Chasing Dragons

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 62

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'The Unwanted' a graphic novel by Joe Sacco at guardian.co.uk

• '40 Things You Need to Know About the Next 40 Years' at smithsonian.mag.com (I, for one, welcome the rule of our new jellyfish overlords...)-->thanks to openculture.com for the link!

• 'The Consultant was a Spy' by Shane Harris at washingtonian.com -->thanks to boingboing.net for the link!

• 'Humanitarian Design vs. Design Imperialism: Debate Summary' by the Editors at designobserver.com (a really good digest of the online debate about humanitarian design and whether it is a form of imperialism)

• And just in case you've ever wondered what the Earth might look like if it stopped rotating, you can find answers at popsci.com

Photo credit: Sunshine Junior

Newcastle University Launches World Politics and Popular Culture MA Degree

I am pleased to announce that Politics at Newcastle University will be launching a new MA degree in World Politics and Popular Culture for the 2010-11 academic year. Here is the course description:

• World Politics and Popular Culture is a distinctive interdisciplinary degree programme that examines the changing dynamics of contemporary international relations in the context of the politics of the various forces shaping and shaped by popular culture. The programme focuses on key theories, policies, and events in world politics in relation to both traditional and new media. You will learn not only how to think critically about how world politics is reflected or reproduced in popular culture, but also how the politics of popular culture shape the dynamics of world politics...

The programme entails three core modules in Politics (World Politics and Popular Culture, Theories and Approaches to the Study of Politics, and a Dissertation in World Politics and Popular Culture) with 4 optional modules that can be taken from politics, cultural studies, media studies, and film.

Admission requirements are an undergraduate degree from an accredited university with at least a 2.i result--the rough equivalent in North American systems would be a B average.

Please note that 'other qualifications or relevant professional experience may also satisfy the entrance requirements. Applicants whose first language is not English require IELTS 6.5, TOEFL 575 (paper-based) or 233 (computer-based), or equivalent.'

Information on how to apply can be found here. There is no formal deadline--apart from the start of classes at the end of September--but if you are applying from overseas, securing a student visa can take several weeks depending on your circumstances.

If you'd like to talk to someone to find out more about the World Politics and Popular Culture MA, you can contact  Matt Davies, whose tremendous efforts and vision saw this through from design to implementation.

I'm also happy to field any inquiries that you may have about the programme or pursuing a MA in politics in the UK.

Disclaimer: If there are any differences between information provided here and that contained on official Newcastle University web-pages, the latter should be viewed as the authoritative source.

Collage and photo credit: DerrickT (work displayed under a Creative Commons attribution license)

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 51

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'Standing Up to Standing Up' by August J. Pollak at someguywithawebsite.com (one of the most sensible commentaries on the Danish cartoons/South Park controversies. Plus the accompanying comic is aces too)

• 'Calypso Magic' by Mukul Kesavan at thehindu (a treatise on West Indian cricket by an Indian supporter. Sports writing at its best).

• 'UK Media and the Election' from the mediablog.co.uk

• 'UK Media Bias: BBC and Channel 4 beat SKY and ITV for political balance' again from the mediablog.co.uk

• The Vigilante Journalist conducts an investigation into how a photojournalist managed to capture images of alleged Ugandan child sacrifice victims. The results raise a series of ethical considerations (here and here)

Have a good bank holiday weekend!

Photo credit: fdecomite

The Political Power of Comics

There's a really fascinating post over at the Book Patrol blog about a comic book produced in 1957. The 'Montgomery Story' is a depiction of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the leadership of Rev. Martin Luther King. Beyond its value as a historical curiosity, what makes this artifact so interesting is that at the time, it was used by the civil rights movement as a means of accessibly conveying the message of non-violence to a variety of audiences (e.g., students or those with little formal education) in an engaging format.

Moreover, the medium had distinct advantages. As Nancy Matton argues in her post:

• The use of a comic book as a text for the fight against Jim Crow was inspired on many levels. Comics are cheap to produce; lightweight; small in size; easy to disguise, hide or smuggle; and highly disposable. Joe Wos, founder and director of Pittsburgh's ToonSeum, spoke of the dangers of possessing a copy of The Montgomery Story in the segregated South of the 1960's: "People were told to read it, memorize it, and destroy it because if they were caught with it, they could be killed."
  

It would seem that comics played an important--and often forgotten--role in disseminating the message of civil rights and non-violence at this pivotal point in American history. I'd be curious if readers could point to the use of comics for similar purposes in other countries?

Anyhow, if you'd like to view 'The Montgomery Story' for yourself, an electronic version is available from the always fantastically weird Ethan Persoff comic collection.

Weekend Reading Roundup v.3

Here are some more neat reads for the weekend:

An answer to the question: 'what does a CIA produced comic book justifying the invasion of Grenada look like?' from the Ethan Persoff collection at www.ep.tc

This won't make demilitarizing the Arctic any easier from news.bbc.co.uk

Blast-Door Art from designobserver.com

For Buffy/Joss Whedon fans: 'The horror...the horror' from poppolitics.com

Have a happy weekend!

The above photo called 'Happy Weekend' by muha is being used under the terms of a Creative Commons License.