My story (academically at least...)

[tsenft]

A student asked me how I wound up doing what I do intellectually, and why I do it where I do it. It occurred to me that some of you might welcome hearing me tell this story. I dedicate this to folks who feel their story is too weird or unorthodox or whatever, and that they'll never find a place for themselves and their politics. My advice for those

Comments

[vienna]

i LOVED this post. my path is just as twisty.

will you send me the pdf of camgirls? i had it at some point, but not sure if it was the final version. kat@villanelle.org

[tsenft]

Thanks, sugar. I'll send it to you right now.

[vienna]

thank you! I had occasion to use the term micro-celebrity in a blog post the other day and linked to you :)

[contrary_wise]

I'm on my own twisty path through (and away from) academia as I finish my dissertation. It's interesting to me right now to know how people have negotiated this whole thing and are in ok places with it.

Your work is really useful for my own and I'd really appreciate a pdf of CamGirls....

[tsenft]

Shoot me an email address (or send it to me: tsenft@gmail.com) I don't know why we all don't just grow up knowing paths will be twisty, but I certainly didn't. x

[slantedtruth]

this was brilliant to read this! fascinating trajectory.

two thoughts on current projects:

you might date that exhbitionism project a bit earlier, to Saartje Bartman and similar episodes. The discourse around medical exhibiting is an important precursor to mid-19th century exhibituionisms of various forms. Look out for my friend Sadiah Qureshi's new text on the exhibiting indigenous peoples in London in the 19th century. Sadiah is at cambridge on the new victorians project there in HPS if you want to be in touch (i can also connect you on FB).

My friend Julie Laite, who works on the history of prostitution and is now moving into the history of trafficiking, just took a job at Birkbeck. she might be useful for and interested in your trafficking project, and have some insight into how technologies operate in trafficking historically.

[tsenft]

Yes, yes please connect me to Sadiah Qureshi!
Also, would love to get in touch with Julie. The whole trafficking/sex work discussion is its own thing (I don't really frame my interests around trafficking discussions) but I would love to see what she's working on.

And for other news, I'm actually going to be in New York for the time being. Year leave of absence from UEL :)

[slit]

in which I included representations of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender affection. Many of my students objected that these depictions ran counter to their state-granted right to practice Islamic or Christian traditions as part of their identity as students.

I'm wondering if you also encountered any students who felt stereotyped or discriminated against because they were presumed to hold homophobic views on the basis of their religious identity. This is something that came up while I was writing my thesis last year, on Muslim students in the U.S. I'm going to be doing my dissertation on Muslim students in Germany and my *guess* is this will come up less frequently because things seem more polarized in the EU, but I'm not living there (yet) so I'm more dependent on official news channels (which are always full of lies :)).

[tsenft]

That's a great question. I never had any non-homophobic students complain to me about people presuming homophobia on their part due to their religious preferences, but I am sure it must happen. I can certainly see it happening to Muslim students in the US with more frequency than it would happen to Muslim students in the East End of London. It seems that misconceptions and stereotypes are always worse when someone's identity is perceived as a novelty of sorts. At UEL at least, the question "What must it be like to be a Jew?" might be one bantered around, but Muslim or Christian? Not really.

Are you following the Queer-L discussion on Judith Butler's speech in Germany? The conversation seems to have died out, but lots of interesting points were raised, and maybe some good contacts to talk to as well...

xx

[slit]

I've been following it on islamophobia blogs, although it hasn't gotten a ton of attention there. Also some of the discussion of Jasbir Puar (whom I have mixed feelings about).

At UEL at least, the question "What must it be like to be a Jew?" might be one bantered around, but Muslim or Christian? Not really.

This interests me a lot because one of the things I ended up covering in some detail in the thesis was the sense of isolation American Muslim students felt. "My brother and I were the only Muslims in our school" was something I ended up hearing a lot, which was a negative for all the obvious reasons but also brought some advantages, since teachers (and others) would readily admit ignorance and were more willing to let students be experts on their own experience. Since Muslim immigrants constitute a much higher proportion of the population in the EU, I'm expecting that will be a different kettle of fish.

[alicetiara]

What is this packet for? I would love to see you!

[tsenft]

1. Oy, that 'packet' biz was left in by mistake. Long story, which
2. I will tell you when I see you. EMAIL COMING!