Chasing Dragons

New Module on the Visual and International Politics at Newcastle University

Several months back, I received a Newcastle University Teaching and Learning Committee Innovation Award for my proposal to run a problem-based learning advanced undergraduate seminar on visualities and international politics. The hope is that leading this seminar will feed back into my own research interests just in time for me to take a study leave in Semester II. Here is a small blurb for the seminar:

POL 3093: Advanced Research Seminar in Politics I

In this module, the topic of visuality (or visualities) and international politics is the catalyst for problem-based learning (PBL) in a small seminar environment. The problem to be explored will be ‘how to analyse the visual dimensions of international politics?' The seminar will then intensively explore the conceptual and methodological elements of the problem scenario, identify and develop case-studies/data sets, and analyse them as appropriate. Students will work in small groups to complete weekly tasks that will then culminate in the production of a group research project.

PBL encourages students to apply knowledge and skills concretely through thinking and doing. With its ability to combine theoretical understanding and applied knowledge, PBL has been used in other subject areas as a means of promoting the development of conceptual and practical skills that are well suited to post-graduate studies and/or future employment.

Here are links to edited versions of the proposal and syllabus.

It has been a real challenge to develop a seminar that conforms to the aims of PBL while providing enough structure and back-ground knowledge to give students a chance to pursue interesting research. In the end, I think I've reached a via media that will not satisfy PBL purists who would argue for the need for a more open-ended structure or those who prefer more orthodox seminar formats. This is certainly  not the kind of PBL seminar one would see in engineering for example, but I hope by being flexible about what we undertake once some of the backgroud material has been covered, it will allow the seminar to grow around the activities and interests of the students.

There has also been the issue of how broad and accessible the material should be.  Some of what is being proposed in the syllabus will probably prove to be over-ambitious, but it is my hope that by engaging with a range of material, participants will at least begin to get a sense of what we do not (yet) know.

One may ask 'where are the visual artifacts?' I've made the decision that I will be shifting responsibility onto the  participants to bring in artifacts to discuss in seminar. In part, this is because I am curious to see what they look at on a regular basis, what they determine to be 'political' images, and how they make these determinations.

Over the coming months, I will be providing periodic updates of how the seminar is progressing and anything that I learn along the way.  If anyone out there is pursuing something similar or would like to adapt any of the ideas presented in my proposal or syllabus, I would really like to hear fom you. In part, this is about being able to learn from colleagues. Also, in the current higher education environment where intrinsic value has died a horrible death, having an idea of how colleagues approach PBL and/or visual politics may be useful for the purposes of being able to show 'impact'...

Happy Belated Anniversary to Chasing Dragons & Apocalyptic Blasts from the Past

I'm pleased to announce the 2nd year anniversary of the chasingdragons blog. Okay, so it technically took place last week but I'm going to operate under a 'better late than never' policy. 

I've written 320 posts since May 2009 and have welcomed somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15,000 unique readers from 132 different countries over that time. A big thank you to everyone who has read, linked, tweeted, facebooked, subscribed, or commented on content posted here. It's greatly appreciated!

But enough with the shameless self-promotion. Given all the talk that the end is nigh--read deranged proclamations from a weirdo who has been wrong before--I thought I would go into the cellar and bring out four old posts that are relevant:

• Visualizing Nuclear Armageddon

• Is this What a Global Pandemic Would Look Like?

• Is this What a Global Pandemic Would Look Like? v. 2

• Forecasting the Apocalypse? Think Zizek

Umm, enjoy them while you can?

Photo credit: Sasha Wolff

Upcoming Talks at the International Studies Association Convention v. 2

As rashly promised on Friday, please find a summary of the comments that I will be making as part of the round-table on 'What's in a Name? Approaching the Study of Culture in International Relations' at the International Studies Association Annual Convention this week. My fellow panelists include Laura Roselle, Davide Panagia, and Piers Robinson.

My comments focus on how popular culture is gaining currency in some quarters as an area for further research in international relations. And while I see some reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the cache of popular culture, there are some things that I find worrisome about this new found fame.

First, I argue that no one will take popular culture seriously as an area of study unless those doing work in the area also take it seriously. In part this is a question of preparation; it is really frustrating to see the number of people prepared to engage with the subject area on a lark in a way that they would not dare with other areas of scholarship. But what is even more troublesome from my perspective is that this is leading to work that provides readings of popular cultural artifacts whose value is argued to be in their mimesis of orthodox international relations. In Jacques Ranciere's terminology, what we end up with (unintentionally) is an account of police not the political.

Second, too much of what is being done at the moment not only assumes a prior notion of what international relations 'is' but also fails to engage with what popular culture itself might be. Failing to interrogate popular culture de-historicizes the concept, transforming a rich but contextual category into a lifeless universal analytic.

Third, I see a tendency to treat popular culture simply as a set of artifacts. This neglects arguments made previously by Stuart Hall and others that culture is also about practices, particularly practices of interpretation that allow for participants to understand the world in a similar way. To take Hall seriously means that one ought to be upfront (and reflexive) about one's own interpretive practices and what is shaping them. Too often I get the feeling that I am reading New Criticism from scholars who have no idea what New Criticism was or its relationship to a particular kind of politics.

Fourth, although behaviouralism and positivism still cast long shadows, method potentially remains a much more open frontier with respect to popular culture than in other areas of international relations scholarship. Concepts such as inter-textuality, mutual constitution, assemblages, performativity, networks, and resonance provide important challenges in terms of how to best capture their richness and complexity in popular culture research. Moreover, they bring up the question of audience in new and exciting ways.

Fifth, it strikes me that popular culture research in IR to this point has been dominated by a focus on particular senses (read sight), particular cultural forms (i.e., film and television), specific genres (especially thrillers, horror and sci-fi) and particular constitutive elements of these forms --especially representation. These horizons can--and should--be widened. There are opportunities to look at other senses, sites and processes of production, artifacts (e.g., food and the culinary arts), spaces beyond the Anglo-American world, practices (e.g., fandom, gaming), aesthetic sensibilities, and the politics of affect--not just in terms of emotion or feeling but back to Spinoza's notion of our body's ability to act.

So, I'm afraid that I sound a bit like someone who laments that their favourite band has sold out once it has begun to enjoy some modicum of success.

Yes, these are exciting times for the study of popular culture and world politics. But in addressing the issues I raise (and many others that I have not), I would hope that colleagues in international relations are not going to pretend that this is terra nullius. As an object of inquiry and as a political site, popular culture has a long provenance that must be acknowledged even if this work is to be contested.

Moreover, as I have argued along with my colleagues Matt Davies and Simon Philpott, if popular culture helps to make world politics what it is, we need to be prepared to question the ontologies and epistemologies that underpin our understandings of both while seeking to analyse what is at stake when one is rendered in terms of the other.

Photo credit: katerha

Upcoming Talks at the International Studies Association Convention v. 1

Next week in Montreal, I will be giving two short presentations at the International Studies Association Annual Convention. Today I want to give a brief overview of one of the papers I will be presenting on Wednesday. I will give a brief blurb of my presentation for the roundtable on approaching the study of culture in international relations on Monday --yes, I do need the weekend to sketch out my thoughts on that one!

The first presentationforms a part of the 'Beyond Biopolitics? Political Authority and Critical Human Security Studies' panel that includes Suvi Alt, Giorgio Shani, Martin Weber,  Gul Ceylan Tok, and Jens Sorensen Stilhoff with Anna Agathangelou serving as discussant.

My paper examines  what has been recently dubbed by Edward Newman as 'Critical Human Security Studies' and how it functions as an analytic. Although one can see the potential attractiveness of combining the supposed emancipatory impulse of critical security studies with the policy currency of human security, I argue that Critical Human Security Studies merges the most problematic aspects of both.

After providing an overview of the ways in which human security moved from being a potential challenger to national security to one of its most important supporting structures, I then outline six reservations about Critical Human Security Studies.

First, I question the wisdom of trying to rehabilitate a concept (i.e., human security) that underpins some of the most problematic areas of contemporary security thinking such as counter-insurgency doctrine.

