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| Before obtaining his doctorate, Stanley Diamond enlisted in the British Army Field Service during World War II (Anderson). This decision would lead him to his true passion and a distinguished career. While enlisted during WWII, Diamond was stationed in North Africa (Anderson). Diamond became enthralled in the antiracist writings of Franz Boas ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). [[https://blog.routledge.com/social-sciences/who-was-franz-boas-and-why-should-we-read-him-today/|Franz Boas]] is an anthropologist best known for his work in attacking racism in anthropological study ("Who was Franz Boas and why should we read him today?"). Diamond returned to the Northern African countries of Ghana and Nigeria for his graduate studies and afterward (Anderson). | Before obtaining his doctorate, Stanley Diamond enlisted in the British Army Field Service during World War II (Anderson). This decision would lead him to his true passion and a distinguished career. While enlisted during WWII, Diamond was stationed in North Africa (Anderson). Diamond became enthralled in the antiracist writings of Franz Boas ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). [[https://blog.routledge.com/social-sciences/who-was-franz-boas-and-why-should-we-read-him-today/|Franz Boas]] is an anthropologist best known for his work in attacking racism in anthropological study ("Who was Franz Boas and why should we read him today?"). Diamond returned to the Northern African countries of Ghana and Nigeria for his graduate studies and afterward (Anderson). |
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| Other than a frequent flyer to North Africa, Stanley Diamond was an educator and scholar. Diamond first taught at the University of California in Los Angeles ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). Unfortunately, it was short-lived and Diamond was fired for his outspoken views against McCarthyism ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). The "[[https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/mccarthyism-red-scare#:~:text=The%20political%20practice%20of%20publicizing,and%20died%20May%202%2C%201957.|Red Scare]]," also known as McCarthyism, was the fear of Communist infiltration that took root in American society in the 1950s ("McCarthyism / The 'Red Scare'"). This led to widespread paranoia, false accusations, and unemployment for some. In Diamond's case, he lost his teaching position and it would not be another three years ("Stanley Diamond"). Later, Diamond would find work at Brandeis University (Anderson). Diamond resigned from Brandeis after [[omnipoetics:radin|]] was forced to retire ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). In 1963, Diamond would acquire a professorship at Syracruse University ("Stanley Diamond"). | Other than a frequent flyer to North Africa, Stanley Diamond was an educator and scholar. Diamond first taught at the University of California in Los Angeles ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). Unfortunately, it was short-lived and Diamond was fired for his outspoken views against McCarthyism ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). The "[[https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/mccarthyism-red-scare#:~:text=The%20political%20practice%20of%20publicizing,and%20died%20May%202%2C%201957.|Red Scare]]," also known as McCarthyism, was the fear of Communist infiltration that took root in American society in the 1950s ("McCarthyism / The 'Red Scare'"). This led to widespread paranoia, false accusations, and unemployment for some. In Diamond's case, he lost his teaching position and it would not be another three years ("Stanley Diamond"). Later, Diamond would find work at Brandeis University (Anderson). Diamond resigned from Brandeis after [[omnipoetics:radin|]] was forced to retire ("Stanley Diamond: In Memoriam"). In 1963, Diamond would acquire a professorship at Syracuse University ("Stanley Diamond"). |
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| | Although most of his important work would be done during his years at Syracuse, Stanley Diamond's heart was in anthropology. |
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| | **"Plato and the Definition of the Primitive" (Excerpt from //In Search of the Primitive//)////** |
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| | In his writing on “Plato and the Definition of the Primitive,” Diamond pushes against the designation of primitive to the simpler, less enlightened past and civilized as inherently better in its modernity. Diamond cites Plato’s //Republic//, which claims that allegiance to the state should be elevated above familial ties, and the natural order should not be questioned. |
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| | Of particular significance to the field of ethnopoetics is Diamond’s discussion of the dramatist. Diamond dictates, “Plato regarded the art of the tragic and comic dramatists, along with that of the painters, as essentially imitative, as dealing with appearances only. The painter, for example, paints a bed, but this image is ‘thrice removed’ from the truth” (81). This example explains Plato’s dismissal of artists as creators, since he declared they could not create that which had already been conceptualized in an ideal form by God, then concretely created by an artisan. Therefore, art could only exist as a copy of a copy and never as a unique creation in and of itself. |
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| | This theory is akin to Jacques Derrida’s deconstructionist literary theory, which dictates that writing is farther separated from the author’s intention than other forms of language, such as speech, due to the difference in interpretation that words can hold dependent on their relation to other words in text (Caputo). An author thinks of a word and then writes the word. The reader then interprets that word in order to create meaning through their own lens of understanding. However, the meaning interpreted by the reader may deviate from the author’s original thought due to its context and relation with the words around it and differences in the background and perspective of the author and reader. Diamond addresses this connection, reflecting, “In the basic sense, every linguistic system is a system of abstractions; each sorting out of experience and conclusion from it is an abstract endeavor; every tool is a symbol of abstract thinking” (83). |
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| | However, it is precisely this quality of the unique in the interpretation of the abstract that Diamond claims contradicts Plato’s statement that art cannot be creation. Diamond writes, “The uniqueness of the object inheres in the immediate, concentrated response of the unaided, humanly experienced eye. The object is //connotative//. Through the structure of analogy and metaphor that defines discourse among primitive people, it reveals a manifold and spontaneous reality” (85). |
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| | Altogether, Diamond argues that primitive ways of thinking and utilizing common experience to aid in the universal human search for meaning and identity must be maintained and integrated into civilized thinking, rather than abandoned to the past. Diamond concludes, “In the end, the dramatist must either become an antagonist to Plato’s perfectionist God, or he must cease being a dramatist” (88). |
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| Anderson, Heather. "Stanley Diamond," //Histories of the New School//, 23 Aug. 2018, https://histories.newschool.edu/people/stanley-diamond. | Anderson, Heather. "Stanley Diamond," //Histories of the New School//, 23 Aug. 2018, https://histories.newschool.edu/people/stanley-diamond. |
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| | John D. Caputo, The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida: Religion without Religion. (Indiana University Press, 1997). |
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| "McCarthyism / The 'Red Scare.'" //Dwight D. Eisenhower Library//, https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/mccarthyism-red-scare#:~:text=The%20political%20practice%20of%20publicizing,and%20died%20May%202%2C%201957. | "McCarthyism / The 'Red Scare.'" //Dwight D. Eisenhower Library//, https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/mccarthyism-red-scare#:~:text=The%20political%20practice%20of%20publicizing,and%20died%20May%202%2C%201957. |
