30 April 2010
new blog address: from tomorrow
With consummately appalling timing, due to Blogger ftp changes, I have had to move my blog. From now on the address with be: http://infinitethought.cinestatic.com/
Here, in other words.
There may be glitches and things in the first few days, but hopefully there should be a redirect from here to there. Infinite thanks goes to Michael Forrest who has patiently hosted this site for the past six years, and to James Quinney, who designed my new site and moved everything over; something I could not have done in a million years.
29 April 2010
piece on middlesex closure for comment is free
Here. Usual CiF idiocy doesn't kick in until much later than I expected.
frieze on middlesex closure
Here.
middlesex philosophy campaign website
Save Middlesex philosophy now has a website.
alberto toscano's letter to the middlesex administrators
Dear Professors Driscoll, Ahmad, House and Esche,
I am writing to express my shock and dismay at your decision to shut down philosophy at Middlesex. I can see no justification whatsoever for terminating a programme with a widely-recognised record of excellence and a crucial role in the academic and intellectual life of London and the UK. On your website you proudly state: 'The most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) cited MIddlesex for its breadth of "internationally recognised" research.' And yet you have decided to close the very department which the RAE results identify as the most "internationally-recognised" at Middlesex. The alleged motivation for closure is the absence of a "measurable" contribution by philosophy to Middlesex. If the only measure you accept is that of sizeable profits, that may be the case, but if so you have abandoned the very idea of what it means to run a university, where management is supposed to facilitate the work of teaching and research, rather than vice versa.
If Middlesex go ahead with this disastrous decision - whose unequivocal message is that the university is not interested in either academic excellence or its international reputation - the standing of your institution will suffer immensely. I hope you will reconsider this decision before irreversible damage is done to Middlesex University and to the future of philosophy in the United Kingdom.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Alberto Toscano
Senior Lecturer
Department of Sociology
Goldsmiths, University of London
I am writing to express my shock and dismay at your decision to shut down philosophy at Middlesex. I can see no justification whatsoever for terminating a programme with a widely-recognised record of excellence and a crucial role in the academic and intellectual life of London and the UK. On your website you proudly state: 'The most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) cited MIddlesex for its breadth of "internationally recognised" research.' And yet you have decided to close the very department which the RAE results identify as the most "internationally-recognised" at Middlesex. The alleged motivation for closure is the absence of a "measurable" contribution by philosophy to Middlesex. If the only measure you accept is that of sizeable profits, that may be the case, but if so you have abandoned the very idea of what it means to run a university, where management is supposed to facilitate the work of teaching and research, rather than vice versa.
If Middlesex go ahead with this disastrous decision - whose unequivocal message is that the university is not interested in either academic excellence or its international reputation - the standing of your institution will suffer immensely. I hope you will reconsider this decision before irreversible damage is done to Middlesex University and to the future of philosophy in the United Kingdom.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Alberto Toscano
Senior Lecturer
Department of Sociology
Goldsmiths, University of London
my letter to the middlesex administrators
[m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk; w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk; m.house@mdx.ac.uk; e.esche@mdx.ac.uk; savemdxphil@gmail.com].
Dear Michael Driscoll, Waqar Ahmad, Margaret House & Ed Esche,
The decision on the part of Middlesex University to close its Philosophy department is a travesty. As evidenced by the massive outcry which has already greeted this decision, it is absolutely clear that the university has made a terrible mistake. The 'justifications' for the closure of Philosophy at Middlesex - which, I'm sure you don't need reminding, is the highest-scoring department at a post-92 and your most valuable research asset - are risible. If you want to talk about 'impact', there are few things that people associate with the name 'Middlesex University' more than its excellent Philosophy department and staff. Over the past decade or so, Middlesex has built up its reputation for being the best place in the country to study European philosophy, surpassing its Russell Group competitors. It makes absolutely no sense, either from an economic or a PR perspective to destroy in an instant what does you most proud.
It cannot have escaped your notice that in the past year or so threats to close or make cuts to Philosophy at Liverpool and KCL have been greeted with a storm of international protest. The same thing has already begun to happen over Middlesex. The precedent has been for management to reverse their decisions - I can only hope, as someone who had the privilege to be awarded their PhD by Middlesex - that this will happen in this case as well.
Sincerely,
Dr Nina Power
(PhD in Philosophy, Middlesex University, 2006)
...................................................................
Dr Nina Power
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
Roehampton University
Dear Michael Driscoll, Waqar Ahmad, Margaret House & Ed Esche,
The decision on the part of Middlesex University to close its Philosophy department is a travesty. As evidenced by the massive outcry which has already greeted this decision, it is absolutely clear that the university has made a terrible mistake. The 'justifications' for the closure of Philosophy at Middlesex - which, I'm sure you don't need reminding, is the highest-scoring department at a post-92 and your most valuable research asset - are risible. If you want to talk about 'impact', there are few things that people associate with the name 'Middlesex University' more than its excellent Philosophy department and staff. Over the past decade or so, Middlesex has built up its reputation for being the best place in the country to study European philosophy, surpassing its Russell Group competitors. It makes absolutely no sense, either from an economic or a PR perspective to destroy in an instant what does you most proud.
