Monthly Archives: July 2013

Teleology and the Fermi Paradox

I sometimes joke to my students that “teleology” is one of those things like “functionalism” that humanist intellectuals now instinctively recoil from or hiss at without even bothering to explain any longer to a witness who is less in-the-know what … Continue reading

Posted in Defining "Liberal Arts", Generalist's Work, Sheer Raw Geekery | 5 Comments

Historians Don’t Have to Live in the Past

In what way is the American Historical Association’s notion of a six-year embargo on digital open-access distribution of dissertations even remotely sustainable in the current publishing and media environment surrounding academia? On one side, you have disciplinary associations like the … Continue reading

Posted in Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property, Production of History | 19 Comments

The Codes of the Political Class

One of Benedict Anderson’s most famous insights into modern nationalism is the role he assigns to national newspapers in creating the sense of “simultaneity” that gave people across the national territory a sense that they were experiencing events together at … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 11 Comments

There Are More Things on Heaven and Earth Than Dreamt of in Your Critique

Just back from some research work that took up my energy for writing and thinking, I spent some time catching up on blogs and social media. I followed one link out from a Facebook friend to Paul Mullins’ excellent Archaeology … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Blogging, Popular Culture, Production of History | 8 Comments