Please join in remembering
this man we knew and loved.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Announcement from Lindon's Family
Obituary
LINDON W. BARRETT (published on July 19, 2008) http://www.passagesmb.com/obituary_details.cfm?ObitID=138240
LINDON W. BARRETT The family of Lindon Warren Barrett sadly announces his passing on July 7, 2008 in Long Beach, California. He will be missed by his parents, Dorothy and Leslie Barrett, his brother Leslie (Telethia) nieces Ashley (Scott), Gabrielle, Athalia, nephews Jason and Joshua, great-nephew Josiah, Aunt Claudette, Uncle Charles, Uncle Sidney, cousins Ann, Leslyn, Carron, Andre, Kizzy, Carol and Pauline and their families, the Roberts and Vigilance families and many other aunts, uncles, cousins and friends in Canada, the US, Guyana and England. Lindon was born on October 10, 1961 in Guyana and moved to England at the age of one. He came to Canada in 1966 with his family and grew up in Winnipeg, attending schools in Transcona and graduating in 1979 from Murdoch McKay Collegiate. His early love of books, story-telling and reading led him to pursue English as his field of academic study. He started his journey at the University of Manitoba and obtained his Bachelor of Arts from York University in 1983, his Masters from the University of Denver in 1986 and ultimately his Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. At the time of his death, Lindon was a Professor of English at the University of California, Riverside, after spending years at the U of California, Irvine, including as Director of the African American Studies Program, his area of expertise. He was the author of a number of publications on literary criticism and culture. He was a man of independent thought and was fearless in his views. He told you what he thought, made you think, but also made you laugh. He loved his family and friends and would turn up for a visit surprising them and making the most of every moment. Lindon loved to spend time looking out over the Pacific Ocean and in accordance with his wishes, cremation has taken place and he will be returned to the sea. A memorial service will be held in Winnipeg at a later date. The family sends heartfelt thanks to his friends in Los Angeles. They are also very grateful for the love and support of friends who have called and visited at this difficult time. A bright light has gone out, but he will be remembered forever. Flowers are gratefully declined. Because of Lindon's love of reading, if so desired a donation to the Winnipeg Public Library or a charity encouraging literacy would be most appreciated. Funeral arrangements by McKenzie Mortuary, 3843 East Anaheim Street, Long Beach California, phone (562) 961-9301.
Radio Tribute (Monday, July 21 2008)
John Carlos Rowe
Chair, American Studies and Ethnicity
USC Associates' Professor of the Humanities
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine
Lindon Barrett was one of my closest friends and one of the intellectuals for whom I have the greatest respect. We knew each other for twenty years and worked together to diversify the educational curricula at the University of California, Irvine, as well as in the broader profession. We did much of this work as faculty in English and then in African American Studies, the academic program Lindon founded with Thelma Foote in 1994, and which has since become one of the most innovative and intellectually exciting African American Studies programs in the U.S.
Lindon taught me a great deal about intellectual matters and even more about life. I learned from him that African Americans have represented themselves in ways that include but also exceed considerably the printed books so respected in contemporary academic circles. Music, dance, oral folklore, parades, cooking, clubbing, talking, loving, singing are as important, sometimes more important, than what is tidily arranged in the Library. Learning that has brought me new wisdom and great joy, as did Lindon Barrett.
***
Donna Iliescu
Manager of African American Studies
UC Irvine
I, Donna Iliescu, Manager of African American Studies, and more importantly friend of Lindon, would like everyone to know that for me, Lindon was beyond special, beyond brilliant, beyond dedicated. He was the most unique and inspirational person I have ever known, and my life has been enriched by knowing him and having him become a part of my family. He helped me get through Thelma Foote's passing last year, and ironically I will try to embrace and live the advice he gave me then to get through this horrific tragedy. A vast void is now present in African American Studies, and in my and my family's life, but I'll try hard to keep Lindon's zest for life alive so that hopefully I might begin to know some of the joy that Llindon lived in his short life. My sadness cannot be measured. Lindon, I love you, and I miss you. Thank you for being you.
***
R. Radhakrishnan
Professor of Asian American Studies and English
UC Irvine
It cannot be that Lindon Barrett is no more. It is as absurd as saying Life is no more. How can Lindon not be? How does one sum up the intense and inexhaustible humanity of Lindon? Here is a feeble attempt: a daring and original thinker, brilliant and complex theorist who had found a way to align abstract thought with the visceral profundity of affect, passionte teacher wo inspired and enabled innumerable students, total activist on behalf of life and its every pulsating moment, indefatigable champion of jusitce, love, compassion and the heterology of the every day, fearless leader and visionary unafraid to take on challenges wherever they sprang from, and a dear and priceless friend and colleague with whom i have thought, felt, laughed, cried, sang, and danced these last 4 years. Thank you Lindon for all that you have been and all that you have done. I and we will miss you forever more. With libations and all, here is to you Lindon! You hear what I am saying.
***
Bridget R. Cooks, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Art History
University of California, Irvine
In 2006, I joined the faculty at UCI in the Program of African American Studies and Art History. Lindon was very supportive of my work and welcomed my contribution to the Program. He met me often with kind words. He took the time to give me spirited and encouraging feedback on my work. He was inspiring!! He was a scholar whose philosophies about discourses of race, economics, and justice were head and shoulders above most anyone who claimed to contribute to the field. The faculty in African American Studies was a compelling reason for me to leave my previous professorship and join this prestigious crew. It will be difficult for all of us to really realize this disturbing and unfathomable moment of Lindon being taken away. In addition to the profound personal loss that will continue to impact so many of us who knew him, losing Lindon is a loss to the entire field of critical race theory, modernism, and ontology. We can all continue to remember him and make his work manifest by digging into the words that he left for the world through his fearless writings.
Lindon was an exceptional person. He worked hard and played hard. He liked to dance and he liked the oldies.
***
Emory Elliott
University Professor
University of California, Riverside
I have known Lindon and enjoyed his friendship for eighteen years. I had the chance to read much of his superb scholarship when I was asked to write a report for his promotion and tenure in 1996. I was most impressed with the striking originality of his thinking and his analytical powers. He soon became recognized in the United States and abroad as a leader in his fields of American Studies, African American literature and culture, and literary theory. After many years at UC Irvine, UCR was able to persuade him to move to our English Department where he was warmly welcomed as a bright star on the campus. As a teacher and colleague, he was greatly admired and liked. His passing is an enormous loss to our department and the campus. I will miss not only his powerful, brilliant work but will also miss his warmth, wit, and cheerful presence among us.
***
Susan Zieger
Associate Professor of English
University of California, Riverside
In the short time that I was Lindon’s colleague, I saw enough of his generous spirit and capacious intellect to sense how great a loss his passing really is. There is a hole in my future where a vibrant interlocutor and friend might have been.
***
John W. Roberts (Lindon’s PhD advisor)
Dean, Colleges of the Arts and Humanities
The Ohio State University
Although I write this from a distance, I want all who hear these words to know that I am with you in spirit and mind. For as we celebrate Lindon’s life on this occasion, I share with all of you grief in his passing as well as joy in having known an individual who brought so much hope and promise into the lives of those who had the pleasure of knowing him. While I think he would have been pleased by the sentiment represented by this occasion, he would have been at the same time charmingly dismissive of the sentimentality that it represents. For one of his charms was his penchant for looking at life as a realist and living it as a wide-eyed optimist. It was his optimism, his belief in the inevitability of bringing unflinching clarity to the murky business of intellectual endeavors and the messy tangles of friendships that made his flight through our lives feel like a cool breeze off the Caribbean Sea.
I will always remember Lindon as a young man who had the courage to look beneath the surface of things, the curiosity to probe them deeply, and the intellect to examine them critically. He was never content with simply knowing; he wanted to understand, not beyond reason, but rather in a reasonable way. From my first meeting with him early in his career as a graduate student to the completion of his dissertation at Penn, he never ceased to amaze me with his willingness to expand his grasp of the intellectual terrain that he wanted to cover. Though a Canadian by residence, he demonstrated constantly the tough minded, hard working West Indian temperament and ethic that he inherited from his devoted parents and of which he remained very proud. Perhaps this is why he worked so hard to bring new understandings, to develop new approaches and to instill respect for what it has meant and continues to mean to be of African heritage in what we call the New World. His devotion to this work was not merely an academic exercise; it was an act of love for family and community of nurture—a giving back for all he had been given.
However, what I will remember most about Lindon was his infectious smile and seemingly good humor in approaching not only his work as a scholar but also his life as a human being. He had an incredible capacity to devote equal care to the large intellectual questions that he chose to address in his scholarly work and the everyday concerns that animated the world around him. His commitment to exploring it all often seemed to overwhelm him and sometimes manifested itself in a seemingly non-stop conversational style. During his days as a student, I recall meetings with him that often seemed like they started in the hallway or, at least, before he actually entered my office. It was not that he did not offer warm greetings always, but rather that his need to make the most of every second that we had together caused introductions and substantive conversation to blend in a seamless way. In our bountiful conversations, his enthusiasm for whatever the topic often threatened to overwhelm, while his clarity of mind and presentation always delighted.
Although distance reduced our lively interactions during the last few years, I will always remember Lindon as a young man who came into my life full of hope and promise and brought joy and delight. While I cannot know that which cannot be known, I want to believe with all my heart that, in his all too short time with us, he realized the dreams that he came into this world to make real-- that he made the difference in our lives that mattered to him. As we say good-by to him, I want him and all of you to know that, in his passing, he took with him my affection and my unfailing admiration. And for the gift of friendship that we shared, I am grateful. I will hide it away in my heart as a small treasure to be cherished, and as a precious memory that I will recall when I need to smile.
***
James Lee (has known Lindon from when he was an undergraduate at Penn)
Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and English
UC Santa Barbara
“I was a 2nd year undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania when I met Lindon. On the top floor of Bennett Hall, there was a room of "writing tutors," with a list of graduate students and their respective areas of expertise. Next to Lindon's name was "critical theory." So one day, I walked in, plopped myself down in front of him, and asked him, "So what is deconstruction?" Lindon took a breath, smiled, and proceeded to jot down some books for me to read. I can't remember the entire list now, though for some reason Foucault's language, counter-memory, practice comes to mind. I checked out a couple of these books and proceeded to understand not a word. I went back, and asked Lindon, "What the hell is this?"
Later that year, we'd joke about that initial encounter. Lindon had just secured the job at UC Irvine: he printed out the final version of his dissertation, which again I proceeded not to understand at all, while I was finishing up a class on, wait for it, deconstruction.
Five years later, we met again in a graduate seminar at UCLA. Lindon was still Lindon, with slightly longer hair than what I'd remembered. I wrote a paper for him, an early version of what would become a central chapter in my book. I can't remember the exact wording of his comments when he handed back the seminar paper, but I do remember the feeling: here was a teacher who read my work, took it seriously, and unequivocally voiced his delight. This time, I understood a bit better what he was saying, and what he was writing, but what remained the same always was Lindon's willing to push, to push with the promise that as I struggled into the unknown he'd be there with me.”
***
Daphne A. Brooks
Associate Professor of English and African American Studies
Princeton University
As a scholar, his worked modeled for me the meaning of freedom, the resolute, gorgeous and urgent beauty of black song, the genius of black flight that we can trace back to captivity. As a mentor, he showed me the courage of laying it on the line for institutional change, shepherding the next generation of black studies scholars, and caring for students. As a person, he radiated warmth and joy and showed me the importance of passing warmth and joy on to others personally as well as professionally. He leaves behind a hole in our hearts.
***
Jason King
Artistic Director and Associate Professor
The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, NYU
I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of my colleague Lindon Barrett. Long before I knew Lindon personally, I was a graduate student at NYU. After taking classes with Fred Moten and May Joseph and hearing them praise Lindon's writing, I was intrigued. So I borrowed his book Blackness and Value from the library. That was the last time, for a long time, that the NYU library saw Blackness and Value on its shelves. Riveted by its content, I kept Lindon's book hidden away in my apartment long past its return date, surely to the chagrin of other NYU students who might have wanted to borrow it. Lindon's rich, complex work on the intersections of so many subjects - race, gender and sexuality, commerce, aesthetics, modernity - had a huge impact on my academic development and my own understanding of who I was and am as a human being. Simply put, Lindon was deep. He understood the human condition and could articulate it. I cited Lindon's work in writing my own dissertation. And I was secretly envious of my NYU professors who claimed to know him or have worked with him.
Well, I did get to know Lindon years later when I worked with Carolyn Dinshaw to fly him out to NYU to attend a two-day conference we produced on late disco artist Sylvester. He gave a touching and powerful paper called "Sylvester: A Place Out of Place". The next year, when I happened to be giving a lecture in sunny California, Lindon went out of his way to invite me to come speak at UC Irvine. He battled bureaucratic structure to generously find money to host my talk. The money wasn't the issue; I would have done it for absolutely nothing. I was just glad to be on his radar, to be in his community, honored in fact to have become someone he considered his colleague. Funny, I have kept his emails from years ago in my inbox, and I'm sure I won't delete them.
One thing I learned about Lindon only much later was that he too was also a fellow Western Canadian (he was from Winnipeg, I was from Edmonton). Somehow, some way, he made his way, like I did, to the United States to pursue higher knowledge. I guess we were just busy academics, forever conferencing and advising students and thinking about the larger picture: we never did get to break bread and compare our respective journeys. He will forever be missed.
***
Amy Kim
UCI, Class of 2004
“I met Lindon during my junior year at UCI in 2002 in my literary criticism/theory course and was immediately struck by his brilliance, passion, and candor in class. I took 3 or 4 of his courses and asked him to be my thesis advisor and mentor during my senior year. I met with Lindon weekly to discuss different texts from the Harlem Renaissance and count it as a great privilege and honor to have studied under him. I remember always calling him “doctor” or “Professor Barrett,” to which he would always respond, “Please, call me Lindon.” He was so far from pretentious and intimidating, and was always kind, generous, and gracious towards me. He encouraged my scholarship and taught me so much. News of his death was horrifying and came as a shock to me and has brought much sadness. I know Lindon touched and inspired so many, and I think tributes like this where we can remember and share stories about him can help bring a little bit of solace in light of the terrible circumstances.”
***
Tessa Winkelmann
UCI, Class of 2004
“Professor Barrett's classes were a singular experience for me. They were the kind of classes that you would actually try to get there on time for so that you could grab a good seat, so as not to miss any of the brilliant, poignant, and hilarious things that Professor Barrett would say. Lindon's classes and lectures heavily inspired my own pursuit of academia for social change, but aside from being a devastatingly brilliant scholar, Lindon was also a mentor and friend.
During a particularly sad point in my undergraduate career, while commiserating with Lindon, he told me something that i never forgot...he said that the love a person has for another is never wasted and doesnt simply disappears should a relationship end. Rather, he said that the love a person gives is a testament to what they are capable of generating, and a testament to the love they have inside of them. I find myself repeating this consolation throughout the years to many of my friends, and now i think it is fitting to pass this consolation on to all of the people Lindon has touched. In true reflection of his life's work, it is with this spirit that I will remember him.”
***
Etienne Balibar
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Paris-X
Distinguished Professor of Humanities, UC Irvine
From very far away, I want to add my thoughts to your mourning. My encounters with Lindon were scarce and too short, although we had a good exchange in Riverside last winter after a talk I gave there. We had planned to continue on more regular bases. I was impressed by his originality, his bold use of words and concepts, and realized how important his contribution to the education of students and the conversation of scholars at UC had become.
Chair, American Studies and Ethnicity
USC Associates' Professor of the Humanities
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine
Lindon Barrett was one of my closest friends and one of the intellectuals for whom I have the greatest respect. We knew each other for twenty years and worked together to diversify the educational curricula at the University of California, Irvine, as well as in the broader profession. We did much of this work as faculty in English and then in African American Studies, the academic program Lindon founded with Thelma Foote in 1994, and which has since become one of the most innovative and intellectually exciting African American Studies programs in the U.S.
Lindon taught me a great deal about intellectual matters and even more about life. I learned from him that African Americans have represented themselves in ways that include but also exceed considerably the printed books so respected in contemporary academic circles. Music, dance, oral folklore, parades, cooking, clubbing, talking, loving, singing are as important, sometimes more important, than what is tidily arranged in the Library. Learning that has brought me new wisdom and great joy, as did Lindon Barrett.
***
Donna Iliescu
Manager of African American Studies
UC Irvine
I, Donna Iliescu, Manager of African American Studies, and more importantly friend of Lindon, would like everyone to know that for me, Lindon was beyond special, beyond brilliant, beyond dedicated. He was the most unique and inspirational person I have ever known, and my life has been enriched by knowing him and having him become a part of my family. He helped me get through Thelma Foote's passing last year, and ironically I will try to embrace and live the advice he gave me then to get through this horrific tragedy. A vast void is now present in African American Studies, and in my and my family's life, but I'll try hard to keep Lindon's zest for life alive so that hopefully I might begin to know some of the joy that Llindon lived in his short life. My sadness cannot be measured. Lindon, I love you, and I miss you. Thank you for being you.
