Thursday, December 15, 2011

Arendt Come Due

So, you no doubt recall that I recently posted a series of discussions based on Hannah Arendt's philosophy concerning violence and power, specifically Violence and Technology, Violence and Power, Violence and Identity, and Violence and Unity.

So, as I was in the midst of these posts, I was contacted by representatives from the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College (where Arendt taught for many years, and where she left her papers), asking if my posts could be edited together, and included on the Center's own blog.  And so this is how I came to be a


for the Hannah Arendt Center, which was indeed an honor.  I made some modest revisions to the text, including editing out redundancies as I put the four posts together, and the post appeared on their blog last week under the title of Violence, Power, Technology, and Identity.  So go take a look if you care to, and maybe leave a comment if you like.

Oh, and there are some cool images included, which I'll let you check out for yourself.  Many thanks to Bridget Hollenback, Director of Outreach and Social Media for the Hannah Arendt Center, for her work on the blog, and to Roger Berkowitz, Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center, and Associate Professor of Politics, Philosophy, and Human Rights at Bard College, for the invitation.




In discussing Arendt, I placed her ideas in the context of media ecology scholarship, and especially Marshall McLuhan's thought, and as a consequence, an excerpt from my HAC blog post appears on the McLuhan Galaxy blog maintained by Alex Kuskis, under the heading of Hannah Arendt & Marshall McLuhan: Violence, Power, Technology & Identity.  And I was also pleased to hear from Peter Montgomery, one of Marshall McLuhan's former students, in regard to Wilfred Watson, a Canadian professor of literature, poet, and dramatist, who was the co-author with McLuhan of From Cliché to Archetype, and his wife Sheila, who was also a professor of literature, novelist, and critic, both at the University of Alberta (site of last June's annual meeting of the Media Ecology Association), that

Arendt was perhaps THE favourite reference of both Watsons. Its importance couldn't be stressed enough.  She was one of the platforms on which their work and teaching and to some degree McLuhan's also, was built.

And to this I can only respond, Holy Hannah!  And just leave it at that.

1 comment:

Laura said...

Great post, Lance! And a great smart woman Hanna. And great ending by the way :)