From jhuns at vt.edu Thu Oct 1 10:56:52 2009 From: jhuns at vt.edu (jeremy hunsinger) Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 10:56:52 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Fwd: IPA 2010 Grenoble : "Discursive Politics and Policy Practices: Policy - Legitimacy - Power" References: Message-ID: > > > Dear colleagues and friends! > > On behalf of the organizational committee of the 5th conference in > Interpretive Policy analysis to be held in the heart of Rh?ne Alps > in Grenoble from 23rd to 25th June 2010, let me inform you about the > call for panels for IPA 2010 that has just been launched! > Please consult our website at http://www.ipa2010-grenoble.fr/ This > year, we decided to launch a call for panels, to which scholars can > respond in terms of full panel submissions as well as open > submissions in order to collect appropriate paper givers from the > field of their expertise. You can submit your panel by November, 20 > 2009. > > Following successful conferences in Birmingham (2006), Amsterdam > (2007), Essex (2008) and Kassel (2009), the 5th Conference on > Interpretive Policy Analysis in Grenoble will extend the complex > investigation of meaning and politics by exploring, in particular, > current challenges for discursive politics and policy practices. > > Interpretive Policy Analysis entails diverse methodological paths > aiming to explain current challenges of politics. Various revisions > of policy analysis in its linguistic, argumentative, or discursive > turns have been triggering recent research in the field. Although > manifold discussions have already contributed in considerable ways > to the establishment of the tradition of interpretive analysis in > politics, many points and questions still remain open. Hence, the > upcoming conference addresses both theoretical and methodological > research issues in the interpretive tradition which discuss and > revise "discourse", "interpretation" and "practice" in their various > political dimensions. What ontological and epistemological aspects > does analyzing discourses entail? What is the role of public policy > in these interpretive traditions? What can the practice of public > policy and its analysis reveal to us in terms of concepts, theories > or policy designs and policy planning practices? > > The aim and challenge of the 5th meeting of IPA is to raise a > crucial set of questions that deal with > (1) the theoretical background of conducting interpretive policy > analysis; > > (2) methodological accounts and innovations in the field; > > (3) the practical role of policy analysts and policy planners; and > > (4) empirical examples that visualize the current context of > discursive politics and policy practices. > > > IPA 2010 stresses in particular the relationship among policy, > legitimacy and power. The relationship among politics, legitimacy > and power raises a host of interesting questions. Current worries > about democratic deficits highlight the question of legitimacy and > power and invite reconsiderations of the very core of policy > practice as either an ?intellectual construct" or an analytic > category through which policy analysts and policy planners inspect > the nature of politics that is at stake. These themes will be > particularly evident in the plenary sessions, which are focused on > new forms of institutionalization of policy practice, rethinking the > theory and practice of legitimacy, and debating different methods of > interpretation and critical explanation of public policy in general. > > In order to submit a panel proposal send your proposition to ipa2010grenoble at gmail.com > by November 20, 2009 (Please follow the guidelines at our website > in order to submit the panel: http://www.ipa2010-grenoble.fr/call-for-panels/ > ) > After the review and acceptance of panel proposals, a general call > for papers will be launched to which scholars can respond with > individual paper submissions, both within and outside of the panel > structure that will then be announced.. > > If you have any questions related to the submission or the 5th > edition of the IPA conference in general please contact us at ipa2010grenoble at gmail.com > > Feel free to disseminate the message to other scholars interested in > the field! > > Best regards form France! > > Anna Durnova > In the name of IPA2010 Organizational committee > ---------------------------------------------------- > Anna Durnova > Post-Doctoral Research Fellow > Laboratoire d'?conomie des transports / ENTPE / CNRS Universit? de > Lyon > & Research Associate at the Life- Science Governance Research > Platform, University of Vienna > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091001/f1e11e87/attachment-0001.html From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Thu Oct 1 11:12:12 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 17:12:12 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] FW: IPA 2010 Grenoble : "Discursive Politics and Policy Practices: Policy - Legitimacy - Power" Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC5C4@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Dear colleagues and friends! On behalf of the organizational committee of the 5th conference in Interpretive Policy analysis to be held in the heart of Rh?ne Alps in Grenoble from 23rd to 25th June 2010, let me inform you about the call for panels for IPA 2010 that has just been launched! Please consult our website at http://www.ipa2010-grenoble.fr/ This year, we decided to launch a call for panels, to which scholars can respond in terms of full panel submissions as well as open submissions in order to collect appropriate paper givers from the field of their expertise. You can submit your panel by November, 20 2009. Following successful conferences in Birmingham (2006), Amsterdam (2007), Essex (2008) and Kassel (2009), the 5th Conference on Interpretive Policy Analysis in Grenoble will extend the complex investigation of meaning and politics by exploring, in particular, current challenges for discursive politics and policy practices. Interpretive Policy Analysis entails diverse methodological paths aiming to explain current challenges of politics. Various revisions of policy analysis in its linguistic, argumentative, or discursive turns have been triggering recent research in the field. Although manifold discussions have already contributed in considerable ways to the establishment of the tradition of interpretive analysis in politics, many points and questions still remain open. Hence, the upcoming conference addresses both theoretical and methodological research issues in the interpretive tradition which discuss and revise "discourse", "interpretation" and "practice" in their various political dimensions. What ontological and epistemological aspects does analyzing discourses entail? What is the role of public policy in these interpretive traditions? What can the practice of public policy and its analysis reveal to us in terms of concepts, theories or policy designs and policy planning practices? The aim and challenge of the 5th meeting of IPA is to raise a crucial set of questions that deal with (1) the theoretical background of conducting interpretive policy analysis; (2) methodological accounts and innovations in the field; (3) the practical role of policy analysts and policy planners; and (4) empirical examples that visualize the current context of discursive politics and policy practices. IPA 2010 stresses in particular the relationship among policy, legitimacy and power. The relationship among politics, legitimacy and power raises a host of interesting questions. Current worries about democratic deficits highlight the question of legitimacy and power and invite reconsiderations of the very core of policy practice as either an "intellectual construct" or an analytic category through which policy analysts and policy planners inspect the nature of politics that is at stake. These themes will be particularly evident in the plenary sessions, which are focused on new forms of institutionalization of policy practice, rethinking the theory and practice of legitimacy, and debating different methods of interpretation and critical explanation of public policy in general. In order to submit a panel proposal send your proposition to ipa2010grenoble at gmail.com by November 20, 2009 (Please follow the guidelines at our website in order to submit the panel: http://www.ipa2010-grenoble.fr/call-for-panels/) After the review and acceptance of panel proposals, a general call for papers will be launched to which scholars can respond with individual paper submissions, both within and outside of the panel structure that will then be announced.. If you have any questions related to the submission or the 5th edition of the IPA conference in general please contact us at ipa2010grenoble at gmail.com Feel free to disseminate the message to other scholars interested in the field! Best regards form France! Anna Durnova In the name of IPA2010 Organizational committee ---------------------------------------------------- Anna Durnova Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Laboratoire d'?conomie des transports / ENTPE / CNRS Universit? de Lyon & Research Associate at the Life- Science Governance Research Platform, University of Vienna Contact: rue Maurice Audin 69 518 Vaulx-en-Velin Cedex - France T?l. : +33. 