It’s always fascinated me how carefully the referees measure a close first down in American football. “It’s a game of inches,” they say, since inches matter when you’ve advanced almost ten yards, but not quite. But that’s not the best part. Continue reading “It’s All a Game of Inches”
Secret Agent Man
The approach to identification advocated here at the Edge puzzles some readers since it troubles the usual notion that we have of the individual who does things for certain reasons. We talk about interests and purposes, yes, but we don’t presuppose the usual sort of agent doing things in the world.
Is that a contradiction?
I don’t think so. Continue reading “Secret Agent Man”
Do This, Don’t Do That
Two days ago, and then again yesterday, I wrote a couple of related posts on the way that, despite how cutting edge they may seem, many approaches to identity presuppose that classification systems merely manage pre-existing material. Given that I understand it rather differently — seeing, instead, contingent but authorized grids as the way that we create that sense of place and time that we call identity (also known as significance or relationships of similarity and difference) — most approaches strike me as conservative and problematic inasmuch as they fail to historicize the identity they purport to study, i.e., they fail to examine contingent identification practices (also known as those very same systems and grids that we create, authorize, contest, and otherwise just manage) and, in so doing, they merely naturalize their products, as if we all just know where we are on the globe without that fairly recent invention that we call longitude and latitude. Continue reading “Do This, Don’t Do That”
What Day is it Today…?
Yesterday I posted on the trouble when people think that identities somehow predate the classification systems that, as I see it, actually make them possible to begin with — it’s the mark of a pretty conservative approach inasmuch as it quite literally conserves and reinforces the very thing that we, as scholars, could instead be theorizing. It’s likely a normal part of identity creation (i.e., identification) but for those who think they’re studying how identity works, rather than just creating it, inhabiting it, celebrating it, or criticizing it, well, we likely need to employ a different approach.
But don’t just take my word for it. Continue reading “What Day is it Today…?”
Dulling a Critical Edge
I caught a story this morning on the radio, concerning so-called contemporary Christian music. It was on Josh Garrels (above), whose music “wrestles with and celebrates the mystery of faith with authenticity and heart” (at least according to his web site).
What caught my ear was the following quote: Continue reading “Dulling a Critical Edge”
The Nones are Getting Around
The Religious Studies Project re-posted our link to the recent panel on the Nones — have you seen it?
Everyone Loves a Good Christmas Carol, No?
Ever wonder how a imperial dominance works? Consider this, admittedly, fun video in which all the objects in the Oxford museum — including the ancient ones! — all know and love Christmas carols. Continue reading “Everyone Loves a Good Christmas Carol, No?”
I’ll Be Watching You
Time for a Break
Another Fall semester is in the books and it is time for us here at the Edge to power down the smartphones and the laptops, brew a cup of tea or coffee (or some other sort of relaxing beverage), and recharge our batteries.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be periodically re-posting some items from the vault that you might have missed the first time around — but also, you better watch out for some new content when you least expect it.
Might As Well Jump!
Did you catch this post, now making its way around the web?
It opens: Continue reading “Might As Well Jump!”