{"id":10600,"date":"2015-02-27T05:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T10:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcfbellemare.com\/wordpress\/?p=10600"},"modified":"2015-05-24T10:57:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T14:57:55","slug":"file-under-things-i-never-thought-i-would-blog-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcfbellemare.com\/wordpress\/10600","title":{"rendered":"File Under “Things I Never Thought I Would Blog About”"},"content":{"rendered":"

An article<\/a> by Heather Mac Donald in City Journal has alerted me to the queering of agriculture:<\/p>\n

Another day in academia, another twist in the bizarre world of identity studies. The Center for the Study of Sexual Culture at the University of California, Berkeley, is presenting a talk next week on “Queering Agriculture,” dedicated to the proposition that “it is absolutely crucial queer and transgender studies begin to deal more seriously with the subject of agriculture.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My first reaction, after reading the above paragraph, was: “Is it [absolutely crucial], though?” Don’t get me wrong, I believe\u00a0queer studies<\/a> is a legitimate field of study, to which some resources should be dedicated, but… in relation to agriculture?<\/p>\n

But then I thought better. Even\u00a0though Heather Mac Donald’s book The Burden of Bad Ideas<\/em><\/a> is one of the most interesting books I’ve read in the last year, I disagree with her takedown of the queering-of-agriculture research in the City Journal<\/em>\u00a0article I link to above. My view on research topics is this: Let the market decide what is and what isn’t worthy of being researched. If there is a demand for it, this type of research should be conducted, published, and discussed.<\/p>\n

My\u00a0reaction stems from having encountered several people in the past who weren’t shy about letting me know that they thought the\u00a0research I\u00a0was doing was completely devoid of interest.<\/p>\n

I could have chosen to become like those people, and be dismissive of what I have never spent much time thinking about. Instead, I vowed\u00a0to meet others on the level, so to speak. No matter what those past naysayers thought, however, here I am still\u00a0conducting the same kind of research, and getting paid even better to do so and talk about it. So my view is this: Let ideas compete openly. What’s the worst that is going to happen? Having a more diverse agricultural sector? That would be a good thing.<\/p>\n

Still, queer studies and agriculture are two things I never thought I would witness the marriage of, as those are fairly distant corners of academia.<\/p>\n

ht: Eddy Elmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article by Heather Mac Donald in City Journal has alerted me to the queering of agriculture: Another day in academia, another twist in the…<\/p>\n

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