Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 23:32:29 -0600 (CST)
From: traumaboy <mode1-AT-csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Re: nomad


On Fri, 23 Feb 1996, Judith L. Poxon wrote:

> 
> 
> And Deleuze says it even more explicitly in his essay "Nomad Thought," in 
> _The New Nietzsche_ (ed. David Alison; MIT Press, 1985): "But the nomad 
> is not necessarily one who moves: some voyages take place _in situ_, are 
> trips in intensity. Even historically, nomads are not necessarily those 
> who move about like migrants. On the contrary, they do not move; nomads, 
> they nevertheless stay in the same place and continually evade codes of 
> settled people" (p. 149).
> 
> So it seems to me that fixity of physical location is no excuse for NOT 
> BEING a nomad, and that moving from point to point in search of the 
> opportunity to work within an institution that fundamentally would rather 
 > not have to rely on you is no guarantee of BEING a nomad.
> 
> Judith Poxon
> Syracuse University, Dept. of Religion
> jlpoxon-AT-mailbox.syr.edu
> 
Given Deleuze's version of 'nomadism' above, it would seem that nomadism 
can indeed exist in academia.  Imagine a fully-tenured professor who 
'continually evades codes of settled people'-- the 'settled people' being 
the established policy, method, or philosophy within a universiry, 
department, etc.

 For example,  a professor may encourage students to 
write crtitcal papers which do not follow the established, formal pattern 
whereby one writes to prove a thesis. A professor could instead encourage 
or allow papers in which students pursue lines of flight that may include 
the introduction of fictional personae, dialogue, etc.

Or a student may simply choose to write such a paper.

The difficulty could be that the professor still is bound to the 
establishment in that he/she must rely on it for money and rely on peers 
for support. And,the fact that the professor must commit a radical 
'reterritorialization' of the text by putting a grade on it (a black hole?)

And the student who writes a 'nomadic' paper without consent from an 
instructor is subjecting themself to the same establishment-- the one 
that, by placing a grade on the paper,  will undoubtedely influence which 
lines of flight the student subsequently chooses to follow. 

It seems it may be possible to BE nomadic within academia,  but not 
without a great deal of risk with possibly harsh 'real life' effects.
john> 


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