Alison Flood
The Guardian - Monday 19 May 2014
Pulitzer-prize winning author's comments that 'the default position of reading and writing ... was white, straight and male' are backed by writers including Aminatta Forna and Daljit Nagra
Pulitzer prize winner Junot Díaz's blistering attack on the
"unbearable too-whiteness" of creative writing courses in the US has
been echoed by experts in the UK, with author and professor Aminatta
Forna pointing to a "backlash" as the "centre in literature begins to
shift away from the Anglo-American writer towards writers with different
backgrounds".
The award-winning poet Daljit Nagra,
meanwhile, has issued a similarly damning indictment of British poetry,
saying that "too often editors use a euphemism such as 'taste' as an
excuse for rejecting black authors because they actually mean 'I am not
interested in minority writing'", and that "when 'race' is written about
by black or Asian poets it is too often dismissed as something that has
been 'done before', a criticism which is not generally targeted at
those writing about 'love' or 'snow'".
READ MORE....
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
Hannah Arendt: thinking versus evil
By Jon Nixon
Times of Higher Education - 26 February 2015
Jon Nixon asks what Arendt’s work can tell us about the value of universities as places of thinking together
Universities are – if nothing else – places where people meet to think together. Hannah Arendt passed through many such places in the course of her life, but never defined herself as an academic. She was – first and last – a thinker. She thought about many things, but particularly about the nature and purpose of thinking itself: its ethical and political significance, its potential for good and evil, its grounding in the commonality of human consciousness. Forty years after her death, her work is a reminder of the urgent need for us to learn how to think together – and how to imagine the university as a place in which such thinking matters.
Arendt was born on 14 October 1906 in what is now part of Hanover in Germany. Three years later, she and her parents moved to Königsberg. In the early to mid-1920s, she studied at the universities of Berlin, Marburg and Heidelberg. As an 18-year-old undergraduate, she embarked on a sexual and deeply emotional affair with Martin Heidegger – a 36-year-old married professor whose work had already received international acclaim. After the Reichstag fire in Berlin in 1933, she fled to Paris via Prague and Geneva and began 18 years as a stateless person. After escaping from the internment camp at Gurs in occupied France, she arrived in the US by way of Spain and Lisbon in May 1941. Ten years later, she gained US citizenship. In 1974, she suffered a heart attack while delivering her Gifford Lecture series on “The Life of the Mind” at the University of Aberdeen. A year later, she suffered another heart attack in New York and died on 4 December 1975 at the age of 69. Always – in thought as in life – she was on the move.
READ MORE.....
Times of Higher Education - 26 February 2015
Jon Nixon asks what Arendt’s work can tell us about the value of universities as places of thinking together
Universities are – if nothing else – places where people meet to think together. Hannah Arendt passed through many such places in the course of her life, but never defined herself as an academic. She was – first and last – a thinker. She thought about many things, but particularly about the nature and purpose of thinking itself: its ethical and political significance, its potential for good and evil, its grounding in the commonality of human consciousness. Forty years after her death, her work is a reminder of the urgent need for us to learn how to think together – and how to imagine the university as a place in which such thinking matters.
Arendt was born on 14 October 1906 in what is now part of Hanover in Germany. Three years later, she and her parents moved to Königsberg. In the early to mid-1920s, she studied at the universities of Berlin, Marburg and Heidelberg. As an 18-year-old undergraduate, she embarked on a sexual and deeply emotional affair with Martin Heidegger – a 36-year-old married professor whose work had already received international acclaim. After the Reichstag fire in Berlin in 1933, she fled to Paris via Prague and Geneva and began 18 years as a stateless person. After escaping from the internment camp at Gurs in occupied France, she arrived in the US by way of Spain and Lisbon in May 1941. Ten years later, she gained US citizenship. In 1974, she suffered a heart attack while delivering her Gifford Lecture series on “The Life of the Mind” at the University of Aberdeen. A year later, she suffered another heart attack in New York and died on 4 December 1975 at the age of 69. Always – in thought as in life – she was on the move.
READ MORE.....
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Can Non-Europeans Think? By Hamid Dabashi
ZED BOOKS - 2015
What happens with thinkers who operate outside the European
philosophical 'pedigree'? In this powerfully honed polemic, Dabashi
argues that they are invariably marginalised, patronised and
mis-represented.
Challenging, pugnacious, but also stylish, Can Non-Europeans Think? forges a new perspective in postcolonial studies by looking at how intellectual debate continues to reinforce a colonial regime of knowledge, albeit in a new guise.
Based on years of intellectual work and activism, Dabashi delivers a provocative and insightful collection of observations and philosophical explorations, which is certain to unsettle and delight in equal measure.
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Tired Colonialism/Insult
Chapter 1: Can Non-Europeans Think?
Chapter 2: The Moment of Myth, Edward Said (1935-2003)
Chapter 3: The Middle East is Changed Forever
Chapter 4: The War Between the Civilised Man and the Savage
Chapter 5 Postcolonial Defiance or Still the Other
Conclusion - The Continued Regime of Knowledge
READ MORE......
What happens with thinkers who operate outside the European
philosophical 'pedigree'? In this powerfully honed polemic, Dabashi
argues that they are invariably marginalised, patronised and
mis-represented.Challenging, pugnacious, but also stylish, Can Non-Europeans Think? forges a new perspective in postcolonial studies by looking at how intellectual debate continues to reinforce a colonial regime of knowledge, albeit in a new guise.
Based on years of intellectual work and activism, Dabashi delivers a provocative and insightful collection of observations and philosophical explorations, which is certain to unsettle and delight in equal measure.
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Tired Colonialism/Insult
Chapter 1: Can Non-Europeans Think?
Chapter 2: The Moment of Myth, Edward Said (1935-2003)
Chapter 3: The Middle East is Changed Forever
Chapter 4: The War Between the Civilised Man and the Savage
Chapter 5 Postcolonial Defiance or Still the Other
Conclusion - The Continued Regime of Knowledge
READ MORE......
Saturday, April 4, 2015
The Days After a Deal with Iran Regional Responses to a Final Nuclear Agreement
by Dalia Dassa Kaye, Jeffrey Martini
RAND CORPORATION - 2014
One of a series of RAND perspectives on what the Middle East and U.S. policy might look like in "the days after a deal", this perspective begins by positing that a final nuclear agreement is reached between the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) and Iran and then examines the potential responses of two of the most important U.S. partners in the region: Israel and Saudi Arabia. The authors argue that because each partner's concerns about Iran run deeper than Tehran's nuclear program, both Israel and Saudi Arabia are not likely to welcome a final agreement. On the other hand, the authors do not anticipate that Israel and Saudi Arabia will adopt their most aggressive counters to the implementation of the final agreement: for Israel a military strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure and for Saudi Arabia acquisition of its own nuclear deterrent. Furthermore, the authors present a range of measures the United States could employ to address the concerns of its partners and prevent destabilizing actions.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT..........
RAND CORPORATION - 2014
One of a series of RAND perspectives on what the Middle East and U.S. policy might look like in "the days after a deal", this perspective begins by positing that a final nuclear agreement is reached between the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) and Iran and then examines the potential responses of two of the most important U.S. partners in the region: Israel and Saudi Arabia. The authors argue that because each partner's concerns about Iran run deeper than Tehran's nuclear program, both Israel and Saudi Arabia are not likely to welcome a final agreement. On the other hand, the authors do not anticipate that Israel and Saudi Arabia will adopt their most aggressive counters to the implementation of the final agreement: for Israel a military strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure and for Saudi Arabia acquisition of its own nuclear deterrent. Furthermore, the authors present a range of measures the United States could employ to address the concerns of its partners and prevent destabilizing actions.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT..........
Iran brain drain in reverse?
Why some young professionals are going home. For years, Iran's academic elite has headed for the exits. But some foreign-trained youth are returning, hoping President Rouhani can revive the economy.
By Scott Peterson
Christian Science Monitor - March 26, 2015
Tehran — The Leon restaurant, which sits atop a luxury mall in Tehran, features large paintings, a faux fireplace, and jazz, all to complement its fusion menu and fabulous, thick steaks.
It’s a place one goes to be seen. So when the check comes, Salar – oozing confidence and sporting a wild shock of gelled hair, a stylish plaid shirt, and a leather wristband – knows just what to do.
The 31-year-old British-educated Iranian investor hands the waiter his debit card. He then tells him his PIN, raising his voice so anyone within earshot can hear he has embraced a practice common in Iran but unthinkable anywhere else.
“When I first came back, I couldn’t believe people in Iran shared their PIN numbers like that. Now I sometimes shout it out,” says Salar, a pseudonym.
His move back to Tehran is part of a reverse brain drain encouraged by the June 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani. Shouting out PINs is just one of many quirks embraced by those young professionals educated abroad who have spurned good prospects in the West to return to live and invest here.
It’s a bet on the future, and for many a bet on the presidency of Mr. Rouhani, the relatively moderate regime insider who has promised to resolve Iran’s nuclear issue with world powers and revive an economy crippled by sanctions and tumbling oil prices.
READ MORE......
By Scott Peterson
Christian Science Monitor - March 26, 2015
Tehran — The Leon restaurant, which sits atop a luxury mall in Tehran, features large paintings, a faux fireplace, and jazz, all to complement its fusion menu and fabulous, thick steaks.
