On the Chaos of the Disciplines and the disciples Academic stars, they flash like a comet As the mangy dog returns to its vomit Deja vu - nihil novi sub sole We lie and die in a darkening hole.
#Brexit and #Climate Change – a painful epiphany #saddleworthmoorfire
Explaining why I haven't yet done the paperwork to get my Irish citizenship (to which I am entitled through my mum's mum), I found myself saying to a new colleague 'it's because I hope - and I know it won't happen - but I am still hoping for it - that the 'British Establishment' will... Continue Reading →
Of Simmel, land yachts and sympathy for #climate denial
There's a very old joke about a man driving a huge Cadillac through the sticks in the southern States. He stops at an ancient service station for 'gas' (to buy some, not because he has it). The young hick serving him has never seen such a vehicle – sorry – 'vee-hickle', and is awestruck. He... Continue Reading →
Something fishy in the lake: of politics and power
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening The old saw goes 'give a man a fish and you have fed him for a... Continue Reading →
Generosity and conviviality in the age of algorithmic oppression: #Manchester #odmnoble
This was a superb event. A diverse audience of somewhere between 80 and 90 attended a truly excellent event on 'algorithms of oppression' yesterday in Manchester. The event, hosted by Open Data Manchester with the support of The Federation and Manchester School of Art, was centred on a lecture and q and a with Dr Safiya... Continue Reading →
Events, dear boy, events – of oil slicks, rich people and creeping
Musing #1 on Molotch, H. 1970. Oil in Santa Barbara and Power in America. Sociological Inquiry, 40, 131-144. In January 1969 the first big Oil Slick That Mattered washed up on the beaches of rich people in California. Sure, there had been the Torrey Canyon in 1967, where someone took an ill-advised shortcut and hit... Continue Reading →
How to lose, for sure. Aka “the information deficit model is killing us.” #vasectomy
We are losing. All we need to do to keep losing is to keep on doing what we are doing. Simples. Reflecting on the mirror-image of master and slave We can see it in our opponents. And if we denounce them for their condescension and silence, well, our tribe rewards us for seeing it and... Continue Reading →
Holy Moses or “There’s never an irony policeman when you need one”
We watched the documentary. Excellent if problematic, it was basically a morality play: a bunch of old white powerful men in a self-designed and policed echo chamber are eventually brought low by a scrappy band of diverse (gasp) women. And so immediately after the film there was to be a discussion. And a bunch of... Continue Reading →
Nice power/authority distinction
I have been - by wiser heads than mine - warned off trying to bite off much more for The Thesis, and we all agree with the imperative to Get The Damned Thing Finished. So, am not going to open up the box marked "power" more than a little peek... That's for a mythical post-doc...... Continue Reading →
Men critique things of me: of Winterson and Solnit in #Manchester #activism
aka some cishet white guy's uninvited commentary on two feminist literary icons. But it's his website and he can say what he likes. Nobody is forcing you to read it, 'kay? Rebecca Solnit will be known to the casual reader as the woman who wrote the (fantastic) 'Men Explain Things To Me’. Last night she... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 