Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Rachel Corrie Award:
I have only a layman's knowledge of Rachel Corrie's life and death,
but my tentative sense of the matter is close to that [1]expressed in
this Dennis Prager column. I would not have, for instance, named an
award after her -- but others obviously disagree, as the mass e-mail
that I reproduce below shows. (Note that this e-mail was forwarded to
me by a reader; I have no reason to doubt its authenticity, and I have
confirmed that the purported sender is indeed involved with the
Award.)
Subject: [RFP] Matthew Abraham is 2005 Rachel Corrie Award Winner I
am extremely pleased to announce that Matthew Abraham, assistant
professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville,
is the recipient of the 2005 Rachel Corrie Award for Courage in the
Teaching of Writing. The award, now in its second year, is
sponsored by the Progressive SIGS and Caucuses Coalition (PSCC) of
CCCC, and will be presented at the PSCC annual Wednesday evening
event at CCCC. This year the event will take place March 16 from
5:00 to 7:00 pm. (See the CCCC program for exact location.) It
happens that March 16 is also the second anniversary of Rachel
Corrie's death. As Matthew Abraham's work has much in common, in
its focus and its spirit, with Rachel's, presenting him with the
award that night will be a both a wonderful way to once again
commemorate the life and deeds of the young woman/student who took
what she learned extremely seriously, as well as to recognize the
young man/scholar/teacher who is bringing Palestine onto the radar
screen of a new generation of students--and that of his rhetorician
colleagues. As the numerous supporting letters for Matthew that
flooded my mailbox attest, he has earned this distinction through
his work in all three areas in which most of us are evaluated for
tenure: teaching, scholarship, and service. From bringing Ann
Coulter's writing, as well as progressive voices, into his
undergraduate rhetoric and writing class (so that "students will
learn about those aspects of argumentation that currently fuel
cultural and political debate within the U.S.") to creating a
graduate course called "Rhetoric in the Public Sphere:
Intellectuals, Writing, and Social Change" (in which he asks
students questions they most likely haven't encountered in their
other courses, such as "What does it mean to 'speak truth to
power'?" and "Why is the word 'advocacy' a dirty word in
academe?"), Matthew Abraham has taken the field of rhetoric and
writing to a place where it vitally matters. As a former colleague
of his at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania wrote to me about his
teaching: "[I]f Rachel placed her body between the Caterpillar
monster and the little house she was trying to protect, Dr.
Abraham's work places his professional future between the
profession's crushing institutional silence over Palestinian
suffering and the forces that would enforce this silence at the
peril of the profession's conscience.... Not only did Matthew open
students' minds to the complexities of the situation in the Middle
East through assigned readings, supplemental lectures, and planned
participation in debate (he was a charismatic teacher; I observed
in his classes the awe and admiration with which he was regarded by
his students; he appealed to youth's idealism, and he won!)--not
only that, but also he led us, the faculty, out of our entrenched
timidity and moral isolation toward the path of commitment and
activism...." Matthew was taking risks in his scholarship at least
as far back as the time he wrote his dissertation (actually, not
very long ago)--which was, in his own words, "an analsyis of the
controversial academic scholarship of Lani Guinier, Edward Said,
Paul de Man, and Norman G. Finkelstein." His publications include
"The Rhetoric of Academic Controversy after 9/11: Edward Said in
the American Imagination" in JAC and "Supreme Rhetoric: The Supreme
Court, Veiled Majoritarianism, and the Enforcement of the Racial
Contract" (forthcoming in an anthology from the U. of Illinois
Press). As a colleague in his department wrote to me, "Dr. Abraham
has presented a critical perspective of the ways in which the
academic elite fashion a treasonous discourse that places
scholarship in the service of U.S. sovereignty and power, a
discourse that all too often masquerades as professional practice
in academe." Even his current department head wrote about him with
admiration: "When [Matthew] came here for his job talk, he
presented himself and his scholarly agenda without soft-pedaling
it....There's always pressure on new hires to be quiet and to fit
in.....[Matthew] doesn't keep quiet and he hasn't changed his
political commitments to please me or anyone else. He's kept on
with his work even though it means that he has to put up with the
extra pressures that come with ideological tests." Many who read
this announcement will recall that Matthew was the instigator of
petitions on behalf of several intellectuals whose academic freedom
has come under fire, including Ward Churchill and Tariq Ramadan.
According to all accounts, Matthew has also been brilliantly
innovative as an organizer of intellectual events--even when under
threats of cancellation and boycott. Timothy Brennan, Professor of
Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature, and English at the
University of Minnesota, wrote to me of the 2003 panel Matthew
organized for the MLA called "The Rhetoric of Resistance: The
Intifada and the Literary Imagination": "It was very well-attended
and widely debated--a local triumph..... The word 'intifada' had
never before appeared on the program of the MLA." Victor Vitanza
and others wrote glowingly of Matthew's work as a guest moderator
for an online Pre/Text symposium with Noam Chomsky and Norman
Finkelstein that dealt with the responsibility of intellectuals.
Vitanza wrote of Matthew's handling of sometimes
difficult--sometimes outright rude--questioners and commentators
that he "disarmed the...people by being knowledgeable about what
was being counter-questioned and by displaying a grace under fire
that few have the ability to demonstrate publicly....His
interperseonal skills are the best I have witnessed." The star
participants were no less laudatory about Matthew's role.
Finkelstein wrote to me, "Although Corrie set the bar of courage at
a nearly impossible peak for others to scale, I'm confident that,
to the extent that anyone can, giving the award to Matthew would
appropriately honor her memory." Chomsky wrote, "Abraham not only
organized the symposium, but was also its guiding participant. The
leading themes were topics that particularly concerned Edward
Said--and Rachel Corrie. That takes a good deal of courage in the
public domain in the US, including an academic setting. It includes
extremes of abuse and vilification, and for younger people, threats
to possible appointment; and in fact more direct threats, including
death threats, many taken seriously by police on campuses and in
communities....Abraham handled all of this with skill, care,
sympathetic understanding, and admirable courage. The same has been
true of other initiatives of his in defense of freedom of speech
and academic freedom, and of suffering people. It is an admirable
record, one of which, I am confident, Rachel Corrie would have very
much approved, as I do, very much....In brief, I cannot think of a
more worthy candidate." I think I'll let Chomsky have the last
word. Please join us in honoring Rachel and Matthew as we present
this award--as well as for two hours of discussion with other CCCC
progressives--at the Wednesday night CCCC convention session
"Affirming Action: A Roundtable by the Progressive SIG/Caucus
Coalition (PSCC) and the CCCC Diversity Committee" on March 16,
5-7pm, in San Francisco. Harriet Malinowitz Chair, Rachel Corrie
Award for Courage in the Teaching of Writing Committee
References
1. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/dp20030325.shtml
_______________________________________________
Volokh mailing list
[email protected]
http://highsorcery.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