Second, I raise concerns about the appropriateness of security discourses as a site for critical reconsideration of political order.

Third, I question if the policy networks and strategic complexes enabled by human security are even spaces with political potential given their overwhelming concern with technocratic efficiency and delivery mechanisms as opposed to any deliberation over the aims and objectives that they serve.

Fourth, building upon the work of Claudia Aradau and Columba Peoples, I raise some objections to the unreflexive use of emancipation by critical security studies, particularly with respect to the role of violence in the process of emancipation and the management of difference.

Fifth, I identify a dangerous formulation within Critical Human Security Studies.  (Human) security and emancipation are assumed to be different sides of the same coin. Does this then mean that the project for Critical Human Security Studies is de-securitization for the purposes of re-securitizing new phenomena? Moreover, neither human security nor the emancipatory impulse of critical security studies seem to present a fundamentally different vision of the political that moves beyond the Schmittian 'friend/enemy' distinction.

Finally, I argue that Critical Human Security Studies suffers from an improverished understanding of the sites where politics takes place. By privileging formal policy venues, it too eagerly seeks to adopt a discourse that actualy constrains the potential for transformation while discounting alternate means of engaging in political activity.

Image credit: versionz

Doctoral Funding Opportunities in Politics at Newcastle University

  Politics at Newcastle University is pleased to announce the availability of ESRC funded PhD studentship as part of the new North East Doctoral Training Centre. The studentships will be allocated on a competitive basis and include 1+3, +3, 3.75 and 2+3 awards. The deadline for applications is 25th March 2011.

We are seeking high calibre candidates interested in doctoral study who wish to be considered for these awards.

Preliminary inquires can be directed to Dr. Martin Coward.

Further details:

North East Doctoral Training Centre ESRC Funded Studentships in Politics

Politics at Newcastle University is delighted to announce the availability of ESRC funded PhD Studentships for the 2011-12 academic year as part of the new, ESRC recognised North East Doctoral Training Centre. The studentships will be awarded on a competitive basis.
 
The following studentships are available:

1+3 awards: targeted at students with or nearing completion of first class and strong 2:1 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 traning. 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, children's literature, film, electronic games

• Targeted killing and assassination

• Global justice and ethics

• The arms trade and disarmament

• Postcolonialism

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.

The deadline for submitting applications for the 2001-2012 academic year is 25th March 2011.

My Latest Article in the Review of International Studies

Back in April of 2007, I organized a two day workshop at Newcastle University. The focus was on the contributions made by Prof. Richard K. Ashley to the discipline of international relations. We had a great set of presenters (including Rick himself) and a very engaged audience that made for a lively couple of days. Even three decades on from Rick's early forays into the (il)logics of realism, the presence of post structuralism, let alone the implications for the discipline of international relations, remains highly contentious territory.

I am pleased to announce that three of the papers that were presented during this workshop are now featured in the latest issue of the Review of International Studies:

• 'Interuption Ashley' by Cynthia Weber;

• 'Things Lost and Found: The Silences of Thinking Space' by Mark Laffey;

• 'Dissidence, Richard K. Ashley, and the Politics of Silence' by Kyle Grayson.

Under the terms of the copyright agreement, I am actually allowed to post a copy of the article which can be downloaded here.

The full citation is:

'Dissidence, Richard K. Ashley, and the politics of silence' by Kyle Grayson Review of International Studies (2010), 36(4): 1005-1019 Cambridge University Press doi: 10.1017/S0260210510001415 Published online by Cambridge University Press 01 Nov 2010. © British International Studies Association

Many thanks to everyone involved, especially Cindy and Mark, who were very patient throughout the process.

Photo credit: Shahram Sharif

New Popular Culture and World Politics Book Series with Routledge

I am pleased to announce on behalf of my co-editors that the Popular Culture and World Politics (PCWP) book series has signed with Routledge. We already have some fantastic projects in the pipeline. We are also interested in hearing from anyone conducting research on some aspect of the PCWP nexus across the arts, humanities, and social sciences who has a book proposal, manuscript, or edited volume for which they are seeking peer-reviewed publication. Please see the call below.

