Reviews and Comments

So I’m starting my class on peace, conflict, non-violence, and war next week. I went back to I’d Rather Teach Peace (https://bookwyrm.social/book/1352415/review#reviews ) to see what I could draw, and this book was listed in the “Further Reading” section.

I’m not gonna read the whole thing, and the parts I am reading almost demand a side-by-side reading of Fanon to keep from getting sucked into the ironically a-moral outlook on political economy and imperialism… but there are undoubtedly some useful bits in here.

I’ve skimmed and jumped around in this but I need to commit some time to it. I woke up thinking about it and listened to the beginning of this talk while doing dishes and it is feeling more urgent: www.youtube.com/live/RXBHAx_DLIg?si=AmpHddKHlNNYM4OG

Started this up again, for obvious reasons.

I checked this out at our monthly school trip to the library. LOTS of kids wanted to know what it is about. So it’s gonna be my “Drop Everything And Read” book now. I hope the provocative title and cover art keep inspiring students to ask questions. One thing right away: is this my issue with Wark’s book… that the fundamental aspects of capitalism are in fact alive and well? Like, how do “information vectors” have anything to do with the experience of Foxconn workers, directly?

At first I wasn’t sure I was gonna be able to bridge the generational divide between me and the author — the Instagramishness of the prose felt jarring and heavy-handed— but the sincerity and openness of the storytelling won me over. Thanks, Book Club!

Well this woulda come in handy a few years ago

Next book club book. I’m wondering how it will engage with Kendi, Omi & Winant, and especially Allen.

What a delight

Caveats that I haven’t yet explored endnotes or bibliography, and I’m only partway through the section on big changes away from urbanization… but having said that: I need to know so much more about the “egalitarian economies” that Moundville, Cahokia, and the Huhugam evolved into! She does a pretty good job of giving specific examples of decentralized and non-hierarchical politics and governance systems (a lot of which is brand new to me) especially gendered systems of checks and balances, and acknowledging inherent tensions (war councils and peace councils with equal power — what an idea!). But she gives no clue whatsoever (yet?) how economies functioned. She talks about trade before and after climate-induced decentralization, and a bit about compulsory labor… but I really wanna know about things like money, property, resource distribution, management of the commons…

Really enjoying the little vignettes that make up each chapter. Pretty honest and sincere throughout.

Ok after reading some reviews from Native writers, I am convinced that this book has something to offer, despite its less-than-transparent politics. Giving it a shot.

This was great — sometimes anachronistic but full of gems and insights. How did the on-going existence of the Akwesasne Freedom School escape my attention this long, for example? “Small, Indian, and Beautiful” is a lovely phrase to describe a proposa to re-indigenize economies and politics. And the 3-page retelling of the Peacemaker story will definitely make it into my Conflict, Peace, and War class next trimester.

This book fucking rules. She’s way more radical than I would have thought, especially since her co-author on her most well-known work seems to have gone on to a career in corporate consulting. As she revisits that work (Situated Learning, which changed my whole understanding of and approach to teaching) I’m understanding it in new ways that are surprising me.

Do I want to read this? On one hand, it seems to be the deep-dive into what Dawn of Everything piqued but never fully explained — namely, how did these free, care-based nations that developed outside the influence of the rest of the world system actually WORK — but on the other hand, I keep wondering whether we could ever trust white folks who do not have a clear and explicit commitment to a politics of decolonization, land-back, self-determination, re-indigenization, etc to tell these stories without carrying with them the ideology of settlerism and white supremacy??

Omg pg 5 connecting Europe, Hawai’i, Carlisle, and the Freedman’s Bureau:

“Armstrong framed the mission of Hampton around providing industrial training for those who had been formerly enslaved. His stated goal for the Hampton school was to educate "the head, the heart, and the hand," and to provide "cultural uplift" through moral and manual training. He drew this language from the European pedagogue Pestalozzi, who described educating the head, hand, and heart in his framing of industrial education for former serfs in Europe.”