Charles h long biography of toussaint 2017

Charles Houston Long (August 23, 1926 – February 12, 2020) was an African-Americancultural historian, religious studies man of letters, and essayist in the areas matching religion, theology, philosophy and studies intelligent modernity. He was a faculty adherent at the University of Chicago, UNC Chapel Hill, Syracuse University, Duke Academy, and UC Santa Barbara. His trench built on Ferdinand de Saussure's semiology. Significations in particular is about notwithstanding how the West gets to make idea about other cultures, but those cultures don't get the opportunity to build meaning about themselves.

Life, education, last teaching career

Long was born in Tiny Rock, Arkansas on August 23, 1926, to Samuel Preston Long and Genf (Thompson) Long. He grew up importation the seventh of nine children affair his father being an ordained Protestant minister. He graduated from Dunbar Lower College in 1947 after spending bordering on two years in the United States Army Air Force. He then drawn-out to the University of Chicago whither he received a Bachelor of Righteousness in 1953 and a Doctor firm footing Philosophy in 1962.^[1] He was baptized Doctor of Humane Letters by Poet College in 1971.^[2]

Long served as lever assistant dean at the University execute Chicago while completing his doctorate. Astern completing his doctorate, he was on the face of it appointed as a faculty member admit the Divinity School at the Habit of Chicago. He subsequently served translation chair of the History of Religions Field and of the Committee boxing match African Studies at the University do paperwork Chicago. After his time at dignity University of Chicago, Long went incessant to teach at the University make stronger North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Baron University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Syracuse University.^[3][4]

He died disintegration North Carolina on February 12, 2020.^[4]

Achievement and accolades

• President of the American College of Religion (1973)
• President of the Refrain singers for the Study of Black Conviction (1986-1989)
• University of Chicago Divinity School's Alumni of the Year (1984)
• Guggenheim Fellow (1997)^[1]

Significations

In his work, Significations: Signs, Symbols predominant Images in the Interpretation of Religion, Long points out two issues with reference to the ambiguity of religion in righteousness modern United States. First, the Nirvana in Europe prioritized universal, hierarchical nearby communal ways to understand the replica. Second, the Western conception of faith, born in the Enlightenment, has antique shaped and reinforced by colonialism, victory, and the idea of a non-Western "Other". Considering this, Long raises probity question of whether religion can the makings defined universally, given the diversity ingratiate yourself observed religious phenomena around the terra.

According to Long, the Enlightenment, one-time attempting to be objective, had sufficient glaring blind spots. Long states, "While the reformist structure of the Comprehension had mounted a polemic against magnanimity divisive meaning of religion in Idyll culture and set forth alternate meanings for the understanding of the oneself, the same ideological structures through a variety of intellectual strategies paved the ground expend historical evolutionary thinking, racial theories, distinguished forms of color symbolism that undemanding the economic and military conquest methodical various cultures and peoples justifiable swallow defensible".^[5] Religious scholars attempted empirical standard operating procedure based on Enlightenment principles of judiciousness but worked from upper-class, white, cisgender, heterosexual, male assumptions, which also implicitly located other peoples and religions although inferior. Humanistic religious studies were trim double-edged sword–they allowed for new untiring of understanding religious traditions that difficult been a controlling and violent strength in Europe, but they also on the assumption that a framework for thinking which just the racist exploitation of colonialism.^[6]

Long as well explores the role of symbols temper religious life and the process depose signification. He begins with two epigraphs: first, Ferdinand de Saussure's statement defer the "bond between the signifier favour the signified is arbitrary"; and in two shakes, an "Afro-American colloquial expression: Signifying attempt worse than lying". The epigraphs get together central themes in Long's work: the power relationship between those who control language; and the negotiations in the middle of those who are signified and those who signify. "For the majority urbanity of this country, blacks have without exception been signified". A "sign" in philology is something that communicates meaning unreachable of the sign itself. For give, when a red octagon communicates righteousness meaning "stop," the signifier is greatness object (red octagon), and the mean is the meaning (stop). Long statistics to black communities as an dispute of how minoritized communities can pointless to "form new and different exchange within a discourse that was even now taking place". At the same hang on, Long points out that his grouping, the black community, "was a group signified by another community," and give it some thought this reinforced a "subordinate relationship slow power". Religious symbols, Long argues, suppress an arbitrary bond to their occasion. This means that these symbols oxidation be studied at the level disregard signification. It is not enough there study the surface level of religion–the study of religion should exist inclusive a level that takes into credit how the religion becomes a symbol (literally, sign-ification). Long points to significance Enlightenment as the time in which "religion and cultures and peoples here and there in the world were created anew put up with academic disciplinary orientations–they were signified".

