Research Notes #6
The quest for good sources continues
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Resources
Welcome back. I hope that your February is going well and that you had a lovely weekend. I’m not really into the Hallmark holidays, but if you enjoy Valentine’s Day, I hope you were able to celebrate, despite the covid.
In this issue, I am including another list of resources, gathered over the previous 2 week period and linking to the larger pieces that have come out of the research from the past month. I hope that this content continues to interest you. If you have suggestions for future content or would like to have a conversation with other readers, please click the button to leave a comment.
The Big Lie
Before I get to the research lists, I wanted to mention a trend I have noticed in the media over the past couple of weeks. I have been very happy to see journalists using the phrase ‘big lie’ when talking about Trump’s claim that the election was somehow being stolen from him. This might not seem like a big deal and perhaps it is a nuance that I am catching because of my deep reading of these topics, but it is significant in that it is a phrase used to denote the features of fascist propaganda.
The term ‘big lie’ denotes “a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the facts, especially when used as a propaganda device by a politician or official body.” (Oxford English and Spanish Dictionary)
The first major deployment of this propaganda technique can be traced to World War II when Hitler used it as a way to claim that World War I was not lost by Germany (sound familiar?) A NY Times article from 1943 references this big lie and shows how Hitler sowed the seeds of anti-Semitism, leading to the holocaust. The idea of a “conspiracy of Jews [being] the real power in Britain, Russia and the United States” (Wikipedia) created the big lie that the Jews were to blame for the Wars, feeding the flames of hatred toward Jews in German society.
In America, we can see direct connections between that time in history and now. With the insurgency that happened on 6 January 2021 and the rhetoric of white nationalists who clearly still believe the big lies that are being fed to them, the questions remain:
How do we disengage people with a high propensity for belief in conspiracy theories from the propaganda that keeps them believing?
How do we squash the big lie?
How do we stop what happened in Germany from happening here in America?
How do we repair all the damage that was done, for 400+ years, in the name of white supremacy?
We have a long history of white nationalist terror in America. Maintaining white solidarity has been the business of our country since its founding. The only way to move past this and find a better way of being is to stop propping up white supremacy. We need to stop giving people who clearly understand the symbols that they use to sow hatred and fear a pass. They don’t get to just be. And we certainly cannot unite with people who truly and deeply loathe us for our NON-hatred of others.
So - as I said at the top - I am glad to see the media using the term big lie. I wish they would go further and draw clear connections between white nationalism and fascism, but I suppose as we move forward more journalists will take a stand. The movement is positive, but we need to maintain it. Ever forward, ever left.
Ph.D. Dreams
As some of you may know, I have been thinking about going back to school for my Ph.D. in Sociology for several years now. This will actually mark 10 years since I completed my second Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and decided to put the Ph.D. on hold for full-time work and a Masters in Library Science degree. Yes - I have been in and out of school steadily for my whole life, but the Sociology Ph.D. holds a special place in my heart. This is a dream that I am reminded of daily as I come across various topics I would like to research. All roads lead back to Social Science.
This week, while completing my standard ‘look into programs I might submit an application to’ search, I came across a program and then a professor and then a conference and then a list of presenters that I felt aligned with. Below is an example of this particular rabbit hole, but also a demonstration of the first steps in my research process.
Program of Study: UCSC Feminist Studies Ph.D. Program
Professor: Jennifer Lynn Kelly Ph.D.
Conference: CUNY and CLAGS Homonationalism and Pinkwashing Conference 2014
Thinkers: Tallie Ben Daniel, Rachel Burn, Jen Jack Gieseking, Darnell L. Moore
Topics: Settler Colonialism, Gentrification, Pinkwashing
Indigenous lands
It may seem like this newsletter has topics that veer in several directions and with good reason. My research tends to branch out and then return. I always find the thread, eventually.
At the virtual ALA midwinter conference, I was able to see several wonderful speakers. Among them was Joy Harjo, the Poet Laureate of the United States, who read from several of her works. Shortly after the conference, I took a trip to my local library and picked up a copy of her latest work: An American Sunrise: Poems. This is a moving work of poetry that chronicles Harjo’s journey back through the trail of tears to the land of her ancestors.
At the same conference, Eric Gansworth was named a National Book Award finalist for his work Apple: Skin to the Core, a YA memoir-in-verse. This brought me delight having had the privilege of being a student of Professor Gansworth at Buffalo State College, in 1993. The book, which I had an advanced copy of at home, is a memoir that centers on his time growing up on the Tuscarora Reservation in Western New York. Gansworth has written several works of prose and it was wonderful to see him being recognized for his contributions to the field.
Although there has been increased praise of Indigenous writers over the years, there is still much work to be done. Reading these works can give us a greater understanding of Indigenous communities, but we need to be mindful that these communities are still underserved due to the legacy of settler colonialism and white supremacist oppression. Many of the presenters at the conference began their presentations with land acknowledgements. This is a good start, but continuing to understand the current day conditions and work toward justice for sovereign lands is also extremely necessary.
This newsletter is produced on the ancestral lands of the S’atsoyaha (Yuchi), ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East), and Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee) peoples. We honor the ancestors through learning the history of the lands on which we reside as well as working for reparations and repatriation of these stolen lands. We understand that colonization is not in the past, but an ongoing process that we must consistently push against.
Resources:
Find the ancestral lineage of the land that you reside on: native-land.ca
Work toward: Land Reparations & Indigenous Solidarity Toolkit
The Trail of Tears: Unto These Hills - a presentation by the Cherokee Historical Association
If you think Andrew Jackson (who started it) and Martin Van Buren (who kept it going) were great men take a look at this reference: Indian Removal Act
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