Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Israel’

Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century"  by Donna HarawayIf I were writing a blog about Brad Pitt or David Archuleta (America’s former Really Cute American Idol), instead of a blog about political and intellectual territories re-envisioned through art practice, I would never mention Barack Obama. The sexiest man alive (meaning Pitt rather than Obama, though a strong case could be made for Obama rather than Pitt), might share with us the fastest way to lose ten pounds so I can outrun the tax collector in 2009, though President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama (Say it loud! Say it proud!) promises a refund and a tax cut since the economy’s wheels have come off, and who has money to pay taxes anyway? Certainly not me.

After referring to the news of a remarkable honeyed bandage curing one man’s rotting limb, I might launch into expletives about Bernie Madoff ponziing his way through a million-trillion-gazillion dollars while eating caviar and having his nails done. If my blog were not about art practices as they are affected by the constant re-drawing of geopolitical, socio-political and socio-economic states, I might report on the increasing number of cyborgs in our midst. They walk among us, blatantly, with their machine parts indistinguishable from their meat parts: pacemakers coupled to hearts, dental implants screwed and glued into jaws, injected “smart tags” barely visible under real or synthetic skin over a computerized titanium leg provided by the US government for your service in Iraq. (more…)

Read Full Post »

One of my fellow students in the Integrated Media Arts MFA program at Hunter College, Jonas Pariente, is in India this year to document a remarkable Jewish community, Bene Israel. The community has been in continuous residence for over 2,000 years and is believed to be the oldest of its kind in India. They claim descendence from 14 Palestinian Jews who came to India after their ship was wrecked in 175 B.C.E. Not surprisingly, Bene Israel’s connection to Jewish traditions and practices became attenuated over the centuries. In the 1700s, British missionaries discovered them and reported on the community’s observance of three basic Jewish practices: circumcision, observing Saturday as a day of rest and the recitation of a portion of “Shema Israel.” (more…)

Read Full Post »

%d bloggers like this: