Hello, reference. Goodbye, Berlusconi.
More manna from the academic heavens (named as such because it is perfect fuel for my thesis, which of course is the only definition of manna from the academic heavens worth mentioning): The Global Resistance Reader, edited by Louise Amoore. I am 15 pages in and already wondering what’s not to love. The introduction alone talks about ‘drawing the parameters and justifying the exclusions’ of global resistance, asking ‘is it possible to unambiguously identify and distinguish between emancipatory or positive resistances on the one hand, and discriminatory or negative resistances on the other?’ (basically the topic for the chapter I am currently writing). She calls into question ‘the assumed boundaries between academics, activists and citizens’, placing emphasis on ‘competing approaches and interpretations of global resistance’ and noting that ‘competing accounts of global resistance tend to have their differences located in specific understandings of what power means, how it is exercised, and what is the nature of politics and political life’. Not to mention the statement that ‘there is always difficulty in identifying and claiming a ‘we’ in global resistance politics. Who is speaking and on whose behalf do they claim to speak?’, and ‘why do we recognise some resistance more readily than others?’.
I’ll just add one more out-take, from page 7:
“‘politics’ becomes synonymous with the instrumental actions of sovereign individuals or states, and thus becomes narrowly delimited and far removed from the messy and contingent practices ofo everyday life”. Ahhh.
In other news I got a bit excited yesterday and submitted an article for publication, and then realised it was basically an abridged version of another one, including some wordforword-ing. It is OK to plagiarise if you’re plagiarising yourself? Come to think of it, I can’t believe these are actions I am taking and questions I am even considering. Academia sucks. After this I’m going to be a truck driver.
In other other news, I don’t care what Speigel Online says, surely ANYTHING is better than Berlusconi.