It cannot have escaped your notice that in the past year or so threats to close or make cuts to Philosophy at Liverpool and KCL have been greeted with a storm of international protest. The same thing has already begun to happen over Middlesex. The precedent has been for management to reverse their decisions - I can only hope, as someone who had the privilege to be awarded their PhD by Middlesex - that this will happen in this case as well.
Sincerely,
Dr Nina Power
(PhD in Philosophy, Middlesex University, 2006)
...................................................................
Dr Nina Power
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
Roehampton University
some professors respond to the closure of middlesex philosophy
From Leiter's blog:
I once worked in the same institution as the Dean who has announced this outrageous decision. He was unspeakable then, but he has now surpassed himself. He is another failed British academic who is taking his revenge on those who have not failed. We will no doubt see more of this in the coming months and years. The Middlesex Department runs the most challenging and lively research seminars I have come across anywhere, which are a testament to the ethos and commitment of the department. This decision must be opposed in every possible manner. - Professor Andrew Bowie
Looks like pure administrative rent-seeking, as they demand 55% of each dept's income. It looks more like blackmail or extortion by gangsters than anything resembling university administration -- but maybe it's time to outgrow such naivety? The end game seems to be that each dept is a franchise, able to use the University brand name in exchange for cash on the barrel head. - Professor John Protevi
The UK is indeed going crazy in respect of academic matters. The Higher Education Funding Council recently declared that every MA programme should include business awareness...no really that is exactly what they said. I take it that they do not mean raising awareness of commodity fetishism and alienation. In the UK we face what for us is an unprecedented attack on the very idea of education and on the intellectual freedom that defines a university. I fear a perfect storm. In the Thatcher years there were cuts but there was nothing like the combination of intellectual corruption, managerialism and administrative overload that characterise the context in which these cuts are taking place. The one thing our politicians take seriously is what happens in the USA and the views of powerful people there. It is just possible that a widespread outcry might reverse this bizarre decision (their RAE score and graduate recruitment makes the financial justification unbelievable as others have suggested.) - Professor James Ladyman
I once worked in the same institution as the Dean who has announced this outrageous decision. He was unspeakable then, but he has now surpassed himself. He is another failed British academic who is taking his revenge on those who have not failed. We will no doubt see more of this in the coming months and years. The Middlesex Department runs the most challenging and lively research seminars I have come across anywhere, which are a testament to the ethos and commitment of the department. This decision must be opposed in every possible manner. - Professor Andrew Bowie
Looks like pure administrative rent-seeking, as they demand 55% of each dept's income. It looks more like blackmail or extortion by gangsters than anything resembling university administration -- but maybe it's time to outgrow such naivety? The end game seems to be that each dept is a franchise, able to use the University brand name in exchange for cash on the barrel head. - Professor John Protevi
The UK is indeed going crazy in respect of academic matters. The Higher Education Funding Council recently declared that every MA programme should include business awareness...no really that is exactly what they said. I take it that they do not mean raising awareness of commodity fetishism and alienation. In the UK we face what for us is an unprecedented attack on the very idea of education and on the intellectual freedom that defines a university. I fear a perfect storm. In the Thatcher years there were cuts but there was nothing like the combination of intellectual corruption, managerialism and administrative overload that characterise the context in which these cuts are taking place. The one thing our politicians take seriously is what happens in the USA and the views of powerful people there. It is just possible that a widespread outcry might reverse this bizarre decision (their RAE score and graduate recruitment makes the financial justification unbelievable as others have suggested.) - Professor James Ladyman
petition to save middlesex philosophy
I think there might be another one on the way, but sign this one, sign them both, sign everything...
Save Middlesex Philosophy
Save Middlesex Philosophy
28 April 2010
msex philosophy closure: more people and more damning facts with which to email them
[Via Professor Peter Hallward]
As you might expect we're scrambling to put together a response, and to begin with we're asking colleagues and friends to send a brief email or letter about the closure to the University administrators who have made this unexpected decision. If you have time to write such a message, please feel free to extract some points from a draft letter that is being sent to Times Higher Education, below.
The four people to write to are as follows:
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Michael Driscoll, m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk;
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise, Waqar Ahmad, w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk;
Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, Margaret House, m.house@mdx.ac.uk;
Dean of the School of Arts & Education, Ed Esche, e.esche@mdx.ac.uk.
(The full set of emails is m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk; w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk; m.house@mdx.ac.uk; e.esche@mdx.ac.uk).
If you are able to send such an email, it would be helpful if you blind copied (BCC) it to our campaign email, savemdxphil@gmail.com.
-------------------------------------------------------
Draft letter to Times Higher Education, regarding the closure of Philosophy at Middlesex University
The abrupt closure of the Philosophy programmes at Middlesex is a matter of national and indeed international concern. Not only does it contradict the stated commitment of Middlesex University to promote 'research excellence', it represents a startling and perhaps irreversible stage in the impoverishment of Philosophy provision in the UK.
We have participated in events organised by the Philosophy group at Middlesex and we can testify to the significant and distinctive contribution it makes to philosophy in the UK. Its set of MA programmes is currently the largest in the UK. Philosophy is the most prestigious and highest research-rated subject at Middlesex University. Building on its grade of 5 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, in the 2008 RAE Middlesex was rated first in philosophy among post-1992 universities and 13th out of a total of 41 institutions nationally, with 65% of its research activity judged world-leading or internationally excellent. It is now widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world.
