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Caleb Ward

@calebw.bsky.social

3.4K followers 1.2K following 2.7K posts

Social and political philosophy, feminism and social change, almost done with a book on the philosophy of Audre Lorde Postdoc at Uni Hamburg Photo by Frank Ward, 1999 https://www.calebward.xyz/

www.calebward.xyz

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · Sep 4

“But can’t we use the master’s tools just this once, as a treat??”

Here’s my talk about Lorde’s master’s tools, which got such a heartening reception in New York. Thanks to everyone who turned out—professors, students, poets, activists 🌱

Using and Abusing ‘The Master’s Tools’ Caleb Ward's Audre Lorde Lecture

Audre Lorde’s statement that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” stands for uncompromising vision in the fight…

vimeo.com

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 2h

I'm not sure if there was an open CFP for this one, but wasn't ready to write something in German on Mills anyway...

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 2h

Hey Zara, can you link to the CFP? I'm not so actively working on Mills right now, but Hilkje Hänel just edited a book on his thought in German, with an awesome lineup of scholars www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-7...

Charles Mills’ politische Philosophie

Ein Vordenker der politischen Philosophie: über das Vermächtnis von Charles W. Mills.

www.transcript-verlag.de

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 4h

Like so many of Lorde’s insights, this one also travels well beyond the US: in colonialism, all the children were prey for exploitation, and now decolonial dreams of living together without hierarchy too often give way to individual fantasies of becoming a rich master oneself

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

Audre Lorde on shared challenges between US black & indigenous women:

“All our children are prey. How do we raise them not to prey upon themselves & each other? This is why we cannot be silent: our silences will come to testify against us out of the mouths of our children.”

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 4h

One of the greatest films

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 6h

I believe this is known in the industry as “not good for morale”

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 16h

💔
This world could be so much better

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 16h

Just awful

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 20h

Pat Parker's poems are essential! For anyone who wants to open up for a moment to a fierce vision of living and loving otherwise

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 21h

Joy Harjo wrote to Lorde to share freshly penned poems & to tell her about being harassed at sweatlodge in Arizona because Harjo was dating a Black woman.

Harjo's words: "It makes me sick to my stomach... [but] beauty is beauty. All color mixes not into white but into blood, spit and dreams."

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 21h

Allen: "I think Indians in general are some of the most intellectually competent people on earth. All the social/cultural systems they devised point to that, as do their languages & ineradicable tendency to conceptualize everything around them, including all in the
natural and supernatural world."

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 21h

Important work is to be done mapping Black & Indigenous solidarities in feminism in the 1980s. Lorde exchanged letters with Paula Gunn Allen & Joy Harjo. Allen pushed back on Lorde's critique of her writing as "too academic" by naming the common view of Native Americans as "stupid, dying, victims" +

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

In 7th grade I used to talk to my friend Tessa on the phone for like 6-7 hours straight

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

I thought this was you issuing a proclamation for all R&Rs henceforth

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

I love Milford Graves. Saw his solo show in Northampton, MA sometime around 2005 or 6 I think and it was sheer inspiration

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

Ahh congratulations!!

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

Just tell us who to go beat up

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

All of French philosophy has suffered from some questionable Sartorial decisions

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 1d

Best person to explain this is an Irish chap named Merle O’Ponty

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 2d

My theory about this is that the buildings themselves are much quieter… less humming air compressors, electronic door systems and the like.

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 2d

This is the catch-22 for sure. The old “sorry we can’t offer you the position, but come present your work at our research team’s colloquium”

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 2d

No Hendrix? Thats an easy 10/10 for me

Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 3d

And the award for most egregious misreading of Lorde’s master’s tools goes to whoever wrote this. Just a total hallucination in the pre-AI era

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Caleb Ward @calebw.bsky.social · 3d

😱