Anthropology

“The End of Men: & the Rise of Women” by H. Rosin, part 4

Posted onSunday 3 February 2013Thursday 31 January 2013

Talking with male friends, the general consensus I hear seems to be that manhood is more about taking care of yourself so others do not have to do it for you, and then meeting all your other obligations as well – to family, to society, to work, and so on. What most strikes me about…

“The End of Men: & the Rise of Women” by H. Rosin, part 3

Posted onSaturday 2 February 2013Thursday 31 January 2013

What’s even more weirdly interesting is that we’ve seen this sort of social upheaval in gender roles happen before — though we didn’t recognize it at the time – in the inner city black communities. It started in the 1970s as manufacturing started closing the inner city factories, and then too, “the men who lived…

“The End of Men: & the Rise of Women” by H. Rosin, part 2

Posted onFriday 1 February 2013Thursday 31 January 2013

Why did I find this book so disturbing? In some ways I completely agree with the author: “the picture emerging is a mirror image of the traditional gender map: men and [economic] markets on the side of the irrational and overemotional, and women on the side of the cool and levelheaded” (166; italics mine). If…

“The End of Men: & the Rise of Women” by H. Rosin, part 1

Posted onThursday 31 January 2013Thursday 31 January 2013

Required classes are over for me now — apparently I am now officially EBTD (Everything But The Dissertation) or ABD (All But Dissertation), depending on who you ask. Lucky me — as if I didn’t have enough alphabet soup after my name already! Let’s see, just off the top of my head, I can currently…

Gaia’s Gift: Earth, Ourselves and God after Copernicus by Anne Primavesi

Posted onThursday 13 December 2012Thursday 13 December 2012

This book was both a surprise and a delight; I very much enjoyed the reading. Gaia’s Gift is ordinarily presented as simply an analysis of Copernican heliocentric theory, as it applies to James Lovelock’s Gaia Theory, with a powerful refutation of both scientific and religious androcentrism. For example, the description from amazon.com suggests the book…

“Ending Violent Crime Cheaply & Permanently” by Medicine Story, pt. 2

Posted onSaturday 27 October 2012

In a fascinating storytelling style, Medicine Story shares the startlingly successful program he and various other Native American elders created to assist incarcerated men. Initially it was just for Native Americans, and included women’s circles, but over the years (due to a wide variety of reasons) the men’s circles were the only ones that continued,…

“Ending Violent Crime Cheaply & Permanently” by Medicine Story, pt. 1

Posted onFriday 19 October 2012Monday 22 October 2012

Ending Violent Crime Cheaply & Permanently: A Vision of A Society Free of Violence by Manitonquat (Medicine Story) is an astonishing little book — one I might have had trouble believing if I hadn’t already stumbled elsewhere across some of the statistics mentioned. It is self-published as well: surprisingly short but very concise and readable….

“The Next American Revolution” by Boggs & Kurashige

Posted onWednesday 17 October 2012

After reading The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs & Scott Kurashige, I confess my primary reaction was a frustrated, “Why is this not being better shared? Why must we keep re-inventing the wheel?” Upon reflection, I’d guess there must be some serious corporate (or socio-cultural?) interests involved, that…

Ecofeminism | Random | Techstuff

Roofrats

Posted onMonday 8 October 2012Monday 26 November 2012

We have roofrats! OK, not really. The new landlords decided we need a new roof, so they informed us late Saturday night via email that the roofers were scheduled to arrive at 7:30AM Monday morning. I’m not wild about the fact that the roofers are scheduled to be here all week as well, especially since…

“Feminism & the Mastery of Nature” by Val Plumwood

Posted onSunday 7 October 2012

This is an astonishingly “chewy” book! I’m impressed, as well as greatly enjoying Plumwood’s fascinatingly erudite, logical — and yet, I feel, still thoughtfully spiritual — considerations on ecofeminism. She is, in fact, so logic-oriented that it was initially a bit disconcerting when her writing was also richly metaphorical. It’s always a pleasure to discover…