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Historical Materialism 2012, Day 1
May. 11th, 2012 07:05 pmToday was my first exciting day of intense Marxist theory, because I'm the kind of person who wants to spend an entire sunny May weekend at York University listening to academics. And it was so worth it! Delicious ideas, get in my brain.
Panels I went to:
Soviet Activity Theory: From L.S. Vygotsky to E.V. Ilyenkov. Why oh why have this at 9:30 in the morning when no one's awake? I knew one of the presenters and it turned out to be very interesting, despite me having zero background in the subject.
Marxism and Feminism: Revisiting and Extending the Dialogue. Much more accessible. I particularly liked Adrienne Roberts' discussion of the corporate appropriation of feminism as seen in "pink power" and microfinance.
Class and Literature. Also really good. The highlight, naturally, was Cristina D'Amico on charity in Brecht's plays.
Allan Sekula and Critical Realism in the Visual Arts. This was another one where I didn't know anything about the subject. Well, I know about critical realism in the visual arts, but I'd never seen Sekula's work before. It's hardcore.
Nice to be back on York campus too, now that I don't actually need to be there. York is a dreary wasteland in the winter, but quite nice in the spring, with everything in bloom and the gigantic dick fountains drizzling. (I attempted to take a picture of the dick fountains but it didn't come out. Tomorrow I shall try again.) The small presses were out in full force, tempting me with lovely books. I bought two (one on women revolutionaries in Nepal, the other is a surprise for someone) and decided to bring more money tomorrow.
I skipped out on the plenary and reception because I'm exhausted and need to pace myself over the next two days as well. There is such a thing as too much academic conference and I know my limits.
Panels I went to:
Soviet Activity Theory: From L.S. Vygotsky to E.V. Ilyenkov. Why oh why have this at 9:30 in the morning when no one's awake? I knew one of the presenters and it turned out to be very interesting, despite me having zero background in the subject.
Marxism and Feminism: Revisiting and Extending the Dialogue. Much more accessible. I particularly liked Adrienne Roberts' discussion of the corporate appropriation of feminism as seen in "pink power" and microfinance.
Class and Literature. Also really good. The highlight, naturally, was Cristina D'Amico on charity in Brecht's plays.
Allan Sekula and Critical Realism in the Visual Arts. This was another one where I didn't know anything about the subject. Well, I know about critical realism in the visual arts, but I'd never seen Sekula's work before. It's hardcore.
Nice to be back on York campus too, now that I don't actually need to be there. York is a dreary wasteland in the winter, but quite nice in the spring, with everything in bloom and the gigantic dick fountains drizzling. (I attempted to take a picture of the dick fountains but it didn't come out. Tomorrow I shall try again.) The small presses were out in full force, tempting me with lovely books. I bought two (one on women revolutionaries in Nepal, the other is a surprise for someone) and decided to bring more money tomorrow.
I skipped out on the plenary and reception because I'm exhausted and need to pace myself over the next two days as well. There is such a thing as too much academic conference and I know my limits.