It’s a place one goes to be seen. So when the check comes, Salar – oozing confidence and sporting a wild shock of gelled hair, a stylish plaid shirt, and a leather wristband – knows just what to do.
The 31-year-old British-educated Iranian investor hands the waiter his debit card. He then tells him his PIN, raising his voice so anyone within earshot can hear he has embraced a practice common in Iran but unthinkable anywhere else.
“When I first came back, I couldn’t believe people in Iran shared their PIN numbers like that. Now I sometimes shout it out,” says Salar, a pseudonym.
His move back to Tehran is part of a reverse brain drain encouraged by the June 2013 election of President Hassan Rouhani. Shouting out PINs is just one of many quirks embraced by those young professionals educated abroad who have spurned good prospects in the West to return to live and invest here.
It’s a bet on the future, and for many a bet on the presidency of Mr. Rouhani, the relatively moderate regime insider who has promised to resolve Iran’s nuclear issue with world powers and revive an economy crippled by sanctions and tumbling oil prices.
READ MORE......
A New Book: Mapping of the Arab Left
Leftists Movements and Politics in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria. Published by the RLS North Africa Office.
Khalil Kalfat
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
April 2015
The Arab Left acquired the features that distinguish it from the Left in northern and western industrial countries, from the social, economic and political conditions under which it grew. Political developments in our region and in the world, over more than a century, created the distinctive features of the Arab Left.
The Left arose in the political and economic framework of colonial dependency in Arab countries, most of which were colonies or semi-colonies. All were controlled by British and French imperialism, with some exceptions such as Italy in Libya. It was imperative for direct and indirect colonial dependency to impose certain issues. The socio-economic structure which was dependent on the global capitalist economy gave rise to the two dimensions of the national issue: liberalization from economic dependency and the creation of a modern capitalist society, a path blocked by the iron colonial cage; and political independence through the expulsion of military occupation and the removal of the colonial administration.
It was in this context that dependent Arab capitalist regimes emerged. Under their leadership, nationalist and independent movements and parties appeared as well as national/pan-Arab movements and parties of small petty-bourgeois classes as well as other classes that seemed to have contradictory interests not only with regards to imperialism but also to dependent national capitalism. Moreover, in the context of the issue of national independence military coups took place, which seemed anti-feudalism and anti-dependent capitalism. When the time of independence came, in the wake of the second world war in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, these movements, parties and coups gradually became ruling capitalist classes, such as capitalist states, private capitalism or a partnership between the two. The Arab countries were doomed to remain within the framework of economic dependency by virtue of their economic structures despite the slogans of independence, because of the direct colonial obstacle, and the mentality of the dependency school, in which these new capitalist regimes, formed from the ruins of previous colonial capitalist regimes, were cultured. Independence and even socialist slogans were raised and misled the people.
DOWNLOAD THE BOOK.......
Khalil Kalfat
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
April 2015
The Arab Left acquired the features that distinguish it from the Left in northern and western industrial countries, from the social, economic and political conditions under which it grew. Political developments in our region and in the world, over more than a century, created the distinctive features of the Arab Left.
The Left arose in the political and economic framework of colonial dependency in Arab countries, most of which were colonies or semi-colonies. All were controlled by British and French imperialism, with some exceptions such as Italy in Libya. It was imperative for direct and indirect colonial dependency to impose certain issues. The socio-economic structure which was dependent on the global capitalist economy gave rise to the two dimensions of the national issue: liberalization from economic dependency and the creation of a modern capitalist society, a path blocked by the iron colonial cage; and political independence through the expulsion of military occupation and the removal of the colonial administration.
It was in this context that dependent Arab capitalist regimes emerged. Under their leadership, nationalist and independent movements and parties appeared as well as national/pan-Arab movements and parties of small petty-bourgeois classes as well as other classes that seemed to have contradictory interests not only with regards to imperialism but also to dependent national capitalism. Moreover, in the context of the issue of national independence military coups took place, which seemed anti-feudalism and anti-dependent capitalism. When the time of independence came, in the wake of the second world war in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, these movements, parties and coups gradually became ruling capitalist classes, such as capitalist states, private capitalism or a partnership between the two. The Arab countries were doomed to remain within the framework of economic dependency by virtue of their economic structures despite the slogans of independence, because of the direct colonial obstacle, and the mentality of the dependency school, in which these new capitalist regimes, formed from the ruins of previous colonial capitalist regimes, were cultured. Independence and even socialist slogans were raised and misled the people.
DOWNLOAD THE BOOK.......
Friday, April 3, 2015
Documentary: Our Generation - ABORIGINES
The original version of the ground-breaking Indigenous rights documentary Our Generation.
Winner "Best Campaign Film" at London International Documentary Festival 2011.
For more information, visit: www.ourgeneration.org.au
Winner "Best Campaign Film" at London International Documentary Festival 2011.
For more information, visit: www.ourgeneration.org.au
Half of wealthiest Chinese live outside first-tier cities
About 55 percent of the wealthiest
Chinese live outside first-tier cities, a survey has revealed,
estimating that the 17,000 billionaires in the country own total wealth
of 31 trillion yuan ($5 trillion). Nearly half of the super rich, on
average aged 51, are in manufacturing, real estate and TMT (Technology,
Media, Telecommunications), according to the China Ultra High Net Wealth
Report 2014-2015 released by Minsheng Bank and research institution
Hurun Report. "Total assets of the ultra high net
wealth group equals about half of China's gross domestic product," said
Hu Run, chairman of the Hurun Report. The survey targeted individuals
with total assets above 0.5 billion yuan. Seventy percent of the wealthiest have
financing needs to support business expansion and acquisition
activities, the report showed. More than 80 percent of interviewees are
interested in outbound investment to boost their ambition of going
global and diversifying asset allocation. As for investment preference, 80 percent
aim to increase their fortunes while the remainder look to hedge
against inflation, according to the report. About 45 percent invest in
jewelry and jade and 30 percent have large insurance policies. The report highlighted the need among
interviewees for a smooth transition of family business among
generations and medical care, as nearly 60 percent of the wealthiest
Chinese said they need a team of private doctors and better access to
overseas hospitals. According to the survey, the
interviewees donate an average of 28 million yuan to charity, which
accounts for 1.6 percent of their total wealth. Some 75 percent expect
to manage their own charity funds.
China and U.S. Clash over Asian Infrastructure Bank
Washington's opposition to the AIIB is rooted in the idea that spending on infrastructure does not alleviate poverty unless governance is improved
By Hilton Root
CAIXIN ONLINE - 04.03.2015
In late March, on a small island in southern China, the liberal world order, the basis of global economic prosperity since the end of World War II, was tested. At the annual Boao Forum for Asia, China was asserting its case to lead a new development bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will rival the U.S.-led World Bank and Japanese-led Asian Development Bank (ADB). Speaking to the delegates, Xi Jinping explicitly announced China's political motivation "to build a new regional order."
The United States refuses to join and has asked its allies to put policy first and insist that a new bank enunciate its commitment to the explicit principles of good governance before soliciting membership. Nevertheless, the U.S. resolve to maintain institutional cohesion around shared principles is going unheeded. Eyeing potential commercial opportunities, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy are among the many allies that have joined the Chinese initiative.
But is the Chinese concept good development policy?
The advantages of adding infrastructural capacity, more railways, ports, roads, telcos, is irrefutable. Throughout developing Asia access to transportation, water, electricity and other utilities is inequitable and of poor quality. The developing regions of East Asia need more infrastructure, lots of it and more than any current configuration of financial institutions can supply.
READ MORE.....
By Hilton Root
CAIXIN ONLINE - 04.03.2015
In late March, on a small island in southern China, the liberal world order, the basis of global economic prosperity since the end of World War II, was tested. At the annual Boao Forum for Asia, China was asserting its case to lead a new development bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will rival the U.S.-led World Bank and Japanese-led Asian Development Bank (ADB). Speaking to the delegates, Xi Jinping explicitly announced China's political motivation "to build a new regional order."
The United States refuses to join and has asked its allies to put policy first and insist that a new bank enunciate its commitment to the explicit principles of good governance before soliciting membership. Nevertheless, the U.S. resolve to maintain institutional cohesion around shared principles is going unheeded. Eyeing potential commercial opportunities, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy are among the many allies that have joined the Chinese initiative.
But is the Chinese concept good development policy?
The advantages of adding infrastructural capacity, more railways, ports, roads, telcos, is irrefutable. Throughout developing Asia access to transportation, water, electricity and other utilities is inequitable and of poor quality. The developing regions of East Asia need more infrastructure, lots of it and more than any current configuration of financial institutions can supply.
READ MORE.....
How strategic is the EU-Asia relationship?
Angela Stanzel
EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
01st April, 2015
How strategic is the EU-Asia relationship? That is a timely question in light of the recent controversy about EU member states joining the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and one that a group of think tankers and EU representatives tried to answer recently in a workshop ECFR co-hosted in Brussels, as part of its Global Strategy project, together with the Mercator Foundation and Egmont Institute.
