From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Syllabic Cycles (7)—Round and Square Syllabus (Autumn 2013)

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Syllabic Cycles"
One year ago on Round and Square (31 August 2012)—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (j)
Two years ago on Round and Square (31 August 2011)—Seinfeld Ethnography: I Can't Be With Somone...
[a] Round RF
Round and Square Syllabus
All Classes
Autumn 2013
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           12:00-1:30 
363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         12:00-1:30
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment

Please note that the dates next to each week are for the Tuesday and Thursday class meetings for ANTH 206 and HIST 210/ANTH 275. NYRB readings will be "due" on Tuesdays in all classes (including the "Mountains" seminar) unless I tell you otherwise through e-mail or in class. 

Week One
Syllabic Cycles—Introduction, a-d (read all four posts, not just the first one). 
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Two
Quotidian Quizzes—Introduction, a-h (read all eight posts, not just the first one).
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!
[b] Question RF


Week Three
Writing and Time—Introduction
Writing and Time—Reading Logs, a-b (read both posts, not just the first one)
New Religion—Syncretism
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Four
Theory Corner—Bricolage, a-c (read all three posts, not just the first one).
New Religion—Unlucky Four
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Five
Styling Culture: Chicago-style Footnotes and Endnotes
Prairie Ethnography—The Thousand Ask Question, a-c (read all three posts)
New Religion—Temple of Heaven
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!
 
Week Six
The Real Ideal—Introduction
Exilic Response—Introduction
Remonstrance—Introduction
New Religion—All Under Heaven
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Seven 
The Philosophy of History of Philosophy (a History)—Introduction
New Religion—Yin and Yang
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

[c] Phasing RL
Week Ten
Structure, History, and Culture—Introduction (read both posts)
New Religion—Five Phases
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Eleven
Structure, History and Culture—Packing the Car
Structure, History, and Culture—Interstate Highways
Structure, History, and Culture—Electoral College Politics (a)
New Religion—Thinking in Fives
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Twelve
Fieldnotes From History—Introduction
Annals of Ostracism—Introduction
New Religion—Evangelists Abroad
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Thirteen
Primary Sources—Introduction, a-d (read all four posts, not just the first one)
New Religion—Understanding and Judging
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it!

Week Fourteen 
No readings this week.

Week Fifteen
Primary Sources—Introduction, e-h (read all four posts, not just the first one)
Check the lunar calendar every day (posted at midnight). Scroll down until you see it! 
[d] Round-square RF

China's Lunar Calendar 2013 08-31

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  
⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
LEFT September 4........................................................................................................August 28 RIGHT
This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.
Section One
Solar Calendar Date
(top to bottom; right to left) 



期星
  Eighth Month, Thirty-first Day
Astral Period Six
Saturday, August 31
———————————————— 
Section Two
Beneficent Stars 
(top to bottom, right to left)
五六
富合
Six Unities
Five Wealths
—————————————————
Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left
申辰子
中吉
酉己丑
中中
戌午寅
中吉
亥未卯
吉中
23:00-01:00 Auspicious
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 In-Between
09:00-11:00 In-Between
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 In-Between
21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
————————————————— 
Section Four
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 
除遠
服行
Long Journeys
Discarding Clothing
————————————————— 
 Section Five 
Cosmological Information 
廿





Twenty-fifth Day (Seventh Lunar Month)
Cyclical day: jisi (06/60)
Phase (element): Wood
Constellation: Willlow (24/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)
————————————————— 
Section Six
Appropriate Activities 
(and Miscellaneous Information) 
(top-to-bottom; right to left)
徙祭
徙祀
開會
市友
動嫁
土娶
上納
樑采

 陰劫
將煞
Appropriate Activities  
Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Grain Payments
Moving Residences
Opening Markets
Moving Soil
Erecting Beams

Double Days

Miscellaneous Information
Plundered Balefulness
Yin General
————  
Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 
(right to left)
丫 神
Bifurcation, Spirit
—————————————————
Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities
(Top to bottom; right to left)

牀 門
Divination
Bed, Gate

Friday, August 30, 2013

Syllabic Cycles (6)—New York Review of Books Syllabus (Autumn 2013)

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Syllabic Cycles"
One year ago on Round and Square (30 August 2012)—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (i)
Two years ago on Round and Square (30 August 2011)—Styling Culture: Introduction
[a] Unfurled RF
New York Review of Books (NYRB) Syllabus
All Classes
Autumn 2013
Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:
Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           2:30-4:00*
363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         12:00-1:30
lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment
*Office hours will revert to the regular 12:00-1:30 time after autumn break.

Please note that the dates next to each week are for the Tuesday and Thursday class meetings for ANTH 206 and HIST 210/ANTH 275. NYRB readings will be "due" on Tuesdays in all classes (including the "Mountains" seminar) unless I tell you otherwise through e-mail or in class.

Week Two (3-5 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.
       3   Table of Contents      (Read the whole page)
    4-6   Frederick Seidel       The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
    6-10   Steve Coll                 The Dispensable Nation...by Vali Nasr 

Week Three (10-12 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.  
10-12   Elaine Blair               Sontag: Reborn a play..., directed by Marianne Weems
13-14   Joshua Hammer       A New Turn in Tunisia?

Week Four (17-19 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.  
16-20   Terry Castle             Mad Girl's Love Song...by Andrew Wilson
                                              American Isis...by Carl Rollyson
20-21   Martin Wolf              How Austerity Has Failed
[b] Light abstract RF

Week Five (24-26 September)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.   
22-23   Dan Chiasson         New and Selected Poems...by Charles Simic
24-26   Alfred Brendel         A Pianist's A-V

Week Six (1-3 October)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.   
27-28   Michael Chabon      Let It Rock
29-31   Geoffrey O'Brien     The Searchers...by Glenn Frankel

Week Seven (8-10 October)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.  
32-34   Sanford Schwartz    Bad Boy...by Eric Fischl and Michael Stone
35-37   Peter Brown            The Throne of Adulis...by G.W. Bowersock

Week Ten (29-31 October)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.  
37-38   Walter Kaiser          Queen Bee of Tuscany...by Ben Downing
39-40   Luc Sante                Something in the Air a film by Olivier Assayas
                                              Un adolescence dans l'après...a film by Olivier Assayas
40        George Orwell and
             Dwight McDonald   Animal Farm: What Orwell Really Meant
[c] Texture RF

Week Eleven (5-7 November)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.
42-45   T.H. Breen               Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege...by Nathaniel Philbrick
46-48   Hermione Lee         The Selected Letters of Willa Cather edited by Andrew  Jewell and Janis Stout 

Week Twelve (12-14 November)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.
49-50   Colin McGinn           The Good, the True,...by Jean-Pierre Changeux...
51-53   David Cole                On Constitutional Disobedience by Louis Michael Seidman
     53   Paula Bohince          Poem

Week Thirteen (19-21 November)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.  
54-55   David Bromwich       Ambition, a History...by William Casey King
56-60   Adam Thirlwell         Santiango by László Krasznahorkai...     

Week Fifteen (3-5 December)
Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading.  
62-64   Letters from             Dexter Filkins, David Bromwich, John Stauffer, Christopher
                                              Benfey, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, Roger
                                              Cohen, Edwin Yoder Jr., Gordon S. Wood, John Nathan,
                                              and Pico Iyer
66   From the Archives       Hannah Arendt on Violence
[d] Pooling RF