***
R. Radhakrishnan
Professor of Asian American Studies and English
UC Irvine
It cannot be that Lindon Barrett is no more. It is as absurd as saying Life is no more. How can Lindon not be? How does one sum up the intense and inexhaustible humanity of Lindon? Here is a feeble attempt: a daring and original thinker, brilliant and complex theorist who had found a way to align abstract thought with the visceral profundity of affect, passionte teacher wo inspired and enabled innumerable students, total activist on behalf of life and its every pulsating moment, indefatigable champion of jusitce, love, compassion and the heterology of the every day, fearless leader and visionary unafraid to take on challenges wherever they sprang from, and a dear and priceless friend and colleague with whom i have thought, felt, laughed, cried, sang, and danced these last 4 years. Thank you Lindon for all that you have been and all that you have done. I and we will miss you forever more. With libations and all, here is to you Lindon! You hear what I am saying.
***
Bridget R. Cooks, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Art History
University of California, Irvine
In 2006, I joined the faculty at UCI in the Program of African American Studies and Art History. Lindon was very supportive of my work and welcomed my contribution to the Program. He met me often with kind words. He took the time to give me spirited and encouraging feedback on my work. He was inspiring!! He was a scholar whose philosophies about discourses of race, economics, and justice were head and shoulders above most anyone who claimed to contribute to the field. The faculty in African American Studies was a compelling reason for me to leave my previous professorship and join this prestigious crew. It will be difficult for all of us to really realize this disturbing and unfathomable moment of Lindon being taken away. In addition to the profound personal loss that will continue to impact so many of us who knew him, losing Lindon is a loss to the entire field of critical race theory, modernism, and ontology. We can all continue to remember him and make his work manifest by digging into the words that he left for the world through his fearless writings.
Lindon was an exceptional person. He worked hard and played hard. He liked to dance and he liked the oldies.
***
Emory Elliott
University Professor
University of California, Riverside
I have known Lindon and enjoyed his friendship for eighteen years. I had the chance to read much of his superb scholarship when I was asked to write a report for his promotion and tenure in 1996. I was most impressed with the striking originality of his thinking and his analytical powers. He soon became recognized in the United States and abroad as a leader in his fields of American Studies, African American literature and culture, and literary theory. After many years at UC Irvine, UCR was able to persuade him to move to our English Department where he was warmly welcomed as a bright star on the campus. As a teacher and colleague, he was greatly admired and liked. His passing is an enormous loss to our department and the campus. I will miss not only his powerful, brilliant work but will also miss his warmth, wit, and cheerful presence among us.
***
Susan Zieger
Associate Professor of English
University of California, Riverside
In the short time that I was Lindon’s colleague, I saw enough of his generous spirit and capacious intellect to sense how great a loss his passing really is. There is a hole in my future where a vibrant interlocutor and friend might have been.
***
John W. Roberts (Lindon’s PhD advisor)
Dean, Colleges of the Arts and Humanities
The Ohio State University
Although I write this from a distance, I want all who hear these words to know that I am with you in spirit and mind. For as we celebrate Lindon’s life on this occasion, I share with all of you grief in his passing as well as joy in having known an individual who brought so much hope and promise into the lives of those who had the pleasure of knowing him. While I think he would have been pleased by the sentiment represented by this occasion, he would have been at the same time charmingly dismissive of the sentimentality that it represents. For one of his charms was his penchant for looking at life as a realist and living it as a wide-eyed optimist. It was his optimism, his belief in the inevitability of bringing unflinching clarity to the murky business of intellectual endeavors and the messy tangles of friendships that made his flight through our lives feel like a cool breeze off the Caribbean Sea.
I will always remember Lindon as a young man who had the courage to look beneath the surface of things, the curiosity to probe them deeply, and the intellect to examine them critically. He was never content with simply knowing; he wanted to understand, not beyond reason, but rather in a reasonable way. From my first meeting with him early in his career as a graduate student to the completion of his dissertation at Penn, he never ceased to amaze me with his willingness to expand his grasp of the intellectual terrain that he wanted to cover. Though a Canadian by residence, he demonstrated constantly the tough minded, hard working West Indian temperament and ethic that he inherited from his devoted parents and of which he remained very proud. Perhaps this is why he worked so hard to bring new understandings, to develop new approaches and to instill respect for what it has meant and continues to mean to be of African heritage in what we call the New World. His devotion to this work was not merely an academic exercise; it was an act of love for family and community of nurture—a giving back for all he had been given.
However, what I will remember most about Lindon was his infectious smile and seemingly good humor in approaching not only his work as a scholar but also his life as a human being. He had an incredible capacity to devote equal care to the large intellectual questions that he chose to address in his scholarly work and the everyday concerns that animated the world around him. His commitment to exploring it all often seemed to overwhelm him and sometimes manifested itself in a seemingly non-stop conversational style. During his days as a student, I recall meetings with him that often seemed like they started in the hallway or, at least, before he actually entered my office. It was not that he did not offer warm greetings always, but rather that his need to make the most of every second that we had together caused introductions and substantive conversation to blend in a seamless way. In our bountiful conversations, his enthusiasm for whatever the topic often threatened to overwhelm, while his clarity of mind and presentation always delighted.
Although distance reduced our lively interactions during the last few years, I will always remember Lindon as a young man who came into my life full of hope and promise and brought joy and delight. While I cannot know that which cannot be known, I want to believe with all my heart that, in his all too short time with us, he realized the dreams that he came into this world to make real-- that he made the difference in our lives that mattered to him. As we say good-by to him, I want him and all of you to know that, in his passing, he took with him my affection and my unfailing admiration. And for the gift of friendship that we shared, I am grateful. I will hide it away in my heart as a small treasure to be cherished, and as a precious memory that I will recall when I need to smile.
***
James Lee (has known Lindon from when he was an undergraduate at Penn)
Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and English
UC Santa Barbara
“I was a 2nd year undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania when I met Lindon. On the top floor of Bennett Hall, there was a room of "writing tutors," with a list of graduate students and their respective areas of expertise. Next to Lindon's name was "critical theory." So one day, I walked in, plopped myself down in front of him, and asked him, "So what is deconstruction?" Lindon took a breath, smiled, and proceeded to jot down some books for me to read. I can't remember the entire list now, though for some reason Foucault's language, counter-memory, practice comes to mind. I checked out a couple of these books and proceeded to understand not a word. I went back, and asked Lindon, "What the hell is this?"
Later that year, we'd joke about that initial encounter. Lindon had just secured the job at UC Irvine: he printed out the final version of his dissertation, which again I proceeded not to understand at all, while I was finishing up a class on, wait for it, deconstruction.
Five years later, we met again in a graduate seminar at UCLA. Lindon was still Lindon, with slightly longer hair than what I'd remembered. I wrote a paper for him, an early version of what would become a central chapter in my book. I can't remember the exact wording of his comments when he handed back the seminar paper, but I do remember the feeling: here was a teacher who read my work, took it seriously, and unequivocally voiced his delight. This time, I understood a bit better what he was saying, and what he was writing, but what remained the same always was Lindon's willing to push, to push with the promise that as I struggled into the unknown he'd be there with me.”
***
Daphne A. Brooks
Associate Professor of English and African American Studies
Princeton University
As a scholar, his worked modeled for me the meaning of freedom, the resolute, gorgeous and urgent beauty of black song, the genius of black flight that we can trace back to captivity. As a mentor, he showed me the courage of laying it on the line for institutional change, shepherding the next generation of black studies scholars, and caring for students. As a person, he radiated warmth and joy and showed me the importance of passing warmth and joy on to others personally as well as professionally. He leaves behind a hole in our hearts.
***
Jason King
Artistic Director and Associate Professor
The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, NYU
I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of my colleague Lindon Barrett. Long before I knew Lindon personally, I was a graduate student at NYU. After taking classes with Fred Moten and May Joseph and hearing them praise Lindon's writing, I was intrigued. So I borrowed his book Blackness and Value from the library. That was the last time, for a long time, that the NYU library saw Blackness and Value on its shelves. Riveted by its content, I kept Lindon's book hidden away in my apartment long past its return date, surely to the chagrin of other NYU students who might have wanted to borrow it. Lindon's rich, complex work on the intersections of so many subjects - race, gender and sexuality, commerce, aesthetics, modernity - had a huge impact on my academic development and my own understanding of who I was and am as a human being. Simply put, Lindon was deep. He understood the human condition and could articulate it. I cited Lindon's work in writing my own dissertation. And I was secretly envious of my NYU professors who claimed to know him or have worked with him.
Well, I did get to know Lindon years later when I worked with Carolyn Dinshaw to fly him out to NYU to attend a two-day conference we produced on late disco artist Sylvester. He gave a touching and powerful paper called "Sylvester: A Place Out of Place". The next year, when I happened to be giving a lecture in sunny California, Lindon went out of his way to invite me to come speak at UC Irvine. He battled bureaucratic structure to generously find money to host my talk. The money wasn't the issue; I would have done it for absolutely nothing. I was just glad to be on his radar, to be in his community, honored in fact to have become someone he considered his colleague. Funny, I have kept his emails from years ago in my inbox, and I'm sure I won't delete them.
One thing I learned about Lindon only much later was that he too was also a fellow Western Canadian (he was from Winnipeg, I was from Edmonton). Somehow, some way, he made his way, like I did, to the United States to pursue higher knowledge. I guess we were just busy academics, forever conferencing and advising students and thinking about the larger picture: we never did get to break bread and compare our respective journeys. He will forever be missed.
***
Amy Kim
UCI, Class of 2004
“I met Lindon during my junior year at UCI in 2002 in my literary criticism/theory course and was immediately struck by his brilliance, passion, and candor in class. I took 3 or 4 of his courses and asked him to be my thesis advisor and mentor during my senior year. I met with Lindon weekly to discuss different texts from the Harlem Renaissance and count it as a great privilege and honor to have studied under him. I remember always calling him “doctor” or “Professor Barrett,” to which he would always respond, “Please, call me Lindon.” He was so far from pretentious and intimidating, and was always kind, generous, and gracious towards me. He encouraged my scholarship and taught me so much. News of his death was horrifying and came as a shock to me and has brought much sadness. I know Lindon touched and inspired so many, and I think tributes like this where we can remember and share stories about him can help bring a little bit of solace in light of the terrible circumstances.”
***
Tessa Winkelmann
UCI, Class of 2004
“Professor Barrett's classes were a singular experience for me. They were the kind of classes that you would actually try to get there on time for so that you could grab a good seat, so as not to miss any of the brilliant, poignant, and hilarious things that Professor Barrett would say. Lindon's classes and lectures heavily inspired my own pursuit of academia for social change, but aside from being a devastatingly brilliant scholar, Lindon was also a mentor and friend.
During a particularly sad point in my undergraduate career, while commiserating with Lindon, he told me something that i never forgot...he said that the love a person has for another is never wasted and doesnt simply disappears should a relationship end. Rather, he said that the love a person gives is a testament to what they are capable of generating, and a testament to the love they have inside of them. I find myself repeating this consolation throughout the years to many of my friends, and now i think it is fitting to pass this consolation on to all of the people Lindon has touched. In true reflection of his life's work, it is with this spirit that I will remember him.”
***
Etienne Balibar
Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Paris-X
Distinguished Professor of Humanities, UC Irvine
From very far away, I want to add my thoughts to your mourning. My encounters with Lindon were scarce and too short, although we had a good exchange in Riverside last winter after a talk I gave there. We had planned to continue on more regular bases. I was impressed by his originality, his bold use of words and concepts, and realized how important his contribution to the education of students and the conversation of scholars at UC had become.
Friday, July 18, 2008
From "Movements," Conference in Honor of Lindon Barrett, U.C. Irvine, May 2007
Welcome everyone and thanks so much for attending our celebration of Lindon Barrett’s achievements during his time at UC Irvine and, more significantly, what he has given us as his students, colleagues, and friends. When brainstorming for a title, we threw out the idea of “Movement,” not only to mark the occasion for this event – Lindon’s move from UCI to UC Riverside – but also because it evoked Lindon’s work on the body. To expand on this initial idea, we added an “s” and came up with “Movements,” discovering even more connotations. We thought of the idea of a movement in a musical sense, as a fully developed, self-contained part of a larger composition. In this sense, we are here to commemorate the conclusion of but one movement in Lindon’s scholarly career, a passage that will connect to and develop into new forms and elaborations. But perhaps the meaning of movement that is most apropos of this event is the notion of a collective effort than brings people together in common interests, visions, and hopes. Living up to its title, “Movements” combines the energies of students, faculty, staff, colleagues, and friends.
While we conceived of this event to engage Lindon’s scholarly contributions, our presentations could not help but be inflected by a more personal and immediate tone. Indeed, such a sentiment is fitting, considering that it is Lindon’s sense of caring and attention that makes his intellectual rigor all the more compelling, beyond his many achievements and accomplishments. Speaking as one of Lindon’s advisees, he has taken on my project on as his own, meeting with me for hours at a time and offering enough comments that they could lead to a second book project on their own. As his teaching assistant, I have witnessed how he is able to challenge and prompt undergraduates to begin thinking critically about race. For me, I can trace back my intellectual development to the very beginning of my graduate school career in Lindon’s seminar on the African American novel. During the first class session, Lindon offered his concise definition of race as a protocol regulating social contact and sex, which I rushed to copy down, but failed to completely transcribe: As he defines it, “Race might be thought of as a series of prohibitions on social desire and sexual practice, prohibitions intent on stabilizing and ensuring the transmission of identifying phenotypical (or cultural) traits from generation to generation.” As a new graduate student, it was a notion that took me time and effort to work through – in part because I was never sure that I copied it down correctly – and it generated more and more leading questions about race as a denaturalized social formation. In fact, trying to apply this idea to the novels we read in the class led to a disastrous final exam, forcing me to beg Lindon for an incomplete!
But I still carry these initial experiences with me, because they helped me to understand that working on race leads to very few pat or easy resolutions. Lindon’s definition avoids the oversimplified logic that presumes race is not real if it is not essentialist or biologically determined, and only underscores the reality and force of racial categories in their social dimensions. Concise though it may be, this definition captures just how intricately complex the relationships between race, gender, sex, and genealogy are, as mutually constitutive terms and not simply interchangeable and serial elements of identity. While Lindon has always stressed the importance of context and specificity, his ideas also have a heuristic quality about them that makes them provocative and productively speculative. On a more conceptual level, Lindon and his ideas have taught me not to seek out easy conclusions and forced readings, but rather to pursue the possibilities that occur in tackling complexity and contradiction
Arnold Pan
Ph.D., UC Irvine
***
Lindon Barrett writes in many ways about how pleasure and desire are conscripted in the service of power and normativity. He writes of desire and the violent irrationality of its suppression. Whether about literature, rap, or basketball stars, his work documents systematically the ways in which dominant structures of race, sexuality and class are leveraged in order to withhold pleasure from certain bodies. In his “The Gaze of Langston Hughes: Subjectivity, Homoeroticism, and the Feminine in The Big Sea” for example, Lindon argues forcefully and succinctly that “Open-ended desire in any form is always a prime target of subjection. Within the most ideal terms of the recuperation of desire, libidinal energies, as well as energies of labor and consumption, would be ruled strictly by a managerial ethos, so that each would mimic the other in its sparing rationalizations. Both would consort with pleasure, distraction, and self-fashioning only to secure them for extremely circumscribed ends.” In this sense, Lindon’s theorization of pleasure maps out the ways in which forces of racialization and capital, often in the service of regulatory modes of sexuality, constantly threaten to erode the possibilities of human sociality. Yet, on some level, his work is, most profoundly, about recognizing and rescuing a space for precisely those most vulnerable of pleasures amidst the most powerful social and cultural threats to them.
Along similar lines to his argument about pleasure, Lindon also asks us to reconsider the ways in which value is imagined in popular discourse. In Blackness and Value he writes “Despite the frequency and confidence with which the term ‘value’ is used in the sound-byte rhetoric of contemporary U.S. politics, the problematics of value remain increasingly intricate and arresting in a century heir to the consequences of the abolition of chattel slavery. The release of African Americans from the muteness and illegality of chattel slavery—however partial, intermittent and hard-won—marks the (re)emergent visibility of an excessive and residual otherness long essential to the normative enterprises and the dominant orders of the U.S. landscape.” Against the notion of value as that which can be violently extracted in the service of dominant normativity, whether racial, sexual, or economic, Lindon asks us to think about other possibilities of constructing value. For, as he argues, value, as it is currently imagined, must always be articulated against an other, as a violent suppression of value in its earnest sense. As much as his work is about making space for pleasure, it is about re-valuing in earnest the suffering, the pain, the laughter, the dance, the joy, of blackness.
