When I look at my daughter, my baby girl, I don’t detect her gender. I am aware of her sex, for it was announced to me, rather loudly and emphatically, by nurses and surgeons, when she was born, ‘It’s a girl!’ I am aware of her sex too, when I change her diapers. Other thanContinue reading “Babies and Gender Construction”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
Here’s Looking At You, Sherrybaby
The narrative lines of movies about addiction, substance abuse and recovery often follow a predictable arc: protagonist at the bottom of the pit, clambers up its steep sides, slips back again and again, a moment of truth, a new dawn. Sherrybaby (written and directed by Laurie Collyer and starring Maggie Gyllenhaal as Sherry) doesn’t work quiteContinue reading “Here’s Looking At You, Sherrybaby”
The Mind is not a Place or an Object
Last week, I participated in an interdisciplinary panel discussion at the Minding the Body: Dualism and its Discontents Conference (held at the CUNY Graduate Center, and organized by the English Students Association.) The other participants in the panel included: Patricia Ticineto-Clough (Sociology), Gerhard Joseph (English), and Jason Tougaw (English). As might have been expected, with that group of participants theContinue reading “The Mind is not a Place or an Object”
Reflections on Facebook, Part Two
Facebook’ problematic relationship with privacy issues infuriates most of its users; it has ensured that no contemporary discussion of online privacy can proceed without a Facebook-related example. This has largely been the case because Facebook set out to provide a means of social networking and communication with an architecture designed to induce behavior in itsContinue reading “Reflections on Facebook, Part Two”
Reflections on Facebook, Part One
This post is the first of several posts I intend to write on my Facebook experiences. Like many (very many!) people, I’m a Facebook user. And like many of those people, I have a vexed relationship with it, a fact best demonstrated by my decision to leave Facebook a couple of years ago, close myContinue reading “Reflections on Facebook, Part One”
Glenn Greenwald on Civil Liberties and Their Willing Surrender
Today, at Brooklyn College, Glenn Greenwald delivered the 39th Samuel J. Konefsky Memorial Lecture. I was lucky enough to be in attendance and thoroughly enjoyed watching this top-notch muckraker and gadfly in action. I have often seen Greenwald speak on video but this was the first live presentation I have witnessed. It was everything it wasContinue reading “Glenn Greenwald on Civil Liberties and Their Willing Surrender”
Mozart on Constanze: Tepid but Frank
In December 1781, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a letter to his father Leopold, telling him he wanted to marry Constanze Weber. He might have been a brilliant composer, but when it came to describing his beloved, his skills did not transfer so well. [I] must make you acquainted with the with the character of myContinue reading “Mozart on Constanze: Tepid but Frank”
Should Free Software Go Into the Public Domain?
I’ve just finished an interesting Twitter conversation with Glyn Moody (author of Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution, still one of the best books on the free and open source software phenomenon). Moody has written a very interesting article over at TechDirt, which wonders whether the time has come to put free andContinue reading “Should Free Software Go Into the Public Domain?”
Glaucon and the Basic and Advanced Polis, Contd.
Yesterday’s post on Glaucon and the preferred forms of the polis for him and Socrates sparked off an interesting discussion on Facebook with Alex Gourevitch. I’m reproducing it here as Gourevitch’s responses are wonderfully rich and worth responding to carefully. Here is the sequence of comments on Facebook, followed by my response last. Alex: IContinue reading “Glaucon and the Basic and Advanced Polis, Contd.”
Glaucon’s Porcine Preference for the Advanced Polis
I never particularly liked Glaucon. His responses to Socrates‘ description, in Plato‘s Republic (372 (a-d)), of the basic polis are a good reminder of why. Socrates quoth: First of all, then, let us consider what will be the manner of life of men thus provided. Will they not make bread and wine and garments and shoes?Continue reading “Glaucon’s Porcine Preference for the Advanced Polis”
Samir Chopra 