| Author | Message | ||
     Yvettep AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Yvettep Post Number: 2219 Registered: 01-2005 Rating: |
Polemics seldom age well. But when Harold Cruse published The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual during the fall of 1967, he aimed his verbal artillery in so many directions that it seems as if some of the missiles are still landing four decades later. (At the time of his death in 2005, Cruse was professor emeritus of African-American studies at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.) ...It was a cantankerous book, then. But there was more to it than that. In arguing with everybody, the author was also, doubtless arguing with himself — for along the way he must have adopted at least some of the positions under attack in its pages. Rereading The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual not long ago, I came away convinced that is one of the classic works of American cultural criticism... Rather than devoting this column to celebration of The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual on its 40th anniversary, however, I thought it would be more interesting to discuss Cruse's work with a young historian who is by no means uncritical of the book. Peniel E. Joseph, an assistant professor of Africana studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is the author of Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America (Henry Holt) and the editor of The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights-Black Power Era (Routledge), both published last year... Joseph answered some questions by e-mail about Harold Cruse and his legacy. A transcript of the discussion follows... Full article and interview: http://insidehighered.com/views/2007/08/29/mclemee | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 9719 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
A very interesting article. It resonated with me because I identified with Harold Cruse since I think of myself as a contrarian and an iconoclast, and someone who is ambiguous about black nationalism and integration, who views history thorough my own experiences, who is cynical about what others regard as sacred, and cantakerous about those who want to suppress the negative. Grrrr. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 5173 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
But what IS the Crisis? Cruse attacked Negro Intellectuals because they are not out here smiting the chains of the people. But how many people do this? When we get down to it, isn't intellectual just a job? Doesn't a Negro Intellectual do his duty when he adequately aquits himself? Studies, gets his degrees, gets a position somewhere, raises a family, works, retires? I sympathize with Cruse and the guy means well, but let' face it, most people are just mediocre--they do as much as they can just living life. On top of all this is the fact that most intellectuals are totally unfit to the roles Cruse tries to assign to them--they are timid, bookish, myopic, shy with poor and weak digestions--wimps, creeps and geeks. They are fit for the library and the lecture hall, and some are too weak even for that. Cynique you are just an hornery cuss. If you wake up and find out the world is going clockwise you are going to set out resolutely in the other direction--as someone once said about your mentor, George S. Schuyler. If I had a couple weeks I'd straighten you out | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 9736 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
You need to straighten your ambivalent self out before you try to straighten anyone else out, chrishayden. And who told you that George Schuyler is my mentor???? I don't go against the tide. I stand back and watch it flow, and observe how things are not always what they seem. | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 5183 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
So what do you think of my position of the duty of the Negro Intellectuals? | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 9748 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
I think nothing of your position, chrishayden.To say that an intellectual is "mediocre" is a oxymoron. I agreed with Cruse because he expects intellectuals, rather than being educated fools, to be great visionary thinkers as well as possessors of hindsight, wise men able to postulate with logic what lies a head. This is probably a cynical point of view, which is why I am in sync with Cruse. |
