isms

orientalism
exoticism
colonialism
marxism
... stereotypism?

my second week at soas. i bought edward said's book orientalism, and amazon delivered promptly. i also shopped for the complete set of texts for both my courses today, which set me back a not very student-friendly 42 pounds! i got a 1 pound fifty discount, but keep that quiet please. definitely a case of plunderism. in other words - for a uni that rates marx as high as soas does, at least admin has internalised his teachings on capitalism well. i'm happy i have a monthly income.

we the students introduced ourselves today in the international politics tutorial. i'm the oldest student, but not older than the tutor thank god, and i'm also not the only german in the class. i wonder am i the only one who grew up with marxist thinking. in the german democratic republic, where our holy trinity was marx-engels-lenin. where we learned at weekly pioniernachmittagen that everything is political, especially the private and personal, i.e. things that therefore should be spied upon. at least i can say i read the communist manifesto at 16! i still have my little school copy... somewhere. yes, marxism is big at soas, and it takes me back...