The discussion focused mainly on how Europeans should deal with what South Korean President Park Geun-hye called the “Asian paradox”: Asians fear China because of its military power but are simultaneously attracted to it for economic and trade reasons. Although Europeans are well aware of the foreign policy tools they have – hard power tools such as sanctions and soft power tools such as development aid – they are unsure of how to apply them to China. Some of the participants therefore argued that Europeans needed a strategy to figure out how to deal and negotiate with China.
Other participants argued that there was no need for an Asia strategy – after all, there is also no European Latin America or Africa strategy. Instead, the alleged weakness of the EU is not so much the lack of a strategy but simply the lack of a tactical approach to China’s rise. In particular, Europeans needed to agree on what values they should pursue in Asia. In other words, the problem Europeans face in particular in dealing with China, but also with Asia in general, is not about China or Asia but rather about the limits of the Europeans themselves.
READ MORE.....
EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
01st April, 2015
How strategic is the EU-Asia relationship? That is a timely question in light of the recent controversy about EU member states joining the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and one that a group of think tankers and EU representatives tried to answer recently in a workshop ECFR co-hosted in Brussels, as part of its Global Strategy project, together with the Mercator Foundation and Egmont Institute.
The discussion focused mainly on how Europeans should deal with what South Korean President Park Geun-hye called the “Asian paradox”: Asians fear China because of its military power but are simultaneously attracted to it for economic and trade reasons. Although Europeans are well aware of the foreign policy tools they have – hard power tools such as sanctions and soft power tools such as development aid – they are unsure of how to apply them to China. Some of the participants therefore argued that Europeans needed a strategy to figure out how to deal and negotiate with China.
Other participants argued that there was no need for an Asia strategy – after all, there is also no European Latin America or Africa strategy. Instead, the alleged weakness of the EU is not so much the lack of a strategy but simply the lack of a tactical approach to China’s rise. In particular, Europeans needed to agree on what values they should pursue in Asia. In other words, the problem Europeans face in particular in dealing with China, but also with Asia in general, is not about China or Asia but rather about the limits of the Europeans themselves.
READ MORE.....
The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050
Pew Research Center, April 2, 2015
“The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050”
Why Muslims Are Rising Fastest and the Unaffiliated Are Shrinking as a Share of the World’s Population
The religious profile of the world is rapidly changing, driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world’s major religions, as well as by people switching faiths. Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050 …
READ MORE AND DOWNLOAD THE REPORT.......
“The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050”
Why Muslims Are Rising Fastest and the Unaffiliated Are Shrinking as a Share of the World’s Population
The religious profile of the world is rapidly changing, driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world’s major religions, as well as by people switching faiths. Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow faster than any other major religion. If current trends continue, by 2050 …
- The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world.
- Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population.
- The global Buddhist population will be about the same size it was in 2010, while the Hindu and Jewish populations will be larger than they are today.
- In Europe, Muslims will make up 10% of the overall population.
- India will retain a Hindu majority but also will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.
- In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050, and Judaism will no longer be the largest non-Christian religion. Muslims will be more numerous in the U.S. than people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion.
- Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.
READ MORE AND DOWNLOAD THE REPORT.......
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
A NEW EDITION: The Sociology of Work, 4th Edition By: Keith Grint and Darren Nixon
POLITY PRESS - 2015
This leading, authoritative textbook has been carefully and
substantially revised to provide the indispensable foundational
resource for the sociology of work. The fourth edition has been
transformed to combine unrivalled explanations of classic theories
with the most cutting-edge research, data and debates.
Keith Grint and Darren Nixon examine different sociological approaches to work, emphasizing the links between social processes, institutions of employment and their social and domestic contexts. The fourth edition includes:
This fourth edition will continue to be essential reading for students of the sociology of work, industrial sociology, organizational behaviour and industrial relations. Students studying business and management courses with a sociological component will also find the book invaluable.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. What is Work?
2. Work in Historical Perspective
3. Classical Approaches to Work: Marx, Durkheim and Weber
4. Contemporary Theories of Work Organization
5. Class, Industrial Conflict and the Labour Process
6. Gender, Patriarchy and Trade Unions
7. Race, Ethnicity and Labour Markets: Recruitment and the Politics of Exclusion
8. Working Technology
9. Contemporary Work: The Service Sector and the Knowledge Economy
10. The Meaning of Work in the Contemporary Economy
11. Work in the Global Economy
READ MORE.....
Keith Grint and Darren Nixon examine different sociological approaches to work, emphasizing the links between social processes, institutions of employment and their social and domestic contexts. The fourth edition includes:
- A new chapter on work and identity, exploring issues such as the rise of consumption, work life balance, the social meaning of work and unemployment;
- A fully rewritten chapter on trends in the contemporary service economy, examining emotional and aesthetic labour, the knowledge and cultural economy, and the information society;
- A new concluding chapter on the future of work, taking in globalization, precarious labour, public sector reforms and unemployment in the wake of the financial crisis, and campaigns around ‘bad work’;
- Updated literature and data throughout, with particularly significant updates to the sections on gender and work, and work technologies.
This fourth edition will continue to be essential reading for students of the sociology of work, industrial sociology, organizational behaviour and industrial relations. Students studying business and management courses with a sociological component will also find the book invaluable.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. What is Work?
2. Work in Historical Perspective
3. Classical Approaches to Work: Marx, Durkheim and Weber
4. Contemporary Theories of Work Organization
5. Class, Industrial Conflict and the Labour Process
6. Gender, Patriarchy and Trade Unions
7. Race, Ethnicity and Labour Markets: Recruitment and the Politics of Exclusion
8. Working Technology
9. Contemporary Work: The Service Sector and the Knowledge Economy
10. The Meaning of Work in the Contemporary Economy
11. Work in the Global Economy
READ MORE.....
A New Book: Is the American Century Over? By: Joseph S. Nye
POLITY PRESS - 2015
For more than a century, the United States has been the world's most
powerful state. Now some analysts predict that China will soon take its
place. Does this mean that we are living in a post-American world? Will
China's rapid rise spark a new Cold War between the two titans?
In this compelling essay, world renowned foreign policy analyst, Joseph Nye, explains why the American century is far from over and what the US must do to retain its lead in an era of increasingly diffuse power politics. America's superpower status may well be tempered by its own domestic problems and China's economic boom, he argues, but its military, economic and soft power capabilities will continue to outstrip those of its closest rivals for decades to come.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
In this compelling essay, world renowned foreign policy analyst, Joseph Nye, explains why the American century is far from over and what the US must do to retain its lead in an era of increasingly diffuse power politics. America's superpower status may well be tempered by its own domestic problems and China's economic boom, he argues, but its military, economic and soft power capabilities will continue to outstrip those of its closest rivals for decades to come.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Chapter 1 The Creation of the American Century
- Chapter 2 Is America in Decline?
- Chapter 3 Challengers and Relative Decline
- Chapter 4 The Rise of China
- Chapter 5 Absolute Decline: Is the U.S. Like Rome?
- Chapter 6 Power Shifts and Global Complexity
- Chapter 7 Conclusions
Lee Kuan Yew is finally dead — and America’s elites are eulogizing a tyrant and psychological monster
Lee Kuan Yew made Singapore wealthy & kept people in line with barbaric fear. Clinton & Kissinger should be ashamed
Patrick L. Smith
Salon - Tuesday, Mar 31, 2015
It would be difficult to match Boris Yeltsin, the drunkard who turned tanks on Russia’s post-Soviet democracy, for the effusions of twaddle he elicited among American policy people, pundits, scholars and correspondents. But in death as in life, Lee Kuan Yew is up there—no, down there—with the worst of the autocrats.
Singapore’s long-reigning dictator died of pneumonia at 91 last week and was buried after a state funeral Sunday. And you could set your watch by the old, faithful geyser of praise that gushed for the master-builder of Southeast Asia’s most efficient police state. It erupted more or less instantly in all the predictable quarters.
At the Council on Foreign Relations he was “the sage of Singapore.” The New York Times, in an editorial last Tuesday, had him down as “a towering figure on the global stage.” For President Obama, LKY was “a true giant of history.” Prominently in attendance in Singapore Sunday were Bill Clinton and Henry Kissinger.
Lee Kuan Yew is dead, long live Lee Kuan Yew. This is the gist of it all. And this is why we should pay attention to all the bunkum. For ruling cliques in Washington and across the Western world, Lee was an exquisite example of the developing-nation leader who gets the dirty work of political repression done with the minimum of embarrassing mess. Therein lay the greatest of Lee’s several gifts—none of which was humane, in my view.
READ MORE....
Patrick L. Smith
Salon - Tuesday, Mar 31, 2015
It would be difficult to match Boris Yeltsin, the drunkard who turned tanks on Russia’s post-Soviet democracy, for the effusions of twaddle he elicited among American policy people, pundits, scholars and correspondents. But in death as in life, Lee Kuan Yew is up there—no, down there—with the worst of the autocrats.
Singapore’s long-reigning dictator died of pneumonia at 91 last week and was buried after a state funeral Sunday. And you could set your watch by the old, faithful geyser of praise that gushed for the master-builder of Southeast Asia’s most efficient police state. It erupted more or less instantly in all the predictable quarters.
