Trump, the Alt-Right and Public Pedagogies of Hate and for Fascism. What is to be Done?

Mike Cole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A NEW BOOK BY MIKE COLE

Routledge Focus, 2018

ISBN: 9781138607545

 

OUTLINE

Trump, the Alt-Right and Public Pedagogies of Hate and for Fascism: What Is To Be Done? uses public pedagogy as a theoretical lens through which to view discourses of hate and for fascism in the era of Trump and to promote an anti-fascist and pro-socialist public pedagogy. It makes the case for re-igniting a rhetoric that goes beyond the undermining of neoliberal capitalism and the promotion of social justice, and re-aligns the left against fascism and for a socialism of the twenty-first century.

Beginning with an examination of the history of traditional fascism in the twentieth century, the book looks at the similarities and differences between the Trump regime and traditional Western post-war fascism. Cole goes on to consider the alt-right movement, the reasons for its rise, and the significance of the internet being harnessed as a tool with which to promote a fascistic public pedagogy. Finally, the book examines the resistance against these discourses and addresses the question of: what is to be done?

This topical book will be of great interest to scholars, to postgraduate students and to researchers, as well as to advanced undergraduate students in the fields of education studies, pedagogy, and sociology, as well as readers in general who are interested in the phenomenon of Trumpism.

Reviews:

‘Mike Cole has written a stunning work that deserves to be read in teacher education courses, in graduate seminars, and in all classes dealing with the future of education–and of society.’ Peter McLaren, Chapman University, USA

‘This incisive book, with startling clarity, is a cutting analysis of Trump and his relationship with the personnel and the rhetoric and discourse- the public pedagogy of the Proto-Fascist and Fascist movement in the USA and the implications internationally.’ Dave Hill, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

‘This book provides a devastating critique and Cole brings to the fore the importance of public pedagogy in the struggle against Trump’s fascist tendencies. Nothing can be ignored in this book and much is at stake.’ Alpesh Maisuria, University of East London, UK

‘This is an excellent book – it’s a highly engaging read that will be of interest to people who don’t already know a great deal about Trump and the alt-right and the various movements who oppose them, as well as those who are already well-versed in the horrors of Trumpism. The book makes good use of public pedagogy as a framing device, and it will be an important contribution to our further understanding of how dominant ideologies are enacted and perpetuated, and also how they are resisted.’ Jennifer Sandlin, Arizona State University, USA

Further details: https://www.routledge.com/Trump-the-Alt-Right-and-Public-Pedagogies-of-Hate-and-for-Fascism-What/Cole/p/book/9781138607545

Mike Cole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***END***

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

The Poetics of Fascism

Aesthetics

THE POETICS OF FASCISM – ACLA 2014

American Comparative Literature Association

ACLA 2014: “Capitals”

NYU, New York City, March 20-23, 2014

DEADLINE November 15, 2013

The Poetics of Fascism

Fascist ideology comprises a multifaceted aesthetic-theoretical register. Due to its semantic density, fascism poses a challenge when we try to define it or map its spatial and temporal boundaries. While there are multiple and disparate fascist movements, as in the case of Italy, Germany, Japan, Romania, Spain and Latin-America, this panel inquires whether it is possible to identify a common mental and aesthetic structure among these instances as expressions of a “generic” fascism.
Walter Benjamin, for example, has defined the aestheticization of politics as the crux of the discursive and aesthetic structure of fascism. This, however, raises many questions. Is all aesthetic staging of politics necessarily fascist; or are alternate aestheticizations of politics possible? Conversely, can we identify instances of fascism that escape this definition of aesthetic form?
In addition, this panel invites commentaries on the utilization of post-fascist motives in political and literary theory today. Although discourses of biopolitics, posthumanism, and affect theory often overtly express their aversion towards fascism, it can be argued that they display elements which present striking similarities with the constitutive components of fascist ideology itself, such as the utopian dream of a new future species, the privileging of affective energies over cognitive and rational faculties, or the fusion of biological existence and political existence. What are the implications of these uncanny after-images of fascist ideology with and in contemporary theory? What are potential problems and incompatibilities in these theories? Can they, nevertheless, be effectively mobilized against fascist ideology today?

