The Right has a long history of questioning the importance of race analysis. Recently, the conceptual and political status of race has come under increased scrutiny from the Left. Bracketing the language of ‘race’ has meant that the discourse of skin groups remains at the level of abstraction and does not speak to real groups as such. As a descriptor, race essentializes identity as if skin color were a reliable way to perceive one's self and group as well as others, (...) and questions the viability of a social struggle based on race. In other words, race is not real and discourses that insist on its objective status are ensnared in reification. The response—equally from the Left—has been to reassert the centrality and changing dynamics of race in education and society. They argue that we need to develop more, rather than less, complex discourses on race. Orientations that attempt to discredit race analysis are therefore unable to dismantle the racial system because they refuse its significance as an autonomous system of interpellations. In other words, race is real. This essay appraises the debate within the Left about the status of race, their projections about the future of race, and the kind of struggle they promote in order to realize a society freed from the chains of racism. (shrink)

Hermeneutics, or the science of interpretation,is well accepted in the humanities. In thefield of education, hermeneutics has played arelatively marginal role in research. It isthe task of this essay to introduce thegeneral methods and findings of Paul Ricoeur'shermeneutics. Specifically, the essayinterprets the usefulness of Ricoeur'sphilosophy in the study of domination. Theproblem of domination has been a target ofanalysis for critical pedagogy since itsinception. However, the role of interpretationas a constitutive part of ideology critique isrelatively understudied and it is here thatRicoeur's (...) ideas are instructive. Last, theessay radicalizes Ricoeur's insights in orderto realize their potential to disruptasymmetrical relations of power in education. To this extent, the author contributes to thebuilding of a critical brand of hermeneutics,or the interpretation of domination. (shrink)

This article is intended to appraise the insights gained from Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Education. It is particularly interested in CRT's relationship with Marxist discourse, which falls under two questions. One, how does CRT understand Marxist concepts, such as capital, which show up in the way CRT appropriates them? The article argues that Marxist concepts, such as historical classes, class-for-itself, are useful for race analysis as it sets parameters around the conceptual use of historical races and a race-for-itself. Two, (...) how does CRT understand the role of capitalism, therefore shedding light on its position regarding the class problem? It is no doubt attentive to class power, but this is not the same as performing an immanent critique of capitalism. As a result, within CRT class achieves a color whereby class becomes a variant of race, better known as classism. Race becomes the theory with class vocabulary superimposed on it. Last, I suggest areas where CRT could combine with Marxism in order to forge a Critical Raceclass Theory of Education. (shrink)

_Critical Pedagogy and Race_ argues that a rigorous engagement with race is a priority for educators concerned with equality in schools and in society. A landmark collection arguing that engaging with race at both conceptual and practical levels is a priority for educators. Builds a stronger engagement of race-based analysis in the field of critical pedagogy. Brings together a melange of theories on race, such as Afro-centric, Latino-based, and postcolonial perspectives. Includes historical studies, and social justice ideas on activism in (...) education. Questions popular concepts, such as white privilege, color-blind perspectives, and race-neutral pedagogies. (shrink)

_Critical Pedagogy and Race_ argues that a rigorous engagement with race is a priority for educators concerned with equality in schools and in society. A landmark collection arguing that engaging with race at both conceptual and practical levels is a priority for educators. Builds a stronger engagement of race-based analysis in the field of critical pedagogy. Brings together a melange of theories on race, such as Afro-centric, Latino-based, and postcolonial perspectives. Includes historical studies, and social justice ideas on activism in (...) education. Questions popular concepts, such as white privilege, color-blind perspectives, and race-neutral pedagogies. (shrink)