Middlesex Philosophy is one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It is also one of relatively few such programmes that remains financially viable, currently contributing close to half of its total income to the University's central administration.
We call on Middlesex University to reverse this damaging and ill-judged decision to close its Philosophy programmes, and to renew its commitment to widening participation in education and to excellence in research.
As you might expect we're scrambling to put together a response, and to begin with we're asking colleagues and friends to send a brief email or letter about the closure to the University administrators who have made this unexpected decision. If you have time to write such a message, please feel free to extract some points from a draft letter that is being sent to Times Higher Education, below.
The four people to write to are as follows:
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Michael Driscoll, m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk;
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise, Waqar Ahmad, w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk;
Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, Margaret House, m.house@mdx.ac.uk;
Dean of the School of Arts & Education, Ed Esche, e.esche@mdx.ac.uk.
(The full set of emails is m.driscoll@mdx.ac.uk; w.ahmad@mdx.ac.uk; m.house@mdx.ac.uk; e.esche@mdx.ac.uk).
If you are able to send such an email, it would be helpful if you blind copied (BCC) it to our campaign email, savemdxphil@gmail.com.
-------------------------------------------------------
Draft letter to Times Higher Education, regarding the closure of Philosophy at Middlesex University
The abrupt closure of the Philosophy programmes at Middlesex is a matter of national and indeed international concern. Not only does it contradict the stated commitment of Middlesex University to promote 'research excellence', it represents a startling and perhaps irreversible stage in the impoverishment of Philosophy provision in the UK.
We have participated in events organised by the Philosophy group at Middlesex and we can testify to the significant and distinctive contribution it makes to philosophy in the UK. Its set of MA programmes is currently the largest in the UK. Philosophy is the most prestigious and highest research-rated subject at Middlesex University. Building on its grade of 5 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, in the 2008 RAE Middlesex was rated first in philosophy among post-1992 universities and 13th out of a total of 41 institutions nationally, with 65% of its research activity judged world-leading or internationally excellent. It is now widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world.
Middlesex Philosophy is one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It is also one of relatively few such programmes that remains financially viable, currently contributing close to half of its total income to the University's central administration.
We call on Middlesex University to reverse this damaging and ill-judged decision to close its Philosophy programmes, and to renew its commitment to widening participation in education and to excellence in research.
radical philosophy response to msex cuts
Late on Monday 26 April, staff in Philosophy at Middlesex University in London were informed that the University executive are to close all Philosophy programmes: undergraduate, postgraduate and MPhil/PhD.
Philosophy is the highest research-rated subject at Middlesex University, with 65% of its research activity judged 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' in the UK government's recent Research Assessment Exercise. It is now widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world. Its MA programmes in Philosophy have grown in recent years to become the largest in the UK, with 42 new students admitted in September 2009. Middlesex offers one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It is also one of relatively few such programmes that remains financially viable, currently contributing close to half of its total income to the University's central administration.
Needless to say, Radical Philosophy very much regret this decision to terminate Philosophy at Middlesex, and its likely consequences for the teaching of philosophy in the UK. This is a shameful decision which essentially means the end of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, a hub for internationally renowned scholarship (http://www.web.mdx.ac.uk/crmep/; staff include Eric Alliez, Peter Hallward, Mark Kelly, Christian Kerslake, Peter Osborne and Stella Sandford). This act of wilful self-harm by the University must be resisted.
Please join the facebook group and spread the word
Campaign email: savemdxphil@gmail.com
Philosophy is the highest research-rated subject at Middlesex University, with 65% of its research activity judged 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' in the UK government's recent Research Assessment Exercise. It is now widely recognised as one of the most important centres for the study of modern European philosophy anywhere in the English-speaking world. Its MA programmes in Philosophy have grown in recent years to become the largest in the UK, with 42 new students admitted in September 2009. Middlesex offers one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It is also one of relatively few such programmes that remains financially viable, currently contributing close to half of its total income to the University's central administration.
Needless to say, Radical Philosophy very much regret this decision to terminate Philosophy at Middlesex, and its likely consequences for the teaching of philosophy in the UK. This is a shameful decision which essentially means the end of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, a hub for internationally renowned scholarship (http://www.web.mdx.ac.uk/crmep/; staff include Eric Alliez, Peter Hallward, Mark Kelly, Christian Kerslake, Peter Osborne and Stella Sandford). This act of wilful self-harm by the University must be resisted.
Please join the facebook group and spread the word
Campaign email: savemdxphil@gmail.com
huge initial response to announcement of middlesex philosophy closure
There's a new email address for the campaign: savemdxphil@gmail.com
The university already have an absolutely enormous fight on their hands and a PR battle that they seem to have lost from the off.
Apart from the 3800+ members of the Save Middlesex Philosophy Facebook group, a previously-noted link from Brian Leiter, not to mention thousands of Twitter reports, there has been some swift and angry responses on websites. Here are some that I could find:
The Third Estate
Speculative Heresy
Lombard Street
Rebarbazon twice
Larval Subjects
Sub Specie Aeterni
Dommer Selv
Clare Solomon
Throw it against the wall to see if it sticks
Box 3, Spool 5
Zeitgeist Spam
Inter Kant twice
Perverse Egalitarianism
Onject-Oriented Philosophy
Library, Laundry, Coffee
Collected Musings
Jacques Rancière Blog
The Trent Philosophy Blog
John Protevi
An und fur sich
Voices off Camera
Verso's UK Blog
Radio Deleuze
chto delat
I Am The Blob
MSU Philosophy
Counterfire
Smokewriting
I'll add more here in due course. Please send links to infinitethought[at]hotmail.co.uk if you've written something.
