| 1294 | Kublai Khan, the conqueror of Asia, dies at the age of 80. | |
| 1554 | Lady Jane Grey, the Queen of England for thirteen days, is beheaded on Tower Hill. She was barely 17 years old. | |
| 1709 | Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish seaman whose adventures inspired the creation of Daniel Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe, is taken off Juan Fernandez Island after more than four years of living there alone.
Original Articles
Robinson Crusoe: The quintessential economic man?Abstract
The
tale of Robinson Crusoe strikes a responsive chord in the imagination
of many economists. This paper argues that the story of Robinson Crusoe,
and the joy economists take in his example, are indicative of the way
the discipline deals with issues of race and gender. Crusoe is used to
represent homo economics par excellence, yet his self-sufficiency
conceals the labor of others. A close reading of the novel reveals the
issues of power, sexuality and race that are hidden underneath the
storyline of Crusoe's relationship with Friday. The economists' portrait
of equal exchange ignores the elements of domination and exploitation
between Crusoe and Friday. The absence of female agency in Defoe's and
the economists' story masks a narrative structure that, in fact, relies
in fundamental ways on gendered representations. This process of
exclusion mirrors the lack of recognition in our culture of the economic
contribution of women. If Crusoe is taken to be the quintessential economic man,
the economists' story imposes boundaries separating those who belong in
economic discourse from those who do not. It also makes it easier for
our discipline to avoid the ethical burden of addressing the disturbing
issues of race and gender in our narratives.
Keywords
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| 1793 | The first fugitive slave law, requiring the return of escaped slaves, is passed. | |
| 1818 | Chile gains independence from Spain. | |
| 1836 | Mexican General Santa Anna crosses the Rio Grande en route to the Alamo. | |
| 1909 | The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is formed. | |
| 1912 | China becomes a republic following the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. | |
| 1921 | Winston Churchill of London is appointed colonial secretary. | |
| 1924 | George Gershwin’s groundbreaking symphonic jazz composition Rhapsody in Blue premieres with Gershwin himself playing the piano with Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. https://youtu.be/eFHdRkeEnpM |
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| 1929 | Charles Lindbergh announces his engagement to Anne Morrow. http://lindberghfoundation.org/ |
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| 1931 | Japan makes its first television broadcast–a baseball game. | |
| Born on February 12 | ||
| 1775 | Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams | |
| 1809 | Charles Darwin, naturalist and influential theorist of evolution (On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection). | |
| 1809 | Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President of the United State (1861-1865). | |
| 1828 | George Meredith, English poet and novelist. | |
| 1857 | Eugene Atget, French photographer, took over 10,000 photographs documenting Paris. | |
| 1874 | Auguste Perret, French architect, pioneer in designs of reinforced concrete buildings. | |
| 1880 | John L. Lewis, American labor leader. | |
Friday, 12 February 2016
February 12
