Monday, October 26, 2009

Peace and Conflict Studies, Part 1: Howard Zinn Archive

[Addition--rephrased this better after your comments in class :)]

For my students in Peace and Conflict Studies--but anyone, feel free to leave comments, questions and resources. To the students, I filled the chalkboard up, in class today, with names, resources and references, if you have any questions and/or comments, please leave them in the comments to this blog post. If you ask me a question about something I mentioned I will explain it in more detail on this website.

Example in the news:

We were talking about Cultural Hegemony today in class and the subtle ways in which the dominant culture tries to influence the way we perceive/understand/experience the world. This process is carried out constantly in a multitude of ways. Walking back to my office after class I noticed the Kentucky Kernel's front page story "Basketball Dorm Naming Rights Causes Stir Over Coal" and read the story ... I was struck by how it was such a clear example. Using money to build a dorm for the most influential cultural force in Lexington (UK Basketball--rivaled only by horse racing and bourbon). Why the insistence that the new building's name have the word "coal" in it? Why the charade that they want to honor the "heritage of the state and coal miners" (there is no insistence on the word Kentucky or workers/miners?)? Why does Gardner attempt to use his money to influence us to accept and support what he terms the "foundation of Kentucky’s economy for many decades, and it’s going to be the foundation for many decades to come"? If so, why the need to spend 7 million dollars to advertise the word "coal" on the dormitory of UK Basketball players (lets not be mistaken--this is advertisement)?

Then watch Mountaintop Removal Begins on Coal River Mountain -- Help Needed Now and think about how activist groups are trying to counter the hegemonic narrative Gardner is buying/producing.

Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the United States

Howard Zinn, Marilyn Young and Jonathan Schell: The Legacy of Robert McNamara

Howard Zinn: I Wish Obama Would Listen to Martin Luther King, Jr

Howard Zinn: The Lessons of the Iraq War Start with US History

Howard Zinn: An Interview With Howard Zinn about Anarchism

Howard Zinn: Empire or Humanity? What the Classroom Didn’t Teach Me About American Empire

Howard Zinn: On War and Social Justice

Howard Zinn: On Teaching for Change

Howard Zinn: Democratic Education

Howard Zinn: On Civil Disobedience

Howard Zinn: If History is to Be Creative

Howard Zinn: The Problem of Civil Obedience

Howard Zinn: America’s Blinders

Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove: Readings from A People’s History of the United States

Howard Zinn: It’s Not Up to the Court

Howard Zinn: The Myth of American Exceptionalism

Howard Zinn: Our War on Terrorism

Thom Yorke and Howard Zinn: The Truth in the Hand of Artists

Related Materials that Explore the Issues We Discussed in Class Today

More Materials That I Discussed in Class Today

Thinking About Radical Democracy

Project Censored: Media Democracy in Action

Arundhati Roy: Instant Mix, Imperial Democracy

People’s Historical Documents; Radical Reader; Cultural Resistance Reader

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