04.72.04.72.37 Mail: anna.durnova at entpe.fr anna.durnova at univie.ac.at -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 3218 bytes Desc: image002.jpg Url : http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091001/4fa6226a/attachment-0001.jpe From eeingold at gmail.com Wed Oct 7 15:39:07 2009 From: eeingold at gmail.com (Eric Eingold) Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:39:07 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies Message-ID: Hello everyone, I'm in my second year of a master's program at The New School where I'm working on developing an ethnography of a restaurant in order to both explore the politics of dining out (what we eat, where it comes from, who prepares it, cooks it, serves it, consumes it), as well as looking to explore the restaurant industry in New York City as a lens through which to look at the immigration experience (back of the house jobs in New York Cit restaurants are overwhelmingly filled by Latinos, and Mexican migrants in particular) in order to, as Mills puts it, use this "as a center from which to elaborate - as a perspective from which descriptive details emerge as relevant." Does anyone know of any restaurant specific ethnographies, as well as ethnographies syncing immigration directly tied to the service industry, and specifically the restaurant industry? All the best, -- Eric Eingold 954.444.7003 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091007/fd0ef6cb/attachment.html From M.J.vanHulst at uvt.nl Wed Oct 7 15:44:26 2009 From: M.J.vanHulst at uvt.nl (M.J. van Hulst) Date: Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:44:26 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies Message-ID: <1254944666.5e34ec1cM.J.vanHulst@uvt.nl> Dear Eric Think James Spradley wrote on waiters (f) at a cocktail bar long time ago. Perhaps not what you are really looking for, but Spradley is quite known for his methods books, so this might inspire you on methods as well as on a restaurant-like enterprise. kind regards, Merlijn van Hulst -----Original Message----- From: Eric Eingold To: interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:39:07 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies Hello everyone, I'm in my second year of a master's program at The New School where I'm working on developing an ethnography of a restaurant in order to both explore the politics of dining out (what we eat, where it comes from, who prepares it, cooks it, serves it, consumes it), as well as looking to explore the restaurant industry in New York City as a lens through which to look at the immigration experience (back of the house jobs in New York Cit restaurants are overwhelmingly filled by Latinos, and Mexican migrants in particular) in order to, as Mills puts it, use this "as a center from which to elaborate - as a perspective from which descriptive details emerge as relevant." Does anyone know of any restaurant specific ethnographies, as well as ethnographies syncing immigration directly tied to the service industry, and specifically the restaurant industry? All the best, -- Eric Eingold 954.444.7003 Dr. M.J. (Merlijn) van Hulst Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration Tilburg University tel: 013 4668189 From r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca Wed Oct 7 15:53:07 2009 From: r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca (Rupaleem Bhuyan) Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:53:07 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies In-Reply-To: <1254944666.5e34ec1cM.J.vanHulst@uvt.nl> References: <1254944666.5e34ec1cM.J.vanHulst@uvt.nl> Message-ID: <790B3993-0144-4B86-980C-5FBC91E563AA@utoronto.ca> There's so much published in popular literature right now, from chef's and food critic's personal stories. I suppose you could mind this litt for ideas and entrance into discursive representations. He's not a trained ethnographer, but Kitchen Confiential, by Anthony Bourdaine, offers a great analysis of the inner workings of kitchens in New York City, albeit from a white chef's retrospective point of view. Rupaleem On Oct 7, 2009, at 3:44 PM, M.J. van Hulst wrote: > Dear Eric > > Think James Spradley wrote on waiters (f) at a cocktail bar long > time ago. Perhaps not what you are really looking for, but Spradley > is quite known for his methods books, so this might inspire you on > methods as well as on a restaurant-like enterprise. > > kind regards, > Merlijn van Hulst > > -----Original Message----- > From: Eric Eingold > To: interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:39:07 -0400 > Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies > > Hello everyone, > > I'm in my second year of a master's program at The New School where > I'm > working on developing an ethnography of a restaurant in order to both > explore the politics of dining out (what we eat, where it comes > from, who > prepares it, cooks it, serves it, consumes it), as well as looking to > explore the restaurant industry in New York City as a lens through > which to > look at the immigration experience (back of the house jobs in New > York Cit > restaurants are overwhelmingly filled by Latinos, and Mexican > migrants in > particular) in order to, as Mills puts it, use this "as a center > from which > to elaborate - as a perspective from which descriptive details > emerge as > relevant." > > Does anyone know of any restaurant specific ethnographies, as well as > ethnographies syncing immigration directly tied to the service > industry, and > specifically the restaurant industry? > > All the best, > > -- > Eric Eingold > 954.444.7003 > > > Dr. M.J. (Merlijn) van Hulst > Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration > Tilburg University > tel: 013 4668189 > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods Rupaleem Bhuyan Assistant Professor Faculty of Social Work University of Toronto 346 Bloor Street W Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 1A1 Phone: 416-946-5085 Email: r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091007/102194db/attachment.html From SB.Ybema at fsw.vu.nl Wed Oct 7 16:43:23 2009 From: SB.Ybema at fsw.vu.nl (Sierk Ybema) Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 22:43:23 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies References: <1254944666.5e34ec1cM.J.vanHulst@uvt.nl> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E02E0D86D@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091007/ddbbe5f0/attachment.html From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Wed Oct 7 17:05:28 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 23:05:28 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies References: <1254944666.5e34ec1cM.J.vanHulst@uvt.nl> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E02E0D86D@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A621@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091007/17f96e56/attachment-0001.html From wille480 at newschool.edu Wed Oct 7 19:16:15 2009 From: wille480 at newschool.edu (Emily Wills) Date: Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:16:15 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies Message-ID: <4ACCE8FF02000015001777E0@IGATE.NEWSCHOOL.EDU> On the topic of Bourdain, his travel show, No Reservations, actually has done some episodes that have talked about the influence of Mexicans in NYC's restaurant kitchens, which might be interesting evidence. His Mexico episode is structured around going with his former sous-chef at Les Halles (now the chef after B's departure) to his home in Puebla, and talks openly about how the chef arrived without papers. I think the US/Mexico border episode talks about this as well. And in an episode called "Into the Fire" he works the line at Les Halles, and the episode doesn't disguise the fact that Spanish is the lingua franca of the kitchen. I don't know if you can get his show via netflix, or online at travelchannel.com, but if you have a TiVo it's on in pretty steady reruns. (Not that I spend my days watching the travel channel or anything. Ahem.) Emily Regan Wills PhD Candidate, Dept. of Politics, New School for Social Research Instructor, Dept. of Social Sciences, New School for General Studies wille480 at newschool.edu >>> Rupaleem Bhuyan 10/07/09 3:53 PM >>> There's so much published in popular literature right now, from chef's and food critic's personal stories. I suppose you could mind this litt for ideas and entrance into discursive representations. He's not a trained ethnographer, but Kitchen Confiential, by Anthony Bourdaine, offers a great analysis of the inner workings of kitchens in New York City, albeit from a white chef's retrospective point of view. Rupaleem On Oct 7, 2009, at 3:44 PM, M.J. van Hulst wrote: > Dear Eric > > Think James Spradley wrote on waiters (f) at a cocktail bar long > time ago. Perhaps not what you are really looking for, but Spradley > is quite known for his methods books, so this might inspire you on > methods as well as on a restaurant-like enterprise. > > kind regards, > Merlijn van Hulst > > -----Original Message----- > From: Eric Eingold > To: interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:39:07 -0400 > Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies > > Hello everyone, > > I'm in my second year of a master's program at The New School where > I'm > working on developing an ethnography of a restaurant in order to both > explore the politics of dining out (what we eat, where it comes > from, who > prepares it, cooks it, serves it, consumes it), as well as looking to > explore the restaurant industry in New York City as a lens through > which to > look at the immigration experience (back of the house jobs in New > York Cit > restaurants are overwhelmingly filled by Latinos, and Mexican > migrants in > particular) in order to, as Mills puts it, use this "as a center > from which > to elaborate - as a perspective from which descriptive details > emerge as > relevant." > > Does anyone know of any restaurant specific ethnographies, as well as > ethnographies syncing immigration directly tied to the service > industry, and > specifically the restaurant industry? > > All the best, > > -- > Eric Eingold > 954.444.7003 > > > Dr. M.J. (Merlijn) van Hulst > Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration > Tilburg University > tel: 013 4668189 > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods Rupaleem Bhuyan Assistant Professor Faculty of Social Work University of Toronto 346 Bloor Street W Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 1A1 Phone: 416-946-5085 Email: r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca From eeingold at gmail.com Wed Oct 7 22:53:36 2009 From: eeingold at gmail.com (Eric Eingold) Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 22:53:36 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies In-Reply-To: <4ACCE8FF02000015001777E0@IGATE.NEWSCHOOL.EDU> References: <4ACCE8FF02000015001777E0@IGATE.NEWSCHOOL.EDU> Message-ID: Thanks everyone, this is all extremely helpful. On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 7:16 PM, Emily Wills wrote: > On the topic of Bourdain, his travel show, No Reservations, actually has > done some episodes that have talked about the influence of Mexicans in NYC's > restaurant kitchens, which might be interesting evidence. His Mexico > episode is structured around going with his former sous-chef at Les Halles > (now the chef after B's departure) to his home in Puebla, and talks openly > about how the chef arrived without papers. I think the US/Mexico border > episode talks about this as well. And in an episode called "Into the Fire" > he works the line at Les Halles, and the episode doesn't disguise the fact > that Spanish is the lingua franca of the kitchen. I don't know if you can > get his show via netflix, or online at travelchannel.com, but if you have > a TiVo it's on in pretty steady reruns. (Not that I spend my days watching > the travel channel or anything. Ahem.) > > Emily Regan Wills > PhD Candidate, Dept. of Politics, New School for Social Research > Instructor, Dept. of Social Sciences, New School for General Studies > wille480 at newschool.edu > > >>> Rupaleem Bhuyan 10/07/09 3:53 PM >>> > There's so much published in popular literature right now, from > chef's and food critic's personal stories. I suppose you could mind > this litt for ideas and entrance into discursive representations. > > He's not a trained ethnographer, but Kitchen Confiential, by Anthony > Bourdaine, offers a great analysis of the inner workings of kitchens > in New York City, albeit from a white