The phrase ‘the edge of race’ can be used both as a description and as a response to two key concerns. The first of these is that while race is increasingly on the periphery of education policy – with a growing disregard shown for racist inequities, as education systems become dominated by market-driven concerns – it is important that we map the shifting relations of race in neoliberal politics and policies. The second concern is that at this time, within and (...) outside the spaces of the academy, even to mention race equity is to risk condemnation, marginalization, and ridicule. The authors in this collection use ‘the edge of race’ as a provocation in order to examine the concepts, methodologies, policies, politics, processes, and practices associated with race and racism in education. The chapters offer empirical examples of the perpetuation and perniciousness of racism that point to the continued salience of research about race. Additionally, the chapters make contributions to conceptual and methodological understandings of race and racism. The contributors illustrate the contingency, productivity, and fragility of race as a concept, and point to how educational research continues to be a contested site in, and from which to study, race and education. This book was originally published as a special issue of _Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. _. (shrink)

Abstract:The dominant interpretation of Zeus' words at Iliad 20.21, which regards μέλουσί μοι ὀλλύμενοί περ as an expression of sympathy for dying warriors, poses a number of serious contextual and lexical problems. This article argues that Il. 20.21 is not an expression of compassion, but attention. Zeus is not concerned for dying warriors, but attentive to them, as indeed his deadly βουλή (Il. 20.20) requires him to be. The interpretation of Il. 20.21 has relevance to questions of great (...) significance for the interpretation of the Iliad, including Zeus' relationship to humans and the meaning of the Διὸς βουλή. (shrink)

Depuis des millénaires l'homme est à la recherche de ses origines. Hésiode montre que l'ordre doit remplacer le chaos et sa Théogonie est une première analyse d'un changement nécessaire. Zeus fait la guerre contre les manifestations du Chaos afin d'imposer sa propre conception de l'ordre ce qui revient à opposer l'intelligence et la Ruse à la Matière. Or, la prise de pouvoir par Zeus n'est que la preuve de ce que les mortels doivent entreprendre pour dominer leur vie, (...) se conduire en héros et mourir glorieusement. Ce dépassement de soi, organisé et encouragé, n'est qu'un choix humain projeté dans l'absolu du divin. Zeus apporte la justesse d'une solution au problème que pose l'existence. (shrink)

In pages 101–3 of his article Pope lists the numbers of occurrences of interrogative and enclitic in Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and mentions occurrences in other authors. He shows that, although there is a dead heat between the numbers of instances of the two words in Aeschylus, nevertheless enclitic is very rarely indeed, and perhaps never, found in sentences which do not have a main verb. There are, however, occurrences of interrogative in sentences which lack a main verb and have (...) no predicate either. It must surely be rare to find statement sentences which do not contain at least subject and predicate at the best of times, let alone when happens to occur in the sentence. There are strong reasons, then, for rejecting the version of F and Triclinius, quite apart from the occurrence of in the sentence. One can defend by saying that either is understood from the preceding sentence, or else is vaguely understood: The favour of the gods comes to men perforce.’ But it is not very plausible. I am inclined to agree with Pope on this point, if not for quite the same reason. (shrink)

In pages 101–3 of his article Pope lists the numbers of occurrences of interrogative and enclitic in Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and mentions occurrences in other authors. He shows that, although there is a dead heat between the numbers of instances of the two words in Aeschylus, nevertheless enclitic is very rarely indeed, and perhaps never, found in sentences which do not have a main verb. There are, however, occurrences of interrogative in sentences which lack a main verb and have (...) no predicate either. It must surely be rare to find statement sentences which do not contain at least subject and predicate at the best of times, let alone when happens to occur in the sentence. There are strong reasons, then, for rejecting the version of F and Triclinius, quite apart from the occurrence of in the sentence. One can defend by saying that either is understood from the preceding sentence, or else is vaguely understood: The favour of the gods comes to men perforce.’ But it is not very plausible. I am inclined to agree with Pope on this point, if not for quite the same reason. (shrink)

