A cold front is battling warm gulf air for dominance in my region, resulting in a cold and dreary winter storm outside my window. And as I sit here all cozy in my warm, comfortable house, I'm grateful for the luxury to do so. I think of all the people who lived their lives without such soundly built homes or safe, effective indoor lighting, and I realize how much more in tune such people were with their surroundings, as well as how dependent they were on the weather.
Certainly the weather still affects us in modern times, as Hurricane Katrina effectively demonstrated, but here and now we are far less at the whim of nature than any of our ancestors ever were. To wit, that I am even now leisurely and luxuriously reading and writing -- actively engaged in the transmission of knowledge -- while a thunderstorm rages outside is testament to the very real ways that progress breeds progress.
Even still, I wonder about our modern disengagement with the natural world, and I ponder whether it will prove to be a foolhardy course of action for humanity to take or if technological innovation will indeed propel our species into a new mode of existence....
Obviously, the history of science and society is still on my mind. I hope that I have chosen the right path with this interdisciplinary foray I am taking into the history of law and society. Probably so, because the socio-cultural innovations which I see as akin to technological developments will likely require more in-depth study. With background training in the nuanced field of law, I can go on to later expand my area of expertise to include humanity's utilization of material technologies.
After all, if I wish to seriously investigate the two phenomenon, I'll have to begin with one of the two. Truly, I could do it either way, but I feel like I'm presently better situated to begin with the socio-cultural side of the coin.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
abortion in historical perspective
I wrote this a while back, but came across it recently and realized that it ought to be posted here:
Abortion has always been a women’s issue. It has not always been a medical issue, or a legal issue, but it has always been an issue of personal liberty and reproductive freedom for women.
As a historian-in-training, I’m convinced of the value of perspective. All too often people don’t stop to consider the larger picture, and so they fail to see the context surrounding our many “contemporary social problems.” I think that, just as with any number of other such problems, abortion can and should be analyzed and considered in historical context; not as some abhorrent aberration, but as the result of complex historical happenstance. By seeking to understand the history surrounding the current debate we can reach a more nuanced, profound comprehension of the issue.
This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive telling of the history of birth control; rather, it is intended as a sketch of the sexual politics and power that have held sway over women’s lives for so many millennia, which is being played out presently, in part, in the abortion debate.
Before the advent of a reliable oral contraceptive in the 1950s, women’s lives were controlled by birth. Prior to that, a woman could not exert much control over her sexual and reproductive functions – that was the province of her father, her husband, or her brother. There was no such thing as reproductive freedom; ordinary women’s very lives were at the mercy of their husband’s sex drives. Who can imagine the countless sorrowful women who died in childbirth or from pregnancy complications? And how many of those pregnancies were unintentional?
Abortion is a form of birth control. For as long as women have been sentient they have dealt with issues of birth control, including abortion and infanticide. Since the dawn of civilization The Powers That Be have legislated dictates proscribing when and how such acts are acceptable. These are not new issues.
Women have not historically been afforded the personal liberty to determine for themselves when they might reproduce. They have been beholden unto their husbands' desires, and not free to decide whether or when they wanted to be mothers. It was a given: women were, by their biological nature, wives and mothers.
Only in the modern world have women been granted the freedom and – through the birth control pill and other, newer contraceptive innovations – the license to exercise any significant influence over the sexual and reproductive aspects of their persons. The abortion debate is about how much reproductive freedom society is willing to allow women. It is not about the sanctity of human life; that is an issue in the debate, no doubt, but it is not the central issue. The central issue of the abortion debate is female autonomy, and it always has been.
Women have always sought to control their procreative function — be it via contraception or abortion or infanticide — as a way to exert some measure of influence over their lot in life, and they always will. And that is precisely why they continue do so today, and why ardent feminists will always be in favor of granting women access to safe abortions.
Friday, December 5, 2008
standardized test blues
On Saturday I'm scheduled to sit for the LSAT so that I can complete my application to the American Legal History program at Penn, as well as the ad hoc dual degree program I'm trying to convince Tulane to allow me to pursue.
I've not studied. The test purports to measure my reading comprehension, logical reasoning, and analytical writing skills. Quite honestly I think that I'm in possession of these skills in abundance, and that I'm certainly not lacking in these skills any moreso than the average test taker. It is, after all, a standardized test, meant to rank me in line with the rest of the test takers; to assign my worth a numerical value by which I can be measured against others.
I abhor the standardized test. The ACT, SAT, GRE, the LSAT, and all the others seem to me little more than extortion. Because of the existence of such tests and the importance placed upon them by universities, one cannot get into the academy without spending hundreds of dollars between the test fee itself and the cost of the score reports. Hundreds of dollars, by the way, are not generally easily accessible to aspiring graduate students. (My tactic - while perhaps not wise, it was the most feasible option - was to max out my credit cards on the various test fees, application fees, and score report fees.)
And I'm offended at being whittled down to a percentile. If I score in the ninetieth percentile on the verbal section of the GRE, what does that really prove if my writing sample - also a required component of any grad school application - is not coherent and convincing? It only proves that I either had the time and/or money to take a course or buy a book that famliairzed me with the questions and that I have the ability to manipulate the system to my advantage.
That's not the case, however. I'm in another boat altogether. My test score, I fear, will be mediocre, but I remain hopeful that the other components of my application - writing sample, letters of recommendation, GPA, etc. - will prove my worth and allow me acceptance into one of my chosen schools.
As it is, I was prepared to review the official LSAT Preparation Booklet this evening and at least familiarize myself with the format and the types of questions that will appear on the exam. Unfortunately, it is my neighbor's daughter's first birthday, and I cannot concentrate on the exam prep materials for the merry-making-noise that continues to filter through the thin duplex walls. Alas, I fear my LSAT effort is doomed to mediocrity.