The university already have an absolutely enormous fight on their hands and a PR battle that they seem to have lost from the off.
Apart from the 3800+ members of the Save Middlesex Philosophy Facebook group, a previously-noted link from Brian Leiter, not to mention thousands of Twitter reports, there has been some swift and angry responses on websites. Here are some that I could find:
The Third Estate
Speculative Heresy
Lombard Street
Rebarbazon twice
Larval Subjects
Sub Specie Aeterni
Dommer Selv
Clare Solomon
Throw it against the wall to see if it sticks
Box 3, Spool 5
Zeitgeist Spam
Inter Kant twice
Perverse Egalitarianism
Onject-Oriented Philosophy
Library, Laundry, Coffee
Collected Musings
Jacques Rancière Blog
The Trent Philosophy Blog
John Protevi
An und fur sich
Voices off Camera
Verso's UK Blog
Radio Deleuze
chto delat
I Am The Blob
MSU Philosophy
Counterfire
Smokewriting
I'll add more here in due course. Please send links to infinitethought[at]hotmail.co.uk if you've written something.
email the dean at middlesex to register your disapproval of philosophy cuts
This 42-second recent video tells you everything you need to know about the Dean of Arts and Education at Middlesex.
Email him to register your disgust at his announcement of the closure of philosophy at Middlesex:
e.esche@mdx.ac.uk
UPDATE: Brian Leiter, who runs an influential US Philosophy blog, has highlighted the absurdity of the decision over Middlesex.
closure of philosophy at middlesex: fightback starts now
[There should hopefully be a piece by me about this appalling news in the Guardian's Comment is Free in the next couple of days. Times Higher Education are running a piece next week. To express support and to help with the campaign email the campaign: savemdxphil@gmail.com making reference to Middlesex philosophy in the subject line. PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS NEWS WIDELY - closure at Liverpool and cuts at KCL and elsewhere have been avoided due to protests. It IS possible to stop the demented venal idiocy of university management]
UPDATE: Meeting next Wednesday, May 5, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, Oakwood Tavern, 155 Bramley Road, Oakwood, London, N14 4XA (Facebook group for meeting)
Join the Save Middlesex philosophy group on Facebook.
RALLY THIS FRIDAY: 3:00pm - 4:30pm, Trent Park, Middlesex University (Facebook event)
University News – Philosophy at Middlesex
Wednesday 28 April
MIDDLESEX TO CLOSE ITS TOP-RATED SUBJECT
Late on Monday 26 April 2010, the Dean of the School of Arts and Education at Middlesex University, announced the closure of all its Philosophy programmes, including the largest MA programme in Philosophy in the UK. Philosophy is the highest research-ranked subject in the University, and Middlesex is the highest rated of all the post-92 institutions in the subject.
Restriction of student opportunities and choice
Philosophy at Middlesex is one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching and supervision aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It is the main centre in the UK for the study of European or 'continental' philosophy.
Research
The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy is the main centre for ‘continental’ philosophy in the UK, with an established international reputation, frequent visiting speakers from abroad and increasing numbers of postgraduate students. There are currently 63 postgraduate students in the Centre: 48 MA students and 15 PhD students. 5 PhDs were awarded in 2009. These are remarkable numbers, especially for a small group of six staff.
The Middlesex Philosophy submission to RAE2001 was graded 5, and the 2008 submission was awarded a GPA of 2.80, ranking it joint 13th out of 41 institutions entered in Philosophy – above both its main competitors, Warwick and Sussex. It has hosted 2 Leverhulme Fellowships in the last 6 years, and recently completed a £245,000 AHRC-funded research project, ‘Concept and Form: The Cahiers pour l’analyse and Contemporary French Thought’ (which included production of a major web research resource). It recently submitted an application for a 2-year AHRC Project Grant on Transdisciplinarity, and held an international event on Transdisciplinarity in French Thought at the French Institute).
UPDATE: Meeting next Wednesday, May 5, 7:30pm - 9:00pm, Oakwood Tavern, 155 Bramley Road, Oakwood, London, N14 4XA (Facebook group for meeting)
Join the Save Middlesex philosophy group on Facebook.
RALLY THIS FRIDAY: 3:00pm - 4:30pm, Trent Park, Middlesex University (Facebook event)
University News – Philosophy at Middlesex
Wednesday 28 April
MIDDLESEX TO CLOSE ITS TOP-RATED SUBJECT
Late on Monday 26 April 2010, the Dean of the School of Arts and Education at Middlesex University, announced the closure of all its Philosophy programmes, including the largest MA programme in Philosophy in the UK. Philosophy is the highest research-ranked subject in the University, and Middlesex is the highest rated of all the post-92 institutions in the subject.
Restriction of student opportunities and choice
Philosophy at Middlesex is one of only a handful of programmes left in the UK that provides both research-driven and inclusive post-graduate teaching and supervision aimed at a wide range of students, specialist and non-specialist. It is the main centre in the UK for the study of European or 'continental' philosophy.
