In the fall of 2003, I entered Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences, unsure of what exactly I wanted to get out of my education. I had the rather vague goal of becoming a “writer,” and had decided to continue studying Spanish, hoping to become fluent and spend a semester abroad. I graduated in 2007 with a B.A in English, but I still didn’t know the answer to that question - “what do I want to be when I grow up?”
I can’t say I know the answer to that question now, but in my sophomore year, after enrolling in the Modernity Seminar with professor Liah Greenfeld, I began to understand why I felt I had to come up with an answer in the first place. For the next three years I studied with Greenfeld, and her ideas about nationalism, culture, the mind, and mental illness changed the way I look at the world.
In this blog, I hope to challenge people to reconsider their ideas about these topics and try to work together to gain a better understanding of the (modern) world in which we live. We will only find solutions – for ourselves as individuals and for society- if we are able to correctly identify the problems.
A few of my particular interests:
Some of the posts may deal with more “academic” subjects, but since the topic of the blog is modernity and the mind, anything- from news articles, to other blogs, to youtube videos- is fair game.
I envision this site as a collaborative effort, where anyone interested can raise a question or attempt to answer one. I hope to feature frequent guest posts to highlight different perspectives and keep the site from growing stale. If you are interested in contributing, or have any suggestions for the site, please contact me.
Thanks for visiting,
David Phillippi
david@mindofmodernity.com
At the University of California, San Diego, Neuroscientists begin work on the brain of HenryMolaison, world’s most famous amnesic. The Brain Observatory’s website has streaming video of the project’s first phase- a 30 hour procedure of sectioning the brain into thousands of hair-thin slices.
In this essay published in Southern Rural Sociology, Phyllis Puffer argues that most introductory sociology textbooks incorrectly define Durkheim’s concept of anomie and anomic suicide.
The latest episode of ‘Office Hours,’ a social-science podcast produced by several grad students at the University of Minnesota, features my recent interview with Francesco Duina, chair of the sociology department at Bates College, and author of ‘Winning: Reflections on an American Obsession.’
Since reading Duina’s book, I’ve noticed the language and mindset of competition popping [...]
Of the various writings, videos, and recollections of teachers, classmates, and former friends with which we are left to piece together a picture of Jared Loughner’s mind before the shooting, the most intelligible is a poem titled ‘Meat Head’ that he wrote for one of his classes at Pima Community College last fall.
Meat Head
Awaking [...]
By now, the search for political or ideological motivations in the January 8th shooting in Tuscon has given way almost entirely to a search for signs of mental illness in Jared Loughner’s past, and while debates over gun control, inflammatory political rhetoric, and the responsibility of colleges when it comes to dealing with troubled students [...]
Exploring modern culture and its effects on the mind