Topics include, but are not limited to:

–       Literature and Fascism
–       Cinematography and Fascism
–       Architecture and Fascism
–       the Dialectic of Enlightenment and Fascism
–       Capitalism and Fascism
–       Colonialism and Fascism
–       Gender and Fascism

Keywords: aestheticization of politics, aesthetics of resistance, capitalism, fascist imperialism, generic fascism, mass ornament, monumental politics

Please submit paper proposals (max. 250 words) via the ACLA 2014 website —

http://www.acla.org/acla2014/    
Deadline: November 15, 2013.

For questions concerning the panel please contact the organizers of the panel directly:
Esther Edelmann: eedelma2@jhu.edu and Jennifer Kang: kangx267@umn.edu

 

First published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/cfp-the-poetics-of-fascism-acla-2014

 

**END**

 

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo   

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Consortium on Social Movements Workshop – COSMOS

Fear of a Blank Planet

CONSORTIUM ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS WORKSHOP – COSMOS

27 May 2013
European University Institute, Florence

Call for Papers
Popular culture and protest repertoires in 20th c. Europe

Convenors:
Ilaria Favretto (Professor of Contemporary European History, Kingston University, London)
Xabier Itçaina (CNRS Research fellow-Sciences Po Bordeaux – Marie Curie Fellow European University Institute, Florence)

Donatella della Porta (Professor of Sociology, European University Institute, Florence) will participate as discussant.

In the footsteps of Charles Tilly’s influential study of contentious politics in France and Great Britain, scholars of social movements tend to distinguish between pre-industrial and post-1789 forms of collective action. In early modern Europe, protest repertoires mainly revolved around community-based forms of direct action, which included attacks on property, field invasion, physical violence to persons. Charivari rites in particular, that is rituals of public humiliation through which small communities denounced and sanctioned certain breaches of commonly accepted customary rules, held significant prominence.  However, as a result of industrialisation, the rise of the nation-state and the spread of association politics, pre-industrial communitarian forms of protest were to gradually fade away. A new modern repertoire, which included boycotts, barricades, petitions, demonstrations, strikes, came to replace it.

Traditional forms of collective action did not disappear overnight. In particular, political charivari – that is rough music, mock trials, mock funerals, ride on donkeys, shaving, effigy burning or hanging, soiling, etc. – continued to be practiced and adapted to new political needs well up to the 20th c.  On the model of E. P. Thompson and Natalie Zemon Davis’ seminal work on popular culture(s) and protest, 19th and 20th c. historians and historical anthropologists have well documented the survival and practice of rituals of folk justice in later periods, mostly in the context of 19th c. liberal revolutions, peasant protest, Fascist violence, WWII Resistance movements, 19^th c. and 20^th c. industrial conflict, nationalist movements and new social movements. However, particularly in the study of 20th c. protest movements, these repertoires have been little investigated and, overall, poorly deciphered.

We believe that a better understanding of old repertoires and their underlying cultures and symbolism is crucial to fully comprehend modern protest. Therefore, the purpose of the workshop is to bring together scholars from different subject areas -historians, social anthropologists, political scientists and social movement scholars- to reflect in an interdisciplinary and comparative European perspective upon the influence of popular cultures and old repertoires of contention on modern protest.

We will address the following questions:
* To what extent, why and in what kind of contexts traditional pre-industrial repertoires continued to be practiced in the modern period (19^th and 20^th c.)?
* How did old repertoires of contention and traditional protest cultures survive industrialisation and urbanisation? Are there any European variations? If so, why?
* How did old protest routines integrate into modern protest tactics? Which factors account for their use and revival over time? Are there any specific groups of protesters who have practiced these repertoires?
* How have these repertoires been received and understood by public opinion, the media or political actors such as political parties or trade unions?
Contributions to theoretical approaches to the topic will also be welcome.

