Author Archives: Timothy Burke

The Room Where It Happens

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Timothy Burke

It would be in a way a comfort–and also a terror–to think, “Well, that’s those people, it’s the way they think, we cannot stop them and there is no way to engage them.” It’s true, there is no way to … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Oh Not Again He's Going to Tell Us It's a Complex System, Politics, Swarthmore | 1 Comment

The Definition of Madness

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Timothy Burke

Why am I getting so irritated with people earnestly posting about eliminating the electoral college, reducing voter suppression, encouraging more mail-in voting, and so on? Or saying that losing is a result only one small variable (Comey’s dumbass meddling, successful … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 11 Comments

Physician Heal Thyself

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Timothy Burke

In the summer of 2014, an American scholar named Steven Salaita who was a tenured member of the faculty at Virginia Tech was beginning the process of his move to a new position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 6 Comments

Trumped Up

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Timothy Burke

I’m going to assume for the purposes of this essay that Clinton will win the election tomorrow. If Trump wins, a very different kind of political future stretches ahead, both for his supporters and his opponents. So, if Clinton wins, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 13 Comments

The Vision Thing

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Timothy Burke

We’re having a “visioning exercise” here at Swarthmore this fall. I couldn’t attend an early gathering for this purpose, and I’m teaching during the next one. This might be just as well, as I’m having to fight back a certain … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Oath for Experts, Swarthmore | 1 Comment

The Soft Spot

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Timothy Burke

Part of the problem in South Africa right now is that public universities all over a neoliberal world are paradoxically the most vulnerable part of an invulnerable system. This was even true in the 1960s, but it’s especially true now. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Africa, Politics | 2 Comments

One of Those Years

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Timothy Burke

1848, 1914-17, 1929, 1968, 1989, in some years, a break or rupture in the sociopolitical landscape of particular places has so much resemblance to events unfolding in other places with near-simultaneity that a perception of a momentous and widespread crisis … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 8 Comments

Experts Say

Posted on September 22, 2016 by Timothy Burke

It’s a small thing, but for me it sums up why I find the mainstream press wearisome, why I find the circle jerk between the conventional wisdom of reporters and the infrastructure of expertise to be another wretched exhibit in … Continue reading →

Posted in Oath for Experts, Politics | 1 Comment

Enrollment Management: The Stoic’s Version

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Timothy Burke

I have had a few interesting conversations with colleagues online about recent news of falling enrollments in college history courses nationwide, conversations which broadly echo similar discussions among faculty in other disciplines about the same phenomenon in their classes. Speaking … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Defining "Liberal Arts", Production of History | 6 Comments

The New Machine

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Timothy Burke

I know my anxiety about this political season won’t end until November. And really not then, because I don’t want this ever to happen again. And that depends upon a Clinton Administration doing more than just maintaining the status quo. … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Politics | 2 Comments