Author Archives: yeehaa
get on the good foot
In this text I will analyse James Brown's introduction of 'The One' (or downbeat) into popular music as a revolution. Etymologically, ‘revolution’ not only designates a radical change but also a return. Neither one of these movements, however, is more important to the other. The return does not reduce the change to a mere surface effect, nor does the radical nature of the change relativizes the return. In a revolution, both movements are of equal importance. However, the stress alternates; sometimes the change is accentuated, sometimes the return. Together, these two movements do not constitute a full cycle, but a rhythm. Revolutions are neither visual nor acoustic, they are rhythmical.
pluralizing the future
In “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism” (2003), Kodwo Eshun introduces the concept of ‘counterfuture’. He argues that this concept is a necessary, yet lacking counterpart to that of ‘countermemory’. The practice of countermemory aims to compensate for past violence and destruction by writing the stories of (oppressed) minorities into mainstream accounts of history. While Eshun sympathizes with [...]
philosophy or your life
When one of his students dared to ask Martin Heidegger if he could tell him something about the life of Aristotle, Heidegger mockingly answered: ”Aristotle was born, he worked, he died.” This denial to acknowledge the relevance of biography for philosophy is ironic to say the least. There are hardly any philosophers whose works were as noticeably influenced by personal events as his own. Moreover, this rejection of biography is inconsistent with other aspects of his philosophy.
a rather fortunate accident
Ironically, the results of mistakes often end up to be far more interesting than those of hard work. Marvin Gaye’s 1970 hit “What’s Going On” serves as one of those miraculous examples of serendipity. During the recording sessions a rather fortunate accident occurred. The singer had recorded two alternate takes of the lead-vocals that were one octave apart. When the artist asked the sound engineer on duty, Ken Sands, to play these two tracks for him, the technician unwittingly played them simultaneously in mono. The unintended result was a duet between the singer and himself
a typology of iterations
The critique of linguistic presence that Jacques Derrida develops in "Signature Event Context" (1971) has become a common place in contemporary philosophy and literary theory. Often forgotten, however – and not in the last place by the French philosopher himself – is the fact that this essay does not just proclaim the 'death of metaphysics' but also suggests a path for future philosophical research. "Signature Event Context" initiates a shift from signs and meaning themselves to the acts, procedures, and operations that invoke them.
towards a new intellectual
A paper on Cornel West's "The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual" and Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On that I presented on the 25th of October 2006 at Princeton University during the ACLA Annual Meeting: The Human and its Others.
out of time
Invisible Man, the title of Ralph Ellison’s seminal 1952 novel refers to the lack of opacity of its main protagonist. Rather than reading this book as the exemplary story of a concrete, situated individual – an African-American intellectual before and during the so-called Harlem Renaissance – this article-in-progress will concentrate on the figure of thought that this central character expresses.
about medial operations
How do media – old and new – shape and transform knowledge? The research-in-progress website, Medial Operations, focuses on the complex transitions between noise, non-sense, information, and knowledge.
about ulysses lied
This seminar focuses on Kittler's latest and perhaps most ambitious project, Musik und Mathematik. This work aims to present a cultural history of the Western world in four volumes, starting in ancient Greece, then passing through Rome, the middle ages and up to the present computerized age. In the Fall of 2009, alternating between locations at Utrecht University and the University of Amsterdam, organizers Sander van Maas en Jan Hein Hoogstad invite scholars from all disciplinary backgrounds to join in the reading.
(don’t) listen to the one