chef's retrospective point of > view. > > Rupaleem > > > On Oct 7, 2009, at 3:44 PM, M.J. van Hulst wrote: > > > Dear Eric > > > > Think James Spradley wrote on waiters (f) at a cocktail bar long > > time ago. Perhaps not what you are really looking for, but Spradley > > is quite known for his methods books, so this might inspire you on > > methods as well as on a restaurant-like enterprise. > > > > kind regards, > > Merlijn van Hulst > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Eric Eingold > > To: interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > > Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:39:07 -0400 > > Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Restaurant Ethnogarphies > > > > Hello everyone, > > > > I'm in my second year of a master's program at The New School where > > I'm > > working on developing an ethnography of a restaurant in order to both > > explore the politics of dining out (what we eat, where it comes > > from, who > > prepares it, cooks it, serves it, consumes it), as well as looking to > > explore the restaurant industry in New York City as a lens through > > which to > > look at the immigration experience (back of the house jobs in New > > York Cit > > restaurants are overwhelmingly filled by Latinos, and Mexican > > migrants in > > particular) in order to, as Mills puts it, use this "as a center > > from which > > to elaborate - as a perspective from which descriptive details > > emerge as > > relevant." > > > > Does anyone know of any restaurant specific ethnographies, as well as > > ethnographies syncing immigration directly tied to the service > > industry, and > > specifically the restaurant industry? > > > > All the best, > > > > -- > > Eric Eingold > > 954.444.7003 > > > > > > Dr. M.J. (Merlijn) van Hulst > > Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration > > Tilburg University > > tel: 013 4668189 > > _______________________________________________ > > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > Rupaleem Bhuyan > Assistant Professor > Faculty of Social Work > University of Toronto > 346 Bloor Street W > Toronto, Ontario > Canada M5S 1A1 > > Phone: 416-946-5085 > Email: r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > -- Eric Eingold 954.444.7003 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091007/2fa895a0/attachment.html From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Fri Oct 9 13:25:43 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2009 19:25:43 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] US Congress: Coburn Amendment to End NSF Political Science Funding References: <200910091523.n99FNbfl010801@filter2-ams.mf.surf.net> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A656@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091009/94fcdee9/attachment.html From oren at ufl.edu Fri Oct 9 17:40:53 2009 From: oren at ufl.edu (Oren,Ido) Date: Fri, 9 Oct 2009 17:40:53 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] US Congress: Coburn Amendment to End NSF Political Science Funding In-Reply-To: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A656@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> References: <200910091523.n99FNbfl010801@filter2-ams.mf.surf.net> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A656@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: Couple of things. First, I believe the APSA did issue a "call to action" to its members. At least I received one, a few days ago. Second, I know that, now that we're on the NSF gravy train, it indeed sounds like it is a good idea to mobilize against the Coburn assault. Nonetheless, we should not lose sight of the history of the NSF political science program. It was established in the late 1950s (if I remember correctly) as a result of successful lobbying by the APSA, particularly its longtime executive director, Evron Kirkpatrick, who had close ties to Sen. Hubert Humphrey and was an effective operator in the halls of Congress. Incidentally, Kirkpatrick was very sympathetic to the Young Turks who launched the "behavioral revolution" in the profession and he did his best to help them behind the scenes (without appearing to compromise the neutrality required by his position). My sense is that over the years the NSF program served to reinforce the hegemony of the behavioral forces in the profession. I very much welcome the program's recent efforts to be more inclusive (as indicated by funding our wonderful workshop in Toronto), but, at the same time, I cannot entirely forget this history. Ido -- Ido Oren Associate Professor University of Florida Department of Political Science 234 Anderson Hall Box 117325 Gainesville, FL 32611-7325 Tel. (352) 273-2393 Fax (352) 392-8127 http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/oren/ From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu [mailto:interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Dvora Yanow Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 1:26 PM To: interpretationandmethods at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] US Congress: Coburn Amendment to End NSF Political Science Funding Dear Friends and Colleagues: This list was not intended for political commentary; but this issue potentially touches all those doing political science research in the US, and so I've decided to pass it along via this list. It came to me through the Midwest Political Science Association -- I had heard nothing about it beforehand. There is apparently a rider that's been put on a bill, that would eliminate NSF funding for political science research. I think this is hugely misguided, and I encourage those of you in the US to sign the petition, at least, and then to pass this along to others! (I am surprised, for instance, that APSA has not notified its members of this.) The text below is MPSA's; it has links to a petition and, if I understood it well, that will create emails for you IF YOU LIVE IN THE US and send them, for free, to your senators (they generate the contact via your zip code number). For $3/letter, they will also generate hard copy -- but you can do that yourself, too, for less. Yours, Dvora Yanow -----Original Message----- From: MPSA [mailto:MPSA_Admin at conference-info.info] Sent: Fri 09-Oct-09 17:23 To: Dvora Yanow Subject: MPSA Proposal Deadline 10/9; Coburn Amendment to End NSF Political Science Funding ... Amendment to Eliminate NSF's Political Science Funding - Contact your Senator Today. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) has proposed an amendment to eliminate NSF's political science program. It is an amendment to the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill, HR 2847 . It may not come forward until Tuesday, so calls or letters at this time are still relevant. We encourage you to contact your Senator's office today to ask them to vote against Coburn's amendment to eliminate the political science program from the National Science Foundation (NSF). If you need to locate your senators' contact information to call, it is available here . Or sign an on-line petition to keep the NSF Political Science Program and have a letter sent to your Senators and Representative. MPSA 320 w. 8th street suite 218 - Bloomington, IN 47404 US -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091009/690ea0b5/attachment-0001.html From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Sat Oct 10 04:21:03 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:21:03 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] US Congress: Coburn Amendment to End NSF Political Science Funding References: <200910091523.n99FNbfl010801@filter2-ams.mf.surf.net><5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A656@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A65B@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091010/f2b8d564/attachment.html From jhuns at vt.edu Wed Oct 14 08:22:00 2009 From: jhuns at vt.edu (jeremy hunsinger) Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:22:00 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Fwd: Organizational Discourse CALL for PAPERS References: Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: > From: Tom Keenoy > Date: October 13, 2009 6:48:43 AM EDT > To: EPHEMERA at JISCMAIL.AC.UK > Subject: Organizational Discourse CALL for PAPERS > Reply-To: Tom Keenoy > > Apologies for cross-posting ? please forward to interested colleagues > > CALL for PAPERS > > 9th International Conference on Organizational Discourse: Crises, > Corruption, Character and Change > > Amsterdam, Wednesday 14th July-Friday 16th July, 2010 > > Conference Theme > > Contemporary organizing is confronted by seemingly endless ?crises? > which are routinely projected through apocalyptic metaphor. Over > coffee, we can skip-read through today?s ?ecological catastrophe?, > the ?global financial meltdown? and ?the collapse of capitalism? > before ?getting down to work?. All of which suggests that the > distance between our discursive projections of the future and our > inability to confront those possibilities has, perhaps, never been > greater. In the post-whatever world we now inhabit, all appears to > be simultaneously terminal and ? bizarrely ? transient. > > Hence, the theme for the 9th Conference has a narrative focus on the > discursive construction and re-construction of crises, character, > corruption and change. At the meta-level, the conference theme is > intended to elicit papers which address the discursive construction > and re-construction of ?crises?. In our view, linguistic framing is > a fundamental aspect of how ?crises? are being manufactured, > constituted, projected, perceived and addressed (or finessed) at all > levels of organization. > > Perhaps most problematic is how we have depicted the character of > these various crises for their technical and global complexity > invariably engenders over-simplified description. In parallel, we > appear to be experiencing a persistent growth in corruption as > manifest in the prevalence of institutional practices which directly > undermined the presumed core processes of organizations and in our > accounts of such seemingly corrupt behaviour which privilege > rhetorical dissimulation. These issues raise further questions > regarding the problems of continuity and the scope for change. What > is the role for, and status of, discourse(s) in relation to change > (or non-change). How does discourse shape ?character-formation? and > possible responses to crises and corruption? > > The submission date is 15th January 2010. Notification of > > acceptance of papers will be given by 5th March 2010. > > Abstracts (1000 words max) should be sent as an email > > attachment (saved as a Word document or a text file) to > > Tom Keenoy and Cliff Oswick at: Discourse09 at cardiff.ac.uk > > For full details see conference web page: > > http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/carbs/conferences/icod10/index.html > > > > > -- > Tom Keenoy, > Cardiff Business School and the