Introduction. A New Humanism Chapter One. Self, Identity, and Ideas Chapter Two. Revisiting Derrida, Lacan, and Foucault Chapter Three. Derrida Gets Medieval Chapter Four. Imaginary Empires, Real Nations Chapter Five. Edward Said Spaced Out Chapter Six. Modernity, What? Chapter Seven. Teachers, Scholars, and the Humanities Today Chapter Eight. Translation Matters Chapter Nine. Can Music Resist? Chapter Ten. The "Cultural Studies Turn" in Brown Studies Chapter Eleven. Pulling up Stakes in Latin/o American Theoretical Claims Chapter Twelve. Fugitive Thoughts on Justice and Happiness Chapter Thirteen. Why Literature Matters Chapter Fourteen. Interpretation, Interdisciplinarity, and the People Notes Works Cited Index

This is one of the most versatile, colloquially written, and philosophically astute readings of the American politics of race and the university that one can find anywhere. In the name of a 'new humanism' based on struggle, Aldama draws (at times humorously) on his experiences as a teacher to give a persuasive account of the self based (of all things) on neuroscience and evolutionary biology. An exciting book.

"This is one of the most versatile, colloquially written, and philosophically astute readings of the American politics of race and the university that one can find anywhere. In the name of a 'new humanism' based on struggle, Aldama draws (at times humorously) on his experiences as a teacher to give a persuasive account of the self based (of all things) on neuroscience and evolutionary biology. An exciting book." -- Timothy Brennan, Professor, Departments of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, and English, University of Minnesota "In his wide-ranging new study, Frederick Aldama is ahead of the curve, ratcheting up the kind of synthetic, interdisciplinary work one finds in writers like Frans de Waal, Patrick Colm Hogan, Andy Clark, and Susan Oyama to a vision of the humanities itself as a field permeated everywhere by scientific insight. In this, Aldama energetically pursues what E. O. Wilson called 'consilience,' but at its broadest level and with a respect both for scientific reductionism and for its limitations at this level of complexity." -- Porter Abbott, Research Professor Emeritus, Department of English, University of California, Santa Barbara