"[W]ithout crossing conceptual, geographical, and material borders in pursuit of shared problems, how would we ever find W.E.B. Du Bois in Warsaw?"

Dear Fellows,

A close friend brought to my attention an article that was published in the Yale Journal of Criticism in 2001 that is not only interesting in and of itself, but also reflects and enriches some of the conversations we've had in Lyon over the past several weeks. What is more, its point of departure is provided by the observations made by a famous American scholar's visit to Warsaw in 1949. "W.E.B. DuBois in Warsaw: Holocaust Memory and the Color Line, 1949 - 1952" by Michael Rothberg revisits an article W.E.B. DuBois published in Jewish Life in 1952.

For those of us unfamiliar with the life and work of W.E.B. DuBois, the Harvard University Institute for African and African American Research named in his honor provides this biography.

The heart of the article's analysis is how DuBois's visit to Warsaw (his third, in fact) during its reconstruction spurred a reconceptualization and expansion of his famous assertion that, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." Rothberg also treats the concept of memory by devoting considerable analysis to the Nathan Rapoport's monument to the Warsaw ghetto fighters which was unveiled five years after their uprising began. From the article:

Both Du Bois and [Nathan] Rapoport suggest in their different media that, on the one hand,   experiences of particular suffering can be brought into dialogue with each other and that, on the other hand, emblems of universality need to be understood with specific historical and political contexts. As a framework for thinking about the Nazi genocide, this relational view contrasts with dominant tendencies with Holocaust studies. It neither sacrifices the specificity of the Holocaust to a generic notion of modernity as catastrophe nor does it isolate the genocide of the Jews as an unrecuperable "excess" beyond history and representation. (185)

I encourage you all to check out the article. Here's a link to a preview. And here is its citation for those of you who may be able to access it through JSTOR or ProjectMuse: Michael Rothberg, "W.E.B. DuBois in Warsaw: Holocaust Memory and the Color Line, 1949-1952," The Yale Journal of Criticism, Vol. 14, No. 1, p. 169-189 (Spring 2001).

Best wishes,

Corey