Many of us write about and study the operations of power and oppression. But from Lindon I have learned more than anything else, that to think about these things respectfully, one must also think deeply and generously about the politics of pleasure, and what it means to have pleasure and have it withheld. But Lindon does more than write and think about a politics of pleasure. As his student I have been nurtured, both intellectually and personally, by Lindon’s most sincere commitment to fostering a genuine atmosphere of pleasure and respect. I have learned so much from Lindon. He has taught me how to think critically, how to speak my mind, and most importantly, how to take pleasure in it all. I would like to express my most deep and profound gratitude to him here. My sincere hope is that he takes with him as he leaves some of the pleasure he has given to all of us here.
Leila Neti, Occidental College
***
One of the things that Lindon and I have often talked about is how to make the semantic and syntactic truths of music articulate themselves in critical discourse, how to make the political, ontological, and temporal insights articulated in the African American music tradition speak to and speak against established discourses. – So, when I started to think about how I might be able to gesture towards the immense and almost inexpressible value of Lindon Barret's work and intellectual presence I thought not primarily of the way his work is sometimes work about music and other extra-linguistic practices, but of the way his work manages to productively straddle the divide between the linguistic and the extra-linguistic and to absorb into itself the power and insight of the music.
Amiri Baraka wrote the following of a late John Coltrane album:
"This music contains a lot of strange and wonderful things. If you listen carefully, you might actually become one of them."
The same is true of Lindon's writing and speaking: if you listen closely you can hear things in it that transform your vision of the world and your sense of possibility.
II.
I'd like to highlight two moments from Lindon's discourse that I always try and keep in my intellectual ear, and that I think are essential for any productive form of cultural criticism.
The first is from Blackness and Value:
"No matter how open or mediated, a disqualification or pathological bracketing of dark-skinned Others remains an invariable premise of both popular and learned traditions of Euro-American thought."
What Lindon gives us here is an imperative to rigorously think through the presuppositions of our critical tools, and to examine the ways in which contentless, and seemingly neutral, intellectual protocols are often complicit with exclusionary or racist practices. He highlights the way questions of literary form are always inseparable from the often violent forces that constitute the realm of the sayable in the academy and in the social world we inhabit.
This is a crucial thing to hear, but when you hear it, it makes your work harder. It becomes more relevant, but harder. Harder, because you are forced to account for the vectors that attempt to push your work down the path of least resistance, and, therefore into alignment with the rituals confirming the legitimacy of the illegitimate social forms that surround us. So, I curse Lindon for making my work harder, but I thank him for making it sharper and more relevant.
The second moment is also from Blackness and Value:
"To interpose no alternative value in the theoretically neutral moment of calling value into question remains equivalent to strengthening and reincarnating reified, dominant value."
Here Lindon gives us an imperative to not only demystify or to push existing discourse of values to their collapsing point, but to make them yield their place of privilege to other discourses of value, discourses that don't speak themselves in a language easily translatable into the academy. These discourses come from what Lindon refers to in Blackness and Value as "the street", the outside of academic values. In this realm we find extra-linguistic practices like dance and music, practices that don't confine intellectuality to one particular part of the body. Lindon's assumption that all practices have their own logic and their own rationality, that the worlds of the somatic and the nonverbal are not without their own form of eloquence and intellectuality
III.
I had an epiphany on this campus (this very Irvine campus that will so soon sadly be without Lindon) in which I could see the other realms of value and other suppressed possibilities that Lindon is always pushing us to see. I was walking across campus and was suddenly struck by the rich variety of movements and rhythms surrounding me. I had been thinking and writing about the possibility of non-coercive form of rhythmic or temporal coordination, and I could suddenly see it.
I could see the suppressed possibilities animating everyday movements – a proto-utopian rhythmic community whose mark of existence was the value invested in the way that each articulation of buttocks, hips and belts spoke or suggested a somatic ratio. A ratio, that like all ratios, is both a rhythm and an incipient rationality.
So, in the richly dissonant ratios of hips to asses and buttocks to legs, there was present the possibility of an other form of social coordination. Possible, but not realized. These students, who could not possibly walk the way they do without being somatically informed by a long tradition of African American music and danced response to this music, were in thrall to the structures of discourse validated by society and the academy, and thus were blind or indifferent to the value of Otherness, or the ass, or of racial and sexual difference. Without Lindon's vision they could not see or feel the value of the bodily ratios present in their own everyday existence. With Lindon's vision, these everyday possibilities become visible, and one can see the way social vectors can penetrate the body, investing it with formulations not articulable in other forms of discourse.
This is the kind of sharp epistemology of the social contained in Lindon's work, an ability to see and think otherwise and to meditate upon the disputatious worlds of value contained in inappropriate words like "ass" and in the undervalued movements of what this word names.
IV.
The novelist Leon Forrest has a way of describing Billie Holiday's singing that helps me sum up the value of Lindon's thought. Forrest writes that Bilie Holiday made "dissonance blossom".
This making dissonance blossom is not a resolving of dissonance, nor a moving through it. It is not the modernist idea of dissonance as a spur to discovery, but something more like a dwelling in dissonance, an attempt to intellectually inhabit dissonance itself and to think the inherently disputatious nature of social existence.
Lindon's work makes dissonance blossom. It never takes its attention off of the violent discrepancies that motivate our thought and practices, but it also never lets this attentiveness blind us to the alternative systems of value that his work constantly draws to our attention, other forms of thought and practice that his work constantly proposes.
Bruce Barnhart, Wake Forest University
***
"when lindon barrett and i met our first day of graduate school, his
eyes were literally shining with excitement, possibility, and what i
can only call brilliance. he brought that focus, fervor, and heart to
all he did, in friendship and in work. the path he has blazed in
african-american studies has been singular. his investigations of value
brought together bodies of writing and thought that had not previously
been in conversation with each other, and no one has matched his
philisophical exploration in that area.
when lindon convened a group of young black scholars, all
neo-african-americanists of one stripe or another, to irvine for a
conference in the early nineties, little did we know that he would be
providing an occasion for most of us to present work that would be
among the most important we would undertake. that is because lindon
understood that in the company of respectful friends, the mind could be
free. he knew that together our space was not contested, that we were
not under seige. and so we would think, talk, write, and explore, and
challenge each other, and, as always, dance with abandon: the only
logical thing to do along with all that thinking.
i wish i could be there to celebrate this beautiful career. i am proud
to have been a partner to lindon when so much was beginning for us. i
look forward to his blooming in the next space. i send love."
elizabeth alexander
yale university
***
Because superlatives are tossed off so casually these days, it is wise to be stingy with them lest they grow empty and meaningless from overuse. And yet for certain people, only superlatives will do. Lindon Barrett is such a person. I met Lindon about fifteen years ago--can it be that long ago?--and in the course of one short evening in the lobby of some MLA hotel, I concluded that he would become one of the most brilliant, and engaging minds of his generation. I was not wrong. In a steady stream of work on subjects from the slave narratives to Langston Hughes; from Ann Petry to Billie Holiday; from Dennis Rodman to hip-hop, Lindon has sparked new conversations, transformed old ones (or simply established their irrelevance), always with grace and rigor.
Throughout his prodigious career, he has extended the reach of his work beyond the pages of books and articles, leaving his marks on the day-to-day unglamorous, but necessary work of defining curricula, nurturing students, and fighting for institutional change. That he has carried out much of this work during periods of retrenchment--both real and manufactured--is all the more exemplary.
Lindon, my dear, I can think of no one more thoroughly deserving than you of the tribute being paid to you today. I send you my love and my deepest respect for the example of your scholarship, for the example of your very being.
CONGRATULATIONS.
Debbie McDowell, University of Virginia
***
It's hard to imagine what race theory and African American literary study
would be like without Lindon's contributions. I find myself returning to
"Blackness and Value" at every corner and recommending it to students in so
many different intellectual contexts. Occasionally, we come across books
that so clarify and complicate our thinking that they elicit a sort of
book-envy, where we say to ourselves, "I wish I'd written that." I often
find myself saying this about Lindon's work. Whether he's theorizing hip hop
eulogy through Deleuze and Guattari, unpacking the moral imaginary of Dennis
Rodman's self-marketing, or rethinking American landlordship through an
eye-opening analysis of Petry's "The Street," Lindon has the talent for
keeping one finger on the pulse of popular culture and the other on the pulse
of high theory. Congratulations to him on his new position. I know his
colleagues at Irvine will miss him, but because he's not moving too far,
perhaps they can -- as I have done from across the continent -- still claim
him as a colleague.
Best wishes, Marlon Ross, University of Virginia
***
I wish that I could be here in person to join everyone in thanking Lindon for how
much he has contributed to the intellectual community at Irvine and for the support that
he gave me as a student in English and has given, since. Lindon was the only person on
my dissertation committee who was not my director, yet he was consistently willing to sit
down with me, talk on the telephone, and engage with my project. I always seemed to
come away from our discussions having reconceived of the very terms of my project.
Working with him taught me about how to keep coming back to a project with a renewed
critical perspective. And it gave me a sense of myself as a professional whose thoughts
and writing – somehow – mattered.
In a moment of the corporatization of the university, I admire Lindon for how he practices
our profession by holding onto his own humanity. He did this often precisely by
conducting himself as an intellectual, resisting becoming a cog in the heavy wheels of an
institution that, as many of us know, sometimes prefers cogs to people.
At the same time, I would be remiss if I were not to mention Lindon’s amazing gift of
infusing intellectual endeavors with a particular mixture of fun and humor, graveness,
and rigor. The level of responsiveness to the texture of literature, to material conditions,
to theory and its stakes, and to contemporary urgencies all showed me that professorship
needn’t look like this to be real.
Graduate courses with lindon changed my life: in my quest to understand American
literature and culture, I became disoriented, relinquishing loyalties I never recognized I’d
had to understand, explain, and teach about the work that literature does.
I wish I could be here in person to acknowledge the space that Lindon Barrett has held
open at Irvine for engagement with critical cultural studies and literature, and for
conversations about race, in its intersections with sexuality, gender and the economic, as
constitutive of modernity. Tribute, of course, comes from tribulum, for contribution –
wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect. I can only say how incredibly
indebted I am to lindon for the wealth of knowledge, as well as time and energy, that he
has devoted to me and others at this University.
Naomi Greyser, University of Iowa
***
While we conceived of this event to engage Lindon’s scholarly contributions, our presentations could not help but be inflected by a more personal and immediate tone. Indeed, such a sentiment is fitting, considering that it is Lindon’s sense of caring and attention that makes his intellectual rigor all the more compelling, beyond his many achievements and accomplishments. Speaking as one of Lindon’s advisees, he has taken on my project on as his own, meeting with me for hours at a time and offering enough comments that they could lead to a second book project on their own. As his teaching assistant, I have witnessed how he is able to challenge and prompt undergraduates to begin thinking critically about race. For me, I can trace back my intellectual development to the very beginning of my graduate school career in Lindon’s seminar on the African American novel. During the first class session, Lindon offered his concise definition of race as a protocol regulating social contact and sex, which I rushed to copy down, but failed to completely transcribe: As he defines it, “Race might be thought of as a series of prohibitions on social desire and sexual practice, prohibitions intent on stabilizing and ensuring the transmission of identifying phenotypical (or cultural) traits from generation to generation.” As a new graduate student, it was a notion that took me time and effort to work through – in part because I was never sure that I copied it down correctly – and it generated more and more leading questions about race as a denaturalized social formation. In fact, trying to apply this idea to the novels we read in the class led to a disastrous final exam, forcing me to beg Lindon for an incomplete!
But I still carry these initial experiences with me, because they helped me to understand that working on race leads to very few pat or easy resolutions. Lindon’s definition avoids the oversimplified logic that presumes race is not real if it is not essentialist or biologically determined, and only underscores the reality and force of racial categories in their social dimensions. Concise though it may be, this definition captures just how intricately complex the relationships between race, gender, sex, and genealogy are, as mutually constitutive terms and not simply interchangeable and serial elements of identity. While Lindon has always stressed the importance of context and specificity, his ideas also have a heuristic quality about them that makes them provocative and productively speculative. On a more conceptual level, Lindon and his ideas have taught me not to seek out easy conclusions and forced readings, but rather to pursue the possibilities that occur in tackling complexity and contradiction
Arnold Pan
Ph.D., UC Irvine
***
Lindon Barrett writes in many ways about how pleasure and desire are conscripted in the service of power and normativity. He writes of desire and the violent irrationality of its suppression. Whether about literature, rap, or basketball stars, his work documents systematically the ways in which dominant structures of race, sexuality and class are leveraged in order to withhold pleasure from certain bodies. In his “The Gaze of Langston Hughes: Subjectivity, Homoeroticism, and the Feminine in The Big Sea” for example, Lindon argues forcefully and succinctly that “Open-ended desire in any form is always a prime target of subjection. Within the most ideal terms of the recuperation of desire, libidinal energies, as well as energies of labor and consumption, would be ruled strictly by a managerial ethos, so that each would mimic the other in its sparing rationalizations. Both would consort with pleasure, distraction, and self-fashioning only to secure them for extremely circumscribed ends.” In this sense, Lindon’s theorization of pleasure maps out the ways in which forces of racialization and capital, often in the service of regulatory modes of sexuality, constantly threaten to erode the possibilities of human sociality. Yet, on some level, his work is, most profoundly, about recognizing and rescuing a space for precisely those most vulnerable of pleasures amidst the most powerful social and cultural threats to them.
Along similar lines to his argument about pleasure, Lindon also asks us to reconsider the ways in which value is imagined in popular discourse. In Blackness and Value he writes “Despite the frequency and confidence with which the term ‘value’ is used in the sound-byte rhetoric of contemporary U.S. politics, the problematics of value remain increasingly intricate and arresting in a century heir to the consequences of the abolition of chattel slavery. The release of African Americans from the muteness and illegality of chattel slavery—however partial, intermittent and hard-won—marks the (re)emergent visibility of an excessive and residual otherness long essential to the normative enterprises and the dominant orders of the U.S. landscape.” Against the notion of value as that which can be violently extracted in the service of dominant normativity, whether racial, sexual, or economic, Lindon asks us to think about other possibilities of constructing value. For, as he argues, value, as it is currently imagined, must always be articulated against an other, as a violent suppression of value in its earnest sense. As much as his work is about making space for pleasure, it is about re-valuing in earnest the suffering, the pain, the laughter, the dance, the joy, of blackness.
Many of us write about and study the operations of power and oppression. But from Lindon I have learned more than anything else, that to think about these things respectfully, one must also think deeply and generously about the politics of pleasure, and what it means to have pleasure and have it withheld. But Lindon does more than write and think about a politics of pleasure. As his student I have been nurtured, both intellectually and personally, by Lindon’s most sincere commitment to fostering a genuine atmosphere of pleasure and respect. I have learned so much from Lindon. He has taught me how to think critically, how to speak my mind, and most importantly, how to take pleasure in it all. I would like to express my most deep and profound gratitude to him here. My sincere hope is that he takes with him as he leaves some of the pleasure he has given to all of us here.
Leila Neti, Occidental College
***
One of the things that Lindon and I have often talked about is how to make the semantic and syntactic truths of music articulate themselves in critical discourse, how to make the political, ontological, and temporal insights articulated in the African American music tradition speak to and speak against established discourses. – So, when I started to think about how I might be able to gesture towards the immense and almost inexpressible value of Lindon Barret's work and intellectual presence I thought not primarily of the way his work is sometimes work about music and other extra-linguistic practices, but of the way his work manages to productively straddle the divide between the linguistic and the extra-linguistic and to absorb into itself the power and insight of the music.
Amiri Baraka wrote the following of a late John Coltrane album:
"This music contains a lot of strange and wonderful things. If you listen carefully, you might actually become one of them."
The same is true of Lindon's writing and speaking: if you listen closely you can hear things in it that transform your vision of the world and your sense of possibility.
II.
I'd like to highlight two moments from Lindon's discourse that I always try and keep in my intellectual ear, and that I think are essential for any productive form of cultural criticism.
The first is from Blackness and Value:
"No matter how open or mediated, a disqualification or pathological bracketing of dark-skinned Others remains an invariable premise of both popular and learned traditions of Euro-American thought."
What Lindon gives us here is an imperative to rigorously think through the presuppositions of our critical tools, and to examine the ways in which contentless, and seemingly neutral, intellectual protocols are often complicit with exclusionary or racist practices. He highlights the way questions of literary form are always inseparable from the often violent forces that constitute the realm of the sayable in the academy and in the social world we inhabit.
