This feature in today’s The Observer newspaper on Britain’s relationship to ‘public intellectualism’ is at times illuminating, and at times frustrating in the most productive of ways. Indeed, some of my frustration with it connects directly to a theme that … Continue reading “On Public Intellectualism in the UK”
Online Features
Must We Rebuild the Anthill?: A Letter to/for Japanese Comrades
George CaffentzisDear comrades, We are writing to express our solidarity with you in a time when the pain from the deaths of friends, family and comrades is still raw and the task of shaping a new kind of life out of … Continue reading “Must We Rebuild the Anthill?: A Letter to/for Japanese Comrades”
Launch Party for Social Text 106: "Interspecies"
Social Text CollectivePlease join us to toast the publication of a special issue of Social Text on Interspecies, edited by Julie Livingston and Jasbir K. Puar!
Industries of production and scientific research rely on the use of nonhuman animals and plants, remaking environments, populations, and even genetic information to suit human designs. This issue of Social Text considers the radical implications of questioning the exceptional status of humans among the planet’s species. Responding to growing interest in animal studies and posthumanism, the contributors draw on racial, feminist, queer, postcolonial, and disability theories to probe the diversity of human relationships with other forms of biosocial life. Interspecies queries the politics of traditional species taxonomy and examines the ways humans use the material characteristics of other species to pursue their economic, political, and social aims.
Season of "Arab Revolt" is also a season of "African Revolt"
Michael RalphIn the midst of revolutionary transformations sweeping the “Middle East,” be careful not to overlook a conjoined protest movement stretching across the African continent. In addition to “pro-democracy protests” in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, … Continue reading “Season of "Arab Revolt" is also a season of "African Revolt"”
Democracy in America… and Wisconsin
Russ Castronovo
Full disclosure: I wrote this on my office computer and I sent it to Social Text Online via my university email. To give fair warning, I use “recall,” “protest,” and other words that the Republican Party of Wisconsin latched … Continue reading “Democracy in America… and Wisconsin”
Insecure Times
Ashley Dawson
Under Review: Marc Abélès, The Politics of Survival (Duke University Press, 2010) Kolya Abramsky, Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the Transition to a Post-Petrol World(AK Press, 2010) Slavoj Zizek, Living in the End Times (Verso, 2010) Writing about Hollywood disaster … Continue reading “Insecure Times”
Power in Italy
Andrea CarossoThree days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, as news of a possible nuclear leakage in Fukushima was capturing the headlines, the Italian secretary for the environment, Stefania Prestigiacomo, went on record announcing that, despite growing widespread concern, Italy’s … Continue reading “Power in Italy”
Anna McCarthy in conversation with Alexander Provan
Social Text CollectiveSocial Text co-editor will moderate a discussion on digital publishing with Triple Canopy editor Alexander Provan and scholar Dan Cohen at 20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor, Tuesday April 7th, 2011, at 6 PM.
Free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary. Photo ID required.
Four Questions about the Libyan Bombing Campaign
Omar DahbourWhat is the point of the bombing campaign against Libya? To answer this question, it would be nice if we could reach some certainty about what is going on in Libya itself. But this is not going to be easy, in the absence of specialist knowledge about the parties and players involved in the internal conflict. Certainly, Qaddafi, a world figure of some notoriety, seeks to maintain his power in the face of internal opposition. But who is this opposition?
Diary of a Racist Kid
Livia TenzerLast weekend I had a first encounter with the multimedia juggernaut that is Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Started online by Jeff Kinney as a web comic, with daily entries exploring the world of middle school angst and pranks, the … Continue reading “Diary of a Racist Kid”
Proposals for Periscope
Biella ColemanSocial Text is currently accepting proposals for Periscope, the journal’s curated web forum of illuminating critical opinion on contemporary political and theoretical affairs. Previous Periscopes have focused on topics as diverse as Queer Suicide, the South African World Cup, and … Continue reading “Proposals for Periscope”
New Middle Eastern Uprisings: Gender, Class and Security Politics in Iran
Manijeh NasrabadiYou know times have changed when the question, “Is Iran next?” no longer refers to whether Iran will be the next target in the US “war on terror,” but whether or not it will be next to succumb to a wave of revolutions. I obviously don’t have the answer but I can say that there is a profound radicalization under way in Iranian society that overruns the boundaries of class and sweeps across the continuum from religious to secular.
Painfully Beautiful
Jayna Brown
I saw Miral, the new film by Julian Schnabel last week. It was opening in New York and Los Angeles, to great controversy, as it was advertised as giving us a Palestinian point of view. My ears perked up when I … Continue reading “Painfully Beautiful”
Nuclear Woes
Janet NgSeveral times within the last century, Japan came close to national annihilation, or so it must have seemed to many in Japan. The 1923 Kanto Earthquake that devastated Tokyo, Yokohama and a number of surrounding prefectures, killed 140,000 people. The … Continue reading “Nuclear Woes”
Nuclear Power/Knowledge
Ashley DawsonThe ongoing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant intensified today, with worrying news emerging of radioactive iodine in Tokyo’s water supply. The entire infrastructure of one of the world’s most modern and cohesive societies seems to be threatened … Continue reading “Nuclear Power/Knowledge”