In queer and present danger.

[goblin_marketer]

NEWS: GOP lawmakers: Fire college professors for 'queer theory'

I found this rather ridiculous, but also a bit alarming. I doubt that the impulse is exclusive to Georgia. I'm a grad student and writing instructor at this point, so I'm using queer theory more than teaching it, so I can't really speak to any experiences with this, though I've

Comments

[ex_lost_kit]

I'm adverse to seeing academic structure become politicized, so my initial reaction to this movement is highly negative. This doesn't mean I support Angry Studies departments, just that if there's an argument against them, it damn well better be something better than simple homophobia.

As for whether the Angry Studies departments have been "accepted"... well, I imagine most of the support for that would come from members of those departments themselves, possibly some allies in the Sociology / Humanities departments, and then a smattering of left-leaning academics... which is to say, the majority, but it's also a politicized support and thus may not be "legitimate". I'm not inclined to try to draw up criteria whereby we could determine whether a given field is respectable or not, but I will say that I think it could be argued that there's a legitimate state interest in, if not supporting some departments at the expense of others, at least supporting students within some departments but not others.

[ladyshrew]

Uh, "Angry Studies"?

[biascut]

Academia shouldn't have any application to the real world! It should just study abstract stuff! And dead issues!

[ladyshrew]

I study (well, studied) dead angry studies--is that an application to the real world or just a dead issue? :-D

[biascut]

Heh, that was why I carefully said "dead issues" - started out to say "dead people" and then realised you can get get pretty damn political about dead people!

[ladyshrew]

Tehehe. Indeed! And I wasn't picking on your wording, just having fun. ;-)

[knut_hamson]

The dead are so easy to appropriate.

[blackletter]

And you don't have to worry about them getting angry over unsavory details of their culture being revealed and analyzed by insensitive, "outsider" researchers.

[ex_lost_kit]

Collective reference to Women's Studies, Black Studies, Queer Studies, and whatever other variants have dreamed up.

[ex_lost_kit]

*have been dreamed up

[lostreality]

ahh you are an economist I see. That explains everything :)

[triphicus]

Even better, she's a libertarian.

[ladyshrew]

Oh I see. So you're just saying that all women, black people, and queer people are angry. Gotcha.

[ex_lost_kit]

No, I'm not.

[ladyshrew]

And yet you call these "Angry Studies." Because clearly anger is the only justification for them? And, naturally, it doesn't apply to anything else that isn't "dreamed up."