This is a crucial thing to hear, but when you hear it, it makes your work harder. It becomes more relevant, but harder. Harder, because you are forced to account for the vectors that attempt to push your work down the path of least resistance, and, therefore into alignment with the rituals confirming the legitimacy of the illegitimate social forms that surround us. So, I curse Lindon for making my work harder, but I thank him for making it sharper and more relevant.
The second moment is also from Blackness and Value:
"To interpose no alternative value in the theoretically neutral moment of calling value into question remains equivalent to strengthening and reincarnating reified, dominant value."
Here Lindon gives us an imperative to not only demystify or to push existing discourse of values to their collapsing point, but to make them yield their place of privilege to other discourses of value, discourses that don't speak themselves in a language easily translatable into the academy. These discourses come from what Lindon refers to in Blackness and Value as "the street", the outside of academic values. In this realm we find extra-linguistic practices like dance and music, practices that don't confine intellectuality to one particular part of the body. Lindon's assumption that all practices have their own logic and their own rationality, that the worlds of the somatic and the nonverbal are not without their own form of eloquence and intellectuality
III.
I had an epiphany on this campus (this very Irvine campus that will so soon sadly be without Lindon) in which I could see the other realms of value and other suppressed possibilities that Lindon is always pushing us to see. I was walking across campus and was suddenly struck by the rich variety of movements and rhythms surrounding me. I had been thinking and writing about the possibility of non-coercive form of rhythmic or temporal coordination, and I could suddenly see it.
I could see the suppressed possibilities animating everyday movements – a proto-utopian rhythmic community whose mark of existence was the value invested in the way that each articulation of buttocks, hips and belts spoke or suggested a somatic ratio. A ratio, that like all ratios, is both a rhythm and an incipient rationality.
So, in the richly dissonant ratios of hips to asses and buttocks to legs, there was present the possibility of an other form of social coordination. Possible, but not realized. These students, who could not possibly walk the way they do without being somatically informed by a long tradition of African American music and danced response to this music, were in thrall to the structures of discourse validated by society and the academy, and thus were blind or indifferent to the value of Otherness, or the ass, or of racial and sexual difference. Without Lindon's vision they could not see or feel the value of the bodily ratios present in their own everyday existence. With Lindon's vision, these everyday possibilities become visible, and one can see the way social vectors can penetrate the body, investing it with formulations not articulable in other forms of discourse.
This is the kind of sharp epistemology of the social contained in Lindon's work, an ability to see and think otherwise and to meditate upon the disputatious worlds of value contained in inappropriate words like "ass" and in the undervalued movements of what this word names.
IV.
The novelist Leon Forrest has a way of describing Billie Holiday's singing that helps me sum up the value of Lindon's thought. Forrest writes that Bilie Holiday made "dissonance blossom".
This making dissonance blossom is not a resolving of dissonance, nor a moving through it. It is not the modernist idea of dissonance as a spur to discovery, but something more like a dwelling in dissonance, an attempt to intellectually inhabit dissonance itself and to think the inherently disputatious nature of social existence.
Lindon's work makes dissonance blossom. It never takes its attention off of the violent discrepancies that motivate our thought and practices, but it also never lets this attentiveness blind us to the alternative systems of value that his work constantly draws to our attention, other forms of thought and practice that his work constantly proposes.
Bruce Barnhart, Wake Forest University
***
"when lindon barrett and i met our first day of graduate school, his
eyes were literally shining with excitement, possibility, and what i
can only call brilliance. he brought that focus, fervor, and heart to
all he did, in friendship and in work. the path he has blazed in
african-american studies has been singular. his investigations of value
brought together bodies of writing and thought that had not previously
been in conversation with each other, and no one has matched his
philisophical exploration in that area.
when lindon convened a group of young black scholars, all
neo-african-americanists of one stripe or another, to irvine for a
conference in the early nineties, little did we know that he would be
providing an occasion for most of us to present work that would be
among the most important we would undertake. that is because lindon
understood that in the company of respectful friends, the mind could be
free. he knew that together our space was not contested, that we were
not under seige. and so we would think, talk, write, and explore, and
challenge each other, and, as always, dance with abandon: the only
logical thing to do along with all that thinking.
i wish i could be there to celebrate this beautiful career. i am proud
to have been a partner to lindon when so much was beginning for us. i
look forward to his blooming in the next space. i send love."
elizabeth alexander
yale university
***
Because superlatives are tossed off so casually these days, it is wise to be stingy with them lest they grow empty and meaningless from overuse. And yet for certain people, only superlatives will do. Lindon Barrett is such a person. I met Lindon about fifteen years ago--can it be that long ago?--and in the course of one short evening in the lobby of some MLA hotel, I concluded that he would become one of the most brilliant, and engaging minds of his generation. I was not wrong. In a steady stream of work on subjects from the slave narratives to Langston Hughes; from Ann Petry to Billie Holiday; from Dennis Rodman to hip-hop, Lindon has sparked new conversations, transformed old ones (or simply established their irrelevance), always with grace and rigor.
Throughout his prodigious career, he has extended the reach of his work beyond the pages of books and articles, leaving his marks on the day-to-day unglamorous, but necessary work of defining curricula, nurturing students, and fighting for institutional change. That he has carried out much of this work during periods of retrenchment--both real and manufactured--is all the more exemplary.
Lindon, my dear, I can think of no one more thoroughly deserving than you of the tribute being paid to you today. I send you my love and my deepest respect for the example of your scholarship, for the example of your very being.
CONGRATULATIONS.
Debbie McDowell, University of Virginia
***
It's hard to imagine what race theory and African American literary study
would be like without Lindon's contributions. I find myself returning to
"Blackness and Value" at every corner and recommending it to students in so
many different intellectual contexts. Occasionally, we come across books
that so clarify and complicate our thinking that they elicit a sort of
book-envy, where we say to ourselves, "I wish I'd written that." I often
find myself saying this about Lindon's work. Whether he's theorizing hip hop
eulogy through Deleuze and Guattari, unpacking the moral imaginary of Dennis
Rodman's self-marketing, or rethinking American landlordship through an
eye-opening analysis of Petry's "The Street," Lindon has the talent for
keeping one finger on the pulse of popular culture and the other on the pulse
of high theory. Congratulations to him on his new position. I know his
colleagues at Irvine will miss him, but because he's not moving too far,
perhaps they can -- as I have done from across the continent -- still claim
him as a colleague.
Best wishes, Marlon Ross, University of Virginia
***
I wish that I could be here in person to join everyone in thanking Lindon for how
much he has contributed to the intellectual community at Irvine and for the support that
he gave me as a student in English and has given, since. Lindon was the only person on
my dissertation committee who was not my director, yet he was consistently willing to sit
down with me, talk on the telephone, and engage with my project. I always seemed to
come away from our discussions having reconceived of the very terms of my project.
Working with him taught me about how to keep coming back to a project with a renewed
critical perspective. And it gave me a sense of myself as a professional whose thoughts
and writing – somehow – mattered.
In a moment of the corporatization of the university, I admire Lindon for how he practices
our profession by holding onto his own humanity. He did this often precisely by
conducting himself as an intellectual, resisting becoming a cog in the heavy wheels of an
institution that, as many of us know, sometimes prefers cogs to people.
At the same time, I would be remiss if I were not to mention Lindon’s amazing gift of
infusing intellectual endeavors with a particular mixture of fun and humor, graveness,
and rigor. The level of responsiveness to the texture of literature, to material conditions,
to theory and its stakes, and to contemporary urgencies all showed me that professorship
needn’t look like this to be real.
Graduate courses with lindon changed my life: in my quest to understand American
literature and culture, I became disoriented, relinquishing loyalties I never recognized I’d
had to understand, explain, and teach about the work that literature does.
I wish I could be here in person to acknowledge the space that Lindon Barrett has held
open at Irvine for engagement with critical cultural studies and literature, and for
conversations about race, in its intersections with sexuality, gender and the economic, as
constitutive of modernity. Tribute, of course, comes from tribulum, for contribution –
wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect. I can only say how incredibly
indebted I am to lindon for the wealth of knowledge, as well as time and energy, that he
has devoted to me and others at this University.
Naomi Greyser, University of Iowa
***
Collected from Oh! Industry
7.15.2008
In Memoriam || Lindon Barrett
This morning we received tragic news about the passing of someone whose work, spirit and strength has inspired us for many years. Lindon Barrett, formerly the director of African American Studies at UC Irvine, and recently appointed Professor of English at UC Riverside, was found murdered in his residence this weekend in Long Beach, CA.
Daniel Tsang, host of the KUCI radio show Subversity, offers more details here, while music writer and UCI alum, Ned Raggett, offers a tribute here, along with links to further information from news oulets like the Orange County Register. Needless to say, we are all shocked and saddened by this news and offer our deepest condolences to his families (by choice as well as blood), and to the many who have been nurtured by his work and friendship.
There is much to say about the beautiful complexity of Lindon's work--about the prescience of his early essay on Ann Petry's The Street; about his brilliant book, Blackness and Value: Seeing Double (Cambridge, 1999), which continues to exert a tremendous influence, both theoretically and lyrically, on scholars of critical theory, aesthetics, musicality and race. In honor of him, and of a life and work so richly consumed by (in his own words) the "sly alterity of the singing voice, a voice assuming much more than mere 'traditional' speech," we offer this tribute in song: "Good Morning Heartache" by Billie Holiday
4 COMMENTS:
Lisa Ness said...
It was my great pleasure and luck to have worked with Lindon. He was a radiant soul and I'll miss his fierce intelligence and kindness.
TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008 2:46:00 PM PDT
sharon oster said...
I was lucky enough to take a graduate seminar from Lindon at UCLA many years ago when he visited there - "Blackness and the Mind/body Split." He challenged me, inspired me, and supported my work, not only offering me the chance for my first publication in a book he was editing, but by engaging so deeply with my ideas. I was blown away as a grad student to be mentored, and taken so seriously, by a visiting professor. When I was later his colleague, briefly, at UCI, he welcomed me with warmth and kindness.
Lindon's work has shaped the way I think. He introduced me to Elaine Scarry and to body criticism early in my career, and his essay on legibility and William and Ellen Craft has been a constant reference point when I read and teach slave narrative.
So smart, Lindon, and so kind - but mostly I'll remember his generous intellectual spirit.
TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008 4:16:00 PM PDT
Farid Matuk said...
Lindon showed me how to feel free, that we can choose at any moment to do something extraordinary. He could transform an interaction - sometimes just by the way he listened, sometimes with something he said. Of course his scholarship was brilliant and fierce, but he also brought that intensity and soul to human interactions and that was what impressed me so. He was the first person I met who was insistent about what we brought to each other as human beings. He was a soul worker. First, by reminding you you had one, then by actually speaking to it or dancing to it or creating a space for it to be. I will remember many intimate moments, but most of all, to honor him, I will try to remember the ever present possibility.
TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008 7:09:00 PM PDT
Professor Mireille Miller-Young said...
Lindon was immensely generous to me, and extremely supportive of my work. He gave me one of the best introductions I ever had when I spoke at Irvine in 2005. He was brilliant and a great mentor. I am saddened by this loss. Thanks for playing Billie for him!
In Memoriam || Lindon Barrett
This morning we received tragic news about the passing of someone whose work, spirit and strength has inspired us for many years. Lindon Barrett, formerly the director of African American Studies at UC Irvine, and recently appointed Professor of English at UC Riverside, was found murdered in his residence this weekend in Long Beach, CA.
Daniel Tsang, host of the KUCI radio show Subversity, offers more details here, while music writer and UCI alum, Ned Raggett, offers a tribute here, along with links to further information from news oulets like the Orange County Register. Needless to say, we are all shocked and saddened by this news and offer our deepest condolences to his families (by choice as well as blood), and to the many who have been nurtured by his work and friendship.
There is much to say about the beautiful complexity of Lindon's work--about the prescience of his early essay on Ann Petry's The Street; about his brilliant book, Blackness and Value: Seeing Double (Cambridge, 1999), which continues to exert a tremendous influence, both theoretically and lyrically, on scholars of critical theory, aesthetics, musicality and race. In honor of him, and of a life and work so richly consumed by (in his own words) the "sly alterity of the singing voice, a voice assuming much more than mere 'traditional' speech," we offer this tribute in song: "Good Morning Heartache" by Billie Holiday
4 COMMENTS:
Lisa Ness said...
It was my great pleasure and luck to have worked with Lindon. He was a radiant soul and I'll miss his fierce intelligence and kindness.
TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008 2:46:00 PM PDT
sharon oster said...
I was lucky enough to take a graduate seminar from Lindon at UCLA many years ago when he visited there - "Blackness and the Mind/body Split." He challenged me, inspired me, and supported my work, not only offering me the chance for my first publication in a book he was editing, but by engaging so deeply with my ideas. I was blown away as a grad student to be mentored, and taken so seriously, by a visiting professor. When I was later his colleague, briefly, at UCI, he welcomed me with warmth and kindness.
Lindon's work has shaped the way I think. He introduced me to Elaine Scarry and to body criticism early in my career, and his essay on legibility and William and Ellen Craft has been a constant reference point when I read and teach slave narrative.
So smart, Lindon, and so kind - but mostly I'll remember his generous intellectual spirit.
TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008 4:16:00 PM PDT
Farid Matuk said...
Lindon showed me how to feel free, that we can choose at any moment to do something extraordinary. He could transform an interaction - sometimes just by the way he listened, sometimes with something he said. Of course his scholarship was brilliant and fierce, but he also brought that intensity and soul to human interactions and that was what impressed me so. He was the first person I met who was insistent about what we brought to each other as human beings. He was a soul worker. First, by reminding you you had one, then by actually speaking to it or dancing to it or creating a space for it to be. I will remember many intimate moments, but most of all, to honor him, I will try to remember the ever present possibility.
TUESDAY, JULY 15, 2008 7:09:00 PM PDT
Professor Mireille Miller-Young said...
Lindon was immensely generous to me, and extremely supportive of my work. He gave me one of the best introductions I ever had when I spoke at Irvine in 2005. He was brilliant and a great mentor. I am saddened by this loss. Thanks for playing Billie for him!
Online and Other Tributes
Ned Ragget wrote on his blog:
It’s with great sadness I pass on news of the passing of Lindon Barrett, who taught in the UCI English and Comp Lit department during my years as a grad student there in the early to mid 1990s. [REVISED NEWS EDIT: Dan Tsang here at UCI passed on the initial news via a post on his Subversity radio show site, as well as an e-mail note he sent out to a number of people Monday night, including KUCI staff members and alumni, which is how I heard of the tragedy. The OC Register's College Life blog had one of the first formal reports on Tuesday morning, including comments from Dan and Prof. Barrett's fellow academics James Tobias, George Haggerty and Jennifer Doyle. On Wednesday afternoon, the College Life blog posted this further update indicating a formal report on Prof. Barrett's passing may not be due for some time due to the necessity of a toxicology screen. The chair of UCR's English Department, Katherine Kinney, issued this statement on Tuesday; at UCI, the Dean of Humanities, Vicki Ruiz, also issued a statement. Further news reports have also now appeared as of Wednesday morning at the LA Times and the Long Beach Press-Telegram.] Prof. Barrett had most recently been working at UC Riverside, where his official page lists his numerous publications; a complementary page via the English department is here. His old UC Irvine page may be found here, and Google Books offers up pages of his book Blackness and Value.
Prof. Barrett’s areas of interest did not dovetail directly with my area of research while in the English department and so I did not take any courses with him, and at most we only ever exchanged a few brief words at the time. But as you can see from his photos on the pages he was impossible to miss when over at the department, a striking looking man who always carried himself with a strong sense of grace and power in equal measure. The fact that he was an associate editor for the academic journal Callaloo for three years, from 1997 to 2000, gives a sense of how he was regarded both in the fields of literary criticism and African American Studies; he was director of the latter program at UCI from 2004 to 2007, and there will be many people on the campus who will be grieving.
Over the years a number of people who I knew and/or worked with during grad school have passed on, including two of my advisors, Al Wlecke and Homer Brown, gracious and intelligent gentlemen both. Prof. Barrett’s death now adds to that sad total.
My condolences to his friends and family and all those who were his students and close colleagues. If there is any further information regarding a memorial or something similar, I would be happy to post a link to it for reference.
Amy Kim Says:
July 15, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I was mentored by Lindon as an undergraduate student at UCI and was deeply inspired by him. This man was extremely brilliant and cared about his students. I will miss him. I send my condolences to his family.