University of Leicester > > Home Page: http://www.le.ac.uk/ulmc/academics/tkeenoy.html > Discourse Web Page: http://www.cf.ac.uk/carbs/conferences/icod10/index.html#top > > Phone: ++ (0)29 20460425 > > > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091014/b6c07433/attachment.html From lk180 at columbia.edu Thu Oct 15 09:00:53 2009 From: lk180 at columbia.edu (Laleh Khalili) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:00:53 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Message-ID: Dear All I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics of the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by a Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian revolution in particular). I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? Laleh From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Thu Oct 15 10:50:59 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:50:59 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, and poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. "representation" run through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, poetry, textbooks, and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from Cambridge University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the kind of essay question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for students to reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think a novel might be problematic in those contexts? On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > Dear All > > I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students > interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics of > the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK > style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. > > I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by a > Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on > that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with > theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian > revolution in particular). > > I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls > and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the > epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I > get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, > and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for > a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? > > Laleh > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/214c0211/attachment-0001.html From larchap at earthlink.net Thu Oct 15 10:58:45 2009 From: larchap at earthlink.net (Larry Chappell) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:58:45 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Message-ID: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> This is a big topic, but I can offer a few suggestions. I use novels in many of my classes and they do indeed serve purposes that description -- even thick description -- cannot match. In my course on the politics of marginalized groups, I use Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." Both serve to focus attention and raise questions about empirical configurations that a case study, and surely a statistical analysis, would miss. Ellison's book raises the problem of invisibility, which is a key problem in the sociology of knowledge. When we describe something we often lose the reflexive awareness of the act of description. Ellison's book asks us to look at looking and examine the filtering process. In this case, it makes us aware of the racialized dimensions of looking that would be invisible in many acts of description. Atwood's book calls attention to the role of imagination and extrapolation. When we describe, part of our description involves an imaginative leap into the not-yet. To describe the health care debates is to extrapolate about he effects of one policy choice over another. That is an act of imagination - not an assemblage of facts before us. Atwood performs an imaginative act of exploring the confluence of prevalent features of American politics under conditions of crisis (an ecological disaster that has made most women infertile). She imaginatively assembles a configuration of radical fundamentalism with an ethos affirming the subservience of women to create a dystopia where fertile women serve as the handmaids to powerful men. This is clearly not an effort at description, but rather an attempt to lay bare elements of political reality in their potentiality rather than their actuality. The very idea of a "hypothesis" entails this capacity. Of course, one has to ask if novels incorporate "factual" controls in their action (Ellison and Atwood do). That establishes a point of connection with conventional political science literature. One advantage is that the element of imagination is not made invisible with silly metaphors like "hard facts," but rather laid bare for examination and reflection. I recommend Martha Nussbaum's book "Poetic Justice." It is very good in setting forth the descriptive advantages of the novel over other genres. -----Original Message----- >From: Laleh Khalili >Sent: Oct 15, 2009 8:00 AM >To: interpretationandmethods at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu >Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics > >Dear All > >I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics of >the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. > >I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by a >Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian >revolution in particular). > >I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls >and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, >and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for >a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? > >Laleh >_______________________________________________ >Interpretationandmethods mailing list >Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods From lk180 at columbia.edu Thu Oct 15 11:06:14 2009 From: lk180 at columbia.edu (Laleh Khalili) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:06:14 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more fiction in APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact part of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written by the "native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle East, but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces of the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive apparatus. But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by example: in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually it is the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose experience is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm about the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I really can only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final authority on revolution? On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, and > poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. "representation" run > through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, poetry, textbooks, > and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from Cambridge > University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the kind of essay > question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for students to > reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more > about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think a > novel might be problematic in those contexts? > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > >> Dear All >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics of >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by a >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian >> revolution in particular). >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> Laleh >> _______________________________________________ >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> > From lk180 at columbia.edu Thu Oct 15 11:08:11 2009 From: lk180 at columbia.edu (Laleh Khalili) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:08:11 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: This is brilliantly helpful, and I will look for Poetic Justice. I do have to say that my comparative literature friends, while excited about my use of fiction, are all pretty frustrated by my using them as "illustrative tools"! :) On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Larry Chappell wrote: > This is a big topic, but I can offer a few suggestions. I use novels in > many of my classes and they do indeed serve purposes that description -- > even thick description -- cannot match. In my course on the politics of > marginalized groups, I use Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and Margaret > Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." Both serve to focus attention and raise > questions about empirical configurations that a case study, and surely a > statistical analysis, would miss. > > Ellison's book raises the problem of invisibility, which is a key > problem in the sociology of knowledge. When we describe something we > often lose the reflexive awareness of the act of description. Ellison's > book asks us to look at looking and examine the filtering process. In > this case, it makes us aware of the racialized dimensions of looking > that would be invisible in many acts of description. > > Atwood's book calls attention to the role of imagination and > extrapolation. When we describe, part of our description involves an > imaginative leap into the not-yet. To describe the health care debates > is to extrapolate about he effects of one policy choice over another. > That is an act of imagination - not an assemblage of facts before us. > Atwood performs an imaginative act of exploring the confluence of > prevalent features of American politics under conditions of crisis (an > ecological disaster that has made most women infertile). She > imaginatively assembles a configuration of radical fundamentalism with > an ethos affirming the subservience of women to create a dystopia where > fertile women serve as the handmaids to powerful men. This is clearly > not an effort at description, but rather an attempt to lay bare elements > of political reality in their potentiality rather than their actuality. > The very idea of a "hypothesis" entails this capacity. Of course, one > has to ask if novels in corporate "factual" controls in their action > (Ellison and Atwood do). That establishes a point of connection with > conventional political science literature. One advantage is that the > element of imagination is not made invisible with silly metaphors like > "hard facts," but rather laid bare for examination and reflection. > > I recommend Martha Nussbaum's book "Poetic Justice." It is very good in setting forth the descriptive advantages of the novel over other genres. > > -----Original Message----- >> From: