Brian Duffy's blog

The Headdress Thing - Festival Culture, Native Culture, and the Death of Culture

One topic that enjoys frequent and fervent percolations on FB is the issue of insensitivity and cultural appropriation in today's Transformational Festival culture where non-natives wear replicas of feathered Plains Nations headdresses. (more)

6-13-13
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The Overview Effect and the Destiny of Humanity

Brian Duffy

Born in the fear of German missiles and culminating in the 1960's Space Race, space exploration has been muddled by militaristic and nationalistic overtones. Now that the experience of spaceflight is merely $200,000 and a waiting list away, what kind of transformation will be sparked by the successive crops of space-travellers returning to Earth? (more)

2-4-13
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Star Wars and the Future of Mythology

Brian Duffy

With no visceral rites of passage to provide a spiritual transition into adulthood, a certain portion of American youth reach for the powerful yet ultimately impoverished substitute of the cinema. Star Wars dances on the line between gaudy commercial spectacle and indispensable world-explaining myth. (more)

11-2-12
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Amplifying the Amazon: An interview with Lily Ross from Amazon Voice

Brian Duffy

In 2009, Jeremy Jensen and Shena Turlington went to the Amazon to make recordings among tribal communities. These sounds were woven together with modern rhythms to create a series of albums released as Critical Beats, with the proceeds going directly to Amazon conservation. In 2010, they went back. (more)