tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1023809150725835717.post1381112514830990963..comments2023-11-05T01:05:38.453-08:00Comments on chespeak: Civil Society Movements and Political PartiesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08922847649122074587noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1023809150725835717.post-63265003829483046322008-01-25T07:23:00.000-08:002008-01-25T07:23:00.000-08:00T T Sreekumar writes in an email:Thank you NPC for...T T Sreekumar writes in an email:<BR/><BR/>Thank you NPC for this effort. I did not participate in the debate for a legitimate reason-I was reading the book "Infinitely Demanding" when Zizek's review of the book was being discussed here (Nevertheless, I find that my lone comment on the Polish Economist has gone into print!). By the time I finished the book, the decision to publish the discussion was informally announced and I did not want to chip in saying "Hey I read the book". <BR/><BR/>The review, ostensibly, does not do justice to the book. Nonetheless, this fact in no way reduces the value of the discussion we had in FEC. Several pertinent questions were brought up in the debate and it was a real treat reading the comments in its edited form. <BR/><BR/>Besides the issue of differential interpretation of the book, the point that I found weird in the review was Zizek's comment about "cultural studies". He identifies as one of the probable defeatist left positions 'a withdrawal into cultural studies', "where one can quietly pursue the work of criticism". I am not reopening the debate. But I do have some questions on the way he constructs this problem. How quietly can we do cultural criticism? What do the words "withdraw" and "quiet" convey here? Is he pointing to an arrogant academic position that 'cultural studies' is perhaps more political than, say, political activism? <BR/><BR/>SreekumarAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08922847649122074587noreply@blogger.com