Tag: Cultural Studies

World-Making and World-Devastation in Adrian Piper’s Self-Portrait 2000

December 6, 2012

Adrian Piper’s Self-Portrait 2000 (2000; Scroll-Down Website Artwork) is featured in the introduction to The Reorder of Things by Roderick A. Ferguson. Here, Ferguson explains the significance of this piece to his book. Collection and copyright Adrian Piper Research Archive Foundation Berlin. BY RODERICK A. FERGUSONProfessor of race and critical theory at the University of … More World-Making and World-Devastation in Adrian Piper’s Self-Portrait 2000

Insomnia? Or evolution?

November 19, 2012

Should variations in human sleep be targeted for medical interventions?Cross-posted with the Day In, Day Out series at Psychology Today Some thoughts on treating dleep maintenance insomnia (when you wake up a few hours after going to bed and cannot get back to sleep). BY MATTHEW J. WOLF-MEYER Something woke you up in the middle … More Insomnia? Or evolution?

School start times: Why so rigid?

September 18, 2012

BY MATTHEW J. WOLF-MEYERAssistant professor of anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz Over the past thirty years, there’s been a mounting body of evidence regarding changes in long-term sleep needs. Infants need a lot of sleep; children less so; adolescents need more; and adults, less, until our later years, when many require even less sleep. … More School start times: Why so rigid?

On clothes: Rescued, re-worn, donated, exchanged, and ever on their own journeys around the world.

July 25, 2012

Like money, garments circulate and are exchanged: among people and around the world. One way to make them circulate is by resuscitating them, rescuing them from wardrobes and chests of drawers and giving them a new life by re-wearing them. What motivates this tendency that, breaking with the linear concept of modern time, reintroduces the … More On clothes: Rescued, re-worn, donated, exchanged, and ever on their own journeys around the world.

The Amicable Return of Roland Barthes

July 18, 2012

BY NICHOLAS DE VILLIERSAssistant Professor of English and film at the University of North Florida It seems to me that, for a writer, the issue isn’t how to be “eternal” (mythological definition of the “great writer”) but how to be desirable after death. —Roland Barthes, The Preparation of the Novel (303) Almost every journalist I’ve … More The Amicable Return of Roland Barthes

The benefits of sharing a bed — with lovers, children, or dogs

June 29, 2012

Should you share your sleeping space with Fido? BY MATTHEW WOLF-MEYERAssistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz Sure, sharing a bed can be a nuisance from time to time. And spending the night in a hotel alone while traveling can be a vacation in itself. But there’s been some recent attention … More The benefits of sharing a bed — with lovers, children, or dogs

Happiness, death, and a few of his favorite (and most loathed) things: Dery does the Proust Questionnaire

June 26, 2012

[Inspired by.] BY MARK DERY, cultural critic and author, most recently, of I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts What is your idea of earthly happiness? All the time in the world, all the books in the world, the creditors banished forever from my mailbox, the time clock stopped for all time, a pool of light … More Happiness, death, and a few of his favorite (and most loathed) things: Dery does the Proust Questionnaire

Is a good night’s sleep legitimately possible?

June 7, 2012

Sleep: It might traditionally be relegated to the twilight hours.But that doesn’t mean it has to be. BY MATTHEW WOLF-MEYERAssistant professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz Slate & Survey Monkey just published the results of a poll on sleep, most of which is pretty innocuous. The two findings that work pretty … More Is a good night’s sleep legitimately possible?