Please send your proposal (max 400 words; preferably in English) and information about your institutional affiliation and status (100 words) by 21 January 2013 via Email to: Ilaria Favretto (I.Favretto@Kingston.ac.uk) and Xabier Itcaina (Xabier.Itcaina@eui.eu)

Please note that participation at the workshop (that is accommodation and travel expenses) will be self-funded. Selected participants will be expected to send a short version of their paper (1500-2000 words) by 13 May 2013.
Provided we find a suitable publisher, we are planning to publish papers (in English) either as an edited volume or as an academic journal special issue. Longer and final versions of papers will be expected by 1 September 2013.

First published at: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/cfp-cosmos-consortium-on-social-movements-workshop-eui-florence-27-may-2013

 

**END**

 

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

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Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Historical Materialism – Volume 20 Number 1 (2012)

Human Nature

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM – VOLUME 20 NUMBER 1 (2012)

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/hm/2012/00000020/00000001;jsessionid=8btadtun80atn.alice

www.brill.nl/hima

Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory

Volume 20 Issue 1
2012

CONTENTS

Articles

Kim Moody
Contextualising Organised Labour in Expansion and Crisis: The Case of the US

Gail Day
Manfredo Tafuri, Fredric Jameson and the Contestations of Political Memory

Richard Seaford
Monetisation and the Genesis of the Western Subject

Tony Norfield
Derivatives and Capitalist Markets: The Speculative Heart of Capital

Jairus Banaji
Fascism as a Mass Movement: Translator’s Introduction of Arthur Rosenberg’s Fascism as a Mass Movement

Intervention

Mario Vegetti
Editorial Introduction to Plato’s The Republic, Book XI

Review Articles

Jason Read
on Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Commonwealth

Ed Rooksby
on Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?

Paul Stasi
on Pranav Jani’s Decentering Rushdie: Cosmopolitanism and the Indian Novel in English

Henry Heller
on Jefff Horn’s The Path Not Taken: French Industrialization in the Age of Revolution, 1750-1830

Ingo Schmidt
on Ricardo Bellofiore’s Rosa Luxemburg and the Critique of Political Economy

Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism

Juha Koivisto and Mikko Lahtinen
Conjuncture, politico-historical

 

**END**

 

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

 

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

The Long Duree of the Far Right

 

Aesthetics

THE LONG DURÉE OF THE FAR RIGHT

The Longue Durée of the Far Right: Ideology, Organization, State Formation and International Relations

October 2012 (Queen Mary, University of London)

 

Call for Papers

The (re)emergence of far-right parties and social movements in various parts of the world – and particularly in Europe – in recent years has been widely discussed in the press and in academic commentary. In contrast to their ‘revolutionary’ bedfellows on the communist left, since the end of the Cold War far-right parties have come to form a significant and disturbing part of the political geography in a number of countries. Whilst their influence has been uneven – from participating in governing coalitions in Western Europe (the Austrian Freedom Party and the Italian Lega Nord) and in India (the Bharatiya Janata Party) to spawning a violent Islamophobic street movement (the English Defence League in the UK), to forming a major component of anti-imperialist movements across much of the Islamic world – their general appearance across time and space suggests that the current era is comparable to the earlier historical conjunctures of far-right mobilization in the late nineteenth century and inter-war periods. The varied forms of far-right have combined with their contrasting ideological dimensions, which has made the taxonomy of far-right something of an academic industry in itself. In particular, the far-right has come to be divided over its ‘post-fascist’ rhetorical commitment to (liberal) democracy as opposed to an authoritarian and demagogic populism and also between a neo-fascist commitment to a statist and protectionist model of capitalism and an embrace of much of the policy formulas of neo-liberalism by some strands of the contemporary far-right.