Research
The Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy is the main centre for ‘continental’ philosophy in the UK, with an established international reputation, frequent visiting speakers from abroad and increasing numbers of postgraduate students. There are currently 63 postgraduate students in the Centre: 48 MA students and 15 PhD students. 5 PhDs were awarded in 2009. These are remarkable numbers, especially for a small group of six staff.
The Middlesex Philosophy submission to RAE2001 was graded 5, and the 2008 submission was awarded a GPA of 2.80, ranking it joint 13th out of 41 institutions entered in Philosophy – above both its main competitors, Warwick and Sussex. It has hosted 2 Leverhulme Fellowships in the last 6 years, and recently completed a £245,000 AHRC-funded research project, ‘Concept and Form: The Cahiers pour l’analyse and Contemporary French Thought’ (which included production of a major web research resource). It recently submitted an application for a 2-year AHRC Project Grant on Transdisciplinarity, and held an international event on Transdisciplinarity in French Thought at the French Institute).
27 April 2010
event at raven row tomorrow
'Visions, Divisions and Revisions:
Political Film and Film Theory in the 1970s and 80s'
This programme takes place during the exhibition
'A History of Irritated Material', 25 February to 2 May 2010.
Wednesday 28 April, 7pm
Peter Osborne and Paul Willemen in conversation
Peter Osborne and Paul Willemen will critically examine the discourses that
proliferated within the British film culture of the 1970s, and which
informed the film theory that was developed then. The event will consist of
short presentations from Paul Willemen who edited the film journal Framework
in the 1980s and was on the board of Screen throughout the 1970s, and Peter
Osborne, Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University. The
presentations will be followed by responses from each participant and a
wide-ranging discussion.
Events are free but booking is essential as space is limited. Please email
info@ravenrow.org to reserve a place.
Programme organised by Petra Bauer and Dan Kidner
www.ravenrow.org/events
Political Film and Film Theory in the 1970s and 80s'
This programme takes place during the exhibition
'A History of Irritated Material', 25 February to 2 May 2010.
Wednesday 28 April, 7pm
Peter Osborne and Paul Willemen in conversation
Peter Osborne and Paul Willemen will critically examine the discourses that
proliferated within the British film culture of the 1970s, and which
informed the film theory that was developed then. The event will consist of
short presentations from Paul Willemen who edited the film journal Framework
in the 1980s and was on the board of Screen throughout the 1970s, and Peter
Osborne, Professor of Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University. The
presentations will be followed by responses from each participant and a
wide-ranging discussion.
Events are free but booking is essential as space is limited. Please email
info@ravenrow.org to reserve a place.
Programme organised by Petra Bauer and Dan Kidner
www.ravenrow.org/events
26 April 2010
subversive film festival conference: 3-7 may, zagreb
The Subversive Film Festival ('over a hundred films about socialism') has announced its conference timetable “The collapse of neoliberalism and the idea of socialism today” 03–07. 05. 2010 Europa Cinema. I was sent the timetable which includes Tariq Ali, Zizek, Vattimo, Tamas, etc., but I can't link to it because it's a word doc and I am an idiot. Best to email srecko.horvat[at]gmail.com to get hold of it.
marx and philosophy society annual conference
Marx and Philosophy Society
Seventh annual conference
Abstraction, Universality and Money
Saturday 5th June 2010, 9.30am - 6.00pm
Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London
Richard Seaford (Exeter)
Money, Abstraction, and the Genesis of the Psyche
Alberto Toscano (Goldsmiths)
The Dead Pledge of Society: Methodological Problems and Political Consequences of 'Real Abstraction'
Christopher Arthur
Abstraction, Universality and Money
Graduate panels:
Jan Sailer (Freiburg) Securities: The Purest Form of Abstract Wealth
Nick Gray (Sussex) Abstraction, Universality, Money and Capital
Marina Vishmidt (Queen Mary, University of London) Art in and as Abstract Labour
Brian Fuller (York, Toronto) Materialism and Dialectic: Reading Marx after Adorno Tim Carter (Sussex) Alienation and Domination in Marx and Wittgenstein
Chris Allsobrook (Sussex) The Ideological Normative Grounds of Immanent Critique
£15 waged, £10 unwaged (provides annual membership of the society)
To reserve a place in advance please email David Marjoribanks at dm275@kent.ac.uk.
Travel directions
Further details
Seventh annual conference
Abstraction, Universality and Money
Saturday 5th June 2010, 9.30am - 6.00pm
Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London
Richard Seaford (Exeter)
Money, Abstraction, and the Genesis of the Psyche
Alberto Toscano (Goldsmiths)
The Dead Pledge of Society: Methodological Problems and Political Consequences of 'Real Abstraction'
Christopher Arthur
Abstraction, Universality and Money
Graduate panels:
Jan Sailer (Freiburg) Securities: The Purest Form of Abstract Wealth
Nick Gray (Sussex) Abstraction, Universality, Money and Capital
Marina Vishmidt (Queen Mary, University of London) Art in and as Abstract Labour
Brian Fuller (York, Toronto) Materialism and Dialectic: Reading Marx after Adorno Tim Carter (Sussex) Alienation and Domination in Marx and Wittgenstein
Chris Allsobrook (Sussex) The Ideological Normative Grounds of Immanent Critique
£15 waged, £10 unwaged (provides annual membership of the society)
To reserve a place in advance please email David Marjoribanks at dm275@kent.ac.uk.
