68. 🌐 so you want to talk about empire 🌐
thinking about curiosity and clarification
Hello, and happy Monday.
I hope that you had a wonderful and safe Halloween (with or without costumes). I've loved seeing all the internet Halloween lewks on the internet over the weekend. Particularly those of the pets and the children. 🥰 Here are two of my favorites:
✏️ Still processing.
Every weekend when I sit down to write this section, I usually begin by flipping through my process journal entries from the week before. I start to get re-acquainted with my feelings and ideas from the past week—reminding myself of any challenges or connections that particularly stood out. This weekend, one sentence really stood out to me in as I read through my feelings about my writing:
I think that I'm getting curious again about the work I'm doing.
I took some time to reflect on this sentence, taking time to repeat the sentence with different intonations.
I think that I am getting curious again...
I think that I am getting curious again...
I think that I am getting curious again...
I've written about fear in the context of work before. Since the pandemic, though, I felt acutely aware of my fear during writing. I needed to finish my dissertation in a time when we all had no idea when we could come out of our houses. And then, I needed to write in order to keep myself afloat, out of fear that I would lose steam. And still, I feel that I need to write for fear that if I don't publish, I will perish.
The day that I wrote this sentence, I had spoken with an interlocutor of my work—one whose father was once part of the community about which I'm writing. Of course I wanted to prepare for the conversation, and I did so by checking their father's name against historical databases I hadn't yet considered. I'm glad it was after hours in my office, because I was literally screaming, "OH MY GOD!" and "NO WAY!" with every new document that I found. I was excited again. My fingers couldn't type fast enough to keep up with the questions that led to a thought that led to more questions. It was as though my brain was sprinting in zig zags.
I realized how long it had been since I felt that rush of momentum that comes with finding a line of thought that I've just got to pursue. A name that leads to a search that leads to an idea that leads to an email. The email leads to a meeting that leads to a conversation that leads to phrases tumbling into a word processor.
It felt invigorating. This is the energy that I hope to bring into the new week.
📚 Still reading.
Shibusawa, Naoko. "U.S. Empire and Racial Capitalist Modernity." Diplomatic History 45, no. 5 (2011): 855-884.
The newest issue of Diplomatic History came out last week, and I was so thrilled to see that one of my mentors, Naoko Shibusawa, had an article published in it. (You may remember her name from my letter on 🦴 the x-ray method 🦴 a few weeks ago.) I may be biased, but I feel that like last week's book Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, this article is one that should be read by scholars and those outside the academy alike because it so clearly and accessibly explains imperialism, racial capitalism, and modernity, as well as shows how they all connect to one another.
The article itself was motivated both by a need to clarify the terms that we in the academy use on a daily basis (empire, capitalism, colonization, modernity, etc.) and a fustration of mainstream media and US academic discourse that understands politics as separate from the economy. As a result, this article defines these terms that are frequently used and confused. The following diagram gives you a peek at what some of these terms are, as well as their relation to one another:
And it goes on to make the following points (among others):
Different types of imperialism can be happening at the same time in a single country. (Think of the United States)
Capitalism required violence by (directly or indirectly) the state, which is how racism operated as "a system of labor exploitation," (873). It then follows that race has a principle role in the creation and continuation of capitalism.
"Early modern and modern imperialism created the conditions for racial capitalism." (875)
Racial capitalism then creates the conditions for the Eurocentric and US-centric discourse of modernity (as well as its fundamental flaws).
Despite having certain calls to action that are specific to historians of the United States and Europe, the article's concepts and connections are useful and generative for anyone who wants to think more and talk through imperialism, race, and capitalism.
But, for those of us who are thinking about empire as historians and interdisciplinary scholars, Naoko ends with one further clarification of what it means to de-center Europe and the US from our discourse:
Calls to de-center Europe and the United States seem to be causing existential anxiety among some historians. But de-centering doesn't mean non-existence or even non-importance. The question to ask ourselves as scholars is who and what benefits from this centering? Who and what is being currently harmed from an insistence on a narrow vision? (884)
🌀 Still consuming.
In the bookshop:
Currently Reading: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
On deck: Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
If you live near Providence, RI and do printmaking work, check out the above opportunity!
Planning for article revisions? Raul Pacheco-Vega offers his solution of a "Drafts Review Matrix."
Ever wanted to know how to cut a pomegranate?
Ghost stories from Jeanette Winterson? Sign me up!
I recently had to go back into my bookmarks to figure out what teen drama to watch next. Might be time to finally finish Felicity... After 6 years, I still have this list bookmarked (it came out in 2015!!). Thank you, Margaret Lyons!!
📖 Book club corner.
Friends! It is time for the next book club pick! Cast your vote below by Saturday, November 6 and I’ll announce the pick in next week’s newsletter. A big thank you to Tyler B. for suggesting these titles!
Which book do you want to read for November book club?
Here’s the event info:
Date & Time: Tuesday, November 30 @ 5PM PST/8PM EST
Registration Link!
Suggested Donation (for those able to donate): $3-10 through Paypal or Venmo (@idyalz)
🐶 A pup-date.
It was raining last week in the Bay Area. Girlie’s not a big fan of the rain, so we try to keep her warm and dry with a sweater-raincoat-combo:
As always, thanks so much for reading through, and I'll see you in the next one!
Warmly,
Ida