These developments raise a number of analytical and political questions. How distinct are these contemporary manifestations of the far-right compared to the previous historical forms of the far-right? How analytically useful is the concept of fascism in describing the generic far-right? What are the social bases of the far-right – past and present? Which methodological framework provides the most useful analytical tool to examine and understand the far-right? What of the relationship between the evolving dynamics of uneven capitalist development and geopolitical order on the determination of far-right movements – historical and contemporary?

The aim of this workshop is to promote an inter-disciplinary engagement with these issues through bringing together scholars from a range of different subject areas (IR, IPE, Geography, History, Sociology, Comparative Politics and Political Theory) to re-think the linkages between the historical, sociological and international dimensions of the far-right – as ideology, movement and state – over the longue durée from its emergence as a distinct and modern form of politics in the late nineteenth century to its more recent re-emergence in their intertwining local, national and international contexts.

Possible themes for consideration, but not limited to:

Comparative historical case studies of far-right movements and states

Analytical issues of comparisons and comparative methodologies

International relations of fascist state formation processes

Far-right movements in colonial and post-colonial contexts

Evolving class and social compositions of the far-right

Political economies of fascist states

Distinctions and relations between ideologies, movements and states

Geopolitical ordering and far-right movements and states – imperial, Cold War and post-Cold War eras

Capitalist development, uneven, combined or  otherwise and conjunctures of crisis on processes of far-right emergence, evolution and transformation

Geographical and spatial variations in the far-right – urban/rural, local/national, north/south

Aesthetic representations in architecture, art and culture

Racialized conceptions of space and territoriality in ideologies and state practices

 

Please send proposals (of no more than 500 words), along with biographical and institutional information to Rick Saull (r.g.saull@qmul.ac.uk) or Alex Anievas

(alexander.anievas@st-annes.ox.ac.uk) by June 4, 2012

 

**END**

 

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Italian Research Seminars 2011 – 2012

Glenn Rikowski

ITALIAN RESEARCH SEMINARS 2011 – 2012

Dear All

The Italian Department is organising a new series of interdisciplinary research seminars. Our first guest speaker will be Dr Alberto Toscano (Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Goldsmiths) (http://www.gold.ac.uk/sociology/staff/toscano/) who will present a paper entitled ‘The Non-State Intellectual: Franco Fortini and Communist Criticism’. The seminar will take place on Thursday September 29 at 6pm in Woolf College Seminar Room 3. All welcome.

For a list of forthcoming seminars, please, see below. For further information, contact Dr Lorenzo Chiesa (L.Chiesa@kent.ac.uk<mailto:L.Chiesa@kent.ac.uk>) or Dr Francesco Capello (F.L.Capello@kent.ac.uk<mailto:F.L.Capello@kent.ac.uk>).

Best wishes
Lorenzo & Francesco

Dr Lorenzo Chiesa
Reader in Modern European Thought
Head of Italian
SECL

Dr Francesco Capello
Lecturer in Italian
SECL

ITALIAN RESEARCH SEMINARS 2011/2012:

AUTUMN TERM

Thursday, 29 September 2011 (Week One):
Dr Alberto Toscano (Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Goldsmiths), ‘The Non-State Intellectual: Franco Fortini and Communist Criticism’

Thursday, 13 October 2011 (Week Three):
Dr Andrea Mammone (Lecturer in Modern History, Kingston University London), ‘Italian Neofascism and the Idea of Europe since 1945’

Thursday, 17 November 2011 (Week Eight) [date TBC]:
Dr Manuele Gragnolati (Reader in Italian, Oxford), ‘On Pasolini’s Petrolio’

Confirmed speakers for the Spring Term include Dr Deborah Holmes (Lecturer in German, Kent); Dr Luisa Lorenza Corna (Researcher, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht) & Dr Lynda DeMatteo (Researcher, CNRS-Laios, Paris).