Travel directions
Further details
25 April 2010
anwyn on lady gaga
A couple of readers have asked what I think about Lady Gaga. I did have something I was writing on the relationship between recession and women's thigh-size but frankly I'm not sure it was really ever going to work. Never mind, because Anwyn has written a brilliant piece which chimes with my thoughts on the topic - although much more attentively and with a proper sense of musical context (I would only have added a reference to Aelita: Queen of Mars).
david harvey on tuesday
This is probably the only one of the Harvey events anyone will be able to get into, unless you've already got tickets for the ICA. There's an lse event on tomorrow too, but it might be in a smaller room, I'm not sure.
chto delat event in moscow
Chto Delat are great: if you're in Moscow, you should definitely go to their May Day Congress-Commune of Creative Workers.
23 April 2010
cahiers pour l'analyse: first appearance of website
Is here. This is an extremely significant project for anyone interested in postwar French thought. The site contains an extremely useful concept summary, which provides another way into the texts. Translations are to follow.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
This website provides an electronic annotated edition of the French philosophical journal Les Cahiers pour l'Analyse. Edited by a small group of Louis Althusser's students at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, the Cahiers pour l’Analyse appeared in ten volumes between 1966 to 1969 – arguably the most fertile and productive years in French philosophy during the whole of the twentieth century. Guided by the examples of Jacques Lacan, Louis Althusser and Georges Canguilhem, the Cahiers were conceived as a contribution to a philosophy based on the primacy of concepts and the rigour of logic and formalisation, in opposition to philosophies based on lived experience or the interpretation of meaning.
The Cahiers were soon recognised as one of the most significant and innovative philosophical projects of its time. The journal published landmark texts by many of the most influential thinkers of the day, including Althusser, Derrida, Foucault, Irigaray, Lacan, and Leclaire. Many of the young students and writers closely involved in the production of the Cahiers (e.g. Jacques-Alain Miller, Jean-Claude Milner, François Regnault and Alain Badiou) were soon to become major figures in French intellectual life.
The website is the main product of a three-year research project funded by the AHRC (2006-2009). It includes a full electronic edition of the original French texts in both html and facsimile pdf versions, together with detailed commentaries on each article, recent interviews with members of the original editorial board, and substantial entries on the main concepts and authors at issue in the journal. Other components of the research project included an international conference on the Cahiers and its legacy, held at Middlesex University on 21-22 May 2009, and two edited volumes on the Cahiers, entitled Concept and Form. These volumes are forthcoming from Verso in 2011: the first includes English translations of a selection of texts published in the Cahiers, the second is a collection of newly commissioned essays on the journal and translated extracts of interviews with members of the editorial board.
The lead investigator on the project was Peter Hallward; Christian Kerslake served as the project research fellow, in collaboration first with Ray Brassier and then Knox Peden.
next marxism in culture seminar: joshua clover
[Am very excited about this! See Owen's recent review of Joshua's book]
'Marxism in Culture' seminar, Friday 30 April, Wolfson Room, Institute for Historical Research, Senate House, London at 5.30.
No End & No Beginning: Pop, Periodization, Problems c. 1989
Joshua Clover (University of California, Davis)
bidisha on tokenism
Painfully true Guerilla Girls poster.
Bidisha has written an excellent piece on tokenism that avoids the usual merely factual approach in favour of an angrier kind of analysis (to be read alongside Laurie's equally excellent recent piece on why men get congratulated for saying feminist things that women have been saying forever here).
Bidisha writes:
'No modern woman wants to find herself alone on a station platform, counting a poster. It's sad. But it's all part of my investigation into cultural femicide – the erasure of women from public life. Who are the perpetrators? Events organisers, editors in broadcasting and the media, radio and TV producers, commissioners and jurors. They are male and female, they probably don't realise they're doing it, but they don't mind. They're fine with a virtually woman-free world.'
Amusingly enough, one of her major examples is the philosophy conference that runs alongside the Hay on Wye festival. I'll explain why this is amusing (or something like that) after Bidisha's summary:
'To witness femicide in action, go to the town of Hay this May. At the same time as the annual book festival is an unrelated philosophy festival called How The Light Gets In. There are 25 debates covering broad themes such as evolution, the urban space, creativity, violence and privacy. All but two of these events are male-dominated. Eight are men-only, opening with "Being Human in the 21st century." Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Four white men are going to discuss all the facets of the human experience. Thirteen discussions have just one woman and either four or three men, and one has one woman and two men. One event is a screening of a guy's film. Two talks have two men and two women. And that's it. I was scheduled to attend and was hugely relieved when other obligations meant I had to drop out. I know from experience that female participation in events that massively underrepresent women does not change anything. Year on year the ratio stays the same. How The Light Gets In gives 56 different men the opportunity to speak. It offers the same opportunity to just 11 women.'
Last year, I was actually invited to speak at 'How The Light Gets In' on a panel on utopias and dystopias. I agreed, and was quite looking forward to it. About a week later I get a call from the organisers saying: 'Very sorry, but we're not sure how you'd fit in on the panel after all...and besides, er, someone had asked someone else and we got confused...er...' Had they suddenly realised that I may hold political views to the left of the Lib Dems?! That I was actually a youngish female philosopher rather than a middle aged male philosopher?!