Popular Culture and World Politics Book Series with Routledge

Series Editors:
Matt Davies, Kyle Grayson, Simon Philpott (all Newcastle University), Christina Rowley (Brown University), and Jutta Weldes (Bristol University)

The Popular Culture World Politics (PCWP) book series is the forum for leading interdisciplinary research that explores the profound and diverse interconnections between popular culture and world politics. It aims to bring further innovation, rigor, and recognition to this emerging sub-field of international relations.

To these ends, the PCWP series is interested in various themes, from the juxtaposition of cultural artefacts that are increasingly global in scope and regional, local and domestic forms of production, distribution and consumption; to the confrontations between cultural life and global political, social, and economic forces; to the new or emergent forms of politics that result from the rescaling or internationalization of popular culture.

Similarly, the PCWP series wishes to provide a venue for work that explores the effects of new technologies and new media on established practices of representation and the making of political meaning. It encourages engagement with popular culture as a means for contesting powerful narratives of particular events and political settlements as well as explorations of the ways that popular culture informs mainstream political discourse. The PCWP series promotes investigation into how popular culture contributes to changing perceptions of time, space, scale, identity, and participation while establishing the outer limits of what is popularly understood as ‘political’ or ‘cultural’.

In addition to film, television, literature, and art, the PCWP series actively encourages research into diverse artefacts including sound, music, food cultures, gaming, design, architecture, programming, leisure, sport, fandom and celebrity. The series is fiercely pluralist in its approaches to the study of popular culture and world politics and is interested in the past, present, and future cultural dimensions of hegemony, resistance and power.

Therefore, we encourage the submission of proposals for monographs and edited volumes that will contribute to furthering the understanding of any aspect of the popular culture-world politics continuum.

For more information on how to submit a proposal, please contact us at matt.davies[at]ncl.ac.uk; k.a.grayson[at]ncl.ac.uk; simon.philpott[at]ncl.ac.uk; christina.rowley[at]bristol.ac.uk; or jutta.weldes[at]bristol.ac.uk

You may also contact the Senior Publisher for Politics and International Studies Craig Fowlie at the following email address: craig.fowlie[at]tandf.co.uk

Photo credit: kevindooley

 

My Latest Article Published in International Politics

Human security, neoliberalism and corporate social responsibility

By Kyle Grayson (Newcastle University)

Mainstream critiques of human security theory and practice have criticized how human security is being conceptualized, with a specific focus on how the absence of a precise and universally accepted definition hinders its practical application. Rejecting these critiques as an explanation for the policy failures of human security agendas, this article argues that the difficulties experienced in operationalizing human security lie in the myriad ways human security policies have revealed themselves to be subordinate to an existing, well-established and equally diffuse policy agenda: neoliberalism. The specific case study examines Canada, a prominent member of the human security vanguard, and its unwillingness to regulate transnational corporate conduct that contributes to human insecurity.                           International Politics (2010) 47, 497–522. doi:10.1057/ip.2010.20

Key words: human security; Canada; UN; neoliberalism

Please email me directly if you'd like a copy.

Photo credit: xinhua1

Weekend Reading Roundup v. 67

This weekend in the reading roundup:

• 'US Matches Indian Outsourcing Costs' by James Lamont and John Leahy at ft.com (thanks to Lenin's Tomb for the link!)

• 'The Costs of Ownership: Why Copyright Protection Will Hurt the Fashion Industry' by Johanna Blakley at designobserver.com

• 'Gameworld Geopolitics and the Genre of the Quest' by Rachel Hughes (Lecturer in Geography at the Melbourne School of Land and Environment)

• 'Review of Natalie Bormann's National Missile Defence and the Politics of US Identity: A Poststructural Critique' by Kyle Grayson at the Journal of American Studies

• 'Can Assassinations Turn the Tide in Afghanistan' by Robert Baer at time.com

Hope the weather is as nice as it is here, where ever you may be!

Photo credit: orvalrochefort

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)