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

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MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski 

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com 

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com 

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Staging the People: The Proletarian and His Double

Jacques Ranciere

STAGING THE PEOPLE: THE PROLETARIAN AND HIS DOUBLE

BY JACQUES RANCIÈRE
PUBLISHED: 10 JULY 2011
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These essays from the 1970s mark the inception of the distinctive project that Jacques Rancière has pursued across forty years, with several interwoven themes: the study of working-class identity, of its philosophical interpretation, of “heretical” knowledge and of the relationship between work and leisure.

For the short-lived journal Les Révoltes logiques, Rancière wrote on subjects ranging across a hundred years, from the California gold rush to trade-union collaboration with fascism, from early feminism to the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” from the respectability of the Paris Exposition to the disrespectable carousing outside the Paris gates. Rancière characteristically combines telling historical detail with deep insight into the development of the popular mind.

In a new Preface, he explains why such “awkward words” as “people,” “factory,” “proletarians” and “revolution” must regain their currency.
———————————–
PRAISE FOR JACQUES RANCIÈRE

“Forceful…persuasive…surprising…penetrating” – GUARDIAN

“Rancière’s writings offer one of the few conceptualizations of how we are to continue to resist.”  SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK

“An heir to Foucault” – ALAIN BADIOU

One of our most stimulating thinkers” PARIS MATCH

“It’s clear that Jacques Rancière is relighting the flame that was extinguished for many – that is why he serves as such a signal reference today” – THOMAS HIRSCHHORN

“In the face of impossible attempts to proceed with progressive ideals within the terms of postmodernist discourse, Rancière shows a way out of the malaise” – LIAM GILLICK

PRAISE FOR HATRED OF DEMOCRACY:

A piercing essay on the definitions and redefinitions of the term “democracy” … the present catastrophe in Iraq provides more than ample proof of Rancière’s bold assertion that we need to rethink the relationship between democracy and power before setting in motion any more wars in the name of “freedom”.” TIMES HIGHER EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

“This tastily sardonic essay is partly a scholarly sprint through the history of political philosophy, and partly a very enjoyable stream of insults directed at rival penseurs.” GUARDIAN

PRAISE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE IMAGE:

“Like all of Jacques Rancière’s texts, THE FUTURE OF THE IMAGE is vertiginously precise” LES CAHIERS DU CINEMA

“A series of gratifyingly knotty and close discussions of 19th- and 20th-century literature, film and painting” GUARDIAN
———————————–
JACQUES RANCIÈRE is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII. His books include THE EMANCIPATED SPECTATOR, THE FUTURE OF THE IMAGE, HATRED OF DEMOCRACY, ON THE SHORES OF POLITICS AND PROLETARIAN NIGHTS.
———————————–
ISBN: 978 1 84467 697 2 / $29.95 / £19.99 / $37.50CAN / Paperback / 240 pages
———————————–
For more information about STAGING THE PEOPLE: THE PROLETARIAN AND HIS DOUBLE
or to buy the book visit: http://www.versobooks.com/books/964-staging-the-people
———————————–
Visit Verso’s website for information on our upcoming events, new reviews and publications and special offers: http://www.versobooks.com
Become a fan of Verso on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Verso-Books/205847279448577

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Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

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Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century

A World To Win

STRIKES AND SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

International Conference
Lisbon, 17, 18, 19 March, 2011

The twentieth century has been confirmed as the century when the capital-labour conflict was most severe. The International Conference on Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century will host submissions on the strikes and social conflicts in the twentieth century and works on the theoretical discussion on the role of unions and political organizations. We also invite researchers to submit papers on methodology and the historiography of labour.

We welcome submissions on labour conflicts that occurred in factories, universities or public services, on rural and urban conflicts and also on conflicts that developed into civil wars or revolutions. National and international comparisons are also welcome.