At the Council on Foreign Relations he was “the sage of Singapore.” The New York Times, in an editorial last Tuesday, had him down as “a towering figure on the global stage.” For President Obama, LKY was “a true giant of history.” Prominently in attendance in Singapore Sunday were Bill Clinton and Henry Kissinger.
Lee Kuan Yew is dead, long live Lee Kuan Yew. This is the gist of it all. And this is why we should pay attention to all the bunkum. For ruling cliques in Washington and across the Western world, Lee was an exquisite example of the developing-nation leader who gets the dirty work of political repression done with the minimum of embarrassing mess. Therein lay the greatest of Lee’s several gifts—none of which was humane, in my view.
READ MORE....
Hysterical Authoritarianism Terrorism, Violence, and the Culture of Madness
by HENRY A. GIROUX
COUNTER PUNCH - March 30, 2015
The thought of security bears within it an essential risk. A state which has security as its sole task and source of legitimacy is a fragile organism; it can always be provoked by terrorism to become more terroristic. — Giorgio Agamben
George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a totalitarian society casts a dark shadow over the United States. The consequences can be seen clearly in the ongoing and ruthless assault on the social state, workers, unions, higher education, students, poor minorities and any vestige of the social contract. Free market policies, values, and practices with their emphasis on the privatization of public wealth, the elimination of social protections, and the deregulation of economic activity now shape practically every commanding political and economic institution in the United States. Public spheres that once offered at least the glimmer of progressive ideas, enlightened social policies, non-commodified values, and critical dialogue and exchange have been increasingly militarized—or replaced by private spaces and corporate settings whose ultimate fidelity is to increasing profit margins. Citizenship is now subsumed by the national security state and a cult of secrecy, organized and reinforced by the constant mobilization of fear and insecurity designed to produce a form of ethical tranquilization and a paralyzing level of social infantilism.
Chris Hedges crystalizes this premise in arguing that Americans now live in a society in which “violence is the habitual response by the state to every dilemma,” legitimizing war as a permanent feature of society and violence as the organizing principle of politics.[1] Under such circumstances, malevolent modes of rationality now impose the values of a militarized neoliberal regime on everyone, shattering viable modes of agency, solidarity, and hope. Amid the bleakness and despair, the discourses of militarism, danger and war now fuel a war on terrorism “that represents the negation of politics—since all interaction is reduced to a test of military strength war brings death and destruction, not only to the adversary but also to one’s side, and without distinguishing between guilty and innocent.”[2] Human barbarity is no longer invisible, hidden under the bureaucratic language of Orwellian doublespeak. Its conspicuousness, if not celebration, emerged in the new editions of American exceptionalism ushered in by the post 9/11 exacerbation of the war on terror.
READ MORE....
COUNTER PUNCH - March 30, 2015
The thought of security bears within it an essential risk. A state which has security as its sole task and source of legitimacy is a fragile organism; it can always be provoked by terrorism to become more terroristic. — Giorgio Agamben
George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a totalitarian society casts a dark shadow over the United States. The consequences can be seen clearly in the ongoing and ruthless assault on the social state, workers, unions, higher education, students, poor minorities and any vestige of the social contract. Free market policies, values, and practices with their emphasis on the privatization of public wealth, the elimination of social protections, and the deregulation of economic activity now shape practically every commanding political and economic institution in the United States. Public spheres that once offered at least the glimmer of progressive ideas, enlightened social policies, non-commodified values, and critical dialogue and exchange have been increasingly militarized—or replaced by private spaces and corporate settings whose ultimate fidelity is to increasing profit margins. Citizenship is now subsumed by the national security state and a cult of secrecy, organized and reinforced by the constant mobilization of fear and insecurity designed to produce a form of ethical tranquilization and a paralyzing level of social infantilism.
Chris Hedges crystalizes this premise in arguing that Americans now live in a society in which “violence is the habitual response by the state to every dilemma,” legitimizing war as a permanent feature of society and violence as the organizing principle of politics.[1] Under such circumstances, malevolent modes of rationality now impose the values of a militarized neoliberal regime on everyone, shattering viable modes of agency, solidarity, and hope. Amid the bleakness and despair, the discourses of militarism, danger and war now fuel a war on terrorism “that represents the negation of politics—since all interaction is reduced to a test of military strength war brings death and destruction, not only to the adversary but also to one’s side, and without distinguishing between guilty and innocent.”[2] Human barbarity is no longer invisible, hidden under the bureaucratic language of Orwellian doublespeak. Its conspicuousness, if not celebration, emerged in the new editions of American exceptionalism ushered in by the post 9/11 exacerbation of the war on terror.
READ MORE....
This Is the Real Story Behind Kill The Messenger
Eliana Dockterman
TIME - Oct. 10, 2014
In a scene from the new movie Kill the Messenger, investigative reporter Gary Webb (played by Jeremy Renner) says that he doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories. He does, however, believe in real conspiracies: “If I believe it, there’s nothing ‘theory’ about it.” The true story on which the movie is based, however, makes it clear that it’s not always obvious what’s a theory and what’s the truth.
It started when Webb wrote a series of three articles for the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 dubbed “Dark Alliance.” In his report, Webb — who had won a Pulitzer in 1989 for a different story — claimed that the CIA was partly responsible for bringing crack cocaine to the United States in the 1980s.
Webb conducted a year-long investigation during which he discovered that a San Francisco-based drug ring, which had ties to a CIA-sponsored Nicaraguan contra group called the FDN, sold cocaine to a dealer in South Central Los Angeles. The millions of dollars made from those sales were later used to fund a secret war against the leftist Sandinista regime. In short, Webb accused the CIA of being complicit in getting thousands of poor African-Americans addicted to crack in order to fund rebels in Central America.
READ MORE...
TIME - Oct. 10, 2014
Investigative reporter Gary Webb linked the CIA to America's introduction to crack cocaine
In a scene from the new movie Kill the Messenger, investigative reporter Gary Webb (played by Jeremy Renner) says that he doesn’t believe in conspiracy theories. He does, however, believe in real conspiracies: “If I believe it, there’s nothing ‘theory’ about it.” The true story on which the movie is based, however, makes it clear that it’s not always obvious what’s a theory and what’s the truth.
It started when Webb wrote a series of three articles for the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 dubbed “Dark Alliance.” In his report, Webb — who had won a Pulitzer in 1989 for a different story — claimed that the CIA was partly responsible for bringing crack cocaine to the United States in the 1980s.
Webb conducted a year-long investigation during which he discovered that a San Francisco-based drug ring, which had ties to a CIA-sponsored Nicaraguan contra group called the FDN, sold cocaine to a dealer in South Central Los Angeles. The millions of dollars made from those sales were later used to fund a secret war against the leftist Sandinista regime. In short, Webb accused the CIA of being complicit in getting thousands of poor African-Americans addicted to crack in order to fund rebels in Central America.
READ MORE...
Grabbing Africa's Seeds: USAID, EU and Gates Foundation Back Agribusiness Seed Takeover
By Stephen Greenberg and Oliver Tickell
TRUTHOUT - Tuesday, 31 March 2015
The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired with the Gates Foundation and USAID playing puppet-masters to Africa's governments - now meeting in Addis Ababa - as they drive forward corporation-friendly seed regulations that exclude and marginalize the small farmers whose seeds and labour feed the continent.
A battle is currently being waged over Africa's seed systems. After decades of neglect and weak investment in African agriculture, there is renewed interest in funding African agriculture.
These new investments take the form of philanthropic and international development aid as well as private investment funds. They are based on the potentially huge profitability of African agriculture - and seed systems are a key target.
Right now ministers are co-ordinating their next steps at the 34th COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) Intergovernmental Committee meeting that kicked off March 22, in preparation for the main Summit that started yesterday and ends today.
READ MORE....
TRUTHOUT - Tuesday, 31 March 2015
The latest salvo in the battle over Africa's seed systems has been fired with the Gates Foundation and USAID playing puppet-masters to Africa's governments - now meeting in Addis Ababa - as they drive forward corporation-friendly seed regulations that exclude and marginalize the small farmers whose seeds and labour feed the continent.
A battle is currently being waged over Africa's seed systems. After decades of neglect and weak investment in African agriculture, there is renewed interest in funding African agriculture.
These new investments take the form of philanthropic and international development aid as well as private investment funds. They are based on the potentially huge profitability of African agriculture - and seed systems are a key target.
Right now ministers are co-ordinating their next steps at the 34th COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) Intergovernmental Committee meeting that kicked off March 22, in preparation for the main Summit that started yesterday and ends today.
READ MORE....
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
The Peaceful Philosophy of Leo Strauss, Who Inspired Iraq War Neocons
The Leonard Lopate Show - Wednesday, December 03, 2014
Leo Strauss was known as a man who inspired hawkish views on national security—he inspired neoconservative champions of the Iraq War William Kristol and John Podhoretz. Yet Robert Howse argues that we might have Strauss pegged all wrong. In Leo Strauss: Man of Peace, Robert Howse analyzes Strauss’s writings on political violence, concluding that Strauss favored international law, was skeptical of imperialism, and was critical of radical ideologies.
LISTEN THE AUDIO......
