Dismal History
Here's a fascinating profile of the fierce life and tragic death of historian Iris Chang ("The Rape of Nanking").
Overwhelmed, it seems, by the depth of the horrors she had uncovered, she took her own life.
Note, please, that no matter what the Kos Konspiracy Klub says, George W. Bush is not among the suspects, even for the Village Voice.
Of the many quotes that jumped out at me in this piece, this was perhaps the most revealing, and disheartening:
That's what teaching has become in higher -- higher! -- education in America. Teaching U.S. history is not a matter of transmitting values and ideals -- a process that, incidentally, also involves explaining how and where those ideals have eluded us and how and where we have failed our values. Ideals and values are out the window. So is cultural transmission. Critical thinking's off the menu, too. You get the young heads into your U.S. History 101 class, and you get 'em good and pissed off!
May the gods preserve us, but I think we're already lost. The "conservative" forces critiquing this strain in modern academe are not fighting to preserve a living tradition. They're trying to reanimate a corpse.
Overwhelmed, it seems, by the depth of the horrors she had uncovered, she took her own life.
And then, last November, she committed suicide, firing a single pistol round into her mouth on a quiet dirt road about 25 miles from her home. Internet chat rooms buzzed with conspiracy theories; she had been murdered by right-wing Japanese nationalists, many thought, or by the yakuza. The rumors continued even after her parents revealed that she had been suffering from clinical depression for months, and had been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs.
Note, please, that no matter what the Kos Konspiracy Klub says, George W. Bush is not among the suspects, even for the Village Voice.
Of the many quotes that jumped out at me in this piece, this was perhaps the most revealing, and disheartening:
UCLA history professor Henry Yu, co-founder of a group of historians who are writing textbooks about the Asian American and Pacific Islander experience, recently taught Chang's The Chinese in America in an undergraduate class. The text is a diatribe against 150 years of homegrown bigotry, from the Chinese Exclusion Act to Wen Ho Lee. His students loved it. "The early parts of the book, where she talks about the early histories, they piss you off," he says. "That's a valuable thing, teaching-wise. I want my students to be pissed off."
That's what teaching has become in higher -- higher! -- education in America. Teaching U.S. history is not a matter of transmitting values and ideals -- a process that, incidentally, also involves explaining how and where those ideals have eluded us and how and where we have failed our values. Ideals and values are out the window. So is cultural transmission. Critical thinking's off the menu, too. You get the young heads into your U.S. History 101 class, and you get 'em good and pissed off!
May the gods preserve us, but I think we're already lost. The "conservative" forces critiquing this strain in modern academe are not fighting to preserve a living tradition. They're trying to reanimate a corpse.
Labels: Iris Chang
