Jussi Parikka and Tony Sampson discuss Tarde, networks and Virality

Posted on February 5, 2013 by stuartelden

SampsonAt the Theory, Culture and Society blog Jussi Parikka and Tony Sampson discuss Gabriel Tarde and networks – the discussion is based around Sampson’s recently published Virality: Contagion Theory in the Age of Networks.

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Books received

Posted on February 4, 2013 by stuartelden

Books 4 Feb 2013Mainly as recompense for review work, a good mix of old and new books, including Esposito’s Terms of the Political, Beatrice Hanssen’s Critique of Violence, Brad Evans, Liberal Terror, and a number of books by Sartre.

Posted in Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Politics, Roberto Esposito | Leave a comment

Posted on February 4, 2013 by stuartelden

David Beer discusses the seeming lack of sociology blogs, and the contrast with geography. Interesting – not sure that there are that many in geography, and of other areas I am interested in, political theory seems to have relatively few compared to philosophy. What are we missing?

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Conflict in Cities project

Posted on February 4, 2013 by stuartelden

vista6I was down in Cambridge last week to examine a very good PhD thesis by Konstantin Kastrissianakis in the Department of Architecture. The PhD was part of the Conflict in Cities programme, and looked at public space in Beirut. While there, Wendy Pullan, who led the Conflict in Cities research team, gave me a packet with their briefing papers in it. Very interesting reading – and you can download these for free, along with a series of working papers, from their website. The project looked at a number of cities alongside Beirut – Belfast, Berlin, Brussels, Jerusalem, Kirkuk, Mostar, Nicosia and Vukovar.

Posted in Boundaries, Politics, Territory, urban/urbanisation | Leave a comment

Judith Butler at the American Academy of Religion

Posted on February 4, 2013 by stuartelden

A20-402 Plenary Address: Judith Butler from American Academy of Religion on Vimeo.

(via Berfrois)

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Chomsky on the decline of US power

Posted on February 4, 2013 by stuartelden

ChomskyAt Informed Comment, an excerpt from a chapter in Power Systems: Conversations on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to U.S. Empire, Noam Chomsky’s new interview book with David Barsamian.

 

Posted in Noam Chomsky, Politics | Leave a comment

AAG draft program available

Posted on February 2, 2013 by stuartelden

The draft program for the Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles in early April is now available online. I’m speaking in a panel on Sloterdijk, a panel on the future of publishing, and giving a paper on ‘Urban Territory’.

Posted in Conferences, Peter Sloterdijk, Territory, urban/urbanisation | Leave a comment

Advisor to Al Quds University

Posted on February 2, 2013 by stuartelden

I’ve been appointed as an International Scholar as part of the Academic Fellowship program of the Open Society Institute in Budapest. I’ll be working with the Social Science Division at Al-Quds Bard Honors College, Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem. This entails a week-long visit to the University in early May to work with academics there on their teaching, research and supervision, and a group meeting in Istanbul in early April in preparation for that. There may be a follow-up visit at a later date. This should be really interesting and a great opportunity to work with some Palestinian colleagues.

Posted in Travel, Universities | Leave a comment

Counterfire on ‘Beyond Occupation’

Posted on February 2, 2013 by stuartelden

beyond_occupation_pttThe collection Beyond Occupation is reviewed at Counterfire, suggesting that its legal focus is both its strength and weakness.  A brief quotation:

In conclusion, any analysis which sees the legal system as working above and beyond politics and economics will always be limited in its assessment and solutions. However, we need to use all weapons at our disposal and this book is a challenging and detailed resource. Nonetheless, change will not be brought about merely by appeals to social justice and rights.

Posted in Politics, Territory | Leave a comment

Chicago Shorts

Posted on February 1, 2013 by stuartelden

University of Chicago Press have launched a series called Chicago Shorts – either new material or highlights from their archive in e-book form. Nine books are in the first batch, and one is available for free download. And unlike the Palgrave Pivots, these are sensibly priced at $3.99.

Posted in Publishing | Leave a comment