In his treatise On Isis and Osiris, Plutarch tries to explain the meaning of a statue or image of Zeus in Crete, which had no ears. An Egyptian or Egyptianizing image with separate ears, perhaps on a stele, incomprehensible to Greeks, but common in Egypt, might have given rise to Plutarch’s bafflement and fantasy interpretation.Dans son traité De Iside et Osiride, Plutarque essaie d’expliquer la signification d’une statue ou d’une image de Zeus en Crète, qui n’avait aucune oreille. (...) Une image égyptienne ou « égyptianisante » avec des oreilles séparées, peut-être sur une stèle, incompréhensible aux Grecs mais commune en Égypte, pourrait avoir provoqué la perplexité de Plutarque et son interprétation fantaisiste. (shrink)

Thundering Zeus. The Making of Hellenistic Bactria. Frank L. Holt., University of California Press, Berkeley and London 1999. xviii, 221 pp. ISBN 0-520-21140-5.

This article explores the significance of the following fact: in neither the Iliad nor the Odyssey does one find a simile about Zeus. I argue that just as ancient Near Eastern texts characterize a god by declaring it impossible to fashion a comparison about him or her, so the Homeric epics characterize Zeus by avoiding statements in the shape “Zeus (is) like X.”.

Dans la société grecque antique, le tirage au sort était utilisé à des fins diverses, notamment pour la distribution (e.g. du butin), la sélection (e.g. des magistrats) et la procédure (e.g. l’établissement d’une alternance). Contrairement à l’inégalité des résultats attendue dans les jeux dits « de hasard » (par exemple, les jeux de dés), les Grecs anciens aspiraient souvent à l’égalité des résultats, par exemple, dans « l’héritage des parts par tirage au sort ». Les Grecs attendaient-ils des dieux qu’ils (...) déterminent les résultats du tirage au sort? Le tirage au sort était-il dès lors considéré comme une sorte de divination? L’examen des mythes de tirage au sort parmi les dieux grecs, tels qu’ils apparaissent notamment chez Homère et Hésiode, conduit à la conclusion inverse : lorsque, par exemple, Zeus, Hadès et Poséidon se partageaient leurs provinces ou « honneurs » (la mer, les enfers, le ciel), à la fois en tant que frères héritiers et en tant que vainqueurs se répartissant un butin, ils ne se tournaient certainement pas vers un autre dieu pour déterminer la réponse. Le tirage au sort dépend de la souveraineté du groupe qui décide de recourir à cette procédure ; il définit les contours-mêmes de ce qui constitue un groupe légitime, c’est-à-dire ceux qui ont accès au partage ; il souligne l’égalité des chances pour tous les participants et tente d’assurer l’égalité et l’équité des résultats. Dans l’ensemble, à l’exception des oracles explicitement associés au tirage au sort, chez les Grecs anciens, ce dernier était une affaire humaine. (shrink)

Recent discussions of the Axial Age in Greece (R. Bellah, 2011; K. Raaflaub, 2005) detailed some of the distinctive features of Greek religious life that allowed for the eventual development of a more secular outlook. In contrast to the religion of the ancient Israelites with its strong emphasis on the providential nature of human history, Greek religion evolved as a traditional set of ritual practices and cults that allowed humankind to maintain the goodwill of the gods. However, divine favor was (...) no substitute for human effort as the Greeks did not regard the gods as the architects of their fate. Human beings were ultimately seen as responsible for their own individual fates with bad outcomes attributed to misfortune or personal character defects. Positive outcomes in everyday life were ultimately the result of individual or collective effort. This attitude is reflected in the text of Hesiod, who dates from the outset of the Axial era. Hesiod stated that the gods have created a world that provides everything we need for prosperity, but that they were also spiteful in that they required mankind to work hard to take advantage of it. This religious outlook led to the development of a Weberian worldly asceticism among individual Greeks which allowed for the economic rationalization that transformed Greece into a more competitive society in which social mobility was possible and poverty scorned. The growth in the size of the rural middle class made the political life of the polis more participatory, thus laying the basis for the competitive political and intellectual climate of Axial Age Greece. (shrink)

