Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Precautions and Paralysis

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Timothy Burke

In response to a prompt recently, I had to try and do a bit of forecasting about higher education. I’ve spent too much time teaching about the history of futurism and prediction to find that a comfortable invitation. No matter … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 7 Comments

Looking Backward

Posted on May 24, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I’ve been fiddling with the syllabus for my Image of Africa class, which I am to teach this fall for the first time in a while. No course in my repertoire has changed as much in my underlying assumptions about … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa, Production of History | 22 Comments

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Timothy Burke

A short while before I was supposed to get on a plane last week to fly to Chicago and participate in an event at Northwestern University, something I’d really been looking forward to, I started to have the sinking sense … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Domestic Life | 7 Comments

Africans and the Slave Trade

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Timothy Burke

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks, as the last half of April so often is. Usually that leaves me with a mind like a blown-out tire for the week where everything calms down, and this year has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Production of History | 2 Comments

Literacy Quizzes (Again)

Posted on April 12, 2010 by Timothy Burke

There is probably no point whatsoever to a critique of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s civics literacy quiz (via 11d), but hope springs eternal, I guess. First off, my generic criticisms of these kinds of historic or social-science literacy quizzes. Usually, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Cleaning Out the Augean Stables, Politics, Production of History | 5 Comments

The Work of Cultural Capital

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Timothy Burke

This entry about the Ramey study on family time at 11d got me thinking. Laura, citing David Brooks and Tara Parker-Pope, observes that a shift towards parents spending much more time with their children doesn’t seem to have any downside. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Domestic Life | 6 Comments

Four Reasons Why The World Is Better Because of the Internet

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Cash Gordon Chatroulette in Ben Folds concert (via 11d) Hark a Vagrant Wikileaks ——— One of the things that drives me nuts about the stalwart defenders of old media and their closed-shop underpinnings is an unwillingness to concede that online … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Technology and Information Literacy, Popular Culture | Comments Off on Four Reasons Why The World Is Better Because of the Internet

What To Do When Unfogged Is Down

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Regarding the Great Greenwald vs. Kerr vs. Ferrell Crooked Timber dustup of April 1st, ok, I’ll bite. Rich Pulchalsky snarks at me enough in the comments, after all. Besides, what the hell, Unfogged is down anyway, so I might as … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Politics | 1 Comment

Evaluation Across the Disciplines

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Timothy Burke

One perspective that I’ve occasionally heard from colleagues that makes me grit my teeth, that I have very little patience for, is that it is so difficult to evaluate the quality of work in other disciplines or judge their comparative … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 3 Comments

I Tribulated and All I Got Was This Dumb T-Shirt

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Forgive me a brief moment of irreligious kidding. (I’m tempted to not kid and talk about ongoing revelations about the Catholic Church, but I doubt I could stay studiously cool on that topic.) But something that’s occurred to me in … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 1 Comment