After the Russian revolution the relative strengths of capital and labour were never again the same, with a period of revolution and counter-revolution that ended with World War II. Protagonist of the victory over fascism, the labour movement found itself neglected in the core countries under the impact of economic growth in the 1950s and the 1960s. But May 1968 quickly reversed the situation, with a following boom of labour studies during the 1970s. Nevertheless once the crisis of the 1970s was over, capital has regained the initiative, with the deterioration of labour laws, the crisis of trade unions and the subsequent despise in the academy for the study of social conflicts. The recent crisis, however, shows that workers, the ones who create value, are not obsolete. The social movements regain, in the last decade, a central role in the world.

The intensification of social conflicts in the last decade promoted a comeback to the academia of the studies on labour and the social movements. This conference aims to be part of this process: to retrieve, promote and disseminate the history of social conflicts during the twentieth century.

The Scientific Committee
Álvaro Bianchi (AEL)
Raquel Varela (IHC)
Sjaak van der Velden (IISH)
Serge Wolikow (MSH)
Xavier Domènech (CEDIF)

Conference Languages
Conference languages are Portuguese, English, French and Spanish (simultaneous translation Portuguese/English).

Preliminary Program

The Conference will have sessions in the mornings and afternoons. There will be conferences of invited speakers, among other, Marcel van der Linden, Fernando Rosas, Serge Wolikow, Beverly Silver, Kevin Murphy, Ricardo Antunes, Álvaro Bianchi, Dave Lyddon, Xavier Doménech.

During the conference there will be an excursion guided by Professor Fernando Rosas (Lisbon of the Revolutions); a debate about cinema and labour movement and a debate about Crisis and Social Change.

Contact information:

Instituto de História Contemporânea/ Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), Av. de Berna, 26 C, 1069-061 Lisboa, Portugal. E-Mail: ihc@fcsh.unl.pt

—END—

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Crisis and Change Today

Capitalist Crisis

CRISIS AND CHANGE TODAY

Crisis and Change Today: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology
Second Edition

By Peter Knapp and Alan Spector

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Crisis and Change Today provides a solid introduction to Marxist social theory. The work’s unique voice is expressed in its Socratic-dialogic approach, structured around forty questions that students have about society and social change. Topics range from theories of history, economics, unemployment, racial oppression, the state, fascism, the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and points of convergence and difference between the dialectical approach and other approaches to social science. The content and tone of the work invites students to evaluate various traditional and current explanations of social institutions and social processes and encourages them to weigh the debates and investigate further.

The first edition was very well received (recipient of the Distinguished Scholarship Award of the Section on Marxist Sociology of the ASA), and the second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to be relevant for students today. Though the first edition was written during the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the economic crisis have generated more interest in using Marxist analysis as a tool to understand both the crises of capitalism and the weaknesses of past Marxist praxis.

Peter Knapp is Professor of Sociology at Villanova University and author of books and articles on Marx and Hegel.

Alan Spector is Professor of Sociology at Purdue University Calumet. In addition to publishing, he has served as Chair of the Section on Marxist Sociology of the American Sociological Association and is currently on the editorial board of Critical Sociology.

========================================================

More information on the book is available here: http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0742520439&thepassedurl=collegepublishing&exam_copy=true

For European readers: http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/Catalog/Eur/Singlebook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0742520439

Prepublication reviews from Bertell Ollman, Rhonda Levine, David Fasenfest, and Berch Berberoglu are available here: http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/Catalog/Reviews.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0742520439

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Local Communisms: 1917-1989

Capitalist Trickle Down

LOCAL COMMUNISMS: 1917-1989

A Call for Papers for the First Annual Conference of the Journal of Twentieth Century Communism
Venue: University of Glamorgan (South Wales, UK)
Date: Friday 1 and Saturday 2 July 2011

Conference Remit
The study of communist parties globally has, perhaps inevitably, always involved finding a balance between overarching relationships with Moscow and the specific influences of a diversity of local environments in which the individual parties functioned. While recognising the importance of the former, this conference aims to address the extent to which national and sub-nation political, social and cultural traditions and developments, crises and continuities shaped the character of ‘world communism’.