Hortense Spillers Says:
July 15, 2008 at 2:12 pm
The worse news I’ve heard all year came to me this morning about Lindon Barrett from a colleague. What happened to him is unspeakable, and I won’t get over it soon. But I wrote a tribute to him some years ago in an essay of mine that appears in my collection of essays, and it says something to the effect that as a member of an older academic generation, I was hoping to leave a “cleaner space” for all the “arriving company,” or the next generation of African-American scholars, to work in. And so, I said, “I cleaned my house,” to echo William Faulkner. To my mind, Lindon exemplified the younger cohort, and he is directly named in the piece. Today, I am happy to have memorialized him, though his death is coming far too soon.
Tina Feldmann Says:
July 15, 2008 at 3:49 pm
My prayers go out to Lindon’s family. Lindon was such a bright light to UC Riverside. As a staff member, I can say that he was always kind, friendly, and respectful to all the staff. And the smile that you see in his pictures is the way he looked all the time…every day. He was warm and friendly and courteous. It was a pleasure to work for him. He will be greatly missed.
Ann Barrett Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:06 pm
On behalf of the family, I will say thank-you for the kind words “Thank You”.
In accordance with Lindon’s wishes, he will be cremated and his ashes scattered into the ocean. His memorial service will be held in his hometown of Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada; Date to be determined.
Ned Raggett Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Thank you Ann — I will update this entry with this information. Please feel free to pass on anything else.
Sharon Oster Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I posted a longer comment to Oh! Industry, but here I just want to send my love and prayers to his family. He touched my life and he will be missed.
Jamie Park Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I would not be here today if it weren’t for Dr. Barrett. He believed in me, and chose to express that in the time he generously offered me, in the way he engaged with my work and tirelessly encouraged my feeble efforts towards becoming a scholar. His humility and gentleness always blew me away, and is something that continues to serve as a model for me. I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am to have met and been influenced by him. I am honored and so proud to have been (and to still be) his student, and to call him a mentor and I know that every single aspect of my career will be a living legacy and tribute to his life and work. To the Barrett family: Thank you for bringing Lindon into this world, and for blessing all of us with such a beautiful, brilliant and incredibly generous human being. My prayers and thoughts are with you all at this time. I am just one of many who have been forever shaped and changed radically by Lindon’s life and example.
Marcelle Says:
July 15, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I send my love to his family and the family he created at UCI. I would never have had the courage to become an academic if it weren’t for Lindon. He changed my life and I will miss him so much.
Mike Says:
July 15, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I met Lindon at a time when I was just beginning to realize what I wanted to do with my life. He helped guide me through the process of applying to graduate school and served as an informal adviser as I was working on my dissertation. But what I’ll miss the most is his friendship that grew out of our professional relationship. I’ll miss the little things the most–the way he used to freak my cats out by doing things like blowing cigarette smoke in their faces and the time that he got lost trying to navigate my apartment complex when he was drunk. Those are the things I’ll miss the most, the things which made him more than just a professor to me.
James Krasner Says:
July 15, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Lindon and I were graduate students together at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a sweet, good-hearted person, who drove my dog to the vet and took me shopping at big suburban grocery stores for fun. And he always ran out of gas, but it was fun hitchhiking with him. He was always joyful, self-conscious and funny, and a wonderful friend. And yes, of course, he was brilliant and intellectually daring as well. I will miss his warm heart and his smile.
Vivian Folkenflik Says:
July 15, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I taught with Lindon for three years some time ago in the UCI Humanities Core Course. A thousand students a year– that’s three thousand. Harlem Renaissance, Tarzan, Larsen. It’s thanks to him that I re-accessed a lot of music that mattered to me in my childhood and matters to me now. I also remember the lovely evening Bob and I shared here with his parents, who were visiting, one friend of his parents’, two friends of ours. May others too be able to think about the good things they remember sharing with Lindon.
Vanessa Osborne Says:
July 15, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I’ll miss Lindon Barrett’s sharp intellect and soft spoken timbre. I’ll miss seeing the smile break out on his face when someone in seminar said something surprisingly smart. I’ll miss his brilliant scholarship that always challenged and fascinated me. American Studies has suffered a massive loss, a brilliant scholar and a wonderful person has been torn from us. He will be missed.
Michele Says:
July 15, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I took Lindon’s seminar in 2002 during my first quarter of grad school at UCI and his ongoing encouragement and support of my work helped to sustain me throughout a difficult first year. While in recent years I’ve lost touch with Lindon, my memory of him is vivid. I’m now nearing the end of my grad school experience and I’m so thankful he was there at the beginning.
Tara Says:
July 16, 2008 at 12:35 am
If ever there was an angel on earth it would have been Professor Barrett. Just looking at him you could tell… he had more life in him than most would ever hope to know. He was so beautiful and different. He seemed higher, but was so down-to-earth.
My heart is broken. Now that I am starting graduate school, I only find solace in the fact that I got to tell him just how absolutely important he was to my intellectual growth. He completely opened my eyes, and I hope that I will do him proud.
Lillian Manzor Says:
July 16, 2008 at 4:51 am
I am still in shock. Lindon and I were colleagues at UCI when English and Comparative Literature were one department. For many years, we were the only two professors of color in the bastion of deconstruction and critical theory. We went through many instances of overt and covert racism: from a senior colleague suggesting to him “to go back to the ghetto” to sly remarks about my linguistic infelicites. Lindon was able to navigate these difficult moments with elegance and wit. We would read these experiences critically, and in discussion with colleagues he was always able to transform them into a learning experience–theory in the flesh that left no apparent bitterness. Always funny and full of a joie-de-vivre, he never lost sight of what was important to him and why he was there: the undergraduate and graduate students to whom he served as devoted professor and mentor. May all of us who knew him honor him and his family by never losing sight of what he taught us through his writings and his actions.
Vicki Says:
July 16, 2008 at 10:16 am
I, too, remain in shock. I had the honor of studying with Lindon as an undergrad at UCI. Lindon was a generous scholar, a kind soul, and inspiring to his students. He will truly be missed.
Kendra Hamilton Says:
July 16, 2008 at 10:22 am
I met Lindon through Callaloo. What a beautiful spirit, a profound intellect–what a terrible loss!!!
tessa winkelmann Says:
July 16, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Professor Barrett was one of my favorite professors at UCI. All of my english major compatriots would probably agree that he was brilliant, funny and comanding. After my first class with him, i tried to take as many of his classes that i could fit into my schedule. His word helped spur my desire to pursue academia for social change. I will miss him so much.
Janet Says:
July 16, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Lindon’s friends have set up a memorial of flowers outside of his building in downtown Long Beach as a tribute to him. If you would like to contribute flowers, his apartment building is at the corner of 5th and Pine. It is in keeping with Lindon’s life to leave spontaneous evidence of the beautiful collective spirit that was always at the center of his heart and mind.
Bob Myers Says:
July 16, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Lindon and I met over ten years ago, and his smile never changed. Sometimes that’s what we offer when we offer our best: encouragement, compassion, celebration and the knowledge that this too shall pass. This is what has always carried us through…Be strong for Lindon, and let his requiem be your smile.
Valerie T Says:
July 16, 2008 at 4:24 pm
May God Bless and comfort his family. May his students and colleagues continue his legacy!!!
William McGee Says:
July 16, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I took one of Prof. Barrett’s African American lit courses this past spring. His skills as a professor were only matched by the beauty of his soul. His energy will be missed, but I am grateful for the period of time in which I was able to spend with Professor Barrett.
Molly Lindsay Says:
July 16, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I am devastated. Words cannot express my grief. Jamie Park, whose entry is above, expresses my thoughts better than I could at this time - I feel exactly as he does. Lindon was not only a professor of mine, but also a friend. We spent time together, laughing often and always engaged in some kind of fun. He spoke of his family, people I wish I could meet, in times of quiet reflection. My heart goes out to you. I’m so angry at myself for not calling him lately - I’ll never have the chance to speak with him again. I hope that those of us who cared so deeply for him can put together a local memorial service. Please post here if one happens to occur.
Alexandria Gurley Says:
July 17, 2008 at 11:58 am
I must say that I did not have the pleasure of speaking to Prof. Barrett as often as I should have, and so getting to know him more personally was not a specific luxury of mine. But I was blessed to take one of his courses in the Spring of 2007 at UCI. Those 10 short weeks I spent in his classroom was certainly an enlightening experience. He was truly one of the few professors in the Af Am department that made me even more glad I chose it as my major. I must say that not one day passed that he did not have a smile on his face. I pray God bless and keep his family in this time of grief and may God also bless his soul. R.I.P.
Laura Lozon Says:
July 17, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I only had the pleasure of knowing Lindon for a short time but he was just the nicest person and I will really miss him. He always had that beautiful infectious smile on his face! He will be missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
Anna Says:
July 17, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I am so, so shocked to hear the sad news. While I did not know Lindon personally, I had seen him give a speech in a conference and have heard good things about his classes. My condolences to his family at this sad time.
Dwight A. McBride Says:
July 17, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I met Lindon when he was a young assistant professor at UCI and I was a graduate student at UCLA. He was at times colleague, mentor, and friend. Lindon was one of the first two people to model for me how to be black and gay in the academy in a way that is uncompromising. He was among the most brilliant minds of our generation in our field of black literary and cultural studies. But he never wore that mantle in any way except to be generous with his gifts and of service to others.
He was a colleague who did the work of reading the work of younger scholars. He did the work of serving as associate editor of CALLALOO. He did the work of organizing symposia and opportunities to bring scholars together for conversation. He did the work of administration when he stepped up to direct African American Studies at UCI. He was always modeling for us all how to be of service in this profession.
And he believed passionately in the power of scholarship to change people. That’s why he wrote with such fervor. Lindon was a prolific author of articles and essays; author of a brilliant book; and was at work on a new book that was likely to be among the most powerful statements on slavery for our time.
And he believed powerfully in taking in the beauty in life and in making sure we did not forsake the pleasures of life. Few people could have convinced me–as Lindon once did–that our dancing until all hours in a nightclub in Los Angeles constituted an act of radical resistance. His passion was a huge part of his charm and appeal.
I will miss his deep humanity, his courage, his love, and most of all his incredible light, which gave so many others permission to shine as well.
Piya Chatterjee Says:
July 17, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I never met Lindon but had heard that he was at UCR–and what a coup it was that UCR’s English Department “get” him. I wish, now, that I had looked him–shared a cup of tea. Folks who knew him spoke of his gentleness and his amazing smile— as much as his brilliance as a scholar and teacher : as a friend said of him, he was a true “soul worker.” What an extraordinary loss for all of us–at UCI, UCR, and beyond.
So, all the way from eastern India, I would like to send my deepest condolences and prayers to his family at this time of sorrow. I pray his Spirit flies in peace.
Piya Chatterjee, faculty member, WMST
From Facebook group by Lindon's cousin Kizzy:
I am Lindon's cousin and on behalf of the family we send our heartfelt thanks to his friends and students in Los Angeles, and elsewhere. We are also very grateful for the love and support of friends who have called and visited during this difficult time.
He was a man of independent thought and was fearless in his views. He told you what he thought, made you think, but also made you laugh. He loved his family and friends and would turn up for a visit surprising them and making the most of every moment.
Lindon loved to spend time looking out over the Pacific Ocean and in accordance with his wishes, he will be cremated and returned to the sea. A memorial service will be held in Winnipeg at a later date.
A bright light has gone out, but he will be remembered forever.
Flowers are gratefully declined. Because of Lindon’s love of reading, if so desired a donation to the Winnipeg Public Library or a charity encouraging literacy would be most appreciated.
---
Lindon's student writes:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone move so quickly, both psychically and physically, as Lindon Barrett sometimes did. He would be in one place, and then he would be in another literally in the blink of an eye. I swear I once saw him walk through a wall. (Okay, the wall had a door in it, but he went through it so quickly that it didn’t seem to open or close.) He was intensely alert and engaged and brought all kinds of knowledge to bear on any discussion. He had his own vision and spoke and acted on it with great courage, generosity, sensitivity, and joy. He worked and nurtured and helped create an incredible African American Studies department in the heart of Orange County. By standing up for himself and others, he insisted on the value of difference and the necessity for change. His most amazing face often had the most amazing things happening on it. He had a great capacity to move and to be moved. He was someone who crossed boundaries, made connections, expanded possibilities, and changed things. Why did he leave UCI? Why is he dead? Why was he not found for days? As I mourn his death and celebrate his life, these questions and others point at least in part to structural problems that now demand my attention more urgently than ever.
---
I met Lindon during my junior year at UCI in 2002 in my literary criticism/theory course and was immediately struck by his brilliance, passion, and candor in class. I took 3 or 4 of his courses and asked him to be my thesis advisor and mentor during my senior year. I met with Lindon weekly to discuss different texts from the Harlem Renaissance and count it as a great privilege and honor to have studied under him. I remember always calling him "doctor" or "Professor Barrett," to which he would always respond, "Please, call me Lindon." He was so far from pretentious and intimidating, and was always kind, generous, and gracious towards me. He encouraged my scholarship and taught me so much. Lindon singularly changed my undergraduate experience and I will miss him very much. News of his death was horrifying and came as a shock to me and has brought much sadness. I know Lindon touched and inspired so many, and I think tributes like this where we can remember and share stories about him can help bring a little bit of solace in light of the terrible circumstances.
Amy Kim, English, UCI, Class of 2004
---
Tara Bui
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
If ever there was an angel on earth it would have been Professor Barrett. Just looking at him you could tell… he had more life in him than most would ever hope to know. He was so beautiful and different. He seemed higher, but was so down-to-earth.
My heart is broken. Now that I am starting graduate school, I only find solace in the fact that I got to tell him just how absolutely important he was to my intellectual growth. He completely opened my eyes, and I hope that I will do him proud.
---
Jerome Christensen
Chair, Department of English, UC Irvine
By now the shocking news of Lindon Barrett’s violent death has spread throughout the community, and its sad finality has darkened the hearts of everyone. Lindon was a pioneer at UCI where he was an activist scholar whose groundbreaking work, penetrating intelligence, passionate commitment, and charismatic presence educated minds and changed lives. But it is not just UCI that will miss Lindon. His scholarship and his vitality made him a compelling figure on the national scene. He has been a beacon to many within the UC system. And he had already established himself as a vital member of the faculty at UC Riverside. Lindon is irreplaceable, but we are fortunate that the light that he spread during his life will in memory dispell the darkness into which we have all been cast by his death.
___
Marcelle Cohen
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I send my love to his family and the family he created at UCI. I would never have had the courage to become an academic if it weren’t for Lindon. He changed my life and I will miss him so much.
---
Michele Currie
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I took Lindon’s seminar in 2002 during my first quarter of grad school at UCI and his ongoing encouragement and support of my work helped to sustain me throughout a difficult first year. While in recent years I’ve lost touch with Lindon, my memory of him is vivid. I’m now nearing the end of my grad school experience and I’m so thankful he was there at the beginning.
---
Emory Elliott
University Professor, UC Riverside
I have known Lindon and enjoyed his friendship for eighteen years. I had the chance to read much of his superb scholarship when I was asked to write a report for his promotion and tenure in 1996. I was most impressed with the striking originality of his thinking and his analytical powers. He soon became recognized in the United States and abroad as a leader in his fields of American Studies, African American literature and culture, and literary theory. After many years at UC Irvine, UCR was able to persuade him to move to our English Department where he was warmly welcomed as a bright star on the campus. As a teacher and colleague, he was greatly admired and liked. His passing is an enormous loss to our department and the campus. I will miss not only his powerful, brilliant work but will also miss his warmth, wit, and cheerful presence among us.
---
Tina Feldmann
Academic staff, UC Riverside
My prayers go out to Lindon’s family. Lindon was such a bright light to UC Riverside. As a staff member, I can say that he was always kind, friendly, and respectful to all the staff. And the smile that you see in his pictures is the way he looked all the time…every day. He was warm and friendly and courteous. It was a pleasure to work for him. He will be greatly missed.
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Vivian Folkenflik
Lecturer, Humanities CORE, UC Irvine
I taught with Lindon for three years some time ago in the UCI Humanities Core Course. A thousand students a year– that’s three thousand. Harlem Renaissance, Tarzan, Larsen. It’s thanks to him that I re-accessed a lot of music that mattered to me in my childhood and matters to me now. I also remember the lovely evening Bob and I shared here with his parents, who were visiting, one friend of his parents’, two friends of ours. May others too be able to think about the good things they remember sharing with Lindon.
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Alexandria Gurley
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I must say that I did not have the pleasure of speaking to Prof. Barrett as often as I should have, and so getting to know him more personally was not a specific luxury of mine. But I was blessed to take one of his courses in the Spring of 2007 at UCI. Those 10 short weeks I spent in his classroom was certainly an enlightening experience. He was truly one of the few professors in the Af Am department that made me even more glad I chose it as my major. I must say that not one day passed that he did not have a smile on his face. I pray God bless and keep his family in this time of grief and may God also bless his soul. R.I.P.
