2006-03-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

Inequality students: Welcome to the blog for the course here. We can have online discussions if you'd like, and I can post links to stories of interest to some/all of you. I'd like to use this to keep in touch with you over the next several weeks. I'll post some stories, some discussion questions on Mike Davis' book (early chapters) to get us started, etc.

Speaking of which, do you still need to buy Davis' book? Here are some convenient links:

Powell's books in Portland (cost: 10.50)

Amazon (new price: 10.37, used as low as 3.80)

Half/ebay (new as low as 8.41, used as low as 3.50)

Also, toward the end of the term we'll study recent African politics, including the Rwandan genocide and the current situation in the Sudan. This upcoming week (March 10-16) the Northwest Film Forum (where we went on our field trip) is showing the documentary short subjects that were nominated for Academy Awards. Of some potential interest to some of you is the second program. Here's the description:

Program 2 (60 min.) - Fri-Thurs 8:30pm, plus Sat, Sun at 3:30pm
The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club (dir. Dan
Krauss)
After shooting an award-winning photograph that captured the full
horror of starvation in the Sudan, South African photojournalist
Kevin Carter found himself tormented by doubts about the ethical
implication of his work.
God Sleeps in Rwanda (dir. Kimberlee Acquara & Stacy Sherman)
The genocide that devastated Rwanda in 1994 left in its wake a
population that was suddenly seventy percent female. Five courageous
women struggle to rebuild their lives in a society still reeling from
its bloody recent history.

I'll definitely be seeing this, as they both focus on issues of interest to me--the ethical implications and responsibilities of representational art and the social problems of unequal gender balance in societies. Anyone around town for the break with 7.50 to spare should consider checking it out. Also, the new Film Forum calendar is up, and there's some very good stuff. Not relevant to the course, but Godard's Band of Outsiders is a shining gem of 60's French Cinema, and should be seen by all people serious about film. Quinton Tarantino named his production company after this film.

Cornish 2006 Inequality course blog