Leo Strauss was known as a man who inspired hawkish views on national security—he inspired neoconservative champions of the Iraq War William Kristol and John Podhoretz. Yet Robert Howse argues that we might have Strauss pegged all wrong. In Leo Strauss: Man of Peace, Robert Howse analyzes Strauss’s writings on political violence, concluding that Strauss favored international law, was skeptical of imperialism, and was critical of radical ideologies.
LISTEN THE AUDIO......
Monday, March 30, 2015
Mexico's rising bicycle demand boosts imports from China
31-03-2015
MEXICO CITY, Mar. 29 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's growing demand for bikes in recent years has attracted Chinese bicycle firms to enter Mexican market.
According to data released by Mexican authorities, there has been a fourfold increase in imports of bicycles in Mexico, that is, from 75,774 units in 2010 to 318,272 units in 2014.
Moreover, Mexico's bicycle imports have also grown by six times in value from 6.2 million U.S. dollars in 2010 to 39.2 million in 2014.
China can be described as a big winner in this rapidly growing market. Data showed that China is Mexico's largest supplier of bicycle. It is said that about 90 percent of Mexico's imported bicycles came from China.
Benetto is a well-known bicycle chain store in Mexico. Although the chain brand is from Italy, the bikes sold there are mostly from China.
According to the manager of Benneteau University Avenue store, the parts and components of the bikes sold in the store are imported from China, and assembled in Mexico. Sales of the store rose by about 10 percent last year.
"A lot of parts are imported from China, since the use of parts made in Mexico will raise costs," said the manager whose first name is Enrique.
The Mexican government has for years taken various measures to encourage the use of bicycles in transportation in a bid to reduce congestion and carbon emissions.
READ MORE...
MEXICO CITY, Mar. 29 (Xinhua) -- Mexico's growing demand for bikes in recent years has attracted Chinese bicycle firms to enter Mexican market.
According to data released by Mexican authorities, there has been a fourfold increase in imports of bicycles in Mexico, that is, from 75,774 units in 2010 to 318,272 units in 2014.
Moreover, Mexico's bicycle imports have also grown by six times in value from 6.2 million U.S. dollars in 2010 to 39.2 million in 2014.
China can be described as a big winner in this rapidly growing market. Data showed that China is Mexico's largest supplier of bicycle. It is said that about 90 percent of Mexico's imported bicycles came from China.
Benetto is a well-known bicycle chain store in Mexico. Although the chain brand is from Italy, the bikes sold there are mostly from China.
According to the manager of Benneteau University Avenue store, the parts and components of the bikes sold in the store are imported from China, and assembled in Mexico. Sales of the store rose by about 10 percent last year.
"A lot of parts are imported from China, since the use of parts made in Mexico will raise costs," said the manager whose first name is Enrique.
The Mexican government has for years taken various measures to encourage the use of bicycles in transportation in a bid to reduce congestion and carbon emissions.
READ MORE...
Friday, March 27, 2015
John & Harriet: Still Mysterious
Cass R. Sunstein
The New York Review of Books - April 2, 2015 Issue
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/apr/02/john-stuart-mill-harriet-taylor-hayek/
BOOK: Hayek on Mill: The Mill–Taylor Friendship and Other Writings by Friedrich Hayek, edited by Sandra J. Peart University of Chicago Press, 373 pp., $65.00
John Stuart Mill may well be the most important liberal thinker of the nineteenth century. In countless respects, his once-revolutionary arguments have become familiar, even part of the conventional wisdom. Certainly this is so for his great 1869 essay The Subjection of Women, which offered a systematic argument for sex equality at a time when the inferior status of women was widely taken for granted. It is also true for On Liberty, published in 1859, which famously argued that unless there is harm to others, people should have the freedom to do as they like. A strong advocate for freedom of speech, Mill offered enduring arguments against censorship. He also had a great deal to say about, and on behalf of, representative government.
Friedrich Hayek was the twentieth century’s greatest critic of socialism, and he won the Nobel Prize in economics. A lifelong defender of individual liberty, he argued that central planning is bound to fail, even if the planners are well motivated, because they cannot possibly assemble the information that is ultimately incorporated in the price system. Hayek described that system as a “marvel,” because it registers the knowledge, the preferences, and the values of countless people. Hayek used this insight as the foundation for a series of works on freedom and liberalism. Committed to free markets and deeply skeptical of the idea of “social justice,” he is a far more polarizing figure than Mill, beloved on the political right but regarded with ambivalence by many others. Nonetheless, Hayek belongs on any list of the most important liberal thinkers of the twentieth century.
READ MORE....
The New York Review of Books - April 2, 2015 Issue
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/apr/02/john-stuart-mill-harriet-taylor-hayek/
BOOK: Hayek on Mill: The Mill–Taylor Friendship and Other Writings by Friedrich Hayek, edited by Sandra J. Peart University of Chicago Press, 373 pp., $65.00
John Stuart Mill may well be the most important liberal thinker of the nineteenth century. In countless respects, his once-revolutionary arguments have become familiar, even part of the conventional wisdom. Certainly this is so for his great 1869 essay The Subjection of Women, which offered a systematic argument for sex equality at a time when the inferior status of women was widely taken for granted. It is also true for On Liberty, published in 1859, which famously argued that unless there is harm to others, people should have the freedom to do as they like. A strong advocate for freedom of speech, Mill offered enduring arguments against censorship. He also had a great deal to say about, and on behalf of, representative government.
Friedrich Hayek was the twentieth century’s greatest critic of socialism, and he won the Nobel Prize in economics. A lifelong defender of individual liberty, he argued that central planning is bound to fail, even if the planners are well motivated, because they cannot possibly assemble the information that is ultimately incorporated in the price system. Hayek described that system as a “marvel,” because it registers the knowledge, the preferences, and the values of countless people. Hayek used this insight as the foundation for a series of works on freedom and liberalism. Committed to free markets and deeply skeptical of the idea of “social justice,” he is a far more polarizing figure than Mill, beloved on the political right but regarded with ambivalence by many others. Nonetheless, Hayek belongs on any list of the most important liberal thinkers of the twentieth century.
READ MORE....
Monday, March 9, 2015
Islamic Movements Student Conference, WEDNESDAY March 11, 2015 -10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Islamic Movements Student Conference
ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS AND PARTIES
Portland State University
Date and Time: WEDNESDAY March 11, 2015 -10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Place: FOURTH AVENUE BUILDING - Room 10
THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY IN MOROCCO
Presenter: Anna Murphy
HEZBOLLAH
Presenters:Taylor Hill AND Michael Salter
HAMAS
Presenters: Nikki Yoke
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD OF EGYPT
Presenters: Emily Wolff, Vashti Carter AND Eric Koppang
RENAISSANCE PARTY IN TUNISIA
Presenter: Asifa Traore
THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY IN TURKEY
Presenter: Andrew Alexander
HIZB-UT TAHRIR
Presenters: Freshta Rezaie, Jaime Fernandez AND Sidra Siddiqui
THE GULEN MOVEMENT
Presenter: Benjamin Turner
THE ISLAMIC SALVATION FRONT IN ALGERIA
Presenter: Ali Alsaidy
Organized by Middle East Studies - Department of International and Global Studies and co-sponsored by MIDDLE EAST STUDIES CENTER AND CENTER FOR TURKISH STUDIES
ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS AND PARTIES
Portland State University
Date and Time: WEDNESDAY March 11, 2015 -10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Place: FOURTH AVENUE BUILDING - Room 10
THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY IN MOROCCO
Presenter: Anna Murphy
HEZBOLLAH
Presenters:Taylor Hill AND Michael Salter
HAMAS
Presenters: Nikki Yoke
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD OF EGYPT
Presenters: Emily Wolff, Vashti Carter AND Eric Koppang
RENAISSANCE PARTY IN TUNISIA
Presenter: Asifa Traore
THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY IN TURKEY
Presenter: Andrew Alexander
HIZB-UT TAHRIR
Presenters: Freshta Rezaie, Jaime Fernandez AND Sidra Siddiqui
THE GULEN MOVEMENT
Presenter: Benjamin Turner
THE ISLAMIC SALVATION FRONT IN ALGERIA
Presenter: Ali Alsaidy
Organized by Middle East Studies - Department of International and Global Studies and co-sponsored by MIDDLE EAST STUDIES CENTER AND CENTER FOR TURKISH STUDIES
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Sartre on the Nobel Prize
Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Richard Howard
The New York Review of Books - December 17, 1964 Issue
Jean-Paul Sartre explained his refusal to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature in a statement made to the Swedish Press on October 22, which appeared in Le Monde in a French translation approved by Sartre. The following translation into English was made by Richard Howard.
I deeply regret the fact that the incident has become something of a scandal: a prize was awarded, and I refused it. It happened entirely because I was not informed soon enough of what was under way. When I read in the October 15 Figaro littéraire, in the Swedish correspondent’s column, that the choice of the Swedish Academy was tending toward me, but that it had not yet been determined, I supposed that by writing a letter to the Academy, which I sent off the following day, I could make matters clear and that there would be no further discussion.
I was not aware at the time that the Nobel Prize is awarded without consulting the opinion of the recipient, and I believed there was time to prevent this from happening. But I now understand that when the Swedish Academy has made a decision it cannot subsequently revoke it.
READ MORE....
