James Deutsch
The George Washington University, American Studies, Department Member
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Pictures from a Drawer: Prison and the Art of Portraiture. By Bruce Jackson. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009. Pp. 204, acknowledgments, notes, photographs. $87.00 cloth, $35.95 paper.)In November 1975, Bruce Jackson was... more
Pictures from a Drawer: Prison and the Art of Portraiture. By Bruce Jackson. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009. Pp. 204, acknowledgments, notes, photographs. $87.00 cloth, $35.95 paper.)In November 1975, Bruce Jackson was conducting fieldwork at the Cummins State Farm, a penitentiary in southeastern Arkansas, when an inmate showed him a drawer containing hundreds of yellowing prisoner identification photographs. When told to "Help yourself," Jackson hesitated: "Don't they belong to somebody?" The inmate replied, "Just the state. Fuck 'em. Help yourself (19). And so Jackson started stuffing the photographs into the pockets of his jacket. A prison guard suddenly entered the room and sat down to smoke a cigarette. Jackson left, but planned to "grab the rest of the photographs" on a subsequent visit (19).Jackson never returned to Cummins, but this outstanding book makes the most of the 1 78 photographs that he stuffed into his pockets thirty-four years ago. Pictures from a Drawer is part philosophical discourse on the meaning of photography, part technical treatise on the restoration and digitization of photographic prints, and part expose of the horrors of prison life (in the form of a memoir handwritten by a longtime inmate and presented to Jackson in 1973). However, what most strongly draws the reader into the book are the full-page portraits of prisoners, which Jackson has sensitively restored and contextualized.Indeed, Jackson has no peer when it comes to documenting and analyzing the folklife of prisons, as measured by his pioneering articles in Western Folklore and the Journal of American Folklore (1965, 1967a, 1967b), his monograph and documentary film on Texas prison songs (1972, Jackson, et al. 1966), and his two books of photographs from Arkansas prisons (1977, 2008).Jackson estimates that the photographs he collected in 1975 were taken between 1915 and 1940. They range in size from roughly 2x3 inches to 3.5 ? 5 inches. Most are double portraits, containing one profile view and one frontal view staring directly into the camera. Of the 178 portraits, 116 are male and 62 are female. Both blacks and whites are represented among the men, but only one of the women is African American. Some of the inmates are wearing prison stripes; others are dressed in free-world clothing. A few photographs have typed notes pasted on the back; most have no identifying data whatsoever. Whether the photographs that Jackson had to leave behind in that prison drawer in 1975 would have yielded more answers is a matter for speculation only.Ironically, these photographs remained in one of Jackson's cigar boxes - an equivalent to the prison drawer - for many years. …
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Page 1. The Rise and Fall of the Houses of Ushers: Teenage Ticket-Takers in the Twenties Theaters James I. Deutsch The motion picture madness of the 1920s, often attributed to the powerful appeal of such glamorous celebrities ...
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Page 1. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture, and: Embroidered with Gold, Strung with Pearls: The Traditional Ballads of Bosnian Women James Deutsch Journal of American Folklore, Volume 121, Number 482, Fall 2008, pp.... more
Page 1. Music in Bulgaria: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture, and: Embroidered with Gold, Strung with Pearls: The Traditional Ballads of Bosnian Women James Deutsch Journal of American Folklore, Volume 121, Number 482, Fall 2008, pp. 501-502 (Review) ...
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Every chapter is organized around a few themes, the explication of which is well supported by analysis of specific comics as well as references to the critical literature and analogies drawn between the world of the comics and “the real... more
Every chapter is organized around a few themes, the explication of which is well supported by analysis of specific comics as well as references to the critical literature and analogies drawn between the world of the comics and “the real world” (or at least what we believe to be the real world). For instance, the chapter on gender and sexual orientation notes that news reports mainly cover violent and sensational crimes (a minority of all crimes), and that crime victims mentioned in the news are most often white women (a minority of all victims—in fact, young minority men are much more likely to be the victims of violent crime). Similarly, Phillips and Strobl argue, in the comic book world women exist primarily as real or potential victims, in need of protection or rescue by the hypermasculine heroes. You could say that comics simply draw on stereotypes already present in our culture, but Phillips and Strobl argue that as cultural objects comic books also participate in the construction of gender expectations. Phillips and Strobl have not only read a lot more comics than you have, they have thought about them deeply, and related them to contemporary social concerns. Comic Book Crime is definitely worth reading, both for those interested in its subject, and as a model of how to approach thematic surveys of popular culture. Sarah Boslaugh Kennesaw State University
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own ends. The first part of Che Bella Figura! addresses issues of methodological concern and provides a stimulating look at how the ideas of bella and brutta figura have played themselves out in different periods of Italian history. The... more
own ends. The first part of Che Bella Figura! addresses issues of methodological concern and provides a stimulating look at how the ideas of bella and brutta figura have played themselves out in different periods of Italian history. The second part of Nardini’s study firmly situates her work within the broader theoretical literatures of the ethnography of communication and women’s language studies, and explores the issues of gender and power as well as the relationship between language and culture. In the final chapter, Nardini offers an excellent linguistic analysis of a conversation between the treasurer of the Collandia Ladies’ Club and the president of the Men’s Club. This detailed transcript lays bare the elaborate ways in which the female members of this speech community manipulate formal dimensions of language (intonation, repetition, and prosody) in order to achieve social power. Attending to the often unrecognized work of women, Nardini’s study is a corrective to scholarship that has centered itself exclusively upon men’s experience in immigrant contexts. By focusing on the network of female volunteers whose diligent service and “feminine touches” contribute to the growth and vitality of the Collandia Club, Nardini provides a more balanced and realistic portrait of how such ethnic organizations operate. In a particularly interesting section of chapter 3, Nardini deconstructs the formal history of the Collandia Ladies’ Club that she was asked to write in the mid 1990s and, in so doing, recovers the conflicting voices that she had excluded from her earlier account. This brief but illuminating discussion highlights how the rhetoric of gentility and cooperation that the “Ladies” strive so hard to maintain occasionally cracks under the pressure to accept the authority of the men in their society. Here, the gender politics of the club become readily apparent and the anger and resentment that exists behind the happy patina of female compliance is revealed. In her tightly organized, systematic, and engaging book, Nardini clearly demonstrates that while the men of the Collandia Club enjoy both a sense of entitlement and greater formal privileges within their organization, the women are by no means docile, subservient, or lacking in power. While the rules of proper decorum compel them to participate in a discourse that celebrates male dominance, their skillful use of bella figura in situated practice ultimately allows them partially to subvert a patriarchal ideology that defines women as powerless.