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Kendra Hamilton
Poet
I met Lindon through Callaloo. What a beautiful spirit, a profound intellect–what a terrible loss!!!
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Nicole King
Professor of English, University of London
I first met Lindon in 1988 when he welcomed me into a cohort of wonderful graduate student scholars at the University of Pennsylvania. He was probably already writing his dissertation by then and was a tantalising example of how to be brilliant and cool and funky. I remember some fabulous house parties where Lindon was in attendance and dancing with him to jams like ‘It Takes Two’ by Rob Base; ‘Da Butt’ by EU (from Spike Lee’s School Daze); and ‘Back to Life’ by Soul II Soul, . Love you Lindon and thank you.
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James Krasner
Associate Professor of English, University of New Hampshire
Lindon and I were graduate students together at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a sweet, good-hearted person, who drove my dog to the vet and took me shopping at big suburban grocery stores for fun. And he always ran out of gas, but it was fun hitchhiking with him. He was always joyful, self-conscious and funny, and a wonderful friend. And yes, of course, he was brilliant and intellectually daring as well. I will miss his warm heart and his smile.
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James Lee
Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and English, UC Santa Barbara
I was a 2nd year undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania when I met Lindon. On the top floor of Bennett Hall, there was a room of “writing tutors,” with a list of graduate students and their respective areas of expertise. Next to Lindon’s name was “critical theory.” So one day, I walked in, plopped myself down in front of him, and asked him, “So what is deconstruction?” Lindon took a breath, smiled, and proceeded to jot down some books for me to read. I can’t remember the entire list now, though for some reason Foucault’s language, counter-memory, practice comes to mind. I checked out a couple of these books and proceeded to understand not a word. I went back, and asked Lindon, “What the hell is this?”
Later that year, we’d joke about that initial encounter. Lindon had just secured the job at UC Irvine: he printed out the final version of his dissertation, which again I proceeded not to understand at all, while I was finishing up a class on, wait for it, deconstruction.
Five years later, we met again in a graduate seminar at UCLA. Lindon was still Lindon, with slightly longer hair than what I’d remembered. I wrote a paper for him, an early version of what would become a central chapter in my book. I can’t remember the exact wording of his comments when he handed back the seminar paper, but I do remember the feeling: here was a teacher who read my work, took it seriously, and unequivocally voiced his delight. This time, I understood a bit better what he was saying, and what he was writing, but what remained the same always was Lindon’s willing to push, to push with the promise that as I struggled into the unknown he’d be there with me.
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Molly Lindsay
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I am devastated. Words cannot express my grief. Jamie Park, whose entry is above, expresses my thoughts better than I could at this time - I feel exactly as he does. Lindon was not only a professor of mine, but also a friend. We spent time together, laughing often and always engaged in some kind of fun. He spoke of his family, people I wish I could meet, in times of quiet reflection. My heart goes out to you.
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David Lloyd
Professor of English, University of Southern California
I don’t know how to compose something adequate for Lindon by the 21st, but I know that he was the sweetest, sharpest of men, a beautiful intellect--and I mean beautiful in the fullest sense, penetrating and elegant at once. His essay on The Purloined Letter is one of the finest, most awakening things I have read and his books have been shaping new ground. More than that, I admired his consistent refusal, ornery and witty at once, to be subsumed, to go along, “mitmachen” as the Germans say. I do not know how he died, but I know that he was a survivor.
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Steven Mailloux
Chancellors Professor of Rhetoric, UC Irvine
Lindon and I were friends for seventeen years, both of us having arrived at UC Irvine in 1991. At different times we were colleagues in English and Comparative Literature, African American Studies, and most recently the Critical Theory Institute. Early on I came to have the greatest respect for Lindon’s intellectual passion and commitment. One could see this passionate commitment in the way he put his academic career at risk as he took controversial stands on positions he believed in. When he was an untenured assistant professor, he argued rigorously for African American Studies as first and foremost an intellectual enterprise, even if that intellectual enterprise was also at the same time an important political project. His passion and commitment could be seen again when, after tenure, he painstakingly transformed himself as a scholar, moving from being primarily a focused literary close-reader to a much more broadly-based interdisciplinary cultural critic interpreting the philosophical history and global geopolitics of slavery. I was inspired by his intellectual self-transformation even as I struggled to keep up with the evolution of his thinking. But now, this brilliant intellectual refashioning has ended abruptly, prematurely, tragically.
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Lillian Manzor
Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, University of Miami
I am still in shock. Lindon and I were colleagues at UCI when English and Comparative Literature were one department. For many years, we were the only two professors of color in the bastion of deconstruction and critical theory. We went through many instances of overt and covert racism: from a senior colleague suggesting to him “to go back to the ghetto” to sly remarks about my linguistic infelicites. Lindon was able to navigate these difficult moments with elegance and wit. We would read these experiences critically, and in discussion with colleagues he was always able to transform them into a learning experience–theory in the flesh that left no apparent bitterness. Always funny and full of a joie-de-vivre, he never lost sight of what was important to him and why he was there: the undergraduate and graduate students to whom he served as devoted professor and mentor. May all of us who knew him honor him and his family by never losing sight of what he taught us through his writings and his actions.
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Farid Matuk
Poet
Lindon showed me how to feel free, that we can choose at any moment to do something extraordinary. He could transform an interaction - sometimes just by the way he listened, sometimes with something he said. Of course his scholarship was brilliant and fierce, but he also brought that intensity and soul to human interactions and that was what impressed me so. He was the first person I met who was insistent about what we brought to each other as human beings. He was a soul worker. First, by reminding you you had one, then by actually speaking to it or dancing to it or creating a space for it to be. I will remember many intimate moments, but most of all, to honor him, I will try to remember the ever present possibility.
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William McGee
Undergraduate student at UC Riverside
I took one of Prof. Barrett’s African American lit courses this past spring. His skills as a professor were only matched by the beauty of his soul. His energy will be missed, but I am grateful for the period of time in which I was able to spend with Professor Barrett.
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Mireille Miller-Young
Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, UC Santa Barbara
Lindon was immensely generous to me, and extremely supportive of my work. He gave me one of the best introductions I ever had when I spoke at Irvine in 2005. He was brilliant and a great mentor. I am saddened by this loss. Thanks for playing Billie for him!
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Fred Moten
Professor of English, Duke University
One night, about 4:00 am, after a lot of wine and scotch and a few draws on Lindon’s pipe, one of us, I don’t remember which, said that “Come See About Me” was surely the Supremes’ greatest song and one of the great works of art of the 20th Century, and the other just nodding as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
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Bob Myers
Lindon and I met over ten years ago, and his smile never changed. Sometimes that’s what we offer when we offer our best: encouragement, compassion, celebration and the knowledge that this too shall pass. This is what has always carried us through…Be strong for Lindon, and let his requiem be your smile.
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Vanessa Osborne
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I’ll miss Lindon Barrett’s sharp intellect and soft spoken timbre. I’ll miss seeing the smile break out on his face when someone in seminar said something surprisingly smart. I’ll miss his brilliant scholarship that always challenged and fascinated me. American Studies has suffered a massive loss, a brilliant scholar and a wonderful person has been torn from us. He will be missed.
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Sharon Oster
English Ph.D., UCLA
I was lucky enough to take a graduate seminar from Lindon at UCLA many years ago when he visited there - “Blackness and the Mind/body Split.” He challenged me, inspired me, and supported my work, not only offering me the chance for my first publication in a book he was editing, but by engaging so deeply with my ideas. I was blown away as a grad student to be mentored, and taken so seriously, by a visiting professor. When I was later his colleague, briefly, at UCI, he welcomed me with warmth and kindness.
Lindon’s work has shaped the way I think. He introduced me to Elaine Scarry and to body criticism early in my career, and his essay on legibility and William and Ellen Craft has been a constant reference point when I read and teach slave narrative.
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Jamie Park
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine and graduate student at UC Riverside
I would not be here today if it weren’t for Dr. Barrett. He believed in me, and chose to express that in the time he generously offered me, in the way he engaged with my work and tirelessly encouraged my feeble efforts towards becoming a scholar. His humility and gentleness always blew me away, and is something that continues to serve as a model for me. I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am to have met and been influenced by him. I am honored and so proud to have been (and to still be) his student, and to call him a mentor and I know that every single aspect of my career will be a living legacy and tribute to his life and work. To the Barrett family: Thank you for bringing Lindon into this world, and for blessing all of us with such a beautiful, brilliant and incredibly generous human being. My prayers and thoughts are with you all at this time. I am just one of many who have been forever shaped and changed radically by Lindon’s life and example.
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Melissa Sanchez
Assistant Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania
Though I ended up working on topics far removed from Lindon's own interests, I still think of his class as one that influenced me most. It was on autobiography and slave narratives, and it was, literally, the first class that I'd ever had that used gender/queer theory, critical race theory, and cultural studies. Lindon was the first professor I had who taught me that literature is deeply implicated in politics, culture, and power, and the first professor who made me feel like studying literary works was not only pleasurable, but also could be part of critical discussions on identity, authority, law, and ideology. Lindon will be sorely missed – not only by those of us who've known and admired him, but by decades of future students who, sadly, won't even know what they're missing.
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Vicki
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
Lindon was a generous scholar, a kind soul, and inspiring to his students. He will truly be missed.
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Susan Zieger
Associate Professor of English, UC Riverside
In the short time that I was Lindon’s colleague, I saw enough of his generous spirit and capacious intellect to sense how great a loss his passing really is. There is a hole in my future where a vibrant interlocutor and friend might have been.
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Cathryn Atkinson
Childhood friend from Winnipeg
I knew Lindon when we were both children in Winnipeg, Canada. Our parents were friends. He was a great kid then, too. I haven't seen him for many years, but I had heard he had done brilliantly well in his work and these comments attest to that. I am completely heartsick thinking about what his parents and the rest of his terrific family are going through right now and my thoughts are with them.
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Fernando Chirino
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
As an undergrad, I took every class Professor Barrett offered in English. As a graduate student in sociology, I owe him for keeping me focused on struggling past the political hurdles meant to both police the common thoughts of students and exclude students who reject society's exploitative values. When I was arrested at a protest in which there was an unprovoked and violently repressive police riot in Garden Grove, he talked me through the rage and loathing. I am saddened and infuriated by the news of his death. Professor Barrett, our loss is great, but the struggle will continue.
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Noah Cho
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
At UCI, I had three professors that made me want to become a teacher: James Chiampi, Chris Diffee, and Lindon Barrett. Dr. Barrett influenced me not only through the thoughtful lectures and discussions on topics from deconstruction and the Harlem Renaissance, but in a global sense, from politics to the place of minorities in modern academia.
I will treasure the three classes I took with Dr. Barrett forever. Every time I teach a short story from The Ways of White Folks to one of my students, I'll remember the days I studied that book with him, talking to him before class with friends, and watching as he silently rolled his cigarettes, nodded, and then proceeded to amaze us with an analytical angle that our feeble 20 year old minds would never grasp. You were one in a million, Dr. Barrett.
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Gabrielle Daniels
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I was shocked to hear about Lindon's death through an emeritus professor and in particular, how it may have happened. I took a graduate seminar with him in the late Nineties. He was a brilliant, fine, and funny individual, who felt at home being an intellectual, and being himself. He was the kind of guy who would gift you with the latest CD playing in his car if you liked it. I loved his work and what he was accomplishing. I can't believe that he is gone.
Brynn Hutchinson
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I am completely shocked and utterly sick to my stomach. Professor Barrett was one of my favorite professors. His enthusiasm, knowledge, and passion for what he taught were infectious. I was fortunate enough to be a part of one of his classes as an undergraduate at UC Irvine, and as others have said, he was simply brilliant. He made the subject matter come alive, and for that I am eternally grateful. RIP, Professor Barrett. You will be greatly missed.
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Winston Paul Jeune
Though not as well as others, I came to know of Prof. Barrett through my family. Shock and sadness only describe the beginnings of my reaction upon learning of this tragedy. I wish the Barrett family all the strength and comfort that they will need during this difficult time (and beyond).
I hope that the light and inspiration of Professor Barrett will pervade through us all.
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Jay Lamothe
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I had a couple of classes with Lindon in either 99 or 2000 and years after graduating, I would stop by the Humanities Department just to look for Lindon for some good chatting.
Never failed to make you smile. He walked around campus with a sense of pride, humility and confidence. Can't recall the last time I was able to connect with a professor as easily as he connected with his students. Occasionally, you'd be sitting in class and he'd shock you with some off the wall expletives. Super random, but arguably one of the most memorable characters at UCI.
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Arthur L. Little
Associate Professor of English, UCLA
It’s difficult to picture Lindon’s face and not see his locks dangling across his smile. The loss of Lindon is one of those impossible losses, one of those moments of ineffability, of being overpowered and overwhelmed. I have spent the past few days trying to comprehend, to experience, the brilliance, vitality, and purposefulness that have been taken away from us. On more than a few occasions these nearly past two decades, when I’ve found myself laughing, filled with emotional and intellectual cheerfulness and defiance as a response to some of those things some of us find ourselves experiencing as black gay academics and people, I always knew Lindon–unapologetic and supportive–was somewhere hanging out in the neighborhood.
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Dwight McBride
Dean of Humanities, University of Illinois, Chicago
I met Lindon when he was a young assistant professor at UCI and I was a graduate student at UCLA. He was at times colleague, mentor, and friend. Lindon was one of the first two people to model for me how to be black and gay in the academy in a way that is uncompromising. He was among the most brilliant minds of our generation in our field of black literary and cultural studies. But he never wore that mantle in any way except to be generous with his gifts and of service to others.
He was a colleague who did the work of reading the work of younger scholars. He did the work of serving as associate editor of CALLALOO. He did the work of organizing symposia and opportunities to bring scholars together for conversation. He did the work of administration when he stepped up to direct African American Studies at UCI. He was always modeling for us all how to be of service in this profession.
And he believed passionately in the power of scholarship to change people. That’s why he wrote with such fervor. Lindon was a prolific author of articles and essays; author of a brilliant book; and was at work on a new book that was likely to be among the most powerful statements on slavery for our time.
And he believed powerfully in taking in the beauty in life and in making sure we did not forsake the pleasures of life. Few people could have convinced me–as Lindon once did–that our dancing until all hours in a nightclub in Los Angeles constituted an act of radical resistance. His passion was a huge part of his charm and appeal.
I will miss his deep humanity, his courage, his love, and most of all his incredible light, which gave so many others permission to shine as well.
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Kavita Philip
Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, UC Irvine
Lindon’s passing is unacceptably tragic. My deepest condolences to his family.
I wish things could have been otherwise; he loved life and had many great years ahead of him. He had labored lovingly over this second book, and those who heard him speak of it anticipated an important intellectual intervention. His brilliance and generosity will always be remembered by colleagues and students who had the privilege of sharing time and thoughts with him.
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Ynnad Selbor
Undergraduate student at UC Riverside
I had Dr. Barrett for African American Literature Slave Narratives and went to office hours quite frequently. I enjoyed talking to this gentle soul, and intelligent professor. Tonight, I am broken and at a complete and total loss. I grieve the untimely death of professor Barrett.
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Earth Shah
Undergraduate student at UC Riverside
I had Professor Barrett last quarter and he was one of the most amazing and inspirational professor I ever had...some of the stuff he said in class was priceless...never expected any professor to say that but he spoke the truth...he will be greatly missed.
It’s with great sadness I pass on news of the passing of Lindon Barrett, who taught in the UCI English and Comp Lit department during my years as a grad student there in the early to mid 1990s. [REVISED NEWS EDIT: Dan Tsang here at UCI passed on the initial news via a post on his Subversity radio show site, as well as an e-mail note he sent out to a number of people Monday night, including KUCI staff members and alumni, which is how I heard of the tragedy. The OC Register's College Life blog had one of the first formal reports on Tuesday morning, including comments from Dan and Prof. Barrett's fellow academics James Tobias, George Haggerty and Jennifer Doyle. On Wednesday afternoon, the College Life blog posted this further update indicating a formal report on Prof. Barrett's passing may not be due for some time due to the necessity of a toxicology screen. The chair of UCR's English Department, Katherine Kinney, issued this statement on Tuesday; at UCI, the Dean of Humanities, Vicki Ruiz, also issued a statement. Further news reports have also now appeared as of Wednesday morning at the LA Times and the Long Beach Press-Telegram.] Prof. Barrett had most recently been working at UC Riverside, where his official page lists his numerous publications; a complementary page via the English department is here. His old UC Irvine page may be found here, and Google Books offers up pages of his book Blackness and Value.
