The Monthly Digest is a resource provided by Security in Context that provides a list of recent publications, calls, conferences and other items relevant to the critical global, security, and international political economy studies audience. In addition to new items, our digest may contain relatively recent entries, so please double check dates on any calls or conferences. All descriptions taken from their original sources unless otherwise indicated. If we’ve missed something, or you have items you’d like to contribute for future digests, please email us at: submissions@securityincontext.org
Books
Protesting Jordan: Geographics of Power and Dissent
Jillian Schwedler
Protest has been a key method of political claim-making in Jordan from the late Ottoman period to the present day. More than moments of rupture within normal-time politics, protests have been central to challenging state power, as well as reproducing it—and the spatial dynamics of protests play a central role in the construction of both state and society. With this book, Jillian Schwedler considers how space and geography influence protests and repression, and, in challenging conventional narratives of Hashemite state-making, offers the first in-depth study of rebellion in Jordan.
Based on twenty-five years of field research, Protesting Jordan examines protests as they are situated in the built environment, bringing together considerations of networks, spatial imaginaries, space and place-making, and political geographies at local, national, regional, and global scales. Schwedler considers the impact of time and temporality in the lifecycles of individual movements. Through a mixed interpretive methodology, this book illuminates the geographies of power and dissent and the spatial practices of protest and repression, highlighting the political stakes of competing narratives about Jordan's past, present, and future.
Minoritarian Liberalism: A Travesti Life in a Brazilian Favela
Moisés Lino e Silva
A mesmerizing ethnography of the largest favela in Rio, where residents articulate their own politics of freedom against the backdrop of multiple forms of oppression.
Normative liberalism has promoted the freedom of privileged subjects, those entitled to rights—usually white, adult, heteronormative, and bourgeois—at the expense of marginalized groups, such as Black people, children, LGBTQ people, and slum dwellers. In this visceral ethnography of Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Moisés Lino e Silva explores what happens when liberalism is challenged by people whose lives are impaired by normative understandings of liberty. He calls such marginalized visions of freedom “minoritarian liberalism,” a concept that stands in for overlapping, alternative modes of freedom—be they queer, favela, or peasant.
Lino e Silva introduces readers to a broad collective of favela residents, most intimately accompanying Natasha Kellem, a charismatic self-declared travesti (a term used in Latin America to indicate a specific form of female gender construction opposite to the sex assigned at birth). While many of those the author meets consider themselves “queer,” others are treated as “abnormal” simply because they live in favelas. Through these interconnected experiences, Lino e Silva not only pushes at the boundaries of anthropological inquiry, but also offers ethnographic evidence of non-normative routes to freedom for those seeking liberties against the backdrop of capitalist exploitation, transphobia, racism, and other patterns of domination.
A Political Economy of Justice
Edited by Danielle Allen, Yochai Benkler, Leah Downey, Rebecca Henderson, and Josh Simons
If we can agree that our current social-political moment is tenuous and unsustainable—and indeed, that may be the only thing we can agree on right now—then how do markets, governments, and people interact in this next era of the world? A Political Economy of Justice considers the strained state of our political economy in terms of where it can go from here. The contributors to this timely and essential volume look squarely at how normative and positive questions about political economy interact with each other—and from that beginning, how to chart a way forward to a just economy.
A Political Economy of Justice collects fourteen essays from prominent scholars across the social sciences, each writing in one of three lanes: the measures of a just political economy; the role of firms; and the roles of institutions and governments. The result is a wholly original and urgent new benchmark for the next stage of our democracy.
Scholarships/Fellowships
Wilson China Fellowship - One-Year, Non-Residential Fellowship - Applications Due June 15th
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Asia Program and Kissinger Institute on China and the United States seeks applicants for the third class of Wilson China Fellows from policy-oriented scholars with specialization in political, social, economic, security, or historical issues related to China.
The aim of this fellowship is to produce new and original pieces of research that improve understanding of the role that China is playing in the Indo-Pacific, its relations with its neighbors and the United States, and its impact on peace and security issues. Past fellows pursued a wide range of innovative projects across the width and breadth of China policy issues.
Research projects supported by this Fellowship:
- Focus on China’s impact on political, social, economic, security, or historical issues and its impact on China’s periphery, across Asia, and on China-U.S. relations.
- Develop concepts or explore topics that are understudied, unconventional, unique, emerging, or new within academic and policy discussions.
- Build upon historical and current research on U.S.-China relations and Chinese foreign policy.
- Combine academic rigor with policy relevance.
- Special consideration will be made for proposals that take an interdisciplinary approach.
The Center offers a stipend of $20,000 for a one-year non-resident fellowship (July 2022 to July 2023). This fellowship is available to U.S. citizens only, and candidates must have received a PhD or JD from an accredited university on or after January 1, 2009. Applications are due by June 15th, 2022.
Journal Articles
SWANA from below: living, enduring, and remembering its revolutions
Conference Call for Papers
November 30 - December 2, 2022 —Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence, Italy
The Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, Italy, invites scholars and early-career researchers to submit abstracts for the conference “SWANA from Below: living, enduring, and remembering its revolutions”. Moving attention from macro level transformations and focusing instead on “politics more below”, this conference seeks to interrogate these revolutions and uprisings from the perspective of their makers. It aims to look closely at how revolutionary dynamics unfold at the micro-level and in their everyday lives, analyzing the trajectories of politicization of activists and participants and the ways in which these revolutionary uprisings affected their lives.
The conference will feature three workshops designed and moderated in cooperation with the Marc Bloch Zentrum at Humboldt University in Berlin and the DRafting and Enacting the Revolutions in the Arab Mediterranean Project (DREAM) and Center for Social Movements Studies (COSMOS) at the Scuola Normale Superiore. More information about the workshops can be found here.