Laleh Khalili >> Sent: Oct 15, 2009 8:00 AM >> To: interpretationandmethods at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu >> Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics >> >> Dear All >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics of >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by a >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian >> revolution in particular). >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> Laleh >> _______________________________________________ >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Thu Oct 15 11:18:29 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:18:29 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> I think the same evaluative standards apply to use of a novel on an exam as to use of any other material: draw on multiple sources; construct strong arguments for and against the interpretations presented in the material; locate the specific within broader spatial and historical contexts and vice versa; and present the strongest arguments against the one(s) you yourself are advancing. In general, if a student cited any one source, regardless of genre, as the ultimate authority on x or y then their exam would be weaker, in my opinion. By including a novel in addition to standard social science literature, you are asking your students to stretch their analytic and imaginative capacities: the result should be a stronger grasp of the topic(s) and a better (and certainly far more intersting!) class. And now, because it's Friday and because it's fun to think about these things, I present this provocative proposal simply for the sake of continuing an interesting discussion: social scientists are failed novelists. On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > > I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more fiction in > APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact part > of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the > epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written by the > "native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally > written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the > cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast > amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle East, > but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of > novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces of > the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive > apparatus. > > But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by example: > in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually it is > the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose experience > is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm about > the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I really can > only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the > revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation > only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How > do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final > authority on revolution? > > > > > On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: > > > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, and > > poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. "representation" > run > > through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, poetry, > textbooks, > > and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from Cambridge > > University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the kind of > essay > > question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for students > to > > reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more > > about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think > a > > novel might be problematic in those contexts? > > > > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili > wrote: > > > >> Dear All > >> > >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students > >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics > of > >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK > >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. > >> > >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by > a > >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on > >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with > >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian > >> revolution in particular). > >> > >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls > >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the > >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I > >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, > >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence > for > >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? > >> > >> Laleh > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list > >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/5ad613a7/attachment-0001.html From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Thu Oct 15 11:18:29 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:18:29 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> I think the same evaluative standards apply to use of a novel on an exam as to use of any other material: draw on multiple sources; construct strong arguments for and against the interpretations presented in the material; locate the specific within broader spatial and historical contexts and vice versa; and present the strongest arguments against the one(s) you yourself are advancing. In general, if a student cited any one source, regardless of genre, as the ultimate authority on x or y then their exam would be weaker, in my opinion. By including a novel in addition to standard social science literature, you are asking your students to stretch their analytic and imaginative capacities: the result should be a stronger grasp of the topic(s) and a better (and certainly far more intersting!) class. And now, because it's Friday and because it's fun to think about these things, I present this provocative proposal simply for the sake of continuing an interesting discussion: social scientists are failed novelists. On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > > I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more fiction in > APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact part > of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the > epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written by the > "native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally > written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the > cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast > amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle East, > but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of > novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces of > the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive > apparatus. > > But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by example: > in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually it is > the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose experience > is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm about > the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I really can > only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the > revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation > only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How > do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final > authority on revolution? > > > > > On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: > > > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, and > > poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. "representation" > run > > through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, poetry, > textbooks, > > and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from Cambridge > > University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the kind of > essay > > question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for students > to > > reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more > > about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think > a > > novel might be problematic in those contexts? > > > > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili > wrote: > > > >> Dear All > >> > >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students > >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics > of > >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK > >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. > >> > >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by > a > >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on > >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with > >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian > >> revolution in particular). > >> > >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls > >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the > >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I > >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, > >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence > for > >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? > >> > >> Laleh > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list > >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/5ad613a7/attachment-0002.html From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Thu Oct 15 11:21:30 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:21:30 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> Well, darn, it's actually Thursday. I suppose that should have read, "Because I wish it was already Friday...." On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Timothy Pachirat < timothy.pachirat at gmail.com> wrote: > I think the same evaluative standards apply to use of a novel on an exam as > to use of any other material: draw on multiple sources; construct strong > arguments for and against the interpretations presented in the material; > locate the specific within broader spatial and historical contexts and vice > versa; and present the strongest arguments against the one(s) you yourself > are advancing. In general, if a student cited any one source, regardless of > genre, as the ultimate authority on x or y then their exam would be weaker, > in my opinion. By including a novel in addition to standard social science > literature, you are asking your students to stretch their analytic and > imaginative capacities: the result should be a stronger grasp of the > topic(s) and a better (and certainly far more intersting!) class. > > And now, because it's Friday and because it's fun to think about these > things, I present this provocative proposal simply for the sake of > continuing an interesting discussion: social scientists are failed > novelists. > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > >> >> I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more fiction in >> APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact part >> of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the >> epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written by the >> "native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally >> written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the >> cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast >> amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle East, >> but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of >> novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces of >> the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive >> apparatus. >> >> But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by example: >> in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually it is >> the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose experience >> is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm about >> the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I really can >> only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the >> revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation >> only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How >> do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final >> authority on revolution? >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: >> >> > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, >> and >> > poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. "representation" >> run >> > through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, poetry, >> textbooks, >> > and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from Cambridge >> > University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the kind of >> essay >> > question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for >> students to >> > reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more >> > about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think >> a >> > novel might be problematic in those contexts? >> > >> > >> > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili >> wrote: >> > >> >> Dear All >> >> >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics >> of >> >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >> >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written >> by a >> >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >> >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >> >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and >> iranian >> >> revolution in particular). >> >> >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the >> pitfalls >> >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >> >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >> >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as >> representation, >> >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence >> for >> >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> >> >> Laleh >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> >> >> > >> _______________________________________________ >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/3703d4a7/attachment.html From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Thu Oct 15 11:21:30 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:21:30 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> Well, darn, it's actually Thursday. I suppose that should have read, "Because I wish it was already Friday...." On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Timothy Pachirat < timothy.pachirat at gmail.com> wrote: > I think the same evaluative standards apply to use of a novel on an exam as > to use of any other material: draw on multiple sources; construct strong > arguments for and against the interpretations presented in the material; > locate the specific within broader spatial and historical contexts and vice > versa; and present the strongest arguments against the one(s) you yourself > are advancing. In general, if a student cited any one source, regardless of > genre, as the ultimate authority on x or y then their exam would be weaker, > in my opinion. By including a novel in addition to standard social science > literature, you are asking your students to stretch their analytic and > imaginative capacities: the result should be a stronger grasp of the > topic(s) and a better (and certainly far more intersting!) class. > > And now, because it's Friday and because it's fun to think about these > things, I present this provocative proposal simply for the sake of > continuing an interesting discussion: social scientists are failed > novelists. > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > >> >> I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more fiction in >> APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact part >> of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the >> epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written by the >> "native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally >> written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the >> cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast >> amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle East, >> but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of >> novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces of >> the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive >> apparatus. >> >> But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by example: >> in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually it is >> the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose experience >> is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm about >> the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I really can >> only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the >> revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation >> only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How >> do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final >> authority on revolution? >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: >> >> > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, >> and >> > poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. "representation" >> run >> > through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, poetry, >> textbooks, >> > and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from Cambridge >> > University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the kind of >> essay >> > question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for >> students to >> > reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more >> > about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think >> a >> > novel might be problematic in those contexts? >> > >> > >> > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili >> wrote: >> > >> >> Dear All >> >> >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics >> of >> >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >> >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written >> by a >> >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >> >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >> >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and >> iranian >> >> revolution in particular). >> >> >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the >> pitfalls >> >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >> >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >> >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as >> representation, >> >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence >> for >> >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> >> >> Laleh >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> >> >> > >> _______________________________________________ >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/3703d4a7/attachment-0003.html From r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca Thu Oct 15 11:26:04 2009 From: r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca (Rupaleem Bhuyan) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:26:04 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <006501ca4dab$cf709a10$6e51ce30$@bhuyan@utoronto.ca> Persepolis, is a gem (Along with Satrapi's other work). But if you're looking for something to compliment, I recommend -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/661b410f/attachment.html From S.Connelly at sheffield.ac.uk Thu Oct 15 11:26:30 2009 From: S.Connelly at sheffield.ac.uk (Stephen Connelly) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:26:30 +0100 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4AD73F26.8090809@sheffield.ac.uk> The problem is that I really can > only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the > revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation > only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How > do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final > authority on revolution? > It's just an idea, but...can you set your own experiences as an alternative, even if a close parallel, reading of the revolution? And find some other non-scholarly writings to play a similar role - not to detract from Persepolis, but to act as a foil, so it can't be seen as the authoritative story. Your students would then have 'fiction', first hand verbal account, blogs perhaps, to reflect on and assess. In response to Timothy's last but one post: a question I have asked the final session of a first year PhD course in research principles is 'what is the difference between social science writing, journalism, and a novel'. It prompts some good last-day-before-Christmas discussion. Steve -- Dr Steve Connelly Programme Director, MA in International Development & Planning/International Students Tutor Department of Town & Regional Planning University of Sheffield Winter Street, Sheffield S3 7ND Tel: + 44 (0) 114 222 6916 Email: S.Connelly at sheffield.ac.uk Personal page: http://www.shef.ac.uk/trp/staff/steve_connelly MA in International Development & Planning: http://www.shef.ac.uk/trp/taughtpg/courses/maidp Department website: http://www.shef.ac.uk/trp/ From patrickthaddeusjackson at gmail.com Thu Oct 15 11:29:44 2009 From: patrickthaddeusjackson at gmail.com (Patrick Thaddeus Jackson) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:29:44 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <0FD0B9EA-8823-4133-918B-5E6A8FA50C87@gmail.com> I'd invert and tweak slightly: "novelists are often the best social theorists." Sad that we, in our enthusiasm to emulate economics and what we mistakenly think that physics is like, lose sight of that. For my money, Robert Heinlein's short novella "If This Goes On--" is one of the most trenchant analyses of the never-far-from-being- actualized potential American religious dictatorship I have ever read. Speculative fiction makes for a much richer set