Prof. Barrett’s areas of interest did not dovetail directly with my area of research while in the English department and so I did not take any courses with him, and at most we only ever exchanged a few brief words at the time. But as you can see from his photos on the pages he was impossible to miss when over at the department, a striking looking man who always carried himself with a strong sense of grace and power in equal measure. The fact that he was an associate editor for the academic journal Callaloo for three years, from 1997 to 2000, gives a sense of how he was regarded both in the fields of literary criticism and African American Studies; he was director of the latter program at UCI from 2004 to 2007, and there will be many people on the campus who will be grieving.
Over the years a number of people who I knew and/or worked with during grad school have passed on, including two of my advisors, Al Wlecke and Homer Brown, gracious and intelligent gentlemen both. Prof. Barrett’s death now adds to that sad total.
My condolences to his friends and family and all those who were his students and close colleagues. If there is any further information regarding a memorial or something similar, I would be happy to post a link to it for reference.
Amy Kim Says:
July 15, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I was mentored by Lindon as an undergraduate student at UCI and was deeply inspired by him. This man was extremely brilliant and cared about his students. I will miss him. I send my condolences to his family.
Hortense Spillers Says:
July 15, 2008 at 2:12 pm
The worse news I’ve heard all year came to me this morning about Lindon Barrett from a colleague. What happened to him is unspeakable, and I won’t get over it soon. But I wrote a tribute to him some years ago in an essay of mine that appears in my collection of essays, and it says something to the effect that as a member of an older academic generation, I was hoping to leave a “cleaner space” for all the “arriving company,” or the next generation of African-American scholars, to work in. And so, I said, “I cleaned my house,” to echo William Faulkner. To my mind, Lindon exemplified the younger cohort, and he is directly named in the piece. Today, I am happy to have memorialized him, though his death is coming far too soon.
Tina Feldmann Says:
July 15, 2008 at 3:49 pm
My prayers go out to Lindon’s family. Lindon was such a bright light to UC Riverside. As a staff member, I can say that he was always kind, friendly, and respectful to all the staff. And the smile that you see in his pictures is the way he looked all the time…every day. He was warm and friendly and courteous. It was a pleasure to work for him. He will be greatly missed.
Ann Barrett Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:06 pm
On behalf of the family, I will say thank-you for the kind words “Thank You”.
In accordance with Lindon’s wishes, he will be cremated and his ashes scattered into the ocean. His memorial service will be held in his hometown of Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada; Date to be determined.
Ned Raggett Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Thank you Ann — I will update this entry with this information. Please feel free to pass on anything else.
Sharon Oster Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I posted a longer comment to Oh! Industry, but here I just want to send my love and prayers to his family. He touched my life and he will be missed.
Jamie Park Says:
July 15, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I would not be here today if it weren’t for Dr. Barrett. He believed in me, and chose to express that in the time he generously offered me, in the way he engaged with my work and tirelessly encouraged my feeble efforts towards becoming a scholar. His humility and gentleness always blew me away, and is something that continues to serve as a model for me. I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am to have met and been influenced by him. I am honored and so proud to have been (and to still be) his student, and to call him a mentor and I know that every single aspect of my career will be a living legacy and tribute to his life and work. To the Barrett family: Thank you for bringing Lindon into this world, and for blessing all of us with such a beautiful, brilliant and incredibly generous human being. My prayers and thoughts are with you all at this time. I am just one of many who have been forever shaped and changed radically by Lindon’s life and example.
Marcelle Says:
July 15, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I send my love to his family and the family he created at UCI. I would never have had the courage to become an academic if it weren’t for Lindon. He changed my life and I will miss him so much.
Mike Says:
July 15, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I met Lindon at a time when I was just beginning to realize what I wanted to do with my life. He helped guide me through the process of applying to graduate school and served as an informal adviser as I was working on my dissertation. But what I’ll miss the most is his friendship that grew out of our professional relationship. I’ll miss the little things the most–the way he used to freak my cats out by doing things like blowing cigarette smoke in their faces and the time that he got lost trying to navigate my apartment complex when he was drunk. Those are the things I’ll miss the most, the things which made him more than just a professor to me.
James Krasner Says:
July 15, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Lindon and I were graduate students together at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a sweet, good-hearted person, who drove my dog to the vet and took me shopping at big suburban grocery stores for fun. And he always ran out of gas, but it was fun hitchhiking with him. He was always joyful, self-conscious and funny, and a wonderful friend. And yes, of course, he was brilliant and intellectually daring as well. I will miss his warm heart and his smile.
Vivian Folkenflik Says:
July 15, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I taught with Lindon for three years some time ago in the UCI Humanities Core Course. A thousand students a year– that’s three thousand. Harlem Renaissance, Tarzan, Larsen. It’s thanks to him that I re-accessed a lot of music that mattered to me in my childhood and matters to me now. I also remember the lovely evening Bob and I shared here with his parents, who were visiting, one friend of his parents’, two friends of ours. May others too be able to think about the good things they remember sharing with Lindon.
Vanessa Osborne Says:
July 15, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I’ll miss Lindon Barrett’s sharp intellect and soft spoken timbre. I’ll miss seeing the smile break out on his face when someone in seminar said something surprisingly smart. I’ll miss his brilliant scholarship that always challenged and fascinated me. American Studies has suffered a massive loss, a brilliant scholar and a wonderful person has been torn from us. He will be missed.
Michele Says:
July 15, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I took Lindon’s seminar in 2002 during my first quarter of grad school at UCI and his ongoing encouragement and support of my work helped to sustain me throughout a difficult first year. While in recent years I’ve lost touch with Lindon, my memory of him is vivid. I’m now nearing the end of my grad school experience and I’m so thankful he was there at the beginning.
Tara Says:
July 16, 2008 at 12:35 am
If ever there was an angel on earth it would have been Professor Barrett. Just looking at him you could tell… he had more life in him than most would ever hope to know. He was so beautiful and different. He seemed higher, but was so down-to-earth.
My heart is broken. Now that I am starting graduate school, I only find solace in the fact that I got to tell him just how absolutely important he was to my intellectual growth. He completely opened my eyes, and I hope that I will do him proud.
Lillian Manzor Says:
July 16, 2008 at 4:51 am
I am still in shock. Lindon and I were colleagues at UCI when English and Comparative Literature were one department. For many years, we were the only two professors of color in the bastion of deconstruction and critical theory. We went through many instances of overt and covert racism: from a senior colleague suggesting to him “to go back to the ghetto” to sly remarks about my linguistic infelicites. Lindon was able to navigate these difficult moments with elegance and wit. We would read these experiences critically, and in discussion with colleagues he was always able to transform them into a learning experience–theory in the flesh that left no apparent bitterness. Always funny and full of a joie-de-vivre, he never lost sight of what was important to him and why he was there: the undergraduate and graduate students to whom he served as devoted professor and mentor. May all of us who knew him honor him and his family by never losing sight of what he taught us through his writings and his actions.
Vicki Says:
July 16, 2008 at 10:16 am
I, too, remain in shock. I had the honor of studying with Lindon as an undergrad at UCI. Lindon was a generous scholar, a kind soul, and inspiring to his students. He will truly be missed.
Kendra Hamilton Says:
July 16, 2008 at 10:22 am
I met Lindon through Callaloo. What a beautiful spirit, a profound intellect–what a terrible loss!!!
tessa winkelmann Says:
July 16, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Professor Barrett was one of my favorite professors at UCI. All of my english major compatriots would probably agree that he was brilliant, funny and comanding. After my first class with him, i tried to take as many of his classes that i could fit into my schedule. His word helped spur my desire to pursue academia for social change. I will miss him so much.
Janet Says:
July 16, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Lindon’s friends have set up a memorial of flowers outside of his building in downtown Long Beach as a tribute to him. If you would like to contribute flowers, his apartment building is at the corner of 5th and Pine. It is in keeping with Lindon’s life to leave spontaneous evidence of the beautiful collective spirit that was always at the center of his heart and mind.
Bob Myers Says:
July 16, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Lindon and I met over ten years ago, and his smile never changed. Sometimes that’s what we offer when we offer our best: encouragement, compassion, celebration and the knowledge that this too shall pass. This is what has always carried us through…Be strong for Lindon, and let his requiem be your smile.
Valerie T Says:
July 16, 2008 at 4:24 pm
May God Bless and comfort his family. May his students and colleagues continue his legacy!!!
William McGee Says:
July 16, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I took one of Prof. Barrett’s African American lit courses this past spring. His skills as a professor were only matched by the beauty of his soul. His energy will be missed, but I am grateful for the period of time in which I was able to spend with Professor Barrett.
Molly Lindsay Says:
July 16, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I am devastated. Words cannot express my grief. Jamie Park, whose entry is above, expresses my thoughts better than I could at this time - I feel exactly as he does. Lindon was not only a professor of mine, but also a friend. We spent time together, laughing often and always engaged in some kind of fun. He spoke of his family, people I wish I could meet, in times of quiet reflection. My heart goes out to you. I’m so angry at myself for not calling him lately - I’ll never have the chance to speak with him again. I hope that those of us who cared so deeply for him can put together a local memorial service. Please post here if one happens to occur.
Alexandria Gurley Says:
July 17, 2008 at 11:58 am
I must say that I did not have the pleasure of speaking to Prof. Barrett as often as I should have, and so getting to know him more personally was not a specific luxury of mine. But I was blessed to take one of his courses in the Spring of 2007 at UCI. Those 10 short weeks I spent in his classroom was certainly an enlightening experience. He was truly one of the few professors in the Af Am department that made me even more glad I chose it as my major. I must say that not one day passed that he did not have a smile on his face. I pray God bless and keep his family in this time of grief and may God also bless his soul. R.I.P.
Laura Lozon Says:
July 17, 2008 at 1:22 pm
I only had the pleasure of knowing Lindon for a short time but he was just the nicest person and I will really miss him. He always had that beautiful infectious smile on his face! He will be missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
Anna Says:
July 17, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I am so, so shocked to hear the sad news. While I did not know Lindon personally, I had seen him give a speech in a conference and have heard good things about his classes. My condolences to his family at this sad time.
Dwight A. McBride Says:
July 17, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I met Lindon when he was a young assistant professor at UCI and I was a graduate student at UCLA. He was at times colleague, mentor, and friend. Lindon was one of the first two people to model for me how to be black and gay in the academy in a way that is uncompromising. He was among the most brilliant minds of our generation in our field of black literary and cultural studies. But he never wore that mantle in any way except to be generous with his gifts and of service to others.
He was a colleague who did the work of reading the work of younger scholars. He did the work of serving as associate editor of CALLALOO. He did the work of organizing symposia and opportunities to bring scholars together for conversation. He did the work of administration when he stepped up to direct African American Studies at UCI. He was always modeling for us all how to be of service in this profession.
And he believed passionately in the power of scholarship to change people. That’s why he wrote with such fervor. Lindon was a prolific author of articles and essays; author of a brilliant book; and was at work on a new book that was likely to be among the most powerful statements on slavery for our time.
And he believed powerfully in taking in the beauty in life and in making sure we did not forsake the pleasures of life. Few people could have convinced me–as Lindon once did–that our dancing until all hours in a nightclub in Los Angeles constituted an act of radical resistance. His passion was a huge part of his charm and appeal.
I will miss his deep humanity, his courage, his love, and most of all his incredible light, which gave so many others permission to shine as well.
Piya Chatterjee Says:
July 17, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I never met Lindon but had heard that he was at UCR–and what a coup it was that UCR’s English Department “get” him. I wish, now, that I had looked him–shared a cup of tea. Folks who knew him spoke of his gentleness and his amazing smile— as much as his brilliance as a scholar and teacher : as a friend said of him, he was a true “soul worker.” What an extraordinary loss for all of us–at UCI, UCR, and beyond.
So, all the way from eastern India, I would like to send my deepest condolences and prayers to his family at this time of sorrow. I pray his Spirit flies in peace.
Piya Chatterjee, faculty member, WMST
From Facebook group by Lindon's cousin Kizzy:
I am Lindon's cousin and on behalf of the family we send our heartfelt thanks to his friends and students in Los Angeles, and elsewhere. We are also very grateful for the love and support of friends who have called and visited during this difficult time.
He was a man of independent thought and was fearless in his views. He told you what he thought, made you think, but also made you laugh. He loved his family and friends and would turn up for a visit surprising them and making the most of every moment.
Lindon loved to spend time looking out over the Pacific Ocean and in accordance with his wishes, he will be cremated and returned to the sea. A memorial service will be held in Winnipeg at a later date.
A bright light has gone out, but he will be remembered forever.
Flowers are gratefully declined. Because of Lindon’s love of reading, if so desired a donation to the Winnipeg Public Library or a charity encouraging literacy would be most appreciated.
---
Lindon's student writes:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone move so quickly, both psychically and physically, as Lindon Barrett sometimes did. He would be in one place, and then he would be in another literally in the blink of an eye. I swear I once saw him walk through a wall. (Okay, the wall had a door in it, but he went through it so quickly that it didn’t seem to open or close.) He was intensely alert and engaged and brought all kinds of knowledge to bear on any discussion. He had his own vision and spoke and acted on it with great courage, generosity, sensitivity, and joy. He worked and nurtured and helped create an incredible African American Studies department in the heart of Orange County. By standing up for himself and others, he insisted on the value of difference and the necessity for change. His most amazing face often had the most amazing things happening on it. He had a great capacity to move and to be moved. He was someone who crossed boundaries, made connections, expanded possibilities, and changed things. Why did he leave UCI? Why is he dead? Why was he not found for days? As I mourn his death and celebrate his life, these questions and others point at least in part to structural problems that now demand my attention more urgently than ever.
---
I met Lindon during my junior year at UCI in 2002 in my literary criticism/theory course and was immediately struck by his brilliance, passion, and candor in class. I took 3 or 4 of his courses and asked him to be my thesis advisor and mentor during my senior year. I met with Lindon weekly to discuss different texts from the Harlem Renaissance and count it as a great privilege and honor to have studied under him. I remember always calling him "doctor" or "Professor Barrett," to which he would always respond, "Please, call me Lindon." He was so far from pretentious and intimidating, and was always kind, generous, and gracious towards me. He encouraged my scholarship and taught me so much. Lindon singularly changed my undergraduate experience and I will miss him very much. News of his death was horrifying and came as a shock to me and has brought much sadness. I know Lindon touched and inspired so many, and I think tributes like this where we can remember and share stories about him can help bring a little bit of solace in light of the terrible circumstances.
Amy Kim, English, UCI, Class of 2004
---
Tara Bui
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
If ever there was an angel on earth it would have been Professor Barrett. Just looking at him you could tell… he had more life in him than most would ever hope to know. He was so beautiful and different. He seemed higher, but was so down-to-earth.
My heart is broken. Now that I am starting graduate school, I only find solace in the fact that I got to tell him just how absolutely important he was to my intellectual growth. He completely opened my eyes, and I hope that I will do him proud.
---
Jerome Christensen
Chair, Department of English, UC Irvine
By now the shocking news of Lindon Barrett’s violent death has spread throughout the community, and its sad finality has darkened the hearts of everyone. Lindon was a pioneer at UCI where he was an activist scholar whose groundbreaking work, penetrating intelligence, passionate commitment, and charismatic presence educated minds and changed lives. But it is not just UCI that will miss Lindon. His scholarship and his vitality made him a compelling figure on the national scene. He has been a beacon to many within the UC system. And he had already established himself as a vital member of the faculty at UC Riverside. Lindon is irreplaceable, but we are fortunate that the light that he spread during his life will in memory dispell the darkness into which we have all been cast by his death.
___
Marcelle Cohen
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I send my love to his family and the family he created at UCI. I would never have had the courage to become an academic if it weren’t for Lindon. He changed my life and I will miss him so much.
---
Michele Currie
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I took Lindon’s seminar in 2002 during my first quarter of grad school at UCI and his ongoing encouragement and support of my work helped to sustain me throughout a difficult first year. While in recent years I’ve lost touch with Lindon, my memory of him is vivid. I’m now nearing the end of my grad school experience and I’m so thankful he was there at the beginning.
---
Emory Elliott
University Professor, UC Riverside
I have known Lindon and enjoyed his friendship for eighteen years. I had the chance to read much of his superb scholarship when I was asked to write a report for his promotion and tenure in 1996. I was most impressed with the striking originality of his thinking and his analytical powers. He soon became recognized in the United States and abroad as a leader in his fields of American Studies, African American literature and culture, and literary theory. After many years at UC Irvine, UCR was able to persuade him to move to our English Department where he was warmly welcomed as a bright star on the campus. As a teacher and colleague, he was greatly admired and liked. His passing is an enormous loss to our department and the campus. I will miss not only his powerful, brilliant work but will also miss his warmth, wit, and cheerful presence among us.