Please find attached the Call for Papers with information on how to apply.
Timeline
- Application deadline: June 15, 2022
- Notification of applicants: July 15, 2022
- Final submissions: November 15, 2022
Applications should be submitted via e-mail to the following address: swana@sns.it with “SWANA Conference Application” in the subject field along with the applicant's last name.
International Studies Quarterly, Volume 66, Issue 1, March 2022
Articles included in this issue:
Erik A Gartzke, Kristian Skrede Gleditsch
[W]hat Lies Beneath: Using Latent Networks to Improve Spatial Predictions
Cassy Dorff, Max Gallop, Shahryar Minhas
Johan A Elkink, Thomas U Grund
Lectures & Webinars
Rethinking Internationalism: Q&A Session Dr. Simon Reid-Henry
"Rethinking Internationalism" is a talk about internationalism and security, spearheaded by Dr. Simon Reid-Henry. This video is the second half of the talk, detailing the Q&A session after the initial presentation.
Dr. Simon Reid-Henry, Professor of Historical and Political Geography a Queen Mary University of London. His current work examines the fault lines of democracy at home and abroad and the political dynamics of international public finance. Reid-Henry is one of the original thinkers behind a new paradigm for international public finance that can better secure global public goods and protect the global commons. His critically acclaimed books include Fidel and Che: A Revolutionary Friendship (Sceptre, 2009), The Cuban Cure (University of Chicago Press, 2010), The Political Origins of Inequality (University of Chicago Press, 2015), and Empire of Democracy (Simon & Schuster/John Murrays, 2019).
Moderated by Dr. Roberto Veneziani, Professor of Economics at Queen Mary University of London and Co-Editor of the Review of Social Economy.
Co-Sponsored by the OU Center for Peace and Development and the Review of Social Economy.
Anti-Colonial Solidarity: An Interview with George Fourlas
Hampshire College professor George Forlas discusses his latest book, "Anti-Colonial Solidarity - Race, Reconciliation, and Mena Liberation."
Book Link: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538141458...
Anti-Colonial Solidarity: Race, Reconciliation, and MENA Liberation confronts the racialization of Middle-Eastern and North African (MENA) perceived peoples from a global perspective. George Fourlas critiques the ways that orientalism, racism, and colonialism cooperatively emerged and afforded the imaginary landscapes of the recently recategorized Middle East.
Rather than offer a blueprint for a well-ordered free society, however, Anti-Colonial Solidarity explores what is required to enact an open-ended collectivity that resists rigid universalism, as well as reification, and prioritizes reciprocal relations with others and the environment. At once a rejection of orientalist narratives and a critique of solidarity that illuminates defensive possibilities for MENA people beyond the insufficient, yet still necessary, politics of recognition, Anti-Colonial Solidarity is a call to action for MENA people, and subjugated people more generally, to reclaim ourselves and our history from the trappings of colonial domination.
George Fourlas is the SHIFT Endowed Associate Professor of Applied Ethics at Hampshire College (MA) and a visiting faculty member in philosophy and government at Franklin and Marshall College (PA). George's teaching and research take place at the intersection of social-political theory, applied ethics, critical race theory, conflict resolution, decolonial theory, and global studies. His publications have appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as the International Journal of Transitional Justice, Critical Philosophy of Race, and the Journal for Peace and Justice Studies. He is also a co-editor of the Radical Philosophy Review. When not working the academic grind, George enjoys spending time with his family, being outside, and practicing martial arts. Learn more about Dr. Fourlas from his website: gnfourlas.com
Moderator Omar Dahi is a Professor of Economics at Hampshire College and director of Security in Context.
Job Openings
Kingsborough Community College, History, Philosophy and Political Science
Lecturer - Political Science
The Department of History, Philosophy and Political Science at Kingsborough Community College invites applications for a full-time Lecturer to teach a wide variety of courses in the Political Science program, including evening and weekend assignments for the 2022-2023 academic year. In addition to teaching, the candidate is expected to perform student advisement, contribute to new course development, and serve on departmental, college and university committees.
Performs teaching and related faculty functions in area(s) of expertise.
Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in area(s) of expertise, and the ability to teach successfully.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Ph.D. (completed or in progress) strongly preferred.
- Area of specialization is open, but we are particularly seeking someone who has the ability to develop and teach courses in U.S. national and race and ethnic politics. Candidates must also be able to teach POL 51: Introduction to American Government.
- Demonstrated experience with high impact practices for community college students, such as (but not limited to) Open Educational Resources and Undergraduate Research.
- Experience teaching community college students.
- Ability and willingness to teach a wide range of courses abd formats in the Political Science program including evening and weekend assignments and in person, hybrid, and fully online classes.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate across disciplinary lines for course and program development
Podcasts
Palestine: Solidarity and Struggle
According to the late Pakistani writer and revolutionary activist Eqbal Ahmad, the Palestinian struggle for self-determination stirs the emotions of the entire world, particularly the nations and societies of the formerly colonized world. In this episode we explore the Palestinian struggle for liberation from the perspective of solidarity movements.
Our guests include: Mouin Rabbani, an independent analyst specialized in Palestinian affairs and the Arab-Israeli conflict; Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney and associate professor at Rutgers University; Lina Meruane, an author and professor at the Madrid branch of the New York University; and Yara Hawari, an academic, writer, and senior policy analyst at Al-Shabaka
More
Pedagogy
VIDEO - The US National Security State
September Monthly Digest 2023
August Monthly Digest 2023
