Chasing Dragons

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 140

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries' by the Association of Research Libraries at www.arl.org

• '1066 and All That by Richard J. Evans at newstatesmen.com

• 'Critical Theory: Useful Distinction or Unconscious Smugness?' by PJ Ray at cyborgology

• 'The Secret to Going Viral: It's All About Culture' by Jared Keller at theatlantic.com

Peace.

Photo credit: BiblioArchives/LibraryArchives

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 139

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'The Crash and Burn Future of Robot Warfare' by Nick Turse at guernicamag.com

• 'Five Day Gratification' by Wright Thompson at cricinfo.com (on the rhythms of test cricket in a world where speed rules)

• 'Lazy Higher Ed Journalism' by Melonie Fullick at insidehighered.com

• 'Models of Representation in Carl Schmitt' by Charles Kollmer at telospress.com

• 'The Politics of the Sweater Vest' by Vanessa Friedman at ft.com

• 'Special Forces Get Social in New Psychological Operation Plan' by Noel Shachtman at dangerroom

Enjoy!

Photo credt: mtkopone

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 138

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'Scholarly Reflections on Blogging: Once a Tortoise, Never a Hare' by Andrea Doucet at chronicle.com

• 'Sci-Fi Writer William Gibson on his I-Pad' by Barbara Chai at wsj.com

• 'Treasure Mapped: Using Satellite Imagery to Track the Developmental Effects of Somali Piracy' by Anja Shortland at humansecuritygateway.com

• 'Doomsday Clock Moves to Five Minutes to Midnight' by the Science and Security Board, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists at thebulletin.org

• 'Examining the Relationship Between Immigration and Unemployment Using National Insurance Number Registration Data' by Paolo Lucchino, Chiara Rosazza Bondibene, and Jonathan Portes at niesr.ac.uk

• 'Why the Glock Became America's Handgun' by Erin McCarthy at popularmechanics.com

Have a good weekend.

Photo credit: eirikref

Doctoral Studentships in Politics at Newcastle University

North East Doctoral Training Centre ESRC Funded Studentships in Politics

Politics at Newcastle University is pleased to announce the availability of ESRC funded PhD studentships as part of the North East Doctoral Training Centre. We are seeking high calibre candidates interested in doctoral study who have clearly defined research projects and wish to be considered for these awards.

The studentships will be allocated on a competitive basis and include 1+3, +3, 3.75 and 2+3 awards. The deadline for approaching prospective supervisors is 27 January 2012. The deadline for submitting completed applications is 24 February 2012.

Preliminary inquiries can be directed to Dr. Kyle Grayson until 30 January, 2012 and to Dr. Martin Coward after that time.

Further details:

The following studentships are available to UK citizens and EU nationals:

• 1+3 awards: targeted at students with or nearing completion of first class undergraduate degrees to undertake an MA in research methods followed by PhD study.
• +3 awards: targeted at students with or nearing completing of MA degrees with ESRC recognised research methods training and who wish to commence PhD study
• +3.75: targeted at students wishing to undertake a PhD with an MA that does not include research methods training. The .75 will allow the applicant to complete research methods training.
• 2+3 awards: targeted at students considering a two year language based MA degree followed by PhD study

Politics at Newcastle University enjoys a strong international reputation. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Newcastle Politics consolidated its position with a very strong research output profile and excellence in terms of research environment and esteem. The RAE Panel noted that: "Research outputs were predominantly of internationally recognised quality" and the "Research environment was predominantly of internationally recognised quality ... (including) a large school of PhD students, with good completion rates". Politics has enjoyed strong growth in staff numbers in recent years indicating excellence in its research and teaching and the overall strength of the programme. Incoming students will be able to fully participate in our program of research related activities and active graduate community.

We offer research supervision expertise in:

International Politics

• Security, human security, critical security studies, biosecurity, European security and defence policy
•  Area specialisation in the Americas, East and Southeast Asia, Russia, European Union
• International political thought and philosophy
• Globalisation and global governance
• Urbicide, cities and war
• Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
• Geopolitics and critical geopolitics
• Ethnic nationalism
• Genocide
• International political economy with specialist focus on work and labour and development
• Popular culture and world politics including music, film, electronic games
• Global justice and ethics
• The arms trade and disarmament
• Post-colonialism

Political Philosophy and Political Theory

• The ethics and politics of climate change
• Environmental citizenship
• Ecological space and global justice
• Legal philosophy with specialist focus on punishment
• Moral philosophy
• Multiculturalism, toleration, recognition
• Rights and freedoms
• Liberalism
• Democracy in divided societies
• Justice and ethics

Governance and Political Organisations:

• Party Politics
• Elections and electoral politics
• Area specialisation in the Americas, Italy, Japan, France, Germany
• Transitional justice and reconciliation in divided societies
• Interest groups
• Social capital
• Participation and non-participation
• Civil Society
• European security
• Political ideologies
• EU integration policies
• European environmental policy and policy making
• European public policy and policy making
• International environmental organisations

Further details on how to apply can be found here.

Further information about postgraduate research in Politics at Newcastle can be found here.

Key Deadlines:

Formation of a supervisory team for the 2012-13 competition: 27 January, 2012

Submission of a completed application for the 2012-13 competition: 24 February, 2012

Popular Culture and World Politics v. 5.0

Popular Culture and World Politics v. 5.0

9-11 November, 2012

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Geneva, New York, 14456, USA

What do zombies have to do with world politics? How might the Twilight sagas inform and illuminate our way of understanding world politics and changes in the global political economy? In what ways do videogames, the sales of which now exceed those of music CDs and DVDS combined, shape the identities and political understandings of frequent players? Is visual media destined to replace print as the primary source of news and entertainment in advanced industrial societies and how might this affect the construction of meaning of world affairs? As a means of communication readily available to an ever-expanding number of individuals and groups, how might the internet offer paths of resistance to corporate and Western news and entertainment hegemony? How can tango dancing make the world a more peaceful place?

