Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Okay, I didn't plan on actually addressing this but I have been told I should. I am a UMASS Amherst graduate. I spent a lot of time there so ended up with something of a mixed bag of majors, minors and certificates. My first love is and always has been Archaeloogy. At UMASS the archaeology major is under the umbrella of Anthropolgy. Therefore, my primary major was Anthropology with a with a concentration in Archaeology and in order to complete the major I had to take a number of Antropology classes. Now I'll admit while I was there I definitely saw a very Left Liberal bent in the department but today I came across the Spring 2003 Course Description and was shocked. To say the least.

Lets take a look at some of the offerings.

Course Number: 382 Day: TuTh Time: 11:15:00 AM Credits: 3

Course Title: Caribbean Cultures Gen Ed:

Professor: Enoch Page

Description: Lecture

In this class, we will examine the Caribbean from the perspective of enslaved Africans who found themselves captured and imported for labor, procreating with enslavers and indigenous people, laboring in the same fields as white, Asian and Indian indentured workers, and organizing on behalf of their own participation in the governance of their new states. Anyone who is not thoroughly and candidly willing to examine how you, yourself, and Americans, in general, are adversely implicated in the gender, race and class basis of widely shared black experience of Caribbean territories is advised not to take this class.

Does this sound familiar? More than a little reminiscent of the phrase that causes an upraor over the Poetry of the Intifada class earlier in the year. Is Dr. Page saying, if you dan't want to be called a racist or tool of racists don't take this class? Students are told from efore they even enroll in the course that any other viewpoint than that brought by the professor will not be tolerated.

Here is another one from Dr. Page:


Course Number: 697E Day: Tu Time: 2:30:00 PM Credits: 3
Course Title: ST: The Anthropology of Whiteness Gen Ed:
Professor: Enoch Page
Description: Lecture. Instructor Permission Required
Are literate and educated blacks, along with many other people of color, "infected" with whiteness? Is whiteness an antonym, synonym or metonym of multicultural disversity? Can we establish that whiteness is no longer exclusive to whites? If so, then what is the cultural basis of whiteness that allows it to "float" in a Hall-ian way, away from its reproduction? How can we take stock of this phenomenon beyond purely discursive accounts based most often on notions of identity? Aside from its foundations in identity, how did whiteness originate historically, what does whiteness look like when observed; how does one locate it's indicators; what must we analyze when searching for whiteness; and when looking for the m most incisive evidence of whiteness, don't we find its always embodied and enacted in cultural behavior? Most importantly, how must whiteness be dismantled and in whose best interests?
Note: Seminar enrollment will be closed after the first class meets. Please do not take this class unless for the explicit purpose of being thoroughly tutored in this form of analysis. Every student who hopes to enroll must be interviewed by the professor. Arrange an interview, sooner than later, by contacting Shelley Bellor Richotte, Dept. of Anthropology, 545-2221

"Most importantly, how must whiteness be dismantled and" in whose best interests?" Again, no other view than Dr. Page's, 'whiteness' (as defined by Dr. Page), will be accepted. Dr. Pages asks a list of questions but, this final line leaves no doubt as to the conclusion that will be reached. It is somewhat disconcerting to see that subjects so contentious and open to interpretation are not available for open discussion, Dr. Page has the answers and will show them to you.

Here is another one that caught my eye.

Course Number: 397A Day: TuTh Time: 9:30:00 AM Credits: 3
Course Title: ST: Gender and Post-Socialist Transformations Gen Ed:
Professor: Julie Hemment
Description: Lecture
In this course we will examine the transforming states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union from the perspective of gender. The so-called "collapse of Communism" in the late 1980's paved the way for ambitious projects for social and political change. However, policies aimed at democratization and economic liberalization led to increased stratification and impoverishment. Women have borne the brunt of many of those changes. Bringing together ethnographic and theoretical accounts of the former East bloc, this course examines the gender realignments of the post-socialist period and women's responses to these changes. Themes to be discussed will include: Gender and socialism (the socialist "gender regime" and the meaning of work, home, family), women and THE market; "civil society" and violence against women; and women's activism (NGO's feminism and transnational social movements)

"The so-called "collapse of Communism" in the late 1980's paved the way for ambitious projects for social and political change. However, policies aimed at democratization and economic liberalization led to increased stratification and impoverishment. Women have borne the brunt of many of those changes." Is there any doubt as to where the class will lead? Democratization and liberalization are bad, it is a statement here, those ideas brought to the world by America have brought 'stratification and impovershment' for women, as opposed to such non-stratified and wealthy Communist and Socialist paradises as Cuba and Zimbabwe.

A number of the classes on this list offer the same homage to 'multiculturalis' and 'diversity' that effectively say diversity of thought and any pretensions of real debate in this class will not be acceptable. It makes me ashamed to say that this is the department from which I earned a BA. Although in my defense a number of the professors I learned under are gone or teach some of the drier classes offered.

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