“Home is where the heart is.”
Where are you more likely to see this slogan: (a) as the opening quotation in a nationally recognized scholarly journal; or (b) embroidered in pink on a sampler hanging next to the family hearth?
If you chose (a), then you understand the nature of traditional, mainstream scholarship: it’s no place for sentimentality. Research is “serious.” Research is “productive.” Research is “rational.” And here’s part two of your quiz. Which sex is more likely to be seen as “serious,” “productive,” and “rational,” (a) men; or (b) women?
If you chose (a), you are right again, and you now understand one of the reasons sub-scribe exists. We are here to challenge these definitions. Not only are women as likely as men to be productive and rational, but sentiment—our feelings, our hearts, our emotions—should not be excluded from “serious” scholarship.
The two pieces we chose for this issue on "home" address emotions in substantive ways. Heather Mueller writes with great precision about the Vietnamese-American poet Linh Dinh’s “poetics of discomfort,” and argues, “It is this constant stretching of human emotion that allows for the true potential of human culture.” Vanessa Cisneros addresses the politics of the transgender movement and argues convincingly for progressive politics that don’t require the impossible from those who are the targets of social violence and oppression. Her work asks that we value people above ideological purity.
sub-scribe is proud that these fine scholars can call this issue “home.” |