I've not studied. The test purports to measure my reading comprehension, logical reasoning, and analytical writing skills. Quite honestly I think that I'm in possession of these skills in abundance, and that I'm certainly not lacking in these skills any moreso than the average test taker. It is, after all, a standardized test, meant to rank me in line with the rest of the test takers; to assign my worth a numerical value by which I can be measured against others.
I abhor the standardized test. The ACT, SAT, GRE, the LSAT, and all the others seem to me little more than extortion. Because of the existence of such tests and the importance placed upon them by universities, one cannot get into the academy without spending hundreds of dollars between the test fee itself and the cost of the score reports. Hundreds of dollars, by the way, are not generally easily accessible to aspiring graduate students. (My tactic - while perhaps not wise, it was the most feasible option - was to max out my credit cards on the various test fees, application fees, and score report fees.)
And I'm offended at being whittled down to a percentile. If I score in the ninetieth percentile on the verbal section of the GRE, what does that really prove if my writing sample - also a required component of any grad school application - is not coherent and convincing? It only proves that I either had the time and/or money to take a course or buy a book that famliairzed me with the questions and that I have the ability to manipulate the system to my advantage.
That's not the case, however. I'm in another boat altogether. My test score, I fear, will be mediocre, but I remain hopeful that the other components of my application - writing sample, letters of recommendation, GPA, etc. - will prove my worth and allow me acceptance into one of my chosen schools.
As it is, I was prepared to review the official LSAT Preparation Booklet this evening and at least familiarize myself with the format and the types of questions that will appear on the exam. Unfortunately, it is my neighbor's daughter's first birthday, and I cannot concentrate on the exam prep materials for the merry-making-noise that continues to filter through the thin duplex walls. Alas, I fear my LSAT effort is doomed to mediocrity.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
it's not up to me
The applications are complete.
I've done all that I can do for the grad school apps. It's now in the hands of the registrars who are forwarding my transcripts and my professors who are writing letters of recommendation.
I have yet to finalize the law school applications for Penn and Tulane. Or take the LSAT; that fateful experience is slated to occur on 12/5. But that's okay, because my deadlines for those applications are not immediately upon me.
And so the waiting begins. My future is in the hands of the various admissions committees.
Acceptance decisions aren't usually made until Spring, so I'm in for a long dark winter of uncertainty.
I've done all that I can do for the grad school apps. It's now in the hands of the registrars who are forwarding my transcripts and my professors who are writing letters of recommendation.
I have yet to finalize the law school applications for Penn and Tulane. Or take the LSAT; that fateful experience is slated to occur on 12/5. But that's okay, because my deadlines for those applications are not immediately upon me.
And so the waiting begins. My future is in the hands of the various admissions committees.
Acceptance decisions aren't usually made until Spring, so I'm in for a long dark winter of uncertainty.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
flappers of color
I recently read Flapper, by Josh Zeitz, for my American History class, and came to the realization that the lives of flappers of color is a topic that is ripe for dissertation-type research.
While I find this incredibly interesting, I'm not immediately drawn to it as a research topic for myself because I haven't yet found a connection to the law.
Unless it would be the relative freedom that women of color had to embrace a flapper lifestyle because they were not bound to the virtue of white womanhood... but is this a real legal freedom or simply a cultural freedom?
That's the initial research question, I suppose.
While I find this incredibly interesting, I'm not immediately drawn to it as a research topic for myself because I haven't yet found a connection to the law.
Unless it would be the relative freedom that women of color had to embrace a flapper lifestyle because they were not bound to the virtue of white womanhood... but is this a real legal freedom or simply a cultural freedom?
That's the initial research question, I suppose.
miscegenation
I want to research the sticky situation of mixed race children in America. I've done this in the past, with a focus on slavery times, but without a specific, coherent research strategy. (It was, in fact, the first upper-level research paper I authored!) Next time I aim to do it better.
The thing is that the existence of mixed race children in a racially stratified society is an affront to the power hierarchy of that society, and I'm curious to better learn how America has dealt with this problem.
I know from my previous research that antebellum America's solution -- assigning the status, slave or free, of a child based on that of its mother -- did not solve the problems that arose because of miscegenation.
What I'd like to research next is the legal status of mulatto bastards during Reconstruction and up to the Great Depression. I wonder what legal recourse did the mothers - black and white - have to seek financial support from the putative fathers? And in an era before genetic testing, what was the legal standard for proving paternity? How did this impact the lives of these children?
The thing is that the existence of mixed race children in a racially stratified society is an affront to the power hierarchy of that society, and I'm curious to better learn how America has dealt with this problem.
I know from my previous research that antebellum America's solution -- assigning the status, slave or free, of a child based on that of its mother -- did not solve the problems that arose because of miscegenation.
What I'd like to research next is the legal status of mulatto bastards during Reconstruction and up to the Great Depression. I wonder what legal recourse did the mothers - black and white - have to seek financial support from the putative fathers? And in an era before genetic testing, what was the legal standard for proving paternity? How did this impact the lives of these children?
Monday, October 6, 2008
manufacturing the desire to consume
Thanks to Mark Bernhardt I've been able to recognize advertising as another socio-cultural innovation that wields great power in society. Unlike race, gender, and the rule of law, however, advertising is wholly of the modern age.
I'll have to gather my thoughts about this before I can write at length, but I wanted to pen blog the idea while it was still fresh.
At this point though it seems so obvious that advertising is indeed a socio-cultural innovation that I'm ashamed I didn't recognize it as such sooner.
Note to self: elaborating on how advertising is a socio-cultural innovation will help me in my quest for a working definition of socio-cultural technologies, i.e., stating the ways that it functions as such will help me identify the crucial criteria...
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