Abstract
Every year the Modern Language Association of America, which gives (or denies) legitimacy to ideas and practices in the teaching of the humanities in the United States (which is then followed in most other institutions abroad), publishes a book entitled Profession. Profession 2008 is no exception: it is a collection of essays that, in the name of debating various modes of teaching, produces what is in effect a coerced consensus—a consensus that, for example, inhibits critique and contestations of ideas (Rita Felski, Gerald Graff, Peter Brooks), limits experimental modes of knowledge (“Stopping Cultural Studies”), and offers empty talk about humanities and human rights without ever offering a critique that would make it clear that “human rights” are essentially rights to own and trade in the “free” market. Instead of offering a survey of Profession 2008, I focus on the structure which shapes the different discourses that explain what is behind the consensus—what I call the pedagogy of affect.
Published Version
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