Countercultural Studies

MMP WITTR paper - Seifert and Murray

by Amelia-Roísín Seifert

CALL FOR PAPERS: Journal Special Issue: Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies

by Karen Soldatic

CALL FOR PAPERS:
Journal Special Issue: Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies
more CALL FOR PAPERS:
Journal Special Issue: Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies

Disability and Colonialism: (dis)encounters and anxious intersectionalities

Guest Editors: Shaun Grech (Manchester Metropolitan University) & Karen Soldatic (University of New South Wales)

We are pleased to announce that we will be guest editing a special edition entitled Disability and Colonialism: (dis)encounters and anxious intersectionalities on behalf of the established refereed journal Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies.

The aim of this special issue is to position disability within the colonial (the real and imagined), through which to explore a range of (often anxious) intersectionalities as disability is theorised, constructed, and lived as a post/neocolonial condition. While postcolonial theory and associated fields (e.g. critical theory, cultural studies etc.) have engaged with race, gender and ethnicity in the exploration of themes of identity, representation, space, historicity and the neocolonial, they have almost wholly bypassed disabled people- paradoxically limited to the subjectification of the able-bodied, or rather disembodying colonialism. Westerncentric fields of study such as disability studies often remain detached from the global South, the histories, contexts and cultures of these specific geopolitical spaces, and how disability is ontologically constructed and lived through a history replete with signifiers of power and empire and that frame the global. While some have adopted colonialism as a metaphor for the experience of disability (see for example Shakespeare, 2000), of colonized bodies by the medical profession, the colonial encounter per se, its creation of and implications for the disabled subject, remains inadequately theorised. In turn, disability is persistently removed from history and any contemplation of the post or neocolonial and efforts (discursive or material) at decolonizing these spaces and those within.

The special issue aims to transcend disciplinary, epistemological, methodological, spatial and historical boundaries. Engaging indigenous, post/neocolonial, disability studies, critical theory, psychology, Latin American Cultural Studies, and a range of other perspectives and literatures, and prioritising voices from the global South, we invite authors to engage in critical debate around colonialism to explore a range of thematic concerns (not exclusively):

• Colonial representations and the construction of the disabled body and mind
• The violence and disablism of colonialism
• Intersections of race, ethnicity, culture, gender and disability
• Empire and the domestication of bodies: globalisation, economics and beyond
• Disabled identities, metaphors and language, and their roles in subjugation
• From the colonial to the post/neocolonial: disability and contemporary lineages of imperialism
• Social identities and visions of disability
• Colonial medicalisation: identifying, labelling and ‘treating’ the disabled body
• The Christianising mission, biblical renditions and the disabled subject
• Decolonizing epistemologies, practices and lives: renegotiating power and contemplating global justice

We encourage authors to engage work on Southern theory and movements and approaches prioritising and promoting Southern epistemologies and counter-hegemonic knowledges emerging from struggles for justice.

Those wishing to submit an article, please email your full manuscript to both Shaun Grech (S.Grech@mmu.ac.uk) and Karen Soldatic (ajks123@bigpond.com). Please insert ‘Submission for Disability and Colonialism Special Issue’ in the subject line. Manuscripts will be sent anonymously for double peer review, and comments and recommendations relayed to authors through the editors.

Articles should not exceed 8,000 words in length, and include a 300 word abstract. The journal style guide is available here: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=1369-801X&linktype=44.

Manuscripts should be submitted by no later than: 1st January 2013

Bonnie and Clyde

by Amelia Clark

In this paper, I argue that that the film, Bonnie and Clyde, created a counterculture movement and in its reviews, the... more In this paper, I argue that that the film, Bonnie and Clyde, created a counterculture movement and in its reviews, the generation gap of the 1960s is revealed as this film struck a cord on both sides of the spectrum.

Power, politics and everyday life: the local rationalities of social movement milieux

by Laurence Cox

46-66 in Paul Bagguley and Jeff Hearn (eds.), Transforming politics: power and resistance. London: Macmillan / British Sociological Association, 1999.

This chapter explores the cultural dimensions that underlie social movement mobilisation, with particular reference to... more This chapter explores the cultural dimensions that underlie social movement mobilisation, with particular reference to those underlying the anti-capitalist movement, then on the brink of emergence.

