foto: G. Sánchez (2006)
foto: G. Sánchez (2006) |
| Victor Manfredi ...studies the comparative grammar of the Benue‑Kwa languages of the Niger‑Congo family, and several indigenous cultures of the southern 9ja (or Nàìjá) area. Since 1980 he has taught about these subjects at a dozen universities in Nigeria, Europe and North America. At BU he is currently classified as a visiting researcher in the African Studies Center where he teaches Ìgbo and Yorùbá on demand. In the BU Linguistics Program he has offered Syntax2 (1999‑2000) and Morphology (2006‑07) and served on six doctoral committees in syntax (defended in 1996, 1997, 2004, 2007, 2012, 2012). Click here for contact information and here for more documents and streaming media. Some
writing and primary research materials, plus descriptions of joint projects in demography, typography, parsing and surrogate speech, can be consulted via these
links: <3rd⇒1st person> The following quotes express some general theses determining my work and attitude:
By an 'intelligentsia' — a Russian word, let it be noted — I am speaking not of what we call 'intellectuals' today who are well
ensconced in universities, but [of] a footloose network of writers, artists, poets and professionals of all sorts, even actors (who formed an
exceptionally close and visible community in cities such as Paris during the 18th and 19th centuries). Their absorption in recent years into the modern
university system, with its many emoluments, has been one of the most costly blows to the development of present-day revolutionary movements.
Murray Bookchin, The Third Revolution; popular movements in the revolutionary era [Hathi Trust link], Vol. 1 ISBN 0304335940, Cassell, London, 1996, p. 15 The epistemological question for the social sciences was and has always been where its practitioners would stand in the battle of the two
cultures. …Some of them pushed hard to be part of the scientistic camp, and some insisted on being part of the humanistic camp. …It is possible
that the new epistemologically centripetal tendencies of the structures of knowledge may lead to a reunified epistemology (different from both of the two
principal existing ones) and to what I think of, perhaps provincially, as the 'social scientization of all knowledge'.
Immanuel Wallerstein, European
Universalism; the rhetoric of power [publisher page] ISBN 1595580611, New Press, New York, 2006, pp. 65, 70 Si les États-Unis sont réellement exceptionnels, selon la vielle thématique tocquevillienne, c'est avant tout par leur
dualisme rigide des divisions de l'ordre racial. C'est plus encore par leur capacité d'imposer comme universel ce qu'ils ont de plus
particulier tout en faisant passer pour exceptionnel ce qu'ils ont de plus commun. [translation]
Pierre Bourdieu & Loïc Wacquant, Sur les ruses de la raison impérialiste
[Persée portal] Actes de recherche en sciences sociales 121/122 (1998), 109‑18, pp. 117f. While it is good and commendable to record and document fading traditions, and in some cases this is absolutely necessary to avert total
loss of cultural wealth, the greater goal must be that of safeguarding diversity in the world of people.
Ken Hale, Language endangerment and the human value of linguistic diversity [journal firewall]
Language 68 (1992), 35‑42, p. 41 Studying sideways, as a public anthropologist, presents a whole different set of challenges than studying down.
Adrienne Pine, www.quotha.net, 4 June 2010 L'uso della bicicletta in città è un segno di civilità che significa rispetto di sé e degli altri, ma anche
dell'ambiente storico‑sociale. Pianificare lo spazio per favorire la circolazione dei ciclisti è per me un imperativo politico, nel senso
più alto del termine. [translation]
Marc Augé,
Repubblica, 22 April 2012 (cf. Éloge de la bicyclette [publisher page], ISBN 2743621400, Rivages, Paris, 2010) [N]on la teoria atomistica spiega la storia umana, ma viceversa… [translation]
Guarda le cose anche con gli occhi di quelli chi non le vedono più! [translation]
Pirandello, Colloqui coi personaggi (1915) But who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists?
…[S]ometimes it's not clear.
Anthony Dominick Benedetto a.k.a. Tony Bennett, radio interview, 20 September
2011 the location of this page is http://people.bu.edu/manfredi
last updated 21 May 2013 |