If you are indeed going to admit, as Bidisha puts it, that 'we no longer live in an age where female thinkers, writers, philosophers, academics, artists, theorists, activists or politicians are rare' then tentative organisers may have to acknowledge that some of those non-rare people might nevertheless not necessarily hold your middle-brow, middle-class, vacuous political and theoretical positions...or organisers should just be clear about not wanting anything new and that they're sticking to what they're 'comfortable with'. Then at least the stakes will be clear.
paper at middlesex: update
CRMEP Research Seminar
Steven Melville's presentation on Nancy and Hegel will now take place on May 20 instead of May 27. Steven Melville is Professor of the History of Art at Ohio State University. He has published widely on contemporary art as well as on issues in contemporary theory and historiography.
The seminar will begin at 17:00, in the Saloon, on the ground floor of the Mansion Building at Middlesex University, Trent Park Campus, Bramley Road, London N14 4YZ.
CRMEP research seminars are open to anyone wishing to attend. Directions for getting to Trent Park are available on the Middlesex website at
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/campus/campuses/tp/travel.asp
The full list of this year's research seminars is posted at
http://www.web.mdx.ac.uk/CRMEP/EVENTS/index.htm
Steven Melville's presentation on Nancy and Hegel will now take place on May 20 instead of May 27. Steven Melville is Professor of the History of Art at Ohio State University. He has published widely on contemporary art as well as on issues in contemporary theory and historiography.
The seminar will begin at 17:00, in the Saloon, on the ground floor of the Mansion Building at Middlesex University, Trent Park Campus, Bramley Road, London N14 4YZ.
CRMEP research seminars are open to anyone wishing to attend. Directions for getting to Trent Park are available on the Middlesex website at
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/campus/campuses/tp/travel.asp
The full list of this year's research seminars is posted at
http://www.web.mdx.ac.uk/CRMEP/EVENTS/index.htm
22 April 2010
education event at sussex
ON THE CURRENT SITUATION
IN (HIGHER)EDUCATION
This is the first in a weekly series of discussion organised by the what-is-education
working group. We aim to foster critical reflection and public discussion across the university community on the university as a place of life and work - its realities, difficulties, and potentials. Email what-is-education@gmail.com for more information or to get involved. A public meeting to discuss the current and future pressures
on education - financial, cultural and political - and how we can or should respond.
FRIDAY APRIL 23rd, 5:20-7pm. A2.
MARK FISHER Author of the blog k-punk and the recently-published book Capitalist Realism, both of which deal with social and cultural changes following from the contemporary ideology that capitalism is the ‘only game in town’. A particular focus on education stems from his experience as an FE teacher - where he saw first hand the invasion of what he calls ‘business ontology, or elsewhere ‘Nu-bureaucracy’: ‘increasing amounts of bureaucracy, in the form of performance reviews, spurious planning documents, log books: a proliferating thicket of self-surveillance and auditing’
ANDREW CHITTY
Lecturer in the philosophy department, who’ll provide a characteristically rigorous account of the fine detail of the funding of higher education, the parameters by which it is awarded, and the situation that leaves us in.
IN (HIGHER)EDUCATION
This is the first in a weekly series of discussion organised by the what-is-education
working group. We aim to foster critical reflection and public discussion across the university community on the university as a place of life and work - its realities, difficulties, and potentials. Email what-is-education@gmail.com for more information or to get involved. A public meeting to discuss the current and future pressures
on education - financial, cultural and political - and how we can or should respond.
FRIDAY APRIL 23rd, 5:20-7pm. A2.
MARK FISHER Author of the blog k-punk and the recently-published book Capitalist Realism, both of which deal with social and cultural changes following from the contemporary ideology that capitalism is the ‘only game in town’. A particular focus on education stems from his experience as an FE teacher - where he saw first hand the invasion of what he calls ‘business ontology, or elsewhere ‘Nu-bureaucracy’: ‘increasing amounts of bureaucracy, in the form of performance reviews, spurious planning documents, log books: a proliferating thicket of self-surveillance and auditing’
ANDREW CHITTY
Lecturer in the philosophy department, who’ll provide a characteristically rigorous account of the fine detail of the funding of higher education, the parameters by which it is awarded, and the situation that leaves us in.
21 April 2010
counterforum 2 & 3rd may
Opening meeting:
A feminist manifesto for the 21st century
Lindsey German and Nina Power
Sunday 2 May, 5pm
Room G2, School of Oriental & African Studies
London WC1H 0XG
Nearest tube: Russell Square
Monday 3 May
10am - 5pm
Indian YMCA
41 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6AQ
Nearest Tube: Warren Street
Discussions on:
The shape of the crisis
Islamophobia, racism and fascism
The 21st century working class
Gramsci and hegemony
The internet-serving the revolution?
The left and the movements
Speakers include:
Brendan Montague (campaigning journalist) Lorenzo Corretti (Popola Viola anti-Berlusconi movement) Chris Nineham (Stop the War) Kate Connelly (PCS activist) Adrian Cousins (editor Counterfire) Lindsey German (socialist author and convenor Stop the War Coalition) Clare Solomon (President elect University of London Union) Elaine Graham Leigh (Campaign against Climate Change) John Rees (author of Imperialism and Resistance) Tami Peterson (Birkbeck SU Exec) James Meadway (economics editor, Counterfire) Peter D Thomas (author of The Gramscian Moment) Shamiul Joarder (Friends of Al-Aqsa)
All personal capacity
Registration £5. Register here.
