Combative Politics

This chapter examines the shift towards a more confrontational form of campus politics in the wake of the dissolution of SDS in 1969/70, one in which concerns about left-wing violence moved centre-stage. It analyses centre-right students’ roles in some of the key debates of the 1970s—the controversy surrounding the ‘Radicals Decree’, the ‘Mescalero Affair’, and students’ alleged support for the terrorism of the RAF. It argues that Christian Democratic students were instrumental in making a scandal of left-wing activism at a time when a left-wing coalition governed the country for the first time since the war. Centre-right students contributed much to the febrile climate of the 1970s, this chapter shows, stoking public hysteria and helping to create a climate of distrust that made left-wing dissent politically suspect. Their conduct highlights that the process of political liberalization in the wake of 1968 was not a linear but rather a winding one.

The Politics of Our Selves: Left self-fashioning and the production of representative claims in everyday Indian campus politics

Through engaging with everyday practices among student activists in contemporary Indian campus politics, this ethnographic study examines the breadcrumb trail between the left and self-fashioning. It focuses on a performative modality of political representation in Indian democracy by tracing the formation of biographical reconfigurations that implement subject-oriented techniques. The article charts their relevance in producing political legitimacy. It engages with the way in which personal reconfigurations are mobilized to recruit and appeal to both subaltern and privileged communities, thus generating universalistic representative claims and political efficacy. The study discusses self-presentations among leading left activists who are members of five contending Marxist student organizations that are active in Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University campus. It shows that reconfigurations are a hallmark of practices of social ‘downlift’ which echo the notion of declassifying, a concept developed by philosopher Jacques Rancière. While embracing secularism and the legacy of political martyrs, the analysis illustrates how self-fashioning attempts to erase signs and habits attached to economic and social privileges through subverting and engaging creatively with sacrificial and ascetic tropes. Conversely, such practices find themselves critically questioned by activists at the bottom of the social ladder who aspire to social upliftment, including members of lower castes and impoverished Muslim communities. I find that the biographical effects of left activism are both long-lasting and renegotiable, shaping campus lives and subsequent professional careers. While such reconfigurations are not inspired by world renouncers of the Hindu mendicant tradition, these practices of the self might exemplify the historical cross-fertilization between long-standing cultural idioms and the Indian Marxist praxis.

Professor Beware: Liberating Faculty Voices of Color Working in Predominantly White Institutions and Geographic Settings

Predominantly White institutions (PWIs) have prioritized the recruitment of underrepresented faculty of color. For these faculty, initial excitement about a new position may give way to concerns about workload, support, and the presence of communities of color at the locale. Navigating promotion, campus politics, and negotiating welcoming spaces in the community are challenging for faculty and their loved ones. This study of mid-tenure-track faculty at a PWI conveys narratives of their institutional satisfaction 1 to 5 years after hiring. Participants shared general satisfaction with the community and departmental experiences, though African American participants reported less satisfaction in the community. All presented concerns about cultural taxation, the steadily rising bar for tenure, and a lack of clarity about promotion standards.

Mr. Jefferson’s University

This chapter looks at the University of Virginia (UVA), which was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson. It points out how UVA is a study in contrast and contradiction in the 21st century. Thomas Jefferson loved UVA so much that he insisted it to be inscribed on his gravestone as one of his life's accomplishments. Yet there was also a darker side to Jefferson's legacy. Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” yet he owned slaves and even took one as his mistress. This chapter also provides a background on UVA's contemporary culture-war campus politics, where issues of race and sex and power and privilege all mingle in confounding and confusing confluence and conflict. It mentions Richard Spencer, the mastermind behind Charlottesville's 2017 summer of violence, and Stephen Miller, who became one of President Donald Trump's most influential advisers.

Cameras, campuses and the future of politics in an era of imaging technologies

The recent explosion and changes in camera technologies has had a bearing on state surveillance, amateur photographic practices, and people’s involvement with camera cultures. Much of urban life is now mediated by photography in different forms—from being caught, often unaware, on CCTVs, to a far more self-conscious engagement with some of the more readily available camera forms. This article is an attempt to open up some of the issues at stake when engaging with this array of cameras, and to think about the stakes involved. Would the manner in which one engaged photography differ if it were produced by a surveillance device rather than by a personal camera? The article is divided into two main parts. The first engages the contexts and nature of surveillance technology, focusing particularly on the CCTV camera. The second locates the CCTV discussion within campus politics and attempts to think about the uneasy and challenging relationship between photography, truth and politics.

The Birth Of The Bryn Mawr College Black Studies Program And The Herbert Aptheker Appointment

In 1969, Bryn Mawr College hired the notorious Communist Herbert Aptheker to teach the inaugural course in what would become the Black Studies Program. Using primary sources, this essay examines the decision to hire Aptheker and what this decision can tell us about campus politics during the late-60’s/early-70’s. A sharp divide can be seen between conservative and leftist students, parents, alumnae, and even those unassociated with the College who felt it their civic or academic duty to object to or approve of the decision to hire Aptheker. As an institution of learning, Bryn Mawr’s decision of how to teach about those whose experiences have been marginalized deals with questions of who is telling whose history and how that history will be told – in particular, whether to instate a Black Studies Program with courses integrated into the general College curriculum, or have the courses separated in a potential Black Studies Department. Ultimately, this essay argues that the melee surrounding the Aptheker appointment was a product of the racial tension on-campus and amongst those with a stake in the History the College was constructing.

The Birth Of The Bryn Mawr College Black Studies Program And The Herbert Aptheker Appointment

In 1969, Bryn Mawr College hired the notorious Communist Herbert Aptheker to teach the inaugural course in what would become the Black Studies Program. Using primary sources, this essay examines the decision to hire Aptheker and what this decision can tell us about campus politics during the late-60’s/early-70’s. A sharp divide can be seen between conservative and leftist students, parents, alumnae, and even those unassociated with the College who felt it their civic or academic duty to object to or approve of the decision to hire Aptheker. As an institution of learning, Bryn Mawr’s decision of how to teach about those whose experiences have been marginalized deals with questions of who is telling whose history and how that history will be told – in particular, whether to instate a Black Studies Program with courses integrated into the general College curriculum, or have the courses separated in a potential Black Studies Department. Ultimately, this essay argues that the melee surrounding the Aptheker appointment was a product of the racial tension on-campus and amongst those with a stake in the History the College was constructing.

A Societal Analysis of Buddha in a Traffic Jam

<p><em>After a thorough watch of the film several times,<strong> Buddha in a Traffic Jam</strong> is considered to be an autobiographical film based on its writer &amp; director Vivek Agnihotri's life. Based on true life incidents, its treatment is that of a new age political drama with a unique chapter wise approach to relevant topics leading to its climax. His storytelling format is like a book which takes off from prologue to epilogue and has chapters in between which are decently interesting. The film is an initiative by one of the top Business schools of the world, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and this is the first Indian film ever based and shot in a B school. The script seems to have a forced irony and drama element to it which instantly puts one off.</em></p><p><em>Film explores how certain universities are brainwashing students to become intellectual terrorists. The film also takes on various themes of corruption, campus politics, moral policing, crony socialism and the aspirational India wiping it clean of its middlemen. It probes deep into the relevance of socialism and capitalism in a poverty and corruption ridden India seeking to become a superpower.</em></p>