Political Dissent in a Time of (Economic) Crisis

The following statement was adopted by the council of the American Studies Association, which is the nation's oldest and largest association devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history. The council met this weekend during the national conference in Baltimore, and the statement was read aloud by the association's president-elect, Matthew Frye Jacobson, to 500+ ASA members just before Priscilla Wald's presidential address:

Political Dissent in a Time of (Economic) Crisis

A Statement by the Council of the American Studies Association
20 October 2011

We are the public. We are workers.  We are the 99%.  We speak with the people here in Baltimore and around the globe occupying plazas, parks, and squares in opposition to failed austerity programs, to oligarchy, and to the unequal distribution of wealth and power.  The loss of jobs, healthcare, and homes, the distressing use of mass incarceration and mass deportations, and the destruction of environments have brought so many households and individuals to crisis. We join with people re-claiming commons rights to public resources.  We join in the call against privatization and for a democratic re-awakening.

As educators, we experience the dismantling of public education, rising tuition, unsustainable student debt, and the assault on every dimension of education.  As American Studies scholars, our work includes, among other things, addressing the problems and challenges societies face, drawing lessons from the past, comparing across polities, and making informed recommendations that will spark open debate.  We draw inspiration from earlier social movements that have challenged the unequal distribution of power, wealth, and authority. Today’s movements continue this necessary work. The uprisings compel us to lift our voices and dedicate our effort to realizing the democratic aspirations for an equitable and habitable world.  We are the 99%.

Graduate School Now!

Next Friday Fordham American Studies is co-sponsoring an event organized by the Comparative Literature Program for anyone who might be interested in applying to graduate school in the future. It's a panel made up of recent Fordham graduates who have gone on to M.A. and Ph.D. programs in a variety of fields. They will give brief talks about their experience getting into graduate school and will then take questions. One of the presenters is an American Studies major from the class of 2009, Allie Stryker, who went on to an M.A. in Museum Studies and American Studies and is now working in the museum world.

Details below.

The Comparative Literature Program Presents


GRADUATE SCHOOL NOW!

Panel Discussion with recent Fordham alumni

for all Fordham students interested in applying to graduate school

Friday, October 14, 2012

12:00 – 1:30

LINCOLN CENTER (LL 1013)

Panelists:

Laura Barker
(MS.Ed, Hunter College; FCRH Spanish & English major, ’08)

Thomas Callahan
(M.A. Russian & Slavic Studies, N.Y.U., FCRH Comparative Lit major ’07)

Adam Kozaczka
(M.A. program in English, Syracuse, FCRH Comparative Lit major 09)

Keeran Murphy
(M.A. program in Irish Studies, N.Y.U., FCRH English major 09)

Alice Stryker
(M.A. in Museum Studies, George Washington University; FCRH American Studies major 09)

Karen Velasquez
(Ph.D. program, Teachers College, Columbia; FCRH Anthropology major 08)


generous support provided by the FCLC and FCRH Dean’s Offices
co-sponsored by American Studies, English, LALSI, Modern Languages & Literatures

Call for "Occupy Wall Street" photos

Matthew Frye Jacobson, Chair of American Studies at Yale, has for the past several years been curating the online project "Historian's Eye," a crowdsourced collection of cellphone photographs of our historical moment. Right now he's especially interested in images of the "Occupy Wall Street" actions, whether here in New York City or any of the other places around the country where they've been springing up. If you have any cellphone shots of OWS activity, please consider contributing to the Historian's Eye website. Photos can be submitted by email to matthew.jacobson@yale.edu, historianseye@gmail.com OR see the flickr instructions under the "participate" tab on the Historian's Eye website, where some OWS images are already posted. If you're a reader of this blog and you do submit photos, please let us know at amerstudies@fordham.edu; we might ask you to post them here as well.