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New faces (and formats) rule!? | 7 comments
[new] ascetic rituals of academia? (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#6)
by Aileen on Sun Sep 14th, 2003 at 12:50:30 PM EURODISCORDIA TIME
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When the issue of alternative formats came up and was much discussed in conjunction with the Gender Technologies symposium we did in Linz several years ago, I found myself reminded of many discussions and my experiences in the past as a feminist theologian experimenting with women's liturgies and rituals. Obviously this is my own peculiar filter, but it still seems to me that there are interesting correlations.
This came up again in conversations last week with Nat Muller about the f0amf0od events (see Nat's announcements to the ea dobbs section). Like Gerald's comment about people being able to deal with tough arguments better after direct communication and having a beer together, Nat said that the f0am format came about because of the observation that people communicate differently sharing a meal after conventional formats, so they decided to turn the situation around and make a shared meal the format itself.
As this led to a discussion of ritual meals in different religious traditions, it occurred to me that the extreme abstraction of the ritual meal in western Christian tradition and the most extensive theorization of this abstraction was largely concurrent with the rise of universities in Europe. Maybe this is just a coincidence or possibly an over-interpretation on my part, but I find myself wondering now if "serious academic scholarship" includes a certain ascetic discipline (we discipline ourselves to sit quietly through academic discussions to be "rewarded" with a meal or a party or at least a cigarette break afterward) as a result of this tradition. It also makes me wonder if there are other traditions of learning that might be more pleasurable.


New faces (and formats) rule!? | 7 comments
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