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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic S. Chomko Response/ Reflection in the forum Responses to The 1619 Project 1 year, 10 months ago
The disturbing (but very important) quotes you reference about the European gaze stereotyping and fetishizing Black bodies make me think about Sarah Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited during her lifetime as a spectacle due to European voyeurism for her perceived large hips and bottom. Not even her death stopped this objectification of…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli started the topic Monuments hidden in plain sight / Combatting an imposed "non-history" in the forum Responses to The 1619 Project 1 year, 10 months ago
Numerous things drew to me to Anne Bailey and Dannielle Bowman’s powerful photo essay, but what drew me in first and foremost was a familiar photo. In their photo essay exploring sites of the slave trade hidden in plain sight with scant official commemorations, I was struck to see the familiar brick and white pillars of Thomas Jefferson’s Mon…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Hellos and Introductions in the forum 2022 Summer Seminar Participant Introductions 1 year, 10 months ago
I would love to learn more about Estonia– I went to Tallinn a few summers ago and loved it. I feel you with the busy summer– I’ve just wrapped up teaching a summer course, 3 independent studies, and participation in a 10-day scholarly seminar. Your work sounds fascinating and so worthwhile– even so, I hope you get some time to take a breath…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Hellos and Introductions in the forum 2022 Summer Seminar Participant Introductions 1 year, 10 months ago
Oh wow, Maya! I teach French at the University of Southern Indiana! I will be excited to have another person looking at the seminar through a somewhat francophone lens. Your Young Futurist Project sounds so worthwhile– I’d love to hear more a bout it. We will have to chat more in NYC for sure!
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Telling The Broader Story of Race In America – My Thoughts on the Whitman Readin in the forum Responses to James Q. Whitman, Hitler’s American Model, and Susan Neiman, Learning from the Germans 1 year, 10 months ago
I really enjoyed your insights here, Ileah. Like you, I’d never really thought of Lebensraum in the context of American westward expansion. I was in another seminar recently and we were discussing the idea of linking aspects of Holocaust memory to issues closer to our students’ lives and homes and this seems like it would be a great bridge for…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Kristen Glenn Response in the forum Responses to James Q. Whitman, Hitler’s American Model, and Susan Neiman, Learning from the Germans 1 year, 10 months ago
I love the Neiman quote you highlight. I’ve taught English courses in a French university, and I did a unit with students on the American Dream and how it’s reflected through sports films (Million Dollar Baby, Rudy, the Express, Rocky, etc). We love a good happy ending and a good underdog story for sure. I think this love of sports films where a…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli started the topic The "Olympics of Suffering" and Holocaust analogies in the forum Responses to James Q. Whitman, Hitler’s American Model, and Susan Neiman, Learning from the Germans 1 year, 10 months ago
I was struck in this passage by Neiman’s critique of what she deems “the Olympics of suffering,” a phrase she uses to denote the futile attempts to compare historical events or to determine which was “worse” (32). As she argues, “Competitive suffering is bad the soul.. and weighing evils against each other for political purposes is morally…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli started the topic Resonances in Dunbar-Ortiz in the forum Responses to Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States 1 year, 10 months ago
In reading this piece, I was struck by several passages which resonated with both the Holocaust and recent struggles in the US.
As the prompt to this discussion board underlines, the parallels between settler colonialism in the US and Lebensraum emerge clearly and meaningfully in this short piece. Having just read Sondra’s book, I was also struck…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Reflection #3 M. Good in the forum On Austrian Soil – 2022 Summer Seminar Responses 1 year, 10 months ago
I also found this dynamic fascinating. We talk a lot about intergenerational trauma, but what was fascinating in this text was to see as well some instances of intergenerational healing. While Luis found it challenging to take a step back, we see Anna’s earnest desire to learn more about Jewishness and Jewish spirituality through her interest in…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic IBodily Response #1 – Grappling with how I feel about American History in the forum On Austrian Soil – 2022 Summer Seminar Responses 1 year, 10 months ago
I think you raise such key questions about our own personal relationships to our fields and how they can color our teaching. Out of curiosity, what do you think it would look like for you in practice to begin healing your own relationship with American history? I chuckled at your comment on not wanting to “dance over the hard stuff and dwell on…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli started the topic Not knowing : On Sartre, Sondra, and Darnella Frazier in the forum On Austrian Soil – 2022 Summer Seminar Responses 1 year, 10 months ago
As Sondra and those around her grapple with the legacies of the Holocaust and what it means for them as individuals, many of them struggle with a similar question: what would I have done if I had been alive during this moment in history? When reflecting on the group’s initial inquiries, Sondra writes, “In some ways, I think our questions… are m…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli started the topic The challenges and rewards of the "whole human" classroom in the forum On Austrian Soil – 2022 Summer Seminar Responses 1 year, 10 months ago
One concept that struck me particularly is the concept of the “whole human” pedagogical approach, which appears in the narrative in several meaningful reprises. When Sondra first raises this issue, I found myself nodding in agreement as this is an approach I strive actively to employ in my own classrooms, using them as “a place for building trust…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Hellos and Introductions in the forum 2022 Summer Seminar Participant Introductions 1 year, 10 months ago
Nice to meet you, Sinai! I, too, share your affinities for the 80s, pups, and poetry. What have you enjoyed or found most rewarding so far in your volunteer work?
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Hellos and Introductions in the forum 2022 Summer Seminar Participant Introductions 1 year, 10 months ago
Czesc, Kuba! Jak sie masz? Mam na imie Alexandra. Mam polskie pohodzenie, et to dlatego uczylam sie polskiego na uniwersytecie [niestety, zaponialam duzo 🙁 ]
Your work with the multicultural group sounds fascinating and so worthwhile. Due to my Polish roots I’m incredibly interested in the Polish-Jewish diaspora, in contemporary Polish-Jewish…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Hellos and Introductions in the forum 2022 Summer Seminar Participant Introductions 1 year, 10 months ago
Katie, thanks for the kind words about my project! It’s great to find another midwesterner on here (albeit I’m an adopted one). That’s a superb course idea and could open up so many possibilities I recently took part in a seminar on teaching Holocaust photos which was challenging but incredibly rich. In addition to discussing Holocaust-related…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Hellos and Introductions in the forum 2022 Summer Seminar Participant Introductions 1 year, 10 months ago
Thank you for the kind words about my project, Kristen! Long story short, this current project focusing on latrines was born from the seeds of my dissertation, which explored the excremental in both real and fictional depictions of the Nazi death camps. That was in turn catalyzed by reading Marguerite Duras’ powerful Memoir of War, in which she…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli replied to the topic Hellos and Introductions in the forum 2022 Summer Seminar Participant Introductions 1 year, 11 months ago
Hi all, it’s such a pleasure to meet you all (virtually) and to hear your stories! My name is Alexandra Natoli and I’m an Assistant Professor of French at the University of Southern Indiana (in Evansville, IN). I received my PhD in French from the University of Virginia (Go Hoos!); my doctoral dissertation examined the use of excremental imagery…[Read more]
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Alexandra Natoli changed their profile picture 1 year, 11 months ago
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Alexandra Natoli became a registered member 1 year, 11 months ago