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The Unlikely Disciple
On a tip from Naomi Kritzer's Twitter feed, I just read Kevin Roose's book The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University.
It's by and about a Brown University student who decides to try a semester at Liberty University, an evangelical Christian place very outside his comfort zone. As Kritzer noted, he chafed at a lot, but he found that (surprisingly) there were things he liked, like the close togetherness and the conversation-centric dating. And (as Durkheim put it) the collective effervescence. A quick read, entertaining and a little thought-provoking (for me), but be warned that he sees and reports a lot of homophobia along with some sexism and racism.
I came out of it thinking a few things. One thing I reflected on: as Nonprofit AF puts it, "progressive funders are less effective than conservative ones." As much as conservatives think that universities in the US are bastions of liberalism, we don't have (as far as I know) liberal funders setting up and funding these kinds of institutions anywhere on the scale conservatives are, to build identities, communities, networks, careers all bound to specifically left ideologies.
And: so many people are so hungry for real, supportive friends and mentors, and grow those relationships like vines on any trellis provided, and it will be very hard to give up those trellises upon later finding out something awful. And every person and organization who strategically sets up something they call "community," but centered on a product they want to sell, takes advantage of that.
It's by and about a Brown University student who decides to try a semester at Liberty University, an evangelical Christian place very outside his comfort zone. As Kritzer noted, he chafed at a lot, but he found that (surprisingly) there were things he liked, like the close togetherness and the conversation-centric dating. And (as Durkheim put it) the collective effervescence. A quick read, entertaining and a little thought-provoking (for me), but be warned that he sees and reports a lot of homophobia along with some sexism and racism.
I came out of it thinking a few things. One thing I reflected on: as Nonprofit AF puts it, "progressive funders are less effective than conservative ones." As much as conservatives think that universities in the US are bastions of liberalism, we don't have (as far as I know) liberal funders setting up and funding these kinds of institutions anywhere on the scale conservatives are, to build identities, communities, networks, careers all bound to specifically left ideologies.
And: so many people are so hungry for real, supportive friends and mentors, and grow those relationships like vines on any trellis provided, and it will be very hard to give up those trellises upon later finding out something awful. And every person and organization who strategically sets up something they call "community," but centered on a product they want to sell, takes advantage of that.
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