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Re: Armchair theorizing and scholarship on wsn by Danny Dayus 12 March 2002 11:42 UTC |
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I have only been subscribed to the list a few weeks, and although some of the views are interesting, I am disappointed that a fair bit of emotional baggage seems also to be off-loaded here. Nevertheless, I am very ineterested in issues related to world systems theory. Does anyone know of a good site devoted to discussing these, where disagreements can be aired without fear of arousing anger and/or personal attacks? Danny Dayus -----Original Message----- From: wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu [mailto:wsn-owner@csf.colorado.edu] On Behalf Of David Smith Sent: Tuesday 12 March 2002 05:52am To: world-system network Subject: Armchair theorizing and scholarship on wsn Just a quick point of information for those involved in the recent discussion, which is ostensibly about "the Islamic State" but seems to have digressed into diatribes against folks who are academics. I won't attempt to defend academia: no doubt the world that many of us who are professors live in is very imperfect, with pressures to "publish or perish" often detracting from the intellectual quality of our work as well as it's policy relevance, the degree to which its grounded in everyday life, etc. No point in defending the indefensible. However, the idea that "most" of the contributors to the current wsn, such as it is, are "pointed-headed intellectuals" is very ironic! It is, frankly, (to use a shopworn "intellectual" phrase) a "straw argument." This list did, in fact, start out as one that was primarily subscribed to by serious scholars who studied the world-system from various academic disciplines (sociology, political science, history, etc). However, in the past few years MOST of those scholars have either unsubscribed or no longer actively participate in the listserve. Some have told me that they found the discussions were no longer interesting because they got the impression that a number of the interlocutors on wsn had so little deep understanding of the issues. One person told me, "It seems like most of the folks current participating in wsn discussions are primarily interested in venting their opinions and get most or all of their "information" from dubious sources on the internet or the web." This person was suggesting that many current wsn folks who want to understand the dynamics of the current global situation might actually do well to try actually read some of the important books in the field by "armchair theorists" like Arrighi, Wallerstein, Gunder Frank, etc. (Just to be clear: none of these folks are the World Bank "experts" with their Land Rovers or "exotic villas" -- and their books really DO help us understand why there is so much global inequality today, and who and what really is to blame for it.) I have a suggestion for Adam, the poli sci undergrad student. Read some of this stuff (heck, after all you are a college student, so you ought to be reading something). If you had a rudimentary understanding of some of the larger debates about the nature of the modern world-system, and how it came to be, you would know better than to deride Immanuel Wallerstein for his question about "the influx of cotton," might not be quite so "amazed" (this is a classic case of something zipping right over a person's head!). It's okay that many of the folks on wsn are not as well-read or as distinquished a scholar as Professor Wallerstein (and he's actually a pretty sharp, clever, "grandfather" -- wsn is actually very fortunate to have someone like that actually "look in" on it once in a while!). Personally, I find it particularly useful to hear voices, of scholars and others, who are living far beyond North America and can offer perspectives from different parts of the world. And it's interesting to get some input for those of you who think you have more "real-life" experience with the world than the rest of us -- and those who think that having relatives who are from different cultures make them "experts." I'm willing to read some of this stuff (okay, I'll confess: I DO delete some, too). But it seems like it serves no real purpose to rail against the world-system scholars who really DO have some understanding about how things work, and who were the original inspiration for this network. Would wsn really be better off, if ALL the serious academic types unsubscribed? The sort of silly discussion that I've read today pushes the listserve precisely in that direction. Pause and think before you start typing! dave smith professor of sociology uc-irvine editor, SOCIAL PROBLEMS
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