19 April 2010
red elves meet the airbourne toxic event meets tiqqun
[Time for a revival of the Kino Fist apocalypse cover!]
It's the anti-rapture! No one can go anywhere near the skies...
The government has sent three Royal Navy ships to help repatriate Britons stranded by the five days of flight restrictions. The aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the assault ships Ocean and Albion may be used to bring people across the Channel. Check out the names of the boats...it's like Michael Crichton meets the Bible...I'm hoping generic humanity will spontaneously erupt on the boats...or at least some commie sex.... Imagine it - 'Ma, where was I conceived?' 'Well, sweetheart, there was this volcano and we all had to get to Spain to catch a giant boat called the Ark and everything got a little strange...'
As I am quite possibly stuck in Beirut for some time to come, I have of course been reflecting on the utterly bizarre conjuncture summoned up by the Lisbon earthquake second-time-as-farce Icelandic volcano and its fantastically improbable consequences - naval ships converging on Spain to pick up Brits if they can make their way there; the sound of birdsong emerging from previously noise-polluted airspace (well, that's what my Ma says anyway); the potential lack of fruit and vegetables in my fair isle and the Baudrillardian nature of the deathless catastrophe: 2012 meets the red elves of Iceland who, not content with destroying the world economy, have now decided to gently put an ethereal spanner in the workings of the earth. Tiqqun have been vindicated! The Coming Insurrection is here! That miniscule percentage of the world able to afford air-travel must - for once - confront the conditions of their own existence! As The Coming Insurrection puts it:
No need to dwell too long on the three types of workers’ sabotage: reducing the speed of work, from “easy does it” pacing to the “work-to-rule” strike; breaking the machines, or hindering their function; and divulging company secrets. Broadened to the dimensions of the whole social factory, the principles of sabotage can be applied to both production and circulation. The technical infrastructure of the metropolis is vulnerable. Its flows amount to more than the transportation of people and commodities. Information and energy circulates via wire networks, fibers and channels, and these can be attacked. Nowadays sabotaging the social machine with any real effect involves reappropriating and reinventing the ways of interrupting its networks. How can a TGV line or an electrical network be rendered useless? How does one find the weak points in computer networks, or scramble radio waves and fill screens with white noise? (note coincidental (?!) DeLillo reference in the final sentence!!!!). As I look on Facebook, I see that Haukur Már Helgason, top Icelandic writer, has come to much the same conclusion:
'Personally, I take a bit of pride in that anarchist volcano of ours, and suggest it will be considered as an honorary member of the Tarnac 9. As a manifesto it is obviously coherent with the 'No demands' tactics of some recent movements both sides of the Atlantic. And as of yet the damage done by it more or less only hits polluting big business, already significantly lessening this year's carbon footprint by amounts equal to the annual output of several third world states combined.'
from structure to rhizome podcast
Recorded by the ever-diligent Rene Wolf: here. Not sure of the order on the day as I couldn't make it (I may indeed by stuck in Beirut for some time to come, in fact), but here is the original list of speakers who I hope were all able to make it:
Speakers:
Éric Alliez (CRMEP, Middlesex University)
'Rhizome'
Etienne Balibar (University of Paris X/Irvine UC)
'Structure'
Andrew Barry (Oxford University)
'Network'
Tom Conley (Harvard University)
'Writing'
François Cusset (University of Paris X)
'Theory'
Patrick Guyomard (University of Paris VII)
'Object a'
Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond (University of Nice)
'Science'
Alain de Libera (EPHE, Paris/University of Geneva)
'Subject'
Peter Osborne (CRMEP, Middlesex University)
'Transdisciplinarity'
Michèle Riot-Sarcey (University of Paris VIII)
'History'
Stella Sandford (CRMEP, Middlesex University)
'Sex'
Speakers:
Éric Alliez (CRMEP, Middlesex University)
'Rhizome'
Etienne Balibar (University of Paris X/Irvine UC)
'Structure'
Andrew Barry (Oxford University)
'Network'
Tom Conley (Harvard University)
'Writing'
François Cusset (University of Paris X)
'Theory'
Patrick Guyomard (University of Paris VII)
'Object a'
Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond (University of Nice)
'Science'
Alain de Libera (EPHE, Paris/University of Geneva)
'Subject'
Peter Osborne (CRMEP, Middlesex University)
'Transdisciplinarity'
Michèle Riot-Sarcey (University of Paris VIII)
'History'
Stella Sandford (CRMEP, Middlesex University)
'Sex'
17 April 2010
the pipes of st petersburg
Of all the things we saw in St Petersburg, the pipes were without doubt my favourite kind of object. The recent winter had, by all accounts, been a tough one, and the pipes had struggled against the sheer weight of ice and snow. Many had been bent out of shape or given up the fight entirely, often crashing dangerously to earth.
14 April 2010
piece on philosophy and sexism
Here.
'Does philosophy have a gender problem that is worse than other disciplines?'
Based on my experience of the past thirteen years, I would have to say....well, dur!
'Does philosophy have a gender problem that is worse than other disciplines?'
Based on my experience of the past thirteen years, I would have to say....well, dur!
shameless nepotistic plug for my brother's girl
Natalia Jorquera needs more hits for her diary: here. Just click on it, that's all!
