Bridge and Adey responses to ‘Secure the Volume’

Posted on March 8, 2013 by stuartelden

The responses to my “Secure the Volume: Vertical Geopolitics and the Depth of Power” paper are now available.

Gavin Bridge – Territory, now in 3D!

Peter Adey – Securing the volume/volumen

Along with my reply – Bodies, books, beneath.

Posted in My Publications, Politics, Territory | 1 Comment

Will Self on the Right in Britain

Posted on March 8, 2013 by stuartelden

While overblown at times, this is nonetheless a very readable analysis of the Right in Britain (or perhaps England) in the present moment.

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A new publisher – Rowman and Littlefield International

Posted on March 8, 2013 by stuartelden

I recently met with Sarah Campbell, the editorial director of Rowman and Littlefield International, a new publisher part owned by the US Rowman and Littlefield, but with editorial independence. It sounds like they have very interesting plans for their list. They have just launched a website and a blog and are interested in receiving proposals. The website is the place to go for more details of course, but from the discussion I had it was clear they are fully committed to their aim of “publishing in the disciplines of: Philosophy, Politics & International Relations, Cultural Studies and Economics. We are particularly intrigued by the interdisciplinary nature of these subject areas”. They are interested predominantly in research-led books, rather than textbooks, and are exploring publishing models that will allow them to have simultaneous or staggered paperback production for all titles.

Posted in Publishing | 1 Comment

Posted on March 7, 2013 by stuartelden

Globalectics reviewed at the Society and Space open site.

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Posted on March 7, 2013 by stuartelden

Link to Neil Smith’s undergraduate dissertation – recently scanned and available online.

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AAG Political Geography pre-conference

Posted on March 7, 2013 by stuartelden

Details of the Political Geography specialty group’s pre-conference in Los Angeles – immediately before the AAG general meeting – are available here.

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Heidegger – Nature, History, State: 1933-1934

Posted on March 7, 2013 by stuartelden

[update: thanks to Harvey Shoolman for details – the hardback of this is now published; a paperback is due in 2015. The seminars were published in German in the Heidegger Jahrbuch vols 4 and 5].

Heidegger

Intriguing news of a new volume of Heidegger’s seminars – Nature, History, State: 1933-1934 (I’ve linked to the Google Books page, as the publisher one is missing.) Amazon have this listed for October 2013.

Nature, History, State: 1933-1934 presents the first complete English-language translation of Heidegger’s seminar ‘On the Essence and Concepts of Nature, History and State’, together with full introductory material and interpretive essays by five leading thinkers and scholars: Robert Bernasconi, Peter Eli Gordon, Marion Heinz, Theodore Kisiel and Slavoj Žižek. The seminar, which was held while Heidegger was serving as National Socialist rector of the University of Freiburg, represents important evidence of the development of Heidegger’s political thought. The text consists of ten ‘protocols’ on the seminar sessions, composed by students and reviewed by Heidegger. The first session’s protocol is a rather personal commentary on the atmosphere in the classroom, but the remainder have every appearance of being faithful transcripts of Heidegger’s words, in which he raises a variety of fundamental questions about nature, history and the state. The seminar culminates in an attempt to sketch a political philosophy that supports the ‘Fuhrer state’. The text is important evidence for anyone considering the tortured question of Heidegger’s Nazism and its connection to his philosophy in general.

The seminars are translated by Gregory Fried and Richard Polt, responsible for the new translation of Introduction to Metaphysics and the lecture volume Being and Truth. Thanks to Enowning for the link. Are these seminar protocols available in German? I don’t think they are in a published volume of the Gesamtausgabe.

Posted in Martin Heidegger, Slavoj Zizek | 4 Comments

RGS journals issue 1 of 2013 open access

Posted on March 6, 2013 by stuartelden

The first issues of the 2013 volumes of the Royal Geographical Society’s journals are available open access for the rest of the year. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers; Area and The Geographical Journal. There is also the Geography Directions blog, which links journal articles to topical news stories.

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Professor of Political Theory and Geography at the University of Warwick

Posted on March 6, 2013 by stuartelden

I am pleased to announce that I have been appointed as Professor of Political Theory and Geography at the University of Warwick, starting in September 2013. The position is based in the Politics and International Studies department, but a substantial portion of my time will be devoted to working with the Centre for Urban Science and Progress – a partnership with New York University among others – and with Monash University as part of the Monash-Warwick Alliance. I will be spending a couple of months each year in New York and in Melbourne.

I will be sorry to leave Durham University, the Geography department, the International Boundaries Research Unit and the Institute of Advanced Study. I’ve enjoyed my 11 years at Durham, and learnt an enormous amount through being in a Geography department. This new role combines  the area I was trained in – political theory – with the discipline that has been very generous in adopting me – geography. Warwick’s PAIS is one of the most exciting departments in political science. The New York and Australia parts of the role combine my favourite city and my favourite country, as well as great universities. It really is a dream role, and I’m very excited by the prospect.

Posted in Institute of Advanced Study, Travel, Universities | 7 Comments

ESRC benchmarking report on Human Geography

Posted on March 6, 2013 by stuartelden

Last year I was involved in the Political Geography focus group of the ESRC’s review of UK human geography. This was an international evaluation of the discipline. The final report has now been published – International Benchmarking Review of UK Human Geography.

David Ley (UBC) was the chair of the Panel, and there were lots of meetings, assessments and discussions leading up to the conclusion:

Our unanimous conclusion from the evidence presented to us is that human geography in the UK is innovative, vibrant, and in most sub-fields is the world leader. Its students and staff are gifted and committed, its research outputs are disproportionately influential, read and referenced throughout the English-reading world – and, in translation, beyond. It is radically interdisciplinary and with the spatial turn in the humanities and social sciences has become an exporter of ideas and faculty to other disciplines. In the 1960s and 1970s the overseas export of geographers was substantial, and though slower today and more likely to be two-way, this trade in academic knowledge continues. UK geographers have an art not only for innovation but also for synthesis and a large number of the seminal publications (books as well as articles) continue to have a UK origin. So too among the major disciplinary journals – the UK publishes more than its share. Bibliometric indicators reveal that both in volume and in citation impact UK human geography exceeds the scores of other countries and almost all UK comparator social sciences. Cumulatively, this evidence supports the conclusion that human geography as a whole in the UK ranks first in the world.

There are lots of recommendations, suggestions, and some interesting examples in the report – worth a read.

Posted in Politics, Universities | Leave a comment