In a recent essay on the cult of David Foster Wallace, Nathan Heller notes that DFW’s mature work deals with the crisis of contemporary pluralism: “how to think intelligently and truthfully about the world when that world is full of intelligent and truthful people who adhere to irreconcilable schools of thought.” While Heller [...]
Entries Tagged as 'postmodernism'
The Sins of an Evolutionary Psychologist
April 22nd, 2011 · 5 Comments · Emotions, Evolutionary Adaptation, Methodology
Tags:Alan Sokal·Catholic·confirmation bias·David Foster Wallace·evolutionary psychologist·fantasy·group level selection·group size·Jesus·language·Matt Rossano·Nathan Heller·natural law·Panglossian·parsimony·pluralism·Pope Benedict·postmodernism·resurrection·science·storytelling·supernatural selection·technology·truth·wish fulfillment
Harlem Worship as Tourist Commodity
September 22nd, 2010 · No Comments · Economy, Globalization
Over at Slate, Jeremy Stahl has written a fabulous piece — Inside the Bizarre Tourist Trade at Harlem’s Sunday Church Services — that will greatly interest cultural anthropologists. The article hits on several hot button concepts for culturals — tourism, commoditization, race, authenticity, tradition, identity, ritual, gazing, etc. Sensing these issues, Stahl is reluctant:
Though I [...]
Tags:authenticity·commoditization·cultural anthropology·Daniel Bell·drama·Frederic Jameson·Harlem churches·Harlem worship services·Jeremy Stahl·postmodernism·race·religion as commodity·spectacle·The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism·The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism·theater·tourism·tourist trade
Hipster Christianity & Imam Idol
August 14th, 2010 · No Comments · Cultural Evolution, Globalization, Philosophy
In a competitive religious marketplace, producers are becoming increasingly savvy and perhaps even post-modern. Although some old-timey producers bemoan this commercial development, others are embracing it.
Over at Rupert Murdoch’s transformative Wall Street Journal, the 20-something Brett McCracken churlishly warns his cohort about the “Perils of Hipster Christianity,” and discusses some of the uncool ways in [...]
Tags:Brett McCracken·competition·fashion·hijab·iChurches·Imam Idol·Islam·Jean Baudrillard·Jean-Francois Lyotard·Malaysia·marketing·marketing religion·MyNakedPastor.com·Nicola Abe·Perils of Hipster Christianity·postmodern·postmodernism·producers of religion·religious marketplace·religious pluralism·sex and religion·Sex God·sharia·simulacra·simulacrum