---
Tina Feldmann
Academic staff, UC Riverside
My prayers go out to Lindon’s family. Lindon was such a bright light to UC Riverside. As a staff member, I can say that he was always kind, friendly, and respectful to all the staff. And the smile that you see in his pictures is the way he looked all the time…every day. He was warm and friendly and courteous. It was a pleasure to work for him. He will be greatly missed.
---
Vivian Folkenflik
Lecturer, Humanities CORE, UC Irvine
I taught with Lindon for three years some time ago in the UCI Humanities Core Course. A thousand students a year– that’s three thousand. Harlem Renaissance, Tarzan, Larsen. It’s thanks to him that I re-accessed a lot of music that mattered to me in my childhood and matters to me now. I also remember the lovely evening Bob and I shared here with his parents, who were visiting, one friend of his parents’, two friends of ours. May others too be able to think about the good things they remember sharing with Lindon.
---
Alexandria Gurley
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I must say that I did not have the pleasure of speaking to Prof. Barrett as often as I should have, and so getting to know him more personally was not a specific luxury of mine. But I was blessed to take one of his courses in the Spring of 2007 at UCI. Those 10 short weeks I spent in his classroom was certainly an enlightening experience. He was truly one of the few professors in the Af Am department that made me even more glad I chose it as my major. I must say that not one day passed that he did not have a smile on his face. I pray God bless and keep his family in this time of grief and may God also bless his soul. R.I.P.
---
Kendra Hamilton
Poet
I met Lindon through Callaloo. What a beautiful spirit, a profound intellect–what a terrible loss!!!
---
Nicole King
Professor of English, University of London
I first met Lindon in 1988 when he welcomed me into a cohort of wonderful graduate student scholars at the University of Pennsylvania. He was probably already writing his dissertation by then and was a tantalising example of how to be brilliant and cool and funky. I remember some fabulous house parties where Lindon was in attendance and dancing with him to jams like ‘It Takes Two’ by Rob Base; ‘Da Butt’ by EU (from Spike Lee’s School Daze); and ‘Back to Life’ by Soul II Soul, . Love you Lindon and thank you.
---
James Krasner
Associate Professor of English, University of New Hampshire
Lindon and I were graduate students together at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a sweet, good-hearted person, who drove my dog to the vet and took me shopping at big suburban grocery stores for fun. And he always ran out of gas, but it was fun hitchhiking with him. He was always joyful, self-conscious and funny, and a wonderful friend. And yes, of course, he was brilliant and intellectually daring as well. I will miss his warm heart and his smile.
---
James Lee
Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and English, UC Santa Barbara
I was a 2nd year undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania when I met Lindon. On the top floor of Bennett Hall, there was a room of “writing tutors,” with a list of graduate students and their respective areas of expertise. Next to Lindon’s name was “critical theory.” So one day, I walked in, plopped myself down in front of him, and asked him, “So what is deconstruction?” Lindon took a breath, smiled, and proceeded to jot down some books for me to read. I can’t remember the entire list now, though for some reason Foucault’s language, counter-memory, practice comes to mind. I checked out a couple of these books and proceeded to understand not a word. I went back, and asked Lindon, “What the hell is this?”
Later that year, we’d joke about that initial encounter. Lindon had just secured the job at UC Irvine: he printed out the final version of his dissertation, which again I proceeded not to understand at all, while I was finishing up a class on, wait for it, deconstruction.
Five years later, we met again in a graduate seminar at UCLA. Lindon was still Lindon, with slightly longer hair than what I’d remembered. I wrote a paper for him, an early version of what would become a central chapter in my book. I can’t remember the exact wording of his comments when he handed back the seminar paper, but I do remember the feeling: here was a teacher who read my work, took it seriously, and unequivocally voiced his delight. This time, I understood a bit better what he was saying, and what he was writing, but what remained the same always was Lindon’s willing to push, to push with the promise that as I struggled into the unknown he’d be there with me.
---
Molly Lindsay
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I am devastated. Words cannot express my grief. Jamie Park, whose entry is above, expresses my thoughts better than I could at this time - I feel exactly as he does. Lindon was not only a professor of mine, but also a friend. We spent time together, laughing often and always engaged in some kind of fun. He spoke of his family, people I wish I could meet, in times of quiet reflection. My heart goes out to you.
---
David Lloyd
Professor of English, University of Southern California
I don’t know how to compose something adequate for Lindon by the 21st, but I know that he was the sweetest, sharpest of men, a beautiful intellect--and I mean beautiful in the fullest sense, penetrating and elegant at once. His essay on The Purloined Letter is one of the finest, most awakening things I have read and his books have been shaping new ground. More than that, I admired his consistent refusal, ornery and witty at once, to be subsumed, to go along, “mitmachen” as the Germans say. I do not know how he died, but I know that he was a survivor.
---
Steven Mailloux
Chancellors Professor of Rhetoric, UC Irvine
Lindon and I were friends for seventeen years, both of us having arrived at UC Irvine in 1991. At different times we were colleagues in English and Comparative Literature, African American Studies, and most recently the Critical Theory Institute. Early on I came to have the greatest respect for Lindon’s intellectual passion and commitment. One could see this passionate commitment in the way he put his academic career at risk as he took controversial stands on positions he believed in. When he was an untenured assistant professor, he argued rigorously for African American Studies as first and foremost an intellectual enterprise, even if that intellectual enterprise was also at the same time an important political project. His passion and commitment could be seen again when, after tenure, he painstakingly transformed himself as a scholar, moving from being primarily a focused literary close-reader to a much more broadly-based interdisciplinary cultural critic interpreting the philosophical history and global geopolitics of slavery. I was inspired by his intellectual self-transformation even as I struggled to keep up with the evolution of his thinking. But now, this brilliant intellectual refashioning has ended abruptly, prematurely, tragically.
---
Lillian Manzor
Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, University of Miami
I am still in shock. Lindon and I were colleagues at UCI when English and Comparative Literature were one department. For many years, we were the only two professors of color in the bastion of deconstruction and critical theory. We went through many instances of overt and covert racism: from a senior colleague suggesting to him “to go back to the ghetto” to sly remarks about my linguistic infelicites. Lindon was able to navigate these difficult moments with elegance and wit. We would read these experiences critically, and in discussion with colleagues he was always able to transform them into a learning experience–theory in the flesh that left no apparent bitterness. Always funny and full of a joie-de-vivre, he never lost sight of what was important to him and why he was there: the undergraduate and graduate students to whom he served as devoted professor and mentor. May all of us who knew him honor him and his family by never losing sight of what he taught us through his writings and his actions.
---
Farid Matuk
Poet
Lindon showed me how to feel free, that we can choose at any moment to do something extraordinary. He could transform an interaction - sometimes just by the way he listened, sometimes with something he said. Of course his scholarship was brilliant and fierce, but he also brought that intensity and soul to human interactions and that was what impressed me so. He was the first person I met who was insistent about what we brought to each other as human beings. He was a soul worker. First, by reminding you you had one, then by actually speaking to it or dancing to it or creating a space for it to be. I will remember many intimate moments, but most of all, to honor him, I will try to remember the ever present possibility.
---
William McGee
Undergraduate student at UC Riverside
I took one of Prof. Barrett’s African American lit courses this past spring. His skills as a professor were only matched by the beauty of his soul. His energy will be missed, but I am grateful for the period of time in which I was able to spend with Professor Barrett.
---
Mireille Miller-Young
Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, UC Santa Barbara
Lindon was immensely generous to me, and extremely supportive of my work. He gave me one of the best introductions I ever had when I spoke at Irvine in 2005. He was brilliant and a great mentor. I am saddened by this loss. Thanks for playing Billie for him!
---
Fred Moten
Professor of English, Duke University
One night, about 4:00 am, after a lot of wine and scotch and a few draws on Lindon’s pipe, one of us, I don’t remember which, said that “Come See About Me” was surely the Supremes’ greatest song and one of the great works of art of the 20th Century, and the other just nodding as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
---
Bob Myers
Lindon and I met over ten years ago, and his smile never changed. Sometimes that’s what we offer when we offer our best: encouragement, compassion, celebration and the knowledge that this too shall pass. This is what has always carried us through…Be strong for Lindon, and let his requiem be your smile.
---
Vanessa Osborne
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I’ll miss Lindon Barrett’s sharp intellect and soft spoken timbre. I’ll miss seeing the smile break out on his face when someone in seminar said something surprisingly smart. I’ll miss his brilliant scholarship that always challenged and fascinated me. American Studies has suffered a massive loss, a brilliant scholar and a wonderful person has been torn from us. He will be missed.
---
Sharon Oster
English Ph.D., UCLA
I was lucky enough to take a graduate seminar from Lindon at UCLA many years ago when he visited there - “Blackness and the Mind/body Split.” He challenged me, inspired me, and supported my work, not only offering me the chance for my first publication in a book he was editing, but by engaging so deeply with my ideas. I was blown away as a grad student to be mentored, and taken so seriously, by a visiting professor. When I was later his colleague, briefly, at UCI, he welcomed me with warmth and kindness.
Lindon’s work has shaped the way I think. He introduced me to Elaine Scarry and to body criticism early in my career, and his essay on legibility and William and Ellen Craft has been a constant reference point when I read and teach slave narrative.
---
Jamie Park
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine and graduate student at UC Riverside
I would not be here today if it weren’t for Dr. Barrett. He believed in me, and chose to express that in the time he generously offered me, in the way he engaged with my work and tirelessly encouraged my feeble efforts towards becoming a scholar. His humility and gentleness always blew me away, and is something that continues to serve as a model for me. I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am to have met and been influenced by him. I am honored and so proud to have been (and to still be) his student, and to call him a mentor and I know that every single aspect of my career will be a living legacy and tribute to his life and work. To the Barrett family: Thank you for bringing Lindon into this world, and for blessing all of us with such a beautiful, brilliant and incredibly generous human being. My prayers and thoughts are with you all at this time. I am just one of many who have been forever shaped and changed radically by Lindon’s life and example.
---
Melissa Sanchez
Assistant Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania
Though I ended up working on topics far removed from Lindon's own interests, I still think of his class as one that influenced me most. It was on autobiography and slave narratives, and it was, literally, the first class that I'd ever had that used gender/queer theory, critical race theory, and cultural studies. Lindon was the first professor I had who taught me that literature is deeply implicated in politics, culture, and power, and the first professor who made me feel like studying literary works was not only pleasurable, but also could be part of critical discussions on identity, authority, law, and ideology. Lindon will be sorely missed – not only by those of us who've known and admired him, but by decades of future students who, sadly, won't even know what they're missing.
---
Vicki
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
Lindon was a generous scholar, a kind soul, and inspiring to his students. He will truly be missed.
---
Susan Zieger
Associate Professor of English, UC Riverside
In the short time that I was Lindon’s colleague, I saw enough of his generous spirit and capacious intellect to sense how great a loss his passing really is. There is a hole in my future where a vibrant interlocutor and friend might have been.
---
Cathryn Atkinson
Childhood friend from Winnipeg
I knew Lindon when we were both children in Winnipeg, Canada. Our parents were friends. He was a great kid then, too. I haven't seen him for many years, but I had heard he had done brilliantly well in his work and these comments attest to that. I am completely heartsick thinking about what his parents and the rest of his terrific family are going through right now and my thoughts are with them.
---
Fernando Chirino
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
As an undergrad, I took every class Professor Barrett offered in English. As a graduate student in sociology, I owe him for keeping me focused on struggling past the political hurdles meant to both police the common thoughts of students and exclude students who reject society's exploitative values. When I was arrested at a protest in which there was an unprovoked and violently repressive police riot in Garden Grove, he talked me through the rage and loathing. I am saddened and infuriated by the news of his death. Professor Barrett, our loss is great, but the struggle will continue.
---
Noah Cho
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
At UCI, I had three professors that made me want to become a teacher: James Chiampi, Chris Diffee, and Lindon Barrett. Dr. Barrett influenced me not only through the thoughtful lectures and discussions on topics from deconstruction and the Harlem Renaissance, but in a global sense, from politics to the place of minorities in modern academia.
I will treasure the three classes I took with Dr. Barrett forever. Every time I teach a short story from The Ways of White Folks to one of my students, I'll remember the days I studied that book with him, talking to him before class with friends, and watching as he silently rolled his cigarettes, nodded, and then proceeded to amaze us with an analytical angle that our feeble 20 year old minds would never grasp. You were one in a million, Dr. Barrett.
---
Gabrielle Daniels
Graduate student at UC Irvine
I was shocked to hear about Lindon's death through an emeritus professor and in particular, how it may have happened. I took a graduate seminar with him in the late Nineties. He was a brilliant, fine, and funny individual, who felt at home being an intellectual, and being himself. He was the kind of guy who would gift you with the latest CD playing in his car if you liked it. I loved his work and what he was accomplishing. I can't believe that he is gone.
Brynn Hutchinson
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I am completely shocked and utterly sick to my stomach. Professor Barrett was one of my favorite professors. His enthusiasm, knowledge, and passion for what he taught were infectious. I was fortunate enough to be a part of one of his classes as an undergraduate at UC Irvine, and as others have said, he was simply brilliant. He made the subject matter come alive, and for that I am eternally grateful. RIP, Professor Barrett. You will be greatly missed.
---
Winston Paul Jeune
Though not as well as others, I came to know of Prof. Barrett through my family. Shock and sadness only describe the beginnings of my reaction upon learning of this tragedy. I wish the Barrett family all the strength and comfort that they will need during this difficult time (and beyond).
I hope that the light and inspiration of Professor Barrett will pervade through us all.
---
Jay Lamothe
Undergraduate student at UC Irvine
I had a couple of classes with Lindon in either 99 or 2000 and years after graduating, I would stop by the Humanities Department just to look for Lindon for some good chatting.
Never failed to make you smile. He walked around campus with a sense of pride, humility and confidence. Can't recall the last time I was able to connect with a professor as easily as he connected with his students. Occasionally, you'd be sitting in class and he'd shock you with some off the wall expletives. Super random, but arguably one of the most memorable characters at UCI.
---
Arthur L. Little
Associate Professor of English, UCLA
It’s difficult to picture Lindon’s face and not see his locks dangling across his smile. The loss of Lindon is one of those impossible losses, one of those moments of ineffability, of being overpowered and overwhelmed. I have spent the past few days trying to comprehend, to experience, the brilliance, vitality, and purposefulness that have been taken away from us. On more than a few occasions these nearly past two decades, when I’ve found myself laughing, filled with emotional and intellectual cheerfulness and defiance as a response to some of those things some of us find ourselves experiencing as black gay academics and people, I always knew Lindon–unapologetic and supportive–was somewhere hanging out in the neighborhood.
---
Dwight McBride
Dean of Humanities, University of Illinois, Chicago
I met Lindon when he was a young assistant professor at UCI and I was a graduate student at UCLA. He was at times colleague, mentor, and friend. Lindon was one of the first two people to model for me how to be black and gay in the academy in a way that is uncompromising. He was among the most brilliant minds of our generation in our field of black literary and cultural studies. But he never wore that mantle in any way except to be generous with his gifts and of service to others.
He was a colleague who did the work of reading the work of younger scholars. He did the work of serving as associate editor of CALLALOO. He did the work of organizing symposia and opportunities to bring scholars together for conversation. He did the work of administration when he stepped up to direct African American Studies at UCI. He was always modeling for us all how to be of service in this profession.
And he believed passionately in the power of scholarship to change people. That’s why he wrote with such fervor. Lindon was a prolific author of articles and essays; author of a brilliant book; and was at work on a new book that was likely to be among the most powerful statements on slavery for our time.
And he believed powerfully in taking in the beauty in life and in making sure we did not forsake the pleasures of life. Few people could have convinced me–as Lindon once did–that our dancing until all hours in a nightclub in Los Angeles constituted an act of radical resistance. His passion was a huge part of his charm and appeal.
I will miss his deep humanity, his courage, his love, and most of all his incredible light, which gave so many others permission to shine as well.
---
Kavita Philip
Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, UC Irvine
Lindon’s passing is unacceptably tragic. My deepest condolences to his family.
I wish things could have been otherwise; he loved life and had many great years ahead of him. He had labored lovingly over this second book, and those who heard him speak of it anticipated an important intellectual intervention. His brilliance and generosity will always be remembered by colleagues and students who had the privilege of sharing time and thoughts with him.
---
Ynnad Selbor
Undergraduate student at UC Riverside
I had Dr. Barrett for African American Literature Slave Narratives and went to office hours quite frequently. I enjoyed talking to this gentle soul, and intelligent professor. Tonight, I am broken and at a complete and total loss. I grieve the untimely death of professor Barrett.
---
Earth Shah
Undergraduate student at UC Riverside
I had Professor Barrett last quarter and he was one of the most amazing and inspirational professor I ever had...some of the stuff he said in class was priceless...never expected any professor to say that but he spoke the truth...he will be greatly missed.
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