Among the themes the conference aims to explore are:

·      The political cultures national parties operated within
·      Relations with other political movements: from social democracy to fascism, from trade unions to paramilitary movements
·      Communist narratives and approaches toward the ‘crisis of  capitalism’
·      The emergence of ‘little Stalins’ at local level
·      The emergence of ‘Little Moscow’s’ locally
·      Movement and regime phases of national parties
·      Location within or break from national traditions
·      Seminal generational experiences
·      Psychological approaches to communist motivation
·      Patterns of gender relations
·      Local propaganda and representations of the party and its ‘enemies’, from Social Democracy to Fascism
·      Relations between ‘local’ communist leaders and Moscow

Comparative approaches to these areas – and others – are especially welcome.

Proposals for Papers:
The conference welcomes papers with an interdisciplinary approach. Please send proposals of no more than 500 words outlining a twenty minute paper to Dr Norry LaPorte: nlaporte@glam.ac.uk

Deadline: Friday 21 January 2011

Programme and Fees
The conference programme will be published in January 2011. The conference fee, payable by all speakers and attendees, will be in the region of £50.00 for both days and £30.00 for one day.

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A World To Win

Self, Psychoanalysis and Society in the 21st Century

Self Divided

SELF, PSYCHOANALYIS AND SOCIETY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

RC36 Symposium
Gothenburg, Sweden
July 10, 2010

The relationship of self and society has intrigued philosophers, psychoanalysts, and sociologists for over a century. In the early part of the last century, as economic conditions fostered alienation, malaise and despair, the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School, among the first scholars influence by both the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, as well as Freudian psychology, began to investigate and theorize the social psychological factors that disposed certain people to Fascism. At about the same time, in the US, scholars such as Cooley, James and above all GH Mead began to think about socialization and the formation of self. These early perspectives played a major role in the rise of symbolic interactionism.

These theories have seen a number of developments and transformations. While the work of Reich, Fromm, Adorno and Horkhiemer was groundbreaking, Marcuse, Habermas and Jessica Benjamin have added to that tradition. Surely the work of Althusser, Lacan and Foucault has added a number of other concerns and dimensions.

For the past few years, a number of scholars have gathered together before the American Sociological Association meetings to discuss the vagaries of contemporary selfhood, largely, but not exclusively from a psychoanalytical perspective. This year, given the many European and International scholars that will be attending the ISA, we decided to move our venue to Gothenburg, Sweden, and schedule our meeting the day before ISA meets. The meeting will be sponsored by RC36 Alienation Theory and Research.

We would like to invite all interested scholars to join us in what have been among the most stimulating meetings. Please send an abstract of about 200-250 words to Lauren Langman, Llang944@aol.com and Lynne Chancer, lchancer@hunter.cuny.edu. Please send by April 25, 2010. 

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Racism in Britain Today

Imperialism

RACISM IN BRITAIN TODAY

International Socialism Journal Seminar:

Richard Seymour on: ‘Racism in Britain Today’

Richard Seymour, author of The Liberal Defence of Murder and the ‘lenin’s tomb’ blog presents the latest in our series of seminars. 

The electoral success of the fascist British National Party and the emergence of the English Defence League has forced activists in Britain to look again at the issue of racism. Cultural racism and Islamophobia seem to supplant traditional racist ideas based on biology—but what is behind this shift and just how novel is it? Richard Seymour argues that the rise in racism in Britain is driven to a considerable extent by government policies and media reaction, both liberal and conservative.

6.30pm, Friday 26 March, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, WC1H 0GX

(Room FG06, Russell Square Campus— Map: http://bit.ly/soasmap)

This seminar is free to attend and open to all. For more information phone 020 7819 1177 or email isj@swp.org.uk

Some of Richard’s earlier articles on racism can be found at the ‘lenin’s tomb’ blog, available online at:  http://leninology.blogspot.com/search/label/racism

Please circulate

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