The New York Review of Books - December 17, 1964 Issue
Jean-Paul Sartre explained his refusal to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature in a statement made to the Swedish Press on October 22, which appeared in Le Monde in a French translation approved by Sartre. The following translation into English was made by Richard Howard.
I deeply regret the fact that the incident has become something of a scandal: a prize was awarded, and I refused it. It happened entirely because I was not informed soon enough of what was under way. When I read in the October 15 Figaro littéraire, in the Swedish correspondent’s column, that the choice of the Swedish Academy was tending toward me, but that it had not yet been determined, I supposed that by writing a letter to the Academy, which I sent off the following day, I could make matters clear and that there would be no further discussion.
I was not aware at the time that the Nobel Prize is awarded without consulting the opinion of the recipient, and I believed there was time to prevent this from happening. But I now understand that when the Swedish Academy has made a decision it cannot subsequently revoke it.
READ MORE....
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Shocking Decision at Sweet Briar
By Scott Jaschik
Inside Higher Ed - March 4, 2015
Sweet Briar College announced Tuesday that it is shutting down at the end of this academic year.
Small colleges close or merge from time to time, more frequently since the economic downturn started in 2008. But the move is unusual in that Sweet Briar still has a meaningful endowment, regional accreditation and some well-respected programs. But college officials said that the trend lines were too unfavorable, and that efforts to consider different strategies didn't yield any viable options. So the college decided to close now, with some sense of order, rather than drag out the process for several more years, as it could have done.
Paul G. Rice, board chair, said in an interview that he realized some would ask, "Why don't you keep going until the lights go out?"
But he said that doing so would be wrong. "We have moral and legal obligations to our students and faculties and to our staff and to our alumnae. If you take up this decision too late, you won't be able to meet those obligations," he said. "People will carve up what's left -- it will not be orderly, nor fair."
READ MORE.....
Inside Higher Ed - March 4, 2015
Sweet Briar College announced Tuesday that it is shutting down at the end of this academic year.
Small colleges close or merge from time to time, more frequently since the economic downturn started in 2008. But the move is unusual in that Sweet Briar still has a meaningful endowment, regional accreditation and some well-respected programs. But college officials said that the trend lines were too unfavorable, and that efforts to consider different strategies didn't yield any viable options. So the college decided to close now, with some sense of order, rather than drag out the process for several more years, as it could have done.
Paul G. Rice, board chair, said in an interview that he realized some would ask, "Why don't you keep going until the lights go out?"
But he said that doing so would be wrong. "We have moral and legal obligations to our students and faculties and to our staff and to our alumnae. If you take up this decision too late, you won't be able to meet those obligations," he said. "People will carve up what's left -- it will not be orderly, nor fair."
READ MORE.....
The East India Company: The original corporate raiders
For a century, the East India Company conquered, subjugated and plundered vast tracts of south Asia. The lessons of its brutal reign have never been more relevant
William Dalrymple
The Guardian - Wednesday 4 March 2015
One of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was the Hindustani slang for plunder: “loot”. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word was rarely heard outside the plains of north India until the late 18th century, when it suddenly became a common term across Britain. To understand how and why it took root and flourished in so distant a landscape, one need only visit Powis Castle.
The last hereditary Welsh prince, Owain Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, built Powis castle as a craggy fort in the 13th century; the estate was his reward for abandoning Wales to the rule of the English monarchy. But its most spectacular treasures date from a much later period of English conquest and appropriation: Powis is simply awash with loot from India, room after room of imperial plunder, extracted by the East India Company in the 18th century.
There are more Mughal artefacts stacked in this private house in the Welsh countryside than are on display at any one place in India – even the National Museum in Delhi. The riches include hookahs of burnished gold inlaid with empurpled ebony; superbly inscribed spinels and jewelled daggers; gleaming rubies the colour of pigeon’s blood and scatterings of lizard-green emeralds. There are talwars set with yellow topaz, ornaments of jade and ivory; silken hangings, statues of Hindu gods and coats of elephant armour.
READ MORE.....
William Dalrymple
The Guardian - Wednesday 4 March 2015
One of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was the Hindustani slang for plunder: “loot”. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word was rarely heard outside the plains of north India until the late 18th century, when it suddenly became a common term across Britain. To understand how and why it took root and flourished in so distant a landscape, one need only visit Powis Castle.
The last hereditary Welsh prince, Owain Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, built Powis castle as a craggy fort in the 13th century; the estate was his reward for abandoning Wales to the rule of the English monarchy. But its most spectacular treasures date from a much later period of English conquest and appropriation: Powis is simply awash with loot from India, room after room of imperial plunder, extracted by the East India Company in the 18th century.
There are more Mughal artefacts stacked in this private house in the Welsh countryside than are on display at any one place in India – even the National Museum in Delhi. The riches include hookahs of burnished gold inlaid with empurpled ebony; superbly inscribed spinels and jewelled daggers; gleaming rubies the colour of pigeon’s blood and scatterings of lizard-green emeralds. There are talwars set with yellow topaz, ornaments of jade and ivory; silken hangings, statues of Hindu gods and coats of elephant armour.
READ MORE.....
Friday, February 27, 2015
Haraway's 'Manifesto for Cyborgs' at 30
By McKenzie Wark
Verso / 24 February 2015
It is 30 years since Donna Haraway published the first version of her 'Manifesto for Cyborgs'. It still makes for extraordinary reading. It anticipates many of the concerns of our own time, from the link between technology and militarized surveillance to the rise of precarious labor, which Haraway called the 'homework economy.' And certainly, in the popular imagination of science fiction, the cyborg figure has not gone away, even if most popular narratives are less then enabling. Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer (2008) is an honorable exception. Better to think through the 'ironic political myth' that Haraway constructed. In Molecular Red (forthcoming from Verso) I make the case that Haraway is not only an enduring feminist and science studies thinker, but also a Marxist one. Below is a sample from a later version of the 'Manifesto for Cyborgs'. Here is a link to the rest
"Contemporary science fiction is full of cyborgs — creatures simultaneously animal and machine, who populate worlds ambiguously natural and crafted. Modern medicine is also full of cyborgs, of couplings between organism and machine, each conceived as coded devices, in an intimacy and with a power that was not generated in the history of sexuality. Cyborg 'sex' restores some of the lovely replicative baroque of ferns and invertebrates (such nice organic prophylactics against heterosexism). Cyborg replication is uncoupled from organic reproduction. Modern production seems like a dream of cyborg colonization work, a dream that makes the nightmare of Taylorism seem idyllic. And modern war is a cyborg orgy, coded by C3I, command-control-communication-intelligence, an $84 billion item in 1984's US defence budget. I am making an argument for the cyborg as a fiction mapping our social and bodily reality and as an imaginative resource suggesting some very fruitful couplings. Michael Foucault's biopolitics is a flaccid premonition of cyborg politics, a very open field."
Verso / 24 February 2015
It is 30 years since Donna Haraway published the first version of her 'Manifesto for Cyborgs'. It still makes for extraordinary reading. It anticipates many of the concerns of our own time, from the link between technology and militarized surveillance to the rise of precarious labor, which Haraway called the 'homework economy.' And certainly, in the popular imagination of science fiction, the cyborg figure has not gone away, even if most popular narratives are less then enabling. Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer (2008) is an honorable exception. Better to think through the 'ironic political myth' that Haraway constructed. In Molecular Red (forthcoming from Verso) I make the case that Haraway is not only an enduring feminist and science studies thinker, but also a Marxist one. Below is a sample from a later version of the 'Manifesto for Cyborgs'. Here is a link to the rest
"Contemporary science fiction is full of cyborgs — creatures simultaneously animal and machine, who populate worlds ambiguously natural and crafted. Modern medicine is also full of cyborgs, of couplings between organism and machine, each conceived as coded devices, in an intimacy and with a power that was not generated in the history of sexuality. Cyborg 'sex' restores some of the lovely replicative baroque of ferns and invertebrates (such nice organic prophylactics against heterosexism). Cyborg replication is uncoupled from organic reproduction. Modern production seems like a dream of cyborg colonization work, a dream that makes the nightmare of Taylorism seem idyllic. And modern war is a cyborg orgy, coded by C3I, command-control-communication-intelligence, an $84 billion item in 1984's US defence budget. I am making an argument for the cyborg as a fiction mapping our social and bodily reality and as an imaginative resource suggesting some very fruitful couplings. Michael Foucault's biopolitics is a flaccid premonition of cyborg politics, a very open field."
Thursday, February 26, 2015
SPRING 2015: Seminar: INTL 407 Development, Urbanization, and Work
Seminar:
INTL 407
Development,
Urbanization, and Work
(Sociology of Development, Urbanization, and
Work/Labor in Modern Era)
Spring 2015
Development, Urbanization and Work
Spring 2015 – CRN 61583 / INTL 407
MONDAY and WEDNESDAY 18:00-19:50
SCI Research &
Teaching Center 139B
Instructor: Tugrul Keskin
Office: 333
East Hall – Department of International
and Global Studies
Google Phone: 202-630-1025
Office Hours: Tuesday
12:30 – 15:30 PM or by appointment
E-mail: tugrulkeskin (at) pdx.edu
(PLEASE include “DUW-INTL407” in the
subject line)
Course Description and Objective:
The subject of this course is
work, urbanization, and development in the globalized world. These three
concepts cannot be understood separately; they are all related with and
influence one another. In this class, we will explore these three components of
modern life.
