"CONVERSATIONS" at The Institute for Research in African-American Studies
I said my Fridays would be occupied by this series. This is the third one I've attended
Professor Jonathan Kahn (who is still bugging over being called "Professor") shared a work in progress of his called "W.E.B. DuBois & the Discourse of Sacrifice." He's looking at two aspects of DuBois' writing: the fiction wherein lynched Black folks are symbolic Christ figures, and his stuff exhorting Black folks to sacrifice (his word, and apparently the one most of academia has settled on) for the sake of the Black community.
This was interesting because he (and, it would seem, much of academia) is trying to understand DuBois' intent by examining the words he left behind, all the while recognizing that DuBois was working the symbolism, riding it toward a goal that was other than the mainstream's. This is useful; for instance Professor Kahn pointed out that lynching was a deep and important part of the American ritual and actually instantiated a deep religious impulse (and at this very point I would LOVE to see the physical image you have of the good professor).
This never occurred to me because my fundamental approach is to start on the inside, at the human core of it all, and work my way out to the specific forms under observation. I, like everyone else, have a blind spot for those things I don't see in myself. It's good to have someone adjust the rear view mirror for you on occasion.
Anyway, we have different starting points, Professor Kahn and I. I kept thinking "Yeah I understand that, I just wouldn't approach it that way." But I did agree with a lot of his conclusions. And I was able to give a suggestion about an open issue that was the reason his presentation is a work in progress so I feel like we broke even and both came out the better for it.
Two weeks until the next conversation.