From social movements to counter cultures: steps beyond political reductionism

by Laurence Cox

68-79 in Michael Howlett and Shane Kilcommins, eds. Humanities in WIT: Festschrift for Tony Scott. Waterford: Waterford IT, 1999

This paper argues that the literature on contemporary social movements is essentially circular, representing a... more This paper argues that the literature on contemporary social movements is essentially circular, representing a political reductionism within which the analysis of these movements in terms of (individual, collective, societal) instrumental rationality appears both as a premise and as a conclusion. This in effect treats the theorist's own local form of rationality as universal, rather than taking the question of the modes of rationality operating in these contexts as an open question for research. By restricting the analytic and explanatory value of the social movement concept to the narrow field identified as relevant by this methodology, its common use for more wide-ranging analyses of the nature of contemporary social change is fatally undermined.

This tension is strongest in authors representing an "identity paradigm" such as Alberto Melucci, whose work points towards the need to replace social movement activity within the sociocultural contexts from which it proceeds, but who are unable to theorise these contexts in their own terms, analysing them only from the point of view of their immediate contribution to political activity. Even this "culturalist" approach to contemporary movements, then, remains blocked by an ultimate prioritisation of instrumental political action, and thus considerably less flexible than early cultural studies approaches to class movements.

This paper argues that social movement activity as currently conceived is only one element of broader life-world contexts which need to be theorised on their own terms before contemporary movements can be fully understood, and that the modes of rationality operative in these contexts have to be seen as an open question for research, rather than assumed or imputed. Working with a concept of "counter cultures" as historically developed complexes of alternative practices and meanings, this paper suggests that both the role of skills and intellectual activity and the characteristic modes of organisation of contemporary social movements need to be seen in this context. Material from a series of Dublin interviews is used to illustrate the possibility that autonomy may be a key element of this life-world rationality. The conclusion discusses the political implications of this suggestion.

Towards a sociology of counter cultures?”

by Laurence Cox

15 - 24 in Emma McKenna and Roger O'Sullivan (eds.), Ireland: emerging perspectives. Belfast: QUB Dept of Sociology and Social Policy, 1995.

Conventional accounts of "new social movements", "the Sixties", green parties, "the... more Conventional accounts of "new social movements", "the Sixties", green parties, "the alternative economy", and some contemporary subcultures often accept the existence of connections between some at least of these developments, but without making the attempt to analyse them as parts of a single historical process or as aspects of a more complex social formation. It may be possible to overcome the (theoretical, methodological, disciplinary) isolation of these subjects from one another in terms of a concept of counter culture which attempts to locate them within the total life-worlds of the participants.

This means treating counter cultures as historically developed complexes of institutions and practices, structures of meaning, forms of consciousness and modes of organisation of everyday life. This also makes it possible to distinguish between networks which are deeply involved in this counter cultural totality, and those which are essentially oriented towards dominant institutions and structures but which are receptive to isolated counter cultural practices or meanings. The argument is illustrated in relation to developments in (West) Germany since the 1960s.

Counter culture and social change since the 70s

by Laurence Cox

In Everyday creativity, counter culture and social change proceedings (2007), pp. 12 - 19

Overview of the role of social movement cultures and social change in Ireland in recent decades. Overview of the role of social movement cultures and social change in Ireland in recent decades.

Structure, routine and transformation: movements from below at the end of the century

by Laurence Cox

In Colin Barker and Mike Tyldesley (eds.), Fifth international conference on alternative futures and popular protest: a selection of papers from the conference. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University, 1999.

This (very provisional) paper draws on the Irish experience of counter cultures to think about the shape and direction... more This (very provisional) paper draws on the Irish experience of counter cultures to think about the shape and direction of movements from below at the end of the century and to find ways of asking "where do we go from here?" It starts by trying to make sense of the existing directions of counter cultural movement projects, which it sees as organic challenges to everyday social routines ("ordinary life") that are extended to the point of challenging large-scale power structures ("politics"). It does this by looking at some of the political tensions in the Irish versions of these projects: between strategies of mainstreaming and ghettoising, of consensus and disruption, of populism and elitism, and trying to identify the internal divisions of interest and rationality that underlie these tensions.

If we want to be able to choose our directions well and to bring others along with us, we need to find ways of evaluating these choices that are neither arbitrary nor automatic. This paper suggests that it is possible to develop an immanent critique which asks how adequate different strategies are to the counter cultural project as a whole. This might mean, for example, using comprehensiveness rather than one-sidedness, scope rather than limits, or compatibility rather than contradiction as yardsticks to judge the relationship between a political strategy and a movement. On this basis it suggests that a strategy oriented to the development of counter-hegemony, conflict and popular mobilisation might come closest to being adequate to the existing movement.

