Social 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”
Online Features
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”
2011 Left Forum Don't Take the Bait: The Left and Crisis A Social Text Roundtable
Randy Martinwith Neferti Tadiar (Barnard), Micki McGee (Fordham), Randy Martin and Michael Ralph (NYU) The recent financial crisis would seem to present precisely the opportunity that the left has been waiting for: a moment of reckoning when failure is undeniable … Continue reading “2011 Left Forum Don't Take the Bait: The Left and Crisis A Social Text Roundtable”
Unhappiness is everywhere
Anna McCarthyDon't Take the Bait: The Left and Crisis – A Social Text Roundtable
Social Text CollectiveThe recent financial crisis would seem to present precisely the opportunity that the left has been waiting for: a moment of reckoning when failure is undeniable and injustice unconcealed. Yet crisis has not proven to be so ready or willing an object to think with. Financiers continue to take crisis as their opportunity, while misery continues to be spread around. How the left might see itself if crisis is taken as its mirror? <a href="http://socialtextjournal.org/blog/2011/03/2011-left-forum-dont-take-the-bait-the-left-and-crisis-a-social-text-roundtable.php". Read more
New Middle Eastern Uprisings: Gender, Class and Security Politics in Egypt and Iran
Social Text CollectiveTuesday, Feb. 22, 12:30 to 2:00pm
Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, NYU
20 Cooper Square, 4th floor
The recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt are electrifying the Middle East and the world. At this lunch time panel, Paul Amar will lay out the forces behind the popular democracy movement in Egypt, and Manijeh Nasrabadi will offer some comparisons to the Green Revolution in Iran. Both will address the wider context of popular revolt in the Middle East. Come, bring your lunch, and engage in discussion about these momentous events.
The Promise of Happiness
Sean Grattan
Reviewed: Ahmed, Sara. The Promise of Happiness. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010 In her sweeping new work The Promise of Happiness, Sara Ahmed provocatively challenges the idea of happiness as a necessary social good. Ahmed delivers a compelling and engrossing argument about … Continue reading “The Promise of Happiness”
World Social Forum (Dakar, Senegal, February 6th-11th)
Michael Ralph
ST Editorial Collective member Michael Ralph shares photos from the 2011 World Social Forum (Dakar, Senegal, February 6th-11th), including a protest outside the Egyptian Embassy just hours before Mubarak’s resignation was announced. Patrick Bond and Immanuel Wallerstein share their reflections … Continue reading “World Social Forum (Dakar, Senegal, February 6th-11th)”
Orientalist propaganda/image-making by the Mubarak regime
Allen FeldmanConsider the recent violent image making by the Egyptian state in its staging of counterinsurgency terror in mufti. I refer to the charging of Liberation square in Cairo by thugs on horses and camels, and by vigilantes on foot armed … Continue reading “Orientalist propaganda/image-making by the Mubarak regime”
Egypt Unveiled
Ashley DawsonCheck out this great collection of images of Egyptian women involved in the uprising. It’s a really important alternative to the male-dominated images of the uprising emanating from mainstream media sources. Egyptian women are evidently taking a leading role in … Continue reading “Egypt Unveiled”
Ben Reiss article discussed in media
Social Text CollectiveBen Reiss’ article, “Madness after Virginia Tech: From Psychiatric Risk to Institutional Vulnerability” in the current issue of Social Text, will be the topic of discussion on KPFA’s Against the Grain this Wednesday, February 2, beginning at noon Pacific/3 Eastern and worldwide via kpfa.org. The audio will be archived afterward at againstthegrain.org.
Reiss has also published a related commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Campus Security and the Specter of Mental-Health Policing,” which you can read here.
Brent Edwards on NYC Jazz in the 1970s
Ashley DawsonColumbia University professor and Social Text member Brent Edwards to speak on Jazz in NYC during the 1970s In jazz history, the 1970s have habitually been overlooked or dismissed as a period when the music went into severe decline. But … Continue reading “Brent Edwards on NYC Jazz in the 1970s”