Polis: MA in European Urban Cultures

EKA mailing list

Andreas — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:06:03 +0000

Since it seems impossible for many to subscribe to the EKA Foorum (go have a try here) there is a mirror on google groups here. Google translate will help for the most part.

Putting your city on the map – (Re)Defining Manchester?

Jeroen — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:37:53 +0000

“Manchester was the heart of the industrial revolution. Cotton form the city travelled to every corner of the world. Inventors and businessmen flocked to Manchester – hoping to make their mark in the world’s first industrial city. Then, through much of the twentieth century, industrial decline led to urban decay and the city centre was devastated by an IRA bomb. Yet, at the start of the 21st century, a culture of creativity and business drive has put Manchester on the world map again.”
(Center for Cities, 2010)

‘FutureStory: Manchester‘ might read like an advertising gimmick, but it also offers an interesting view on new and creative businesses that are shaping Manchesters’ future economic development.

Soja – ‘On the spatiality of human life’

Jeroen — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:27:48 +0000

Edward Soja talks about regional urbanisation at the Urbanismweek 2011 in Delft, the Netherlands.

Doctoral Scholarship – Institute for Culture and Society

Robert Grimm — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:43:52 +0000

The University of Western Sydney’s newly-formed Institute for Culture and Society (which incorporates the Centre for Cultural Research) invites applications for PhD scholarships.

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
The Institute for Culture and Society encourages theoretically-directed empirical research on the transformations in culture and society in the global era. The Institute is home to a number of internationally renowned scholars, contributing to the University of Western Sydney receiving the highest ranking for research quality – well above world standard – in Cultural Studies (as part of the Excellence in Research for Australia 2010).

Headed by Director, Distinguished Professor Ien Ang, and Research Director, Professor Tony Bennett, the Institute for Culture and Society is especially interested in projects in the following areas:

* Cities and Urban Cultures
* Intercultural Dialogue and Transnational Culture
* Institutions, Governance and Citizenship
* Cultural Economy and Globalisation
* Heritage, Environment and Society
* Digital Research and Cultural Transformation
* Australian Cultural Fields
* Culture and Education

Candidates with backgrounds in cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, human geography, cultural history, media and communication studies, Asian studies and other disciplines are encouraged to apply. International applications are welcome, although fees may apply.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA
* Good Bachelor Honours degree (Class 1 or 2.1), or equivalent qualifications and/or experience
* Research or professional experience in a relevant field of the humanities and social sciences.

WHAT DOES THE SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDE?
* Tax-free stipend of $32,860 per annum and a funded place in the doctoral degree for domestic candidates. International applicants may have to pay fees.

FURTHER INFORMATION
* To discuss a potential project please contact Dr Megan Watkins at OR Professor Deborah Stevenson at

* Contact the Research Training, Policy and Programs Officer, Mrs Sandra Lawrence to discuss enrolment and scholarships:

* Find out more about the research being undertaken in the CCR and ICS at http://www.uws.edu.au/centre_for_cultural_research/ccr

HOW TO APPLY
* Submit an application form, research proposal and CV by the closing date. The application form can be downloaded from the web: www.uws.edu.au/research/scholarships

APPLICATIONS CLOSE 21 October 2011

Updated thesis guidelines

Andreas — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:26:32 +0000

The thesis guidelines have been adjusted to this year’s cohort 2011-12

Changes in the thesis guidelines:

Dates have been changed. New hand in date for thesis: Friday 31^st August
Date of Brussels graduation 2012 is not included in the document, but will be announced later.
“Transcripts of interviews should not be included in the annexes, unless specified otherwise by the supervisor. Transcripts should be available upon request.” This reduces the amount of pages for the thesis, but if someone prefers to have the transcripts anyway just ask the student.

You can download the pdf here: Thesis guidelines POLIS 2011-12

Neon: 100 years of the greatest light show on earth

Robert Grimm — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:07:36 +0000

Neon: 100 years of the greatest light show on earth Peter Conrad celebrates a century of the medium that sells the raffish charms of America and has inspired film-makers and artists, from Hitchcock and Coppola to Bruce Nauman and Tracey Emin.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/aug/28/100-years-of-neon

(as far as I know, there has never been a Polis thesis on ‘Neon’!

Interview with Andreij Holm

Robert Grimm — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:24:42 +0000

Gentrification, die Verdrängung ärmerer Bewohner/innen aus bisher preiswerten Wohnvierteln, hat sich zu einem ständigen Begleiter städtischer Veränderungen entwickelt. Doch nicht nur immobilienwirtschaftliche Interessen, sondern auch symbolische Umwertungen sind für die Veränderungen in den Städten verantwortlich.

Interview mit Andrej Holm, Sozialwissenschaftler und Aktivist aus Berlin.

Berlin’s burning cars a hot topic in forthcoming elections

Robert Grimm — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:08:56 +0000

More than 370 cars set alight so far this year with police saying some crimes are ‘politically motivated’ against gentrification

When the owner of the Mercedes locked their car on Wormser Strasse, Berlin on Thursday night, they probably knew it was risky. More than 370 cars have been set alight in the city this year, with the flashiest models being the chief victims.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/26/berlin-torched-cars-elections?INTCMP=SRCH

Der autoritäre Kapitalismus ist der Gewinner der Krise; Slavoj Žižek

Robert Grimm — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:50:00 +0000

Aber das größte Problem ist Europa selbst. “Was will Europa?”, lautet die Frage – um Freuds “Was will das Weib?” zu paraphrasieren. Die heutige Krise ist eine Krise des technokratischen Brüsseler Modells von Europa. Nur eine erneuerte Linke kann Europa retten.

http://www.zeit.de/kultur/2011-08/slavoj-zizek-interview/seite-1

Exclusion of the Young and Poor in Olympic Host Cities

Robert Grimm — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:30:07 +0000

Security Spectacles, Neoliberal Urbanization, and Homeless Youth in Vancouver 2010 – 12th July

Tuesday 12th July 3.30 – 5.30 Room 151 Birkbeck Main Building
Free and open to all – no registration – just turn up

Jacqueline Kennelly (Carleton University, Ottawa)
This paper examines the experiences of homeless and street-involved young people with policing and surveillance practices instituted within the city of Vancouver in preparation for the 2010 Olympic Games. Tracing intensifed and differentiated encounters with the security apparatus before and during the Games, the paper accounts for the experiences of the youth through a theoretical frame that understands security as a ‘spectacle’ – related to the spectacle of the Olympics themselves – that intersects with practices of city marketing. These two forces in combination constitute the conditions whereby particular forms of symbolic (and material) violence are enhanced within the Olympic city for its most marginalized members.

Jacqueline Kennelly is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She is the co-author (with Jo-Anne Dillabough) of Lost Youth in the Global City: Class, Culture, and the Urban Imaginary (Routledge, 2010), and the author of Citizen Youth: Culture, Activism, and Agency in a Neoliberal Era (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2011). Jacqueline is co-author (with Paul Watt, Department of GEDS, Birkbeck) of a forthcoming paper – ‘Sanitizing public space in Olympic host cities: the spatial experiences of marginalized youth in 2010 Vancouver and 2012 London’ – in a special issue of Sociology on the London 2012 Olympics. Her research interests include youth cultures, social exclusion and inclusion, citizenship, gentrification studies, and social movements. Her current research project is a cross-national study of the impacts of the Vancouver (2010) and London (2012) Olympic Games on low-income youth.

This event is presented jointly with the Olympic City Critiques Reading Group (Department of GEDS, Birkbeck)

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/bisr/news/olympics