Reflexivity, social transformation, and counter culture

by Laurence Cox

In Colin Barker and Mike Tyldesley (eds.), Alternative futures and popular protest III: a selection of papers from the conference. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University, 1997

A voice of our own: the need for an alternative public space.

by Laurence Cox

In UCG EcoSoc (eds.), The future of the Irish environmental movement: aims, aspirations and realities. Galway: UCG EcoSoc, 1997

Argument around the situation of the Irish alternative press in the immediate run-up to the development of... more Argument around the situation of the Irish alternative press in the immediate run-up to the development of Internet-based alternative publishing in Ireland.

Should environmental issues be securitised?

by Owais Rajput

Environmental issues
The variables that have defined national security for the most part of the World’s history... more Environmental issues
The variables that have defined national security for the most part of the World’s history have largely been military in nature. Security was primarily made up of the physical defence of the country, its people and whatever they possessed. Profound factors outside the traditional area of military operations have been realised that could affect the securities of many countries.
It is within this background that environmental issues have raised to importance, and the term ‘Environmental Security’ has entered the language of environmentalists, policy makers and security planners. With the ending of the cold war, the usual concepts of the nature of national security and the methods to achieve it have changed. The global powers at the time were engaged in military containment of each other, as in the case of America and the Soviet Union containment of each other.

Hard to Reach Communities: Living in the UK, and Issues Facing British Muslims of Kashmiri Heritage Born & Bred in the UK

by Owais Rajput

In my presentation I will focus on British Muslim Communities living in UK; my main focus will be on the British local... more In my presentation I will focus on British Muslim Communities living in UK; my main focus will be on the British local community with Kashmiri heritage, as most of the time they are labelled in the media as “Home Grown Radicalised” Muslims, even if they are the fourth & fifth generation born & bred in UK.

I will also focus on Processes to Radicalisation in UK, in local communities, again particularly in the Kashmiri community.

I will also focus on design and delivery processes so far used by authorities in de-radicalisation processes and the results so far, and why we need to change those design and delivery processes, especially when we focus on the British Diaspora with Kashmiri heritage, the fourth & fifth generation born & bred in the UK.

Kashmir Conflict, South Asian Security & Global Peace

by Owais Rajput

Trial by space for a [] radical rural': Introducing alternative localities, representations and lives

by Keith Halfacree

From dropping out to leading on? British counter-cultural back-to-the-land in a changing rurality

by Keith Halfacree

'Glow worms show the path we have to tread': the counterurbanisation of Vashti Bunyan

by Keith Halfacree

Review essay on New Latin American Cinemas (in Bengali language)

by Abhijit Roy

Baromas, Festival Number, 1999

Review article on the book 'The New Latin American Cinema: Readings from within' ed. Indranil Chakraborty, S. V.... more Review article on the book 'The New Latin American Cinema: Readings from within' ed. Indranil Chakraborty, S. V. Raman, Samik Bandyopadhyay. Celluloid Chapter, Jamshedpur, India. 1998.

Facebook in the Classroom: Children's Writings in School Diaries (1950-1990)

by Sjaak Braster

Paper International Symposium on Children's Writings, September 6-7, 2011, Berlanga del Duero (Spain)

In the Netherlands pupils of secondary schools use school diaries for writing down the weekly homework that they are... more In the Netherlands pupils of secondary schools use school diaries for writing down the weekly homework that they are supposed to do for all of the subjects they study during the school year. These school diaries are like their work schedules, helping in the successful planning of their school life. But because their content is not controlled by teachers, the writings in school diaries take on many different forms that go beyond simply jotting down the tasks that must be performed. In the 1950s and 1960s pupils rebelled against the mainstream cultural content of their school diaries by pimping them up with their own countercultural preferences. As a consequence, diaries developed into lifestyle documents that showed the cultural preferences of their owners. Then in the 1980s the youth’s preferences were incorporated into the school diaries by publishing houses. In this article we have analysed 10 diaries from the 1980s and compared them with 16 from the period 1950-1979. In the 1980s, as in previous decades, they still contained popular and personal poems about love and sex, they were filled with cut-out images of pop artists and comic strips, and they were packed with texts that nowadays would be defined as chats, tweets, or graffiti. In other words, they were already fulfilling the main functions of social media like Facebook at a time when computers were not used in education and Internet did not yet exist.

Historicity and the Feminist Art Movement: International Histories

by Michelle Moravec

Berkshire Conference on the History of Women 2011

poster, ppt and draftish paper on blog poster, ppt and draftish paper on blog

O Reencantamento Do Político: Interpretações Da Contracultura

by Miriam Adelman