Antiquitopia

Jim Davila of St. Andrews has posted a lengthy and thoughtful review of Nadia Abu El-Haj's book, Facts on the Ground , which has of late been causing some controversy (although that has been overshadowed of late by the visit of Ahmadinejad). Check it out here .

Well...it has happened. I have now successfully defended my dissertation proposal, and so have the green light to move forward on my project. The most interesting or amazing thing about this process is that by the time the proposal is defended and accepted, and, in fact, through the process of dialogue surrounding the proposal defense and its acceptance, the proposal itself becomes instantaneously outdated. I have been tempted to post the proposal itself in the interest of the free exchange of ideas, but, in the process of discussion and research, I fear that the exact words on the page and even some broader issues will turn to dust and ashes, but, at least, out of those ashes a new formulation will arise that bears some resemblance to its former instantiation.

I feel a need to respond to a few of the comments in my last post in addition to some aspects of Lee Bollinger's speech itself. What I dislike most about all sides of the issue is the overuse of ad hominem attacks. It does not do any good, I think, to call Bollinger ignorant or a pawn of the media or whatever for his remarks yesterday. I think there are much better ways to go about discussing this issue. I do not moderate the comments made on my blog and I hope that I never have to do so, but I do ask that they evaluate the substance (or lack thereof) of what someone says and does rather than take the next step and disparage the person making those remarks (there are other places and times for such disparagements). I prefer open discussion, but resorting to ad hominem attacks usually has the effect of squelching discussion rather than promoting an exchange of ideas or information. The question, however, is whether or not, in this case, Bollinger opens himself up for ad hominem ...

Today, I sat out on Columbia's quad and watched as the speeches by Lee Bollinger and then Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were piped outside onto a megatron screen. The invitation to have the president of Iran speak as part of Columbia's World Leaders Forum, was and remains a highly controversial topic upon which everyone seems to disagree. I think that most (but as I found out today, not all) strongly oppose much of what Ahmadinejad has said and done, but the debate of whether or not Bollinger should have invited A. as a part of this larger forum revolves around the issue of free speech or to what degree we can maintaing free speech. And, in case you have not watched the news at all today, Bollinger made some very strong remarks about the Iranian President. But, instead of telling you about it, I will just show you. And, so here, for your ability to read and dissect, is the full transcript of Bollinger's opening remarks (pulled off of Columbia's website): President Lee C. Bol...

The AP has an article about a Nebraska legislator who placed a lawsuit against God for inciting terrorism, causing death and destruction upon the earth's inhabitants, etc. Evidently, God has responded to the suit, saying the Nebraska legislature does not have jurisdiction to file such a claim. And no, I am not kidding!! See the press article here .

On Monday, I was told to read the Times (that would be the New York Times for all you Londoners), because one of my professors was in it, contributing to (or commenting on) the Tenure controversy surrounding Barnard Anthropology Professor, Nadia Abu El-Haj's book, The Facts on the Ground . You can read an AP report here . It is coming down to a debate between academic freedom (for those on Abu El-Haj's side) versus shoddy scholarship (for those against). I have been avoiding reading the book for some time now so that I can plead ignorance, but it appears this tactic will no longer work. For those of you in the NYC area, Alan Segal will be giving a lecture on what we can know from biblical archaeology on Monday, Sept 17 at 7 p.m. in 304 Barnard Hall. It will, to be sure, be an extremely turbulent event. UPDATE: The event was hardly eventful. Some very prominent Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) professors were there, such as Gil Anidjar. On the whole, i...

In case any of you did not know, part of my research includes Sabbath traditions, and starting Wednesday evening at sundown is the sabbatical year. That's right--beginning with Rosh Hashanah, for an entire year, according the the biblical and rabbinic mitzvah (commandment), one should leave one's field fallow for an entire year. According to a newspaper article from the Alton Telegraph (that's Alton, Illinois, for you bi-coastal people) sent to me by my mother, this is causing some concern among Israelis about bankruptcy. Since, for most farmers, a profit margin is rather minimal, an entire year without any crops could put many, especially farmers and kibbutzes with small amounts of land, too far in the red to recover. Interestingly enough, more moderate Israeli Rabbis have created a loophole: Jewish Israelis can sell their fields and orchards to non-Jews for the duration of the year. According to the article, "Under this arrangement, farmers can keep working the ...