Work
The emergence of the modern
understanding of work is a result of industrial capitalism and its impacts
within the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe, specifically Britain, Germany,
and France. This new form of production led to mass domestic migration in these
countries, which resulted in the emergence of new urban centers in Europe based
on labor and factories. This was the initial stage of capitalism in the region.
The contemporary understanding of “urbanization” began with the industrialization
process in England and later flourished all over Europe at the end of the 18th and
19th centuries as a result of capitalism. Therefore, the existence of the city
or the metropolis cannot be separated from the capitalist mode of production.
This new economic process shaped social and political conditions and has
resulted in modernization and individualism. Related to these concepts, we will
review the historical emergence of the modern conception of work and its effects
on people’s experience of daily life.
Urbanization
The urban environment has a very
different meaning in modern societies than it does to more primitive and
traditional societies, because the concept itself is in fact a new modern political
and social geography cultivated in the 19th- and 20th-century political,
social, and economic life. An American sociologist, Louis Wirth,
names this process as Urbanism as a way
of life, and this way of life is rooted in the modern definition of work.
Concepts such as the
nation-state, metropolis, territorialization, urban life, individualism,
suburbs, downtowns, crime, pollution, overpopulation, chaotic urbanization,
slum houses, and ghettos are all related with space/territory. Museums, zoos,
theaters, entertainment centers, malls, and many other structures have also
been created as new spaces of social and political activity and interaction,
which directly relates with the economy. We can expand our analysis from
politics to individual life, as George Simmel attempted to do in his analysis
of late 19th- and early 20th-century Germany through a comparison of city life
and the individual. Simmel examined the effects of the new urban phenomenon on
these two concepts within modern life. According to Simmel, the metropolis
freed man from taboos or dogmas rooted in tradition at the same time as it
freed man from the religion that connected him to community-based life (Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft). This is also the transformation from mechanic to a
more organic form of solidarity taking place in cities, according to Emile
Durkheim. However, Simmel also argues that man’s new “freedom” and
individuality does not mean that he is actually free in this new urban context,
but that he is instead more dependent on others. Classical theorists such as Marx,
Weber, and Durkheim all see urbanization as a product of the industrialization
that created a more complex societal structure. We will therefore attempt to
explore how life in the global cities is shaped.
Development
The definition of work and the birth
of the modern cities has cultivated the idea of development, a concept that is
also rooted in new forms of economic production. However, this is a
controversial concept in the “developing” countries. The emergence of
capitalism in the developed world, particularly Europe and United States, generated
the need for ever-greater amounts of labor, raw materials, and energy
resources. Europe and the United States have tried to meet these needs through
the fastest and cheapest means possible; however, this has led to intentional
or unintentional consequences such as colonialism, imperialism, the slave
trade, occupations, chaotic urbanization, the elimination of traditional manual
labor, etc. On the other hand, although development is considered an economic achievement,
this economic mode of production has social and political implications. We will
therefore attempt to understand the social and political implications of
economic development within and across global cities.
Learning Outcomes (Tugrul Keskin):
By
the end of the course, you will have enhanced your:
§
Critical
thinking in relation
to international studies
§
Ability
to question dogmas and taboos in today’s societies
§
Consciousness
of differing perspectives and diversity
§
Understanding
of world issues and trends
§
Understanding
of the impact of colonialism and imperialism in developing
nations
You also will have increased your
knowledge concerning:
§
Resources
in your potential discipline
§
Resources
specific to your region
§
Traditional
information sources
§
Alternative
information sources
§
Knowledge
of relevant methodologies
Learning Outcomes
for International Studies at Portland State University:
Core Learning Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding
of world cultures, politics, and economics, within the context of
globalization, as well as developing the skills and attitudes to function as
“global citizens.”
Specific Outcomes:
- Demonstrate knowledge of global issues, processes, trends and systems (i.e. economic and political interdependency among nations; environmental-cultural interaction; global governance bodies).
- Can articulate an understanding of her/his culture in global and comparative context; that is, recognizes that her/his culture is one of many diverse cultures and that alternate perceptions and behaviors may be based in cultural differences.
- Demonstrates an understanding of the meaning and practice of political, military, economic, and cultural hegemony within states and within the global system.
- Demonstrates an understanding of how her/his field is viewed and practiced in different international contexts.
- Uses diverse cultural perspectives and frames of reference, including those of the media, to think critically and solve problems.
- Uses information from other languages and other countries to extend their access to information and experiences.
- Interprets issues and situations from more than one cultural perspective.
- Can articulate differences among cultures; demonstrates tolerance for the diverse viewpoints that emerge from these differences.
- Demonstrates a critical understanding of the historical origins of the nation-state, and its current role in the global system.
- Can apply the key theoretical concepts in the field to interpret global issues.
- Exhibits an ongoing willingness to seek out international or intercultural opportunities.
Required Readings:
These are required books for this
course. All of them are available at the University Bookstore or you can order
new or used copies from online bookstores.
- Globalization and Urbanization: The Global Urban Ecosystem by James H. Spencer. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442214743
- Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective by Philip McMichael. Pine Forge Press, 2012. http://www.sagepub.com/textbooks/Book234283
- The Sociology of Work by Keith Grint. Polity Press, 2005. http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745632490
Recommended Books:
- Robert Perrucci and Carolyn C. Perrucci. The Transformation of Work in the New Economy. Oxford University Press, 2007. http://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-transformation-of-work-in-the-new-economy-9780195330816?q=The Transformation of Work&lang=en&cc=us
- Saskia Sassen. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University Press, 2001. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/6943.html
- J. Timmons Roberts and Amy Hite (Editors). The Globalization and Development Reader: Perspectives on Development and Global Change. Wiley Blackwell, 2007. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405132361.html
- David Harvey. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press, 2006. http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/PoliticalTheory/ContemporaryPoliticalThought/?view=usa&ci=9780199283279
- Philip McMichael (Editor). Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective. Sage, 2011. http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book234283
- Richard LeGates and Frederic Stout (Editors). The City Reader. Routledge, 2011.
- Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter (Editors). Global Urbanization. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14780.html
- Edward L. Glaeser. Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier. MacMillan, 2011.
- Mark Abrahamson. Global Cities. Oxford University Press, 2004.
- Bruce G. Carruthers and Sarah L. Babb. Economy/Society: Markets, Meanings, and Social Structure. Pine Forge Press, 2000. http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book235730?siteId=sage-uk&prodTypes=any&q=Economy%2FSociety%3A+Markets%2C+Meanings%2C+and+Social+Structure&fs=1
- Barbara Reskin and Irene Padavic. Women and Men at Work. Pine Forge Press, 2002. http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book225466?siteId=sage-us&prodTypes=any&q=Women+and+Men+at+Work&fs=1
- Paula J. Dubeck and Kathryn Borman (Editors). Women and Work. Rutgers University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0-8135-2473-3
- Linda E. Lucas (Editor). Unpacking Globalization: Markets, Gender, and Work. Lexington, 2007.
- Harvard Business Review on Women in Business. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation (www.hbspress.org), 2005. ISBN: 1-59139-717-0
Course Requirements
To prevent confusion later,
please read the following information carefully:
Final Paper: You will
choose a global city, such as Shanghai, Jakarta, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Lagos,
Mumbai, Tehran, Mexico City, Istanbul, Cairo, or others, and will examine the
social and economic life of the city. For example, you may select to look at
the political life of Cairo, economic life of Shanghai, or cultural life of
Istanbul. How does economic globalization shape and restructure social and
political life in the global cities? Note that I must approve your topic and plan ahead of time. A final paper format
will be provided and you should follow the same structure.
Please see the following links for your final project:
The final paper proposals
are due as MS Word attachments emailed to me by Friday, May 1st. Your final paper must be
approved by this date.
The final paper is a short
empirical or theoretical paper of at least 4000 words (Font should be Times New
Roman, 12 point), doubled spaced, on a focused topic that relates directly to
this course. The last day to submit your final paper is Sunday, June 7th.
Criteria: If you select a final paper topic after
May 1st, you will lose 3 points!
If your final
paper is late, you will lose another 4 points!
If your
final paper is less then 4000 words, you will lose 5 points!
Format: APA citation and
bibliography format will be followed. http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/integrity/pages/styles/.
Reflection Papers: The reflection papers will
include an open-book essay that will determine what you have learned in class
each week. I will ask you four questions regarding the same week’s class
subject and discussion. The reflection
papers should be at least 1600 words. Font size should be Times New Roman, 12
point. The due date for each
exam is Monday by 12:00 midnight. Criteria:
If your paper is less than 1600 words, or late, you will lose 2 points.
Weekly Presentations: Each week, two or three students will be
assigned a weekly topic from the readings. These students will summarize the
readings and prepare an outline and 4-6 questions for class, in order to come prepared
to lead the class discussion. Each student must always read the course
materials before they attend class, and I expect you to participate actively in
the class discussion. I strongly recommend that you present in earlier weeks
rather than later in the semester, because you may not find the right time
available to present and will lose presentation points. Presentation dates are
available on a first-come, first-served basis. The timeline for weekly
presentations will be provided in the first week of the class. After we have
filled in student names and finalized the weekly presentation schedule, it will
be posted to D2L.
