our separation from the living world. Urging us to reweave mind and landscape, he offers an ethics tempered by love and kinship as a way to navigate our era of disconnection."]

Slotkin, Richard. "American Disorder: The Origin of the Culture War."  Open Source (April 25, 2024)  [MB: I'm currently reading this book. Essential history to understand how stories/myths are used to create a sense of national identity (and who does and does not belong) and the current narratives being deployed in our acrimonious cultural wars. "The key battle taking place in this American crisis year of 2024 is happening in our heads, according to the master historian Richard Slotkin. He’s here to tell us all that we’re in a 40-year culture war and an identity crisis by now. It’s all about drawing on legendary figures like Daniel Boone and Frederick Douglass, Betsy Ross and Rosa Parks, Robert E. Lee and G.I. Joe for a composite self-portrait of the country. Richard Slotkin says we’re in a contest of origin stories, in search of a common national myth. His book is A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America. It is the Trump-Biden fight, of course, but with centuries of history bubbling under it."] 

West, Stephen. "Carl Schmitt on Liberalism, Part 2." Philosophize This! (July 1, 2019) ["So maybe the best place to begin our discussion today is just to say that the fact that the sovereign still exists at some level in our Liberal societies shouldn’t come as an enormous surprise to people. I mean, after all what exactly are systems of norms like the constitution trying to normalize? Carl Schmitt would ask if the constitution is a regulatory document…what exactly is it regulating? He would say that what it is regulating is the more fundamental, underlying political process that has been going on since the dawn of civilization. Liberalism’s been tacked on after the fact…makes us feel good…helps us feel like the world is a lot more peaceful and tolerant than its ever been…but once again, the reality of the world to Carl Schmitt, the reason we haven’t seen a respite from dictatorships, bloodshed and political instability is because we are still engaged in the exact same political process we’ve always been engaged in…one rooted in intolerance…to Carl Schmitt the foundation of the political lies in a distinction between friend and enemy."]