Program Hunting

So in between revising a review for SFFPortal (which is coming along slowly because I think the anthology is horrid and re-reading my review is giving me a cringe-ache), an abstract for Fantastic Narratives, reading Homi Bhabha (because it's about damn time I read him) and a review of Crystal Rain, I'm also researching schools and developing a statement of purpose for PhD programs. I don't even know how I found McMaster U now, but I'm pretty sure part of that time was spent reading faculty bios and emailing various profs and deciding I really wanted Nadine as my supervisor (and said so in my application, and so she was).

But a PhD is, I gather, rather longer than a one-year MA and more intense, so I've been emailing fine folks asking for recommendations on what to check out (thanks heyiya!). I've gotten recs for a bunch of the UC schools, and an invite to check out U of Glasgow too, but if anybody has any Canadian schools to rec, that'd be pretty awesome too. I would like to stay in this country. It seems simpler than crossing borders again.

The latest email I sent out explaining my proposed project goes something like this: "I want to keep talking about postcoloniality and steampunk, but from the angle of technofantasy--since technology enabled the project of modernity, which involved colonialism, then what does technofantasy enable, given capitalist, cultural cannibalistic consumerism so pervasive in steampunk (which both enables steampunk's potential as a social force and reinforces late capitalist infrastructures)? Because I'm not very convinced that technofantasy is anti-modern (unless we're talking modern as in turn-of-the-century modernity, but then, we live in fin de siecle times ourselves AGL TEMPORAL SPECIFICITY WHERE ART THOU), but rather, informed by post-industrial modernity, which involves neocolonialism. So, basically, technofantasy and neocolonialism's relationship in steampunk."

..... which I know is kind of a run-on paragraph in so many ways. I should probably fix that. But anyways. If any of you need translation into normal-person speak, let me know. I explained it to wildunicornherd over Gchat earlier which should make sense. She told me so anyway.

Colonizing Europe

This conversation stems from a review here of Alastair Bonnet's Idea Of The West. (I was directed to his work by a prof, and he works on whiteness, anti-racism and psychogeography.) So I present to you an excellent conversation with jaded16 of Oi With the Poodles Already.


Jaymee: now i'm not sure if the review just hasn't really talked about it
but by claiming that the non-west invented the west
it sort of takes away the impact European colonialism has had on third world countries today that have their own ideas of what the West is like

Jaded: Uh okay that is one weirdarse text

Jaymee: yeah
i mean, i can kind of see his point
that historically, those of us in "the East"
(fuck this non-West nonsense)
have had our own discourses about the West
that resembles the West's discourses about the East
but
i'm not sure that the discourse from the East impacted the West in the same way

Jaded: exactly

Jaymee: mostly because there isn't very much in the West to colonize anyway

Jaded: and they started first, so our view of the "west" is coloured by what they say of us

Jaymee: yeah

Jaymee: and it continues too
so to say "the idea of the West was invented by the non-West" is kind of disingenuous
because, of course we invented the idea of the West first
we were aware of the West before they even founded their own civilizations

Jaded: YES
but the way we went about doing things with that knowledge was very different than what they did

Jaymee: yes
exactly!
except for Genghis Khan
we largely left them the fuck alone

Jaded: Yes, but he didn't form empires
he wanted to
but couldn't
what it comes down to, who had the structural power to claim racial superiority

Jaymee: and the West just so happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right structures to impose themselves on the rest of the world

Jaded: yes, exactly
to deny that and say we did the exact amount of damage as much as they did to us
is ridiculous

Jaymee: i dont think that's his argument
but it's easy to construe his argument that way

Jaded: I skimmed it, can't say I liked what I saw

Jaymee: neither do i
but then the review comes from a swarthy dude who prolly has his own biases =)

Jaded: Ha yes, I was just going to say that
braintwin moment

Jaymee: am trying to think if Asian empires would have tried to conquer Europe if we had the infrastructure for it( Read for more conversation )

Thus this post.

Blergh.

So, yesterday I bought a new surge-protected power bar, because it's 6', only to find it doesn't provide power at all, despite being lighted up! And that's useless, so today I took it back to Canadian Tire, and went to the Source to get another different one.

This one ALSO didn't work (except for two points: the master point, and another Always On point, but the rest are useless), BUT it has lights to indicate when the surge protection is on, and ALSO to indicate when the power source is grounded. And none of the plugs in my apartment are grounded. I'm not sure what this means (zibblsnrt tells me this is likely illegal) except that I've now bought two power bars and I simply cannot use power bars which are surge-protected. Given that those are the ones which are pretty solidly built to handle my pretty-huge plugs, I'm kinda aggravated by this. I don't really know what else to do because there're so few power bars which are 6' or longer. I may just buy a regular 3' power bar and an extension cord.

Rargh.