The Dartmouth Observer |
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Commentary on politics, history, culture, and literature by two Dartmouth graduates and their buddies
WHO WE ARE Chien Wen Kung graduated from Dartmouth College in 2004 and majored in History and English. He is currently a civil servant in Singapore. Someday, he hopes to pursue a PhD in History. John Stevenson graduated from Dartmouth College in 2005 with a BA in Government and War and Peace Studies. He is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He hopes to pursue a career in teaching and research. Kwame A. Holmes did not graduate from Dartmouth. However, after graduating from Florida A+M University in 2003, he began a doctorate in history at the University of Illinois--Urbana Champaign. Having moved to Chicago to write a dissertation on Black-Gay-Urban life in Washington D.C., he attached himself to the leg of John Stevenson and is thrilled to sporadically blog on the Dartmouth Observer. Feel free to email him comments, criticisms, spelling/grammar suggestions. BLOGS/WEBSITES WE READ The American Scene Arts & Letters Daily Agenda Gap Stephen Bainbridge Jack Balkin Becker and Posner Belgravia Dispatch Black Prof The Corner Demosthenes Daniel Drezner Five Rupees Free Dartmouth Galley Slaves Instapundit Mickey Kaus The Little Green Blog Left2Right Joe Malchow Josh Marshall OxBlog Bradford Plumer Political Theory Daily Info Andrew Samwick Right Reason Andrew Seal Andrew Sullivan Supreme Court Blog Tapped Tech Central Station UChicago Law Faculty Blog Volokh Conspiracy Washington Monthly Winds of Change Matthew Yglesias ARCHIVES BOOKS WE'RE READING CW's Books John's Books STUFF Site Feed    |
Sunday, July 14, 2002
Welcome to the Dartmouth Observer. You are probably wondering: who are we and what are we all about? A good question. The Observer was conceived by John Stevenson '05 and myself a few weeks ago as a publication intended to promote intellectual discourse on the Dartmouth campus from a non-partisan perspective. At present, we are a modest, web-only endeavor; in time, we might even come out in print. My primary interest is the phenomenon known as the American Culture Wars. I approach it as a student of literature and history who happens not to be an American. Being a foreign student at Dartmouth has many advantages, one of which is the ability to see things from a rather disinterested, almost anthropological perspective. The debate about the Western canon, multiculturalism, race relations, political correctness - these fascinate me to no end. I have some opinions on them, of course, and some of you might call me conservative because of them, but I like to think that I've arrived at these opinions having thought them out carefully without regard for existing ideological positions. But you will be hearing more in the future. For now, here are three articles on literature and history that I think are worth pondering: Andrew Delbanco, The Decline and Fall of Literature Roger Shattuck, Nineteen Theses on Literature V.S. Naipaul, Our Universal Civilization Enjoy. And tell your friends about this. We are looking for contributors and welcome intelligent feedback. Chien Wen Kung '04 |