Rivault’s book offers a comprehensive overview of the religious landscape of Caria as it relates to cults of Zeus, and is a reworked version of her doctoral thesis, examined at the University of Bordeaux in 2016. The book is structured around three chapters that each seek to speak to different elements of Zeus’ domain, with a short introduction and conclusion. The bulk of the text consists of what is effectively a catalogue of the different cult epicleses of (...) class='Hi'>Zeus that are found in Caria acros... (shrink)

The papyrus fragments that belong almost certainly to Sophocles' Inacbos have been admirably discussed by Pfeiffer andCarden.1 But one remarkable feature that has never been explained adequatelyis the apparent reference to a black Zeus. P. Oxy. 2369 contains a fragmentarydescription of a stranger turning Io into a cow with a touch of his hand and thenleaving the palace.

Ces deux formes de représentations mettent en évidence le phantasme de pouvoir se reproduire seul, ce que l'on peut appeler le complexe de Zeus, tant ce dieu semble en avoir été particulièrement investi.

L’examen de l’ensemble des données relatives au culte de Zeus Polieus à Athènes, tant dans l’asty que dans les dèmes (fin du vie s. – début du iiie s. ap. J.-C.), permet de mettre en évidence trois dimensions de ce dieu : son ancrage fondamentalement acropolitain ; sa position élevée, dont il tire de possibles compétences en matière agricole ; son rôle politique. Toutefois, ce dernier aspect ne doit pas être surévalué : à Athènes, le Polieus n’est ni un (...) dieu tutélaire ni un protecteur actif de la cité. Il semble plutôt garantir l’unité de la communauté politique et surtout la position tutélaire d’Athéna (Polias) ; c’est du moins ce que laisse entendre une glose d’Hésychios qui propose un récit étiologique des Bouphonies sensiblement différent de celui, bien connu, transmis par le De Abstinentia de Porphyre. The study of the evidence regarding the cult of Zeus Polieus in Athens, in the asty as well as in the demes (end of 6th c. – beginning of 3rd c. CE), allows us to emphasize three main dimensions of the god. These are: his fundamental rooting on the Acropolis, the highness of his location — which explains his probable agricultural skills — and his political role. The Polieus’ political capacity shall not be overestimated, though: in Athens, he is neither a tutelary god nor an active protector of the polis. He rather seems to guarantee the unity of the political community and, above all, the tutelary position of Athena (Polias). At least, this is what an aetiological tale for the Bouphonia, found in a gloss from Hesychios, seems to show. Indeed, this version of the myth differs noticeably from the more famous one from Pophyry’s De Abstinentia. (shrink)

The matter which I wish to discuss is a discrepancy between two accounts of the origin of the philosopher in the myth of Plato's Phaedrus. Before their incarnation the souls of all humans are imagined as having enjoyed the vision of reality, but not all in the same company or to the same degree. For, in the first place, the souls are distributed among the companies that severally follow eleven different gods, 247 a-b, a distribution which is regarded as important (...) for the type of character an embodied soul will subsequently have, 252d. In the second place, some souls are more successful than others in following their god, and accordingly they manage to see more of reality than do the others, and on this variation depends the sort of life each soul will subsequently have on earth, 248 d-e. And here arises the problem about the philosopher, corresponding to the two differences of company and degree in the soul's pre-natal vision of reality. (shrink)

The matter which I wish to discuss is a discrepancy between two accounts of the origin of the philosopher in the myth of Plato's Phaedrus. Before their incarnation the souls of all humans are imagined as having enjoyed the vision of reality, but not all in the same company or to the same degree. For, in the first place, the souls are distributed among the companies that severally follow eleven different gods, 247 a-b, a distribution which is regarded as important (...) for the type of character an embodied soul will subsequently have, 252d. In the second place, some souls are more successful than others in following their god, and accordingly they manage to see more of reality than do the others, and on this variation depends the sort of life each soul will subsequently have on earth, 248 d-e. And here arises the problem about the philosopher, corresponding to the two differences of company and degree in the soul's pre-natal vision of reality. (shrink)