This conference explores the multiple ways of investigating the intersections of world politics and the production, circulation, content, and consumption of various popular cultural forms. Engaging a range of disciplines and practices in the social sciences, humanities and the arts, the conference encourages participants to question what terms such as ‘global,’ ‘popular,’ and ‘culture’ mean both in isolation and when used in conjunction. It asks in what ways and with what effects popular culture has become a series of sites at which political meaning is made, where political contestation takes place, and where political orthodoxy is reproduced and challenged. The conference provides a highly-focused and interdisciplinary environment in which the increasing numbers of scholars that are engaging in culture-related research can present their work and participate in the kind of extended discussion that larger conferences do not permit. The conference aims to provide an intimate forum at which debates about interdisciplinary methods and theoretical approaches can be developed to facilitate debate across disciplines that share interests in world politics and culture. We welcome proposals for performances, screenings, panels, or individual papers, on any aspect of world politics and popular culture.

Building on the preceding four PCWP conferences, version 5.0 will be held on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, a small liberal arts institution located in the beautiful Finger Lakes (wine-making) region of western New York state.

Inquiries should be sent to PCWP@hws.edu
The deadline for proposals is 15 July 2012

Many thanks to Kevin Dunn who has graciously agreed to host and organize this year's event!

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 137

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising' by the Directorate for Employment, Labour, and Social Affairs at oecd.org

• 'How Companies Avoid Tax--A Quick Summary in 8,000 Words'  by Richard Murphy at www.taxresearch.org

• 'Behind the Rise of the Great Powers' by Liu Xiaobo (translated by Josephine Chiu-Duke) at guernicamag.com

• 'Vestige(s) of Empire' by James Biber at designobserver.com

• 'Do "Prestigious" Journals Make Academics Lazy? An Unlikely Parallel with the Art World' by Mark Carrigan at markcarrigan.net

• 'Universities Gone Wild: Big Money, Big Sports, and Scandalous Abuse at Penn State' by  Henry Giroux and Susan Searls Giroux at truth-out.org

Have a good weekend.

Photo credit: Abhi Shinde

Diane Abbott, Twitter, Racism, and White Privilege

 

White privilege is an interesting political phenomena because those who benefit from it are largely oblivious to the considerable advantages that it bestows upon them. The obliviousness of white privilege once again became clear this week when Labour front bench MP Diane Abbott tweeted a response to one of her constituents--Bim Adewunmi--who had some important issues to raise about the media coverage of the reaction to the verdict in the racially motivated murder of Stephen Lawrence . While the full context around the exchange can be found here,  Abbott eventually tweeted the following remark:

White people love playing 'divide & rule' We should not play their game #tacticasoldascolonialism.

In retrospect, this was not the wisest thing that she has ever said. While the historical analogy regarding 'divide & rule' is potentially apt--keeping in mind that the British ruling elite were equal opportunity employers of d&r around the world-- the signifier 'white people' lacks the necessary precision for a convincing analysis. But politicians say imprecise things all the time, so one would think that everyone could move on. Wrong.

Those who enjoy the benefits of white privilege are very quick to portray themselves as victims when the privilege of being racially 'uncoded' is jeopardised. Right-wing reactionaries across the country, including the vile Harry Coles above, flooded airways and column spaces, branding Abbott's comment racist and calling for her resignation.

Racism though requires that overt forms of discrimination be underpinned by structural inequalities that are also covertly productive of overt forms of discrimination. So my question would then be what structural inequalities do whites like Harry Coles--on average-- face in relation to other races in the UK? And for anyone who might be inclined towards his public-school boy persecution complex--after all, rich, white, male, Tories must surely be the most oppressed people on the planet--I would suggest that they read this insightful piece by Peggy McIntosh on White Privilege . How many of these questions can those who are shamelessly identifying themselves as 'victims' of Abbott's 'anti-white racism' answer in the negative?

But it is not just the audacity of the personal attacks on Diane Abbott that reflect white privilege. More damningly, it is how certain members of the political establishment and the media in manufacturing a  'race row' have been able to divert any meaningful consideration of the very pressing questions regarding systemic racism raised by the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation itself.

Thus, the ability of members of the politico-economic elite to have that kind of jedi mind f**kery taken seriously is the ultimate indication of white privilege--and structural inequalities based on race.

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 136

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'The Social Utility of Art and Scholarship' by Clare O'Farrell at refractedinput

• 'Top 50 Multimedia Packages of 2011' by Tracy Boyer Clark at innovativeinteractivity.com

• 'What It Takes to Open a Bar in Baghdad' by Joshuah Bearman at atlantic.com (apparantly being a mercenary is a good start...)

• 'Stealth Tech, Facebook Revolutions, Shadow Wars: The Most Dangerous Year Ever' by Spencer Ackerman and Noah Shachtman at dangerroom

• 'Photographs of the Year 2011' by Homa Khaleeli, Rob Fearn, Amy Fleming, Sarah Phillips, and Paula Cocozza at guardian.co.uk

• 'The Struggle for the Open Web: Putting "Piracy" In Perspective' by David Campbell at david-campbell.org

• 'I'll Tell You Why Movie Revenue is Dropping' by Roger Ebert at rogerebert.com (hint, it's not piracy...)

Happy New Year!

Photo credit: feileacan