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to include at least a few of the more interesting songs from the latest Songbook editions. As it is, less than half the book is actually dedicated to the songs from the original Songbooks, which might lead readers to wonder if the book... more
to include at least a few of the more interesting songs from the latest Songbook editions. As it is, less than half the book is actually dedicated to the songs from the original Songbooks, which might lead readers to wonder if the book does not stray somewhat from its central purpose. At the same time, all the extras in the book shed important light on the IWW song tradition, and it should be taken as a compliment that this reviewer wishes an already-big book were (true to its title) even bigger.
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As the incidence of violent crime rises in the United States, so does the public demand for a solution. But what will work? Mark S. Fleisher has spent years among inmates in jails and prisons and on the streets with thieves, gang members,... more
As the incidence of violent crime rises in the United States, so does the public demand for a solution. But what will work? Mark S. Fleisher has spent years among inmates in jails and prisons and on the streets with thieves, gang members, addicts, and life-long criminals in Seattle and other cities across the country. In "Beggars and Thieves," he writes about how and why they become and remain offenders, and about the actual role of jails and prisons in efforts to deter crime and rehabilitate criminals. Fleisher shows, with wrenching firsthand accounts, that parents who are addicts, abusers, and criminals beget irreversibly damaged children who become addicts, abusers, and criminals. Further, Fleisher contends that many well-intentioned educational and vocational training programs are wasted because they are offered too late to help. And, he provides sobering evidence that many youthful and adult offenders find themselves better off in prison with work to do, medical care, a clean place to sleep, regular meals, and stable social ties than they are in America s cities. Fleisher calls for anti-crime policies that are bold, practical, and absolutely imperative. He prescribes life terms for violent offenders, but in prisons structured as work communities, where privileges are earned through work in expanded, productive industries that reduce the financial burden of incarceration on the public. But most important, he argues that the only way to prevent street crime, cut prison growth, and reduce the waste of money and human lives is to permanently remove brutalized children from criminal, addicted, and violent parents."
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The author addresses the benefits and liabilities of presenting domestic government agencies as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, making evident that the negotiations involved can be as complicated for curators as those in the... more
The author addresses the benefits and liabilities of presenting domestic government agencies as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, making evident that the negotiations involved can be as complicated for curators as those in the international arena. The chapter poses the questions of whether the Smithsonian “sold out” to Forest Service, NASA, and Peace Corps agencies, as some critics have charged? Or whether the presentation of tree pathologists and wildlife biologists in 2005; astronauts and astrophysicists in 2008, and volunteers and their partners from fifteen different countries in 2011 support the goals and mission of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival?
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" It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of... more
" It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." So begins Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. A tale of ...
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Page 1. Why Americans Keep Reading Them Sandra K. Dolby Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. "ELF-HELP OOKS lA/hy Americans Keep Reading Them Sandra K. Dolby Based on a reading of more than three hundred self-help books ...
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Research Interests: Psychology and Loneliness
A solution to get the problem off, have you found it? Really? What kind of solution do you resolve the problem? From what sources? Well, there are so many questions that we utter every day. No matter how you will get the solution, it will... more
A solution to get the problem off, have you found it? Really? What kind of solution do you resolve the problem? From what sources? Well, there are so many questions that we utter every day. No matter how you will get the solution, it will mean better. You can take the reference from some books. And the the new encyclopedia of southern culture vol 23 folk art is one book that we really recommend you to read, to get more solutions in solving this problem.
Research Interests: History and Encyclopedia
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... not have been finished without my fellowship at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities; I thank especially its president, Rob Vaughan, and his colleagues at VFH, particularly William Freehling, Roberta Culbertson, Hil-ary Holiday,... more
... not have been finished without my fellowship at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities; I thank especially its president, Rob Vaughan, and his colleagues at VFH, particularly William Freehling, Roberta Culbertson, Hil-ary Holiday, Jon Loman, Nancy Damon, Susan Coleman ...