Wade Sikorski, Ph.D.

Box 202
Willard, Montana  59354
(406) 775-6378
wds@midrivers.com

 

Who I am

I am the other overeducated Polish hermit who lives in Montana and writes anti-technology manifestos (See my first book, Modernity and Technology: Harnessing the Earth to the Slavery of Man). Unlike my evil double, though, I take showers every day and do not kill rabbits. Also, I don't mail people bombs, not even to people I think really deserve it. As a result, the FBI has no interest in me--so far as I know. But the post office is still very careful with my mail. Which is kind of good, I guess.

As you can see, I have a computer and I am hooked up to the net. This last fact embarrasses me a lot: I succumbed to the temptations of modernity when my evil double did not. You may, if you want, accuse me of hypocrisy, for I am guilty. But I love my computer too much to get rid of it.



How I live my life

In many ways Henry David Thoreau is my ideal. He lived his life thoughtfully and honestly, seeking to avoid entanglement in the they world. Following his example of going to Walden Pond to live deliberately, I built an earth sheltered house on my family's ranch in southeastern Montana. It is a simple house, built inexpensively, but strong and functional. It uses only passive solar heat to keep the temperature around 60 degrees all winter long. Living in my house, I have learned that the simple life that Thoreau advised has much to recommend for it. Even though Thoreau did not emphasize the simple life as a political strategy, I have found it such, a vantage point from which it is possible to become freely engaged in politics. Having reduced my relations of dependency to a minimum, I am free to confront the exploitive and harmful effects of such relations. (It's kind of like what tenure is supposed to be like.)



EXPERIENCE

1990-current
Writing books. Working on family ranch. Member of the Southeastern Montana Alliance, the Northern Plains Resource Council, the Montana Environmental Information Center, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's Incinerator Rule Discussion Group. Involved in efforts to stop Ross Management from operating a PCB facility, and in efforts to protect the environment.


New Mexico State University

Assistant Professor, 1989-90

Taught graduate and undergraduate Political Theory classes and introductory Political Science classes.

University of Massachusetts

Teaching Associate and Teaching Assistant, 1980-83

Taught undergraduate Political Theory classes and wide range of introductory Political Science classes.



EDUCATION

University of Massachusetts (Amherst)
Ph.D., Political Science, 1988
Major: Contemporary Political Theory
Minor: Historical Political Theory
Teaching Fields: American Government and Comparative Politics
Montana State University (Bozeman)
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, 1978



PUBLICATIONS


BOOKS

Modernity and Technology: Harnessing the Earth to the Slavery of Man (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1993).

Infected With Difference: Healing Dis/ease in the Body Politic. (1999)

Sacrificial Rituals: A Murder Mystery in Montana (2000)


ESSAYS

"Building Wilderness," The Nature of Things, editors Jane Bennett and Bill Chaloupka (Minneapolis, Minnesota: The University of Minnesota Press, 1993).

"The Vulnerable Machine," The Midwest Quarterly Vol. XXXIV, No. 3 (Spring, 1993).

"Toleration and Shamanism," New Political Science Vol. 26 (Fall 1993).

Book Review on Nihilism Before Nietzsche by Michael Gillespie The Journal of Politics, Vol. 58, No. 1 (February, 1996).

"On Mad Bombers: A Review of the Unabomber's Manifesto," Theory & Event, February, 1997. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/theory_&_event/v001/1r.sikorski.html

"Enough is Enough: Review of William Ophuls' Requiem for Modern Politics: The Tragedy of the Enlightenment and the Challenge of the New Millennium" The Review of Politics Vol. 60, No. 1 (Winter, 1998).

"Pushing the Victims In: Review of Sandra Steingraber's Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment," The Review of Politics, Vol. 60, No. 4 (Fall, 1998).


PANELS

Presented "Toleration and Shamanism" for the panel "The Political Theory of Communication," Tracy Strong Chair, at the 1992 Western Political Science Association convention in San Francisco, CA.

Presented "Healing the World's Pain" for the panel "Public Policies and Political Theories," Joe Bowersox chair, at the 1992 Midwest Political Science Association Convention in Chicago, IL.


OTHER

Former Editor of the O'Fallon Fact Finder. Author of articles and editorials on the politics, science, technology, and economics of hazardous waste incineration. I have written guest editorials for The Billings Gazette, The Missoulian, Down to Earth, and The Miles City Star. I have also done commentaries for the High Plains News Service.




AFFILIATIONS

Below is a list of the organizations I am in one way or another associated with. I want to encourage you to go to their web sites, check them out, and either join or subscribe. These are good organizations, working hard to protect the environment, your health, and pursue social justice. They deserve your support. Please consider making a generous donation to them.


In Montana

The Northern Plains Resource Council

Montana Environmental Information Center

Women's Voices for the Earth

The Montana Human Rights Network

Montana ACLU


National and Regional Organizations

The Western Organization of Resource Councils

The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice

The Sierra Club

The Washington Toxics Coalition

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Greenpeace

The Environmental Working Group

The Institute of Noetic Sciences


News and Information Organizations

The High Plains News Service

Rachel's Environmental News

The High Country News

The Nation

Mother Jones




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Last Updated February 22, 2000 by Wade Sikorski, Ph.D.