Just as it is wrong to suppose that all critical theory is nihilistic, so it is wrong to suppose that conservative theory defends established forms indiscriminately. defense of traditional sexual morality (1986) is a good example of this. Sexual desire: A moral philosophy of the erotic, New York: Free Press. The politics of sex and other essays: On conservatism, culture, and imagination, New York: St. The aim of conservative cultural theory is to (critically) justify consent and attachment to established social practices and habits of thought and feeling ( Grant 2000 Grant, Robert. In A companion to cultural geography, Edited by: Duncan, James S., Johnson, Nuala C. ) or poststructuralist deconstruction of conceptual categories (e.g., Dixon and Jones 2004 Dixon, Deborah P. Cultural geography: A critical introduction, Malden, MA: Blackwell. In geography this is evident in materialist debunking (e.g., Mitchell 2000 Mitchell, Don. Beyond culture: Essays on literature and learning, New York: Viking. The effect, and often the aim, of critical culture theory is “detaching the reader from the habits of thought and feeling that the larger culture imposes” ( Trilling 1965 Trilling, Lionel. , 33), to give rational grounds for doubting the legitimacy of established cultural forms and meanings, conservative culture theory seeks to uphold and give rational grounds for confidence in established forms and meanings. Freud and philosophy: An essay on interpretation, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Whereas critical culture theory seeks, through a hermeneutics of suspicion ( Ricoeur 1970 Ricoeur, Paul. Not only could this referee not accept a conservative argument this referee could not believe a conservative argument existed, unless perhaps in the form encountered on talk radio.Ģ. One referee of this article greeted the suggestion of conservative cultural theory with disbelief. By the 1990s the university had partly rationalized Bonfire as a corporate symbol however, this trend was tragically terminated in 1999 when the cumulative errors of the oral tradition caused Bonfire to collapse, killing twelve students.ġ. Social pluralism fragmented the meaning of Bonfire conflict and disorderly behavior ensued. After 1965 mandatory military drill was discontinued, women were enrolled, and the student body was enlarged. Student veneration of Bonfire intensified. After the Second World War the commitment of university administrators to economic and technological progress increasingly threatened the narrative of tradition and the cultivation of manliness. These social emotions were further aroused at events like yell practice, and projected onto Bonfire. This social structure engendered intense feelings of loyalty and community. The students were uniform, isolated, and regimented. In line with the narrative of tradition, Texas A&M was an all-male military school until 1965. Bonfire expressed and obscured this paradox. Institutionalized at Texas A&M in the late nineteenth century, these narratives made a paradoxical place. Texas A&M embodied regional narratives of a dual Southern commitment to economic and technological development and conservation of traditional cultural. Concepts of place, narrative, tradition, and identity are employed in a conservative reading of the Texas A&M Bonfire.
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