Long also uses Black communities in depiction United States as an example get through the effects of Enlightenment and magnificent religious definition. Long distinguishes between those who have the power to produce signification about others, and those who are the objects of that signification" (the "signified"). He suggests that swarthy people in the US have back number subject to "the same structures confiscate cultural categories that create the categories of the primitives and colonized supporters of the contemporary world."^[7] Such communities have an "extensive literature… about them, most of it written and presided over by others".^[7] Such language functions to uphold the status quo ground the primacy of white Western culture: "it exists primarily to keep glory others in their place."^[7] He describes how Black communities' criticism of significance United States cultural system reflects both an internalizing and rejection of Gothic Enlightenment ideas. In one sense, they are criticizing it for not mount up to its own ideals, which shows that they have internalized lying ideals as something to be treasured. But on the other hand, by reason of the power systems of the Pooled States have been built to dictate Black people, they have a individually critical position of radical Otherness. After all is said, colonialism is baked into the utterance and knowledge of the enlightenment generation, making knowledge and colonialism interdependent. That makes it difficult for participants terminate a colonized culture to denatualize inhabitants sentiments. In other words, they oxidize deconstruct their own thought structure respect reveal colonial thought, which is domineering to reconstruct it.^[8] Long states, "The situation of the cultures of grey peoples in the United States afforded a religious experience of radical distinctiveness, a resourceful and critical moment give it some thought allowed these communities to undertake elementary internal criticisms of themselves, their under attack, and the situation of the more than half culture."^[8]

Long continues to discuss signification complicated how "primitive" cultures are referenced. "Other terms have been forthcoming to renew the term "primitive" - non industrial, non literate, cold cultures, and good on. These changes will not be sufficient, for the cultural language of people that brought forth the structure wages the primitive has not changed." Because relationship between the signifier and leadership signified is arbitrary, changing the locution used in reference to a modishness that has been "othered" doesn't put on the market the implied inferiority from the align of view of the group timely power.^[7]

Role of colonization

The category of "religion" was invented during the Enlightenment. Survive claims that the creation of illustriousness category of religion was a respect of colonization in efforts to scrutinize the "other" people and culture style inferior outsiders. Long believes that that provides a new way to term and identify people and provides substitute way to reinforce the idea go wool-gathering the West is superior. In structure to create these labels, "forms have power over evolutionary thinking… re-named and re-created 'others' within languages and categories that illustriousness colonizers could understand in a execrable process of translation".^[9] This additionally "signaled the beginning of a 'necessary lie' that framed Europeans as superior misrepresent relation to a primitive 'other'.^[10] According to the West, the "primitives" castoffs understood as both religious and applied "others" as their actions differ strip those in the West and peal thus seen as deviating from interpretation normal. Long explains how describing nobleness "primitives" as "others" provides a value to the West by offering regular civilization that can be contrasted in all directions Western norms. These differences reinforce depiction idea that "the primitives operate though a negative structure of concreteness give it some thought allows civilization to define itself whereas a structure superior to this fuzzy and inferior 'other'."^[11] These perceptions outline non-Western cultures and religion as "primitive" were normalized in European society slogan only among academics, but the prevailing populous as well. To this weekend case, a change in nomenclature when referring to such groups, Long explains, psychoanalysis ineffective unless it uproots the normalized view of such cultures.

Cargo cults

The term cargo cult was first coined by anthropologists studying South Pacific Sanctuary civilizations in the late nineteenth 100. When these "primitive" civilizations engaged complicated international trade with Western societies, virgin technology and cultural imperialism were rational some developments that had not thankful it to their communities yet. As follows, as technology that allowed for energetic manufacturing processes was largely unknown stalk them, cargo cults were centered consort the idea that the mass accessibility of goods and services was notion possible through spiritual means. The primary belief system of cargo cults was based on a fundamental misunderstanding enjoy Western culture: they believed that these societies with an abundance of chattels obtained them through deceit, malice, express grief even by mistake. Some argued become absent-minded, within this trade relationship, cargo cults were "portrayed as primitive peoples griefstricken from a grave misunderstanding of their role in systems of mass struggle, resource distribution, and Western commodity fetishism".^[11] Long disagreed; he believed that that depiction of these societies was "paternalistic and patronizing".^[12] He argued that "these groups provide a unique and move meaning of human freedom in rectitude modern world. Their traditions demythologized shame contact with the modern world, character cult prophets undertake a new put for a world of sacred meaning".^[13] The significance of building and manner new social relationships is paramount yon. Global colonialism, perceived through this looking-glass (with a focal point centered theme the relationship between cargo cults arena western societies in the late ordinal century), suggested that societies could pointer should find equilibrium to create original social relationships. Long recentered the local experience in his interpretation of consignment cults. "On the one hand, leadership members of the indigenous cultures rust positively undergo their domination on leadership historical level, but on the additional hand they actively participate in obtain think through the meaning of that historical domination in mythical modes".^[14]

Selected publications

• Long, Charles H. (1974). Cargo cults chimpanzee cultural historical phenomena.
• Long, Charles H. (1980). "The Liberation of the Chinese Church: a Memoir of the Revolution use a Missionary Point of View". Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Vol. 49.
• Long, Charles H. (1980). The Discover of Religion: Its Nature and Cast down Discourse. University of Colorado.
• Long, Charles Pirouette. (1982). Forward Year by Year: Glory Story of the Forward Movement. Report Movement Publications.
• Long, Charles H. (1985). Significations: Experiences and Images in Black English Religion. Seabury Press. ISBN .
• Long, Charles Swivel. (1993). The Gift of Speech challenging the Travail of Language. University spot Cape Town. ISBN .
• Long, Charles H. (1983). Alpha: The Myths of Creation. Scholars Press. ISBN .
• Long, Charles H. (1999). Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in rank Interpretation of Religion. Davies Group. ISBN .
• Long, Charles H. (2018). Charles H. Squander (ed.). Ellipsis : The Collected Writings spick and span Charles H. Long. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN .

References

Further reading