Reading the Language of Rape Culture

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The State of Things | Frank Stasio

Reading the Language of Rape Culture
Wednesday, April 06 2011

Most cases of rape and sexual assault never make the news. But in recent weeks, horrific stories about victims of sexual violence have created national headlines. Some language used in the reporting of these cases and public reactions to them has caused controversy. How we articulate ideas about rape sheds light on American perceptions of violence, gender and race. Host Frank Stasio discusses the language and the law surrounding rape with a panel of guests including documentary filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons; Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African-American Studies at Duke University; Melissa Harris-Perry, associate professor of politics and African-American Studies at Princeton University; and Mary R. Block, associate professor of history at Valdosta State University.

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Manning Marable's 'Reinvention' Of Malcolm X

from NPR|All Things Considered

Manning Marable's newly released biography of Malcolm X introduces new information that could reshape the widely accepted narrative of the Muslim leader's life.

Marable died on Friday, just days before the book's publication. The African-American studies professor was 60 years old and died of complications from pneumonia. His life's work, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, came out Monday.

The new biography asserts that Malcolm X had exaggerated his early criminal career and had engaged in an early homosexual relationship with a white businessman. The book also claims that some of the triggermen responsible for killing Malcolm X are still alive and were never charged.

Melissa Harris-Perry, an associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, spoke with NPR's Michele Norris about how this affects the legacy of Malcolm X and how his life is taught in the classroom.

The Great Wells of Manning Marable

The Great Wells of Manning Marable
Melissa Harris-Perry | April 3, 2011

We have suffered a great loss in the passing of Professor Manning Marable. As my Nation colleague John Nichols wrote yesterday [1], the coming weeks will be filled with tributes to Manning’s life and work. He was, as John says, “one of America’s truest public intellectuals.”

Manning was an unflinching and breathtakingly prolific scholar whose commitments to racial, economic, gender, and international justice were unparalleled. In decades of weekly columns, hundreds of academic journal articles and a dozen books, Manning has already written his own legacy. But despite the fact that we all have “Manning Marable shelves” in our personal libraries, there are two generations of African-American scholars who will remember him as much for the mentor he was to us as for the research legacy he leaves.

It is still a surprisingly lonely endeavor to be an African-American academic pursuing research on black life. Despite the outward appearance of successful careers, many black social scientists, historians and humanists wage a daily battle for relevance and respect in our departments and on our campuses. The fight begins in graduate school and does not seem to abate even after we have published articles, written books, achieved tenure or garnered professional praise.

In our loneliness and struggle many of us reach out for mentors. It is relatively easy to find senior scholars who will offer encouraging words, well-rehearsed advice and general praise. But Manning managed to do so much more than that. To be a student or a junior faculty member in Manning’s office was to wait for the smile. He would listen intently and seriously as you told him about the project you envisioned, the finding you made or a conclusion you’d drawn. As you spoke, his face was a mask of stillness covering a never-resting intellect just below the surface. It was more than a little intimidating to present an idea to Manning. But if he liked what you were up to or thought you had uncovered a promising direction then his face would crack into a broad and compelling smile that made the whole nerve-wracking experience worth it. If you got the smile then you knew you could keep going.

This was only the most surface way that Manning mentored us. As a student of politics and history, he understood that young race scholars faced steep structural barriers and entrenched academic practices that no amount of well-intentioned professional cheerleading could erase. Instead of just telling us we could do it, Manning helped make “doing it” possible.

Read the Full Essay @ The Nation

The Misunderestimation of Sarah Palin

The Misunderestimation of Sarah Palin
by Melissa Harris-Perry

I assigned Sarah Palin's Going Rogue in my course on women in contemporary US media and politics. I spent the week walking around town, riding the train and dashing through airports with the book tucked under my arm. "Isn't she awesome?" gushed a waitress in a New Jersey restaurant. My seatmate on a flight to Louisiana smiled knowingly and whipped out her copy of Decision Points. On my way to California a guy in a University of Alaska sweatshirt nearly threw himself across the aisle to chat with me. It was a camaraderie with perfect strangers that I once evoked by wearing my Obama sweatshirt.

I expected my Princeton students—mostly young women, self-identified as liberal and feminist and actively engaged in local and national politics—to be critical of Palin. But although they found her authorial voice irritatingly self-assured and disagreed with her policy conclusions, they also found her surprisingly compelling. They thoughtfully drew parallels between her nontraditional (dare I say mavericky?) career choices and those of Hillary Clinton, whose Living History we read the same week.

I pushed my personal Palin test one step further by watching Sarah Palin's Alaska with my 8-year-old daughter. My kid's dislike of Palin is pure, instinctive and content-free. It's not as though she has well-formed policy positions; she just knows that Palin was an opponent to be vanquished. Born in Hyde Park, my daughter learned to read "Obama" as her first word, because it was plastered on signs all over our neighborhood in 2004. My kid accompanied me to campaign events throughout 2008 and has heard many kitchen table commentaries railing against Palin and the Tea Party. But twenty minutes into the first episode, she was transfixed. She loved watching the baby bears. She was jealous that Palin had a studio in her house: "Mom, can't you get one from MSNBC?" She cracked up with hand-clapping hysteria as the mountain-scaling Palin shouted, "I was never a gymnast or a cheerleader!" At the end my kid declared, "I know we don't agree with her, but her life sure is interesting."

Eight-year-olds don't vote. My students are not planning to switch parties. My book toting elicited as much clucking disapproval as it did enthusiastic bonding. My experiences are not scientific or systematic, but after reading and watching Palin and the reactions to her these past few weeks I am convinced that underestimating Sarah Palin is a mistake of epic proportions.

Much of the urban East Coast discourse about Palin and other Tea Party women is dismissive and mocking. Most Democratic and many Republican commentators rely on a basic assertion that Palin is stupid and therefore not credible. But this perspective ignores that visceral emotions are at least as important as sober rationality in making political choices. Whatever her failings, Palin has successfully harnessed new media forms to engage and direct emotional reactions in ways that are surprisingly effective.

Read the Full Essay @ The Nation

Pop & Politics Radio: The New Map: America, Redrawn and Reconceived

NOVEMBER 4: The New Map: America, Redrawn and Reconceived

On Wednesday November 3rd, the Pop and Politics live event at WNYC’s Greene Space brought together panelists, audiences and web viewers for a fascinating discussion about how race, anger and the economy affected the outcome of the November 2010 midterm elections. Guests included actress Rosie Perez (visit her arts organization here ), blogger Reihan Salam with The National Review, Princeton professor Melissa Harris-Perry, youth activist Erica Williams, and WNYC’s The Takeaway reporter Todd Zwillich.

Watch the Discussion HERE