Jen, Chris, et al.,

Walter Benjamin said it perhaps as well as anyone:

"There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a
document of barbarism."

Ritual or ceremony can easily be substituted for "document." Those things
"we" value within [our] culture or civilization have always been purchased
at great cost, often at great and horrific cost to those outside that
culture, i.e., the uncultured, outside that civilization, i.e., the
uncivilized.

DG

At 04:15 PM 05/03/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>I agree with Chris Stuart that what we've been talking about are
>"conventions." Indeed, it is quite a different thing to call something a
>convention than it is to call something:
>*"civilized"
>*"mature"
>*"responsibible"
>or "correct" (as in Black English Vernacular is "incorrect" and Standard
>English Vernacular is "correct"--as any linguist will tell you is simply
>not the case).
>
>I also agree with Chris Stuart that teaching someone conventions (whether
>academic decorum, scholarly publication conventions, or Standard English
>Vernacular) can facilitate access to power. But it doesn't always do so.
>We must be careful about unexamined reification of certain literacies and
>practices--particularly when some folks take them on and are STILL denied
>access to jobs and other opportunities. Talking about Standard English
>Vernacular as the discourse of power is quite different from talking about
>it is "correct" speech; the former approach may make taking on SEV more
>attractive for a speaker of Appalachian dialect or other non-standard
>dialects than taking the latter approach.
>
>Discussing something as m.c. decorum is different from discussing it as
>civilized. We can oppress--even if symbolically at the moment--with our
>words, as well as with our actions. If feminist and postcolonial scholars
>have taught us anything, perhaps it is that in the name of "civilization"
>many an oppressive act has been committed.
>
>Yes, Chris, we can politely tell someone she's wrong by symbolically
>slapping her in the face online, yet as Bourdieu (yes, you spelled it
>right) reminds us, symbolic violence is quite often as oppressive as
>physical violence. So, touche, pal ;-)
>--Jennifer Beech
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Christopher J Stuart <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Mon, 3 May 2004 13:59:46 -0400
>Subject: Re: [UTCSTAFF] Graduation
>
>I agree with Jennifer Beech that the displays we saw and heard at
>graduation are largely due to a clash of cultures and that it has a great
>deal to do with class, and with what Bourdieu (sp?) refers to as "cultural
>capital." Those familiar with the cermonies of the academy have the
>cultural capital, and those who aren't, don't. The question remains,
>however, whether such capital can or should be forfeited (i.e. we could
>decide not to be bothered by airhorns) or whether it is of greater help to
>those marginalized by the academy to be given some of that cultural
>capital so they can go and spend it (by enforcing decorum and letting them
>know more firmly what the expectations are).
>
>This is where I find my liberal tendencies colliding with my more
>conservative ones (Mostly I hate to admit I have some). A very intelligent
>graduate student of mine stopped by this morning to retrieve a paper he
>had written. I told him I thought the paper was potentially publishable if
>he went back through it and made some changes. Many of these changes
>relate not to his argument, which is very clear and very sophisticated,
>but to the conventions of publishable academic writing in my field. I can
>wage war against those in the academy who enforce these conventions
>(editors, readers for journals, etc.), or I can teach him what the
>conventions are, as someone once taught me, so that he can trade on that
>cultural capital and get his work published. The second will probably be a
>greater help to him.
>
>At another university I once taught in a summer program for
>underprivileged and undereducated youths who seemed to have some academic
>potential. Those who graduated from the program six weeks later were
>allowed to enroll in the university full-time without meeting the minimum
>standard entrance requirements. After a couple of days I was shocked at
>how loud and unruly the students were, although I recognized on second
>thought that, while being loud and unruly, they were also always genuinely
>discussing and engaging with the assigned text. It was the way they were
>expressing themselves, and not what they were saying that I felt was out
>of line. The next day I sat them in a circle and spoke in a near whisper
>so that they would have to be quiet to hear me. We had a nice talk about
>classroom conventions and about what they wanted to get out of the class.
> From there on I had no problem. Academic conferences are pretty quiet,
>staid affairs most of the time, too. But that's not just because the
>participants are snooty (although they often are). Their relative quiet
>and solemnity (as opposed to say conversations on a street corner)are mere
>conventions, and they are tied to class, but they are not without purpose.
>How can I persuade anyone of my view if they are yelling too loudly to
>hear me? Conversely, how can I be persuaded if I am yelling and
>grandstanding in a way that I am not paying attention to anyone else? I
>always tell my students that the university is supposed to be the most
>civilized place on earth, the place where you can tell someone to her face
>that she is flat wrong, and you don't get punched in the face or anywhere
>else. But you need a shared set of conventions in order for that kind of
>exchange to take place, and the instructor has the authority to take
>action if a student refuses to accept those conventions.
>
>In that sense, teaching someone what the conventions are can be seen as a
>liberation and not as an oppression. Really, it all goes back to the
>"Ebonics" debate. Am I the great, white opressor or the liberator who's
>giving them a leg up when I insist that might students write in Standard
>English? Sometimes I'm not sure I know myself. So far, though, I'm still
>against airhorns.
>
>Chris Stuart
>
>
>
>Christopher Stuart
>UC Foundation Assistant Professor
>English Department
>University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
>
>Jennifer Beech, Ph.D.
>Assistant Professor of English and
>Writing Center Director
>Univ. of TN at Chattanooga
>Phone:423-425-2153 or 423-425-1774
>Fax: 423-425-2282