Newspaper Articles: During the semester, you can bring 5
newspaper articles related to our class subjects. You cannot bring more than
one article in the same week. You will have to summarize these articles verbally
in class and will find the recommended newspapers listed on Blackboard, under
the external links section. Newspaper
articles sent by email will not be accepted. Please bring the first page of the
printed/hard copy of the article to class. You can only bring an article from
the selected newspapers, posted on Blackboard, which you will find under the
links section. Some of the recommended newspapers include The Guardian, Al-Jazeera, Democracynow.org, Financial Times, The New
York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. You can only bring an article on Mondays.
Attendance: Regular
class attendance is one of the important parameters to successful completion of
the course requirements.
Participation: Each
student must read course material before they attend class and I expect them to
participate in class discussion.
Grades: Your grade
for this course will be based on your performance on the following components, shown
with their dates and respective weights.
Item Date Weight
(%)
5 Reflection Papers Every
Monday 56.0
Final Paper June 7th 24.0
Attendance/ Class
Participation 5.0
Newspaper Articles 5.0
Weekly Presentation 10.0
Grades: Your grade for
this course will be based on your performance on the following components,
shown with their dates and respective weights:
The grading system in this
class is as follows:
A 95-100
A- 90-94
B+ 86-89
B 85
B- 80-84
C+ 76-79
C 75
C- 70-74
D+ 66-69
D 65
D- 60-64
F (Failure)
PLEASE
READ CAREFULLY! - Electronic Devices &
Other Classroom Policies
Coming late to class and
leaving early: Latecomers
will not be accepted in the class, so be on time. If you are late for a class, please do not disturb your
classmates and me and do not come at all. Please also do not send an
email or call me regarding your class attendance. If there is a medical
need, bring a letter from a doctor. Whatever the reason, if you cannot come to
class, this is your responsibility. If you miss more than 4 classes, you will
not receive an attendance/participation grade. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE EARLY
EITHER! This is a class, not a coffee shop!
Laptop and cell phone
policy: No
electronic devices (including but not limited to laptops, cell phones, BlackBerries,
etc.) are to be used in the classroom. This includes talking on the phone,
texting, playing games, surfing the web, or any other inappropriate usage.
Those caught using restricted devices will be asked to leave class. Lectures
may not be recorded with audio or multi-media devices. Please turn your
cell phone off before you come to class.
Responsibility: You and/or your parents pay tuition for
this class; therefore, you have responsibility to yourself and/or your parents.
Passing or failing the class is not the main objective; rather, the main
objective is that you learn and improve your knowledge. Please read and try to
understand the main concepts of this class. If you are having difficulty,
please do not hesitate to see me and discuss your concerns!
Each
year, almost half a million people graduate from American public universities
(see http://collegecompletion.chronicle.com/).
As you will see from the statistics, the job market is very competitive;
therefore, students need to improve their knowledge, skills, and experience in
order to find a job they want. Learning is a lifelong process. An academic
institution like Portland State University will provide you with an educational
discipline and methodology; everything else is up to you. You should study and
improve your skills, in order to compete with the rest of the graduates. While
you are in the program, you should apply for internships to obtain relevant
experiences before you graduate. Therefore, if you need a letter of
recommendation for an internship or job, please do not hesitate to ask me, if
you receive at least an A, A-, or B+ grade from my class. Please also remember
that an undergraduate degree might not be enough to find the job you want;
therefore, you might need to apply to graduate school. In order to apply to
graduate school, you will also need to have a letter of recommendation. I am
also happy to advise you on graduate school or provide a letter of
recommendation if you receive an A, A-, or B+ grade.
General:
-You are expected to follow PSU’s student code of
conduct, particularly 577-031-0135 and 577-031-0136, which can be found at
Violations of the code will be reported to the Office
of the Dean of Student Life.
-You are encouraged to take advantage of instructor
and TA office hours or email communication for help with coursework or anything
else connected with the course and your progress.
-If you are a student with a documented disability
and are registered with Disability Resource Center (503.725.4150 or TDD
725.6504), please contact the instructor immediately to arrange academic
accommodations.
-Make sure you have an ODIN account; this email will
be used for D2L and important emails from the instructor and TA. DO NOT USE
THE INTERNAL D2L mail function to contact us. If you do not typically use your
PSU ODIN account, figure out how to get your mail from this account forwarded
to the account you usually use.
*FOR ALL ACADEMIC
CORRESPONDENCE FOR OBSERVING AND CONTACT WITH TEACHERS YOU WISH TO OBSERVE, USE
YOUR ODIN ACCOUNT*
Additional Remarks: If you have difficulty with the
course, please schedule a time to discuss your concerns with me to help you get
back on track.
If you have any questions regarding class-related subjects,
please do not hesitate to ask me.
COURSE
TIMELINE
First Week
March 30 – April 3
|
A Brief Introduction to the
Course and Overview of the Syllabus
Urbanism
as a Way of Life by Louis Wirth (D2L)
(The
Sociology of Work)
What is Work? - Pages 6-43
(Development
and Social Change)
1. Development: Theory and Reality
DOCUMENTARY: Charlie Chaplin - Factory Work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfGs2Y5WJ14
Industrial Revolution - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhF_zVrZ3RQ
|
Second Week
April 6 - 10
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Work in historical
perspective - Pages 45-84
(Development
and Social Change)
Part I. The Development Project (Late 1940s to Early
1970s)
2. Instituting the Development Project
DOCUMENTARY: Chongqing - China's Secret Metropolis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXQOBM37MH0
The American Industrial
Revolution
|
Third Week
April 13 - 17
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Classical Approach to
Work: Marx, Weber and Durkheim – Pages 85-108.
(Development and Social
Change)
3.
The Development Project: International Framework
(Globalization
and Urbanization)
Chapter 1: Urbanization and the Construction of the
Global Urban Ecosystem
DOCUMENTARY: Welcome to Lagos –(Lagos, Nigeria) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_HGHj5kTM4
Bombay Dreams
|
Sunday
April 19
|
Reflection Paper – 1
Midnight
|
Fourth Week
April 20 - 24
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Class,
Industrial Conflict and the Labor Process – Pages 152 – 189.
(Development and Social
Change)
4.
Globalizing Development
(Globalization
and Urbanization)
Chapter 2: Urban Histories: Arriving at the Global Urban
Ecosystem
DOCUMENTARY: Born into Brothels (Kolkata , India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kyXFr2g1x8
|
Sunday
April 26
|
Reflection Paper – 2
Midnight
|
Monday April 27
|
Final Paper Proposal must be approved by
Monday, April 27th
Please email me your final paper proposal
and name of the group members.
|
Fifth Week
April 27 – May 1
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Gender,
Patriarchy and Trade Unions – Pages 190 – 236.
(Development and Social
Change)
Part
II. The Globalization Project (1980s to 2000s)
5.
Instituting the Globalization Project
(Globalization
and Urbanization)
Chapter 3: Saigon’s “Do-Your-Timers”: Rural
Transformation and the Urban Transition in Saigon
DOCUMENTARY: China Rises -
City of Dreams
|
Sixth Week
May 4 - 8
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Race, Ethnicity and Labour Markets: Recruitment and
the Politics of Exclusion – Pages 237 – 281.
(Development and Social
Change)
6.
The Globalization Project in Practice
(Globalization
and Urbanization)
Chapter 4: “Do-Your-Timers” African Style: Addis
Ababa, the Unlikely Capital of Africa
DOCUMENTARY: Mega Cities -
Hong Kong
Megacities - São Paulo
|
Sunday
May 10
|
Reflection Paper – 3
Midnight
|
Seventh Week
May 11 - 15
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Working Technology – Pages 282 – 311.
(Development and Social
Change)
7.
Global Counter movements
(Globalization
and Urbanization)
Chapter 5: The Indigenous City? Reconciling an
Old-Timers' Honolulu with a Global Society
DOCUMENTARY: MEGACITIES London - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8o8KamOISs
|
Eighth Week
May 18 - 22
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Present Work: The Age of Employment – Pages 313 –
354.
(Development and Social
Change)
Part
III. Millennial Reckonings (2000s-Present)
8.
The Globalization Project in Crisis
(Globalization
and Urbanization)
Chapter 6: “For-All-Timers”: New
York City’s Empire State of Mind
DOCUMENTARY: MEGACITIES Mexico City -
|
Sunday
May 24
|
Reflection Paper – 4
Midnight
|
Ninth Week
May 25 - 29
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
Future Work: Globalization and the Age of
Enthralment?
(Development and Social
Change)
9.
The Sustainability Project
(Globalization
and Urbanization)
Chapter 7: The Global Urban Ecosystem: A Globally
Integrated Ecology of Everyday Life
DOCUMENTARY: Inside Egypt
|
Sunday
May 31
|
Reflection Paper -5
Midnight
|
Tenth
Week
June
1 - 5
|
(The
Sociology of Work)
(Development and Social
Change)
10. Rethinking Development
DOCUMENTARY: Education City (Qatar)
|
Sunday June 7th
|
Final Paper Deadline
Sunday June 7th Midnight
Please email me your paper.
|
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