of counterfactuals than almost anything our profession has come up with since Harold Lasswell first started envisioning garrison states many decades ago. Somewhere along the line, though, we lost that imaginative capacity -- which is yet another reason I regularly teach a course called "social/ science/fiction" and alternate novels with more "orthodox" works of social theory. Then we spend a semester debating which is which. PTJ On 15 Oct 2009, at 11:21 AM, Timothy Pachirat wrote: > Well, darn, it's actually Thursday. I suppose that should have > read, "Because I wish it was already Friday...." > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Timothy Pachirat > wrote: > I think the same evaluative standards apply to use of a novel on an > exam as to use of any other material: draw on multiple sources; > construct strong arguments for and against the interpretations > presented in the material; locate the specific within broader > spatial and historical contexts and vice versa; and present the > strongest arguments against the one(s) you yourself are advancing. > In general, if a student cited any one source, regardless of genre, > as the ultimate authority on x or y then their exam would be weaker, > in my opinion. By including a novel in addition to standard social > science literature, you are asking your students to stretch their > analytic and imaginative capacities: the result should be a > stronger grasp of the topic(s) and a better (and certainly far more > intersting!) class. > > And now, because it's Friday and because it's fun to think about > these things, I present this provocative proposal simply for the > sake of continuing an interesting discussion: social scientists are > failed novelists. > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Laleh Khalili > wrote: > > I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more > fiction in > APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact > part > of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the > epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written > by the > "native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally > written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the > cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast > amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle > East, > but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of > novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces > of > the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive > apparatus. > > But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by > example: > in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually > it is > the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose > experience > is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm > about > the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I > really can > only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the > revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's > representation > only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. > How > do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the > final > authority on revolution? > > > > > On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: > > > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, > autobiography, and > > poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. > "representation" run > > through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, poetry, > textbooks, > > and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from > Cambridge > > University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the > kind of essay > > question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for > students to > > reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say > more > > about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you > think a > > novel might be problematic in those contexts? > > > > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili > wrote: > > > >> Dear All > >> > >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students > >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative > Politics of > >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam > (UK > >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. > >> > >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel > written by a > >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic > writings on > >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with > >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and > iranian > >> revolution in particular). > >> > >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the > pitfalls > >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the > >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, > how do I > >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as > representation, > >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial > evidence for > >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? > >> > >> Laleh > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list > >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods === Patrick Thaddeus Jackson Director of General Education, American University Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Relations and Development http://www.kittenboo.com | http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com Twitter/AIM: ProfPTJ | calendar: http://ical.mac.com/onyxdr/Patrick -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/ab8eaeaa/attachment-0001.html From wille480 at newschool.edu Thu Oct 15 11:32:28 2009 From: wille480 at newschool.edu (Emily Wills) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:32:28 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Message-ID: <4AD7084E0200001500177F92@IGATE.NEWSCHOOL.EDU> I think this sort of class is a brilliant idea. The first political science class I ever took was a course called Politics and Government of the Middle East Through Film and Literature--taught by Ellen Lust-Okar, who can by no stretch of the imagination be called an interpretivist. But her goals were to humanize the politics, and also to force us to deal with what the region was like, rather than our preconceptions. From my POV as a student, it worked. (And I wonder about the fact that many if not most of us who work on the Middle East tend to gravitate towards using non-academic texts in teaching--something about the social location of ME studies and the politics of the region and the intellectual structures we draw form--but anyway.) I wonder if the problem you describe of having students treat a single, human, and partial account as universal could be balanced by mixing fictional texts with non-fictional narratives. For instance, one could read Persepolis alongside some of Khomeini's speeches from exile, or oral histories or newspaper accounts, or look at photographs of demonstrations to see how people dressed, what signs they carried, what their experience was, etc. Or one could read The Golden Chariot Does Not Ascend to Heaven with op-eds about bureaucracy in Egypt, or something similar. By keeping the whole course polyvocal, and bringing together narratives with different provenance and different sorts of truth-claims, you make the act of constructing truth-claims visible, rather than invisible. It also helps if you're conscious and upfront about this. Good luck! (And now I'm realizing I should assign Persepolis II next semester...) Hey, Tim: Who says we're failed? --Emily Emily Regan Wills PhD Candidate, Department of Politics, New School for Social Research Instructor, Department of Social Sciences, New School for General Studies wille480 at newschool.du >>> Laleh Khalili 10/15/09 11:08 AM >>> This is brilliantly helpful, and I will look for Poetic Justice. I do have to say that my comparative literature friends, while excited about my use of fiction, are all pretty frustrated by my using them as "illustrative tools"! :) On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Larry Chappell wrote: > This is a big topic, but I can offer a few suggestions. I use novels in > many of my classes and they do indeed serve purposes that description -- > even thick description -- cannot match. In my course on the politics of > marginalized groups, I use Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and Margaret > Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." Both serve to focus attention and raise > questions about empirical configurations that a case study, and surely a > statistical analysis, would miss. > > Ellison's book raises the problem of invisibility, which is a key > problem in the sociology of knowledge. When we describe something we > often lose the reflexive awareness of the act of description. Ellison's > book asks us to look at looking and examine the filtering process. In > this case, it makes us aware of the racialized dimensions of looking > that would be invisible in many acts of description. > > Atwood's book calls attention to the role of imagination and > extrapolation. When we describe, part of our description involves an > imaginative leap into the not-yet. To describe the health care debates > is to extrapolate about he effects of one policy choice over another. > That is an act of imagination - not an assemblage of facts before us. > Atwood performs an imaginative act of exploring the confluence of > prevalent features of American politics under conditions of crisis (an > ecological disaster that has made most women infertile). She > imaginatively assembles a configuration of radical fundamentalism with > an ethos affirming the subservience of women to create a dystopia where > fertile women serve as the handmaids to powerful men. This is clearly > not an effort at description, but rather an attempt to lay bare elements > of political reality in their potentiality rather than their actuality. > The very idea of a "hypothesis" entails this capacity. Of course, one > has to ask if novels in corporate "factual" controls in their action > (Ellison and Atwood do). That establishes a point of connection with > conventional political science literature. One advantage is that the > element of imagination is not made invisible with silly metaphors like > "hard facts," but rather laid bare for examination and reflection. > > I recommend Martha Nussbaum's book "Poetic Justice." It is very good in setting forth the descriptive advantages of the novel over other genres. > > -----Original Message----- >> From: Laleh Khalili >> Sent: Oct 15, 2009 8:00 AM >> To: interpretationandmethods at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu >> Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics >> >> Dear All >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics of >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by a >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian >> revolution in particular). >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> Laleh >> _______________________________________________ >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > _______________________________________________ Interpretationandmethods mailing list Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods From S.H.vanderArend at tudelft.nl Thu Oct 15 11:32:41 2009 From: S.H.vanderArend at tudelft.nl (Arend, Sonja van der) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:32:41 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <0FF0AA277DA7404A8C81A376BDBE4CE04DEF16@tudelft341.tud.tudelft.nl> Hi Laleh, Perspolis is a great novel indeed, I say as someone completely unaware of the intricacies of Iranian politics. I would also be curious what its special quality as a graphic novel would add to its educational use. As for your problem, the key would indeed be to treat any text/representation of the revolution as fiction. You mention Persepolis and scolarly sources, but you may add other sources, such as official governmental descriptions of what happened. Solving your problem may involve having your students uncover/analyze the relations between such texts and their respective contexts - that is: where they come from (e.g. social context of author/user/narrator), where they aim at (e.g. political goals/uses), and what they react on (e.g. other representations). Why are they written the way they are written, considering their socio-political-discursive context? Btw, are you familiar with Kader Abdollah (penname)? He is a Dutch-Iranian writer of novels and short stories, and a refugee from Iran since 1988 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kader_Abdolah). I have only read one or two books, but he seems to have one translated in English that also covers the revolution: My Father's Notebook (http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/niederld/abdolahk.htm). Good luck, Sonja van der Arend -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu [mailto:interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu] Namens Laleh Khalili Verzonden: donderdag 15 oktober 2009 17:06 Aan: interpretation and methods group Onderwerp: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more fiction in APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact part of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written by the "native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle East, but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces of the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive apparatus. But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by example: in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually it is the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose experience is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm about the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I really can only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final authority on revolution? On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, > and poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. > "representation" run through all pedagogical materials whether they be > novels, poetry, textbooks, and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and > books ordered from Cambridge University Press political science > catalogs? Depending on the kind of essay question or exam, I would > think it'd be entirely appropriate for students to reference a novel, > especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more about the kinds > of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think a novel might be problematic in those contexts? > > > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > >> Dear All >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative >> Politics of the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has >> an exam (UK >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written >> by a Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic >> writings on that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ >> alternated with theoretical and historical articles on revolution in >> general and iranian revolution in particular). >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the >> pitfalls and benefits of such an approach and the problems >> surrounding the epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In >> other words, how do I get the students to read the novels not as >> "fact" but as representation, and what do I do if they try to cite >> the novels as empricial evidence for a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> Laleh >> _______________________________________________ >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> > _______________________________________________ Interpretationandmethods mailing list Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods From r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca Thu Oct 15 11:41:18 2009 From: r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca (Rupaleem Bhuyan) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:41:18 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <007001ca4dad$f0057190$d01054b0$@bhuyan@utoronto.ca> Persepolis is a gem (along with Satrapi's other work). However, if time permits, I just learned of a memoir by Iranian women living in Canada who were political prisoners in Iran (the authors are pseudonyms). Perhaps a different genre than Persopolis would offer some contrast, while maintaining the topical focus. Agah, Azadeh, Sousan Mehr and Shadi Parsi (2007) We Lived to Tell: Political Prison Memoirs of Iranian Women. Toronto: McGilligan Books. With introduction, "Years of solitude, years of defiance: Women political prisoners in Iran," by Shahrzad Mojab. Professor Shahrzad Mojab, at the University of Toronto, also maintains a thorough list of work on this topic. http://www.utoronto.ca/prisonmemoirs/ Cheers, Rupaleem PS: And to Timothy, perhaps especially so for the ethnographically minded. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/041ce727/attachment.html From mjtier at wm.edu Thu Oct 15 11:46:41 2009 From: mjtier at wm.edu (Michael Tierney) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:46:41 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <0FD0B9EA-8823-4133-918B-5E6A8FA50C87@gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> <0FD0B9EA-8823-4133-918B-5E6A8FA50C87@gmail.com> Message-ID: <7.0.0.16.2.20091015114522.0c413978@wm.edu> Dude, I just called you. Can you chat now? 757 870 3870 At 11:29 AM 10/15/2009, you wrote: >I'd invert and tweak slightly: "novelists are often the best social >theorists." Sad that we, in our enthusiasm to emulate economics and >what we mistakenly think that physics is like, lose sight of that. > >For my money, Robert Heinlein's short novella "If This Goes On--" is >one of the most trenchant analyses of the >never-far-from-being-actualized potential American religious >dictatorship I have ever read. Speculative fiction makes for a much >richer set of counterfactuals than almost anything our profession >has come up with since Harold Lasswell first started envisioning >garrison states many decades ago. Somewhere along the line, though, >we lost that imaginative capacity -- which is yet another reason I >regularly teach a course called "social/science/fiction" and >alternate novels with more "orthodox" works of social theory. Then >we spend a semester debating which is which. > >PTJ > >On 15 Oct 2009, at 11:21 AM, Timothy Pachirat wrote: > >>Well, darn, it's actually Thursday. I suppose that should have >>read, "Because I wish it was already Friday...." >> >>On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Timothy Pachirat >><timothy.pachirat at gmail.com> wrote: >>I think the same evaluative standards apply to use of a novel on an >>exam as to use of any other material: draw on multiple sources; >>construct strong arguments for and against the interpretations >>presented in the material; locate the specific within broader >>spatial and historical contexts and vice versa; and present the >>strongest arguments against the one(s) you yourself are >>advancing. In general, if a student cited any one source, >>regardless of genre, as the ultimate authority on x or y then their >>exam would be weaker, in my opinion. By including a novel in >>addition to standard social science literature, you are asking your >>students to stretch their analytic and imaginative capacities: the >>result should be a stronger grasp of the topic(s) and a better (and >>certainly far more intersting!) class. >> >>And now, because it's Friday and because it's fun to think about >>these things, I present this provocative proposal simply for the >>sake of continuing an interesting discussion: social scientists >>are failed novelists. >> >> >>On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 11:06 AM, Laleh Khalili >><lk180 at columbia.edu> wrote: >> >>I am of course in agreement that there is probably a lot more fiction in >>APSR than there is in these novels that I am assigning, and in fact part >>of the reason that i want to assign them is to interrogate the >>epistemological status of anglo-phone scholarship (even if written by the >>"native" scholar) in comparison with a novel (perferably originally >>written in Arabic) which probably resonates more closely with the >>cosmography of the Middle East. To give an example, there is a vast >>amount of writings on "democratisation" or "the state" in the Middle East, >>but a miniscule amount on bureuacracy. Whereas, such a huge number of >>novels coming out of Egypt or Syria are concerned with the two faces of >>the state: vast and unwieldy bureaucracies and then a repressive >>apparatus. >> >>But as to what i think my problem may be, let me illustrate by example: >>in my opinion, Persepolis is one of the best writings, no, actually it is >>the best writing, on the revolution in Iran, by someone whose experience >>is very very very close to my own (lefty family; original enthusiasm about >>the revolution; subsequent exile etc.). The problem is that I really can >>only set Persepolis as the novel; and then some scholarly works on the >>revolution. I am deeply aware, however, that persepolis's representation >>only covers a miniscule segment of Iranian population's experience. How >>do i get my students to realise that and not cite persepolis as the final >>authority on revolution? >> >> >> >> >>On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Timothy Pachirat wrote: >> >> > I love teaching with novels! I also assign biography, autobiography, and >> > poetry in my classes. And don't issues of "fact" vs. "representation" run >> > through all pedagogical materials whether they be novels, >> poetry, textbooks, >> > and (perhaps especially) APSR articles and books ordered from Cambridge >> > University Press political science catalogs? Depending on the >> kind of essay >> > question or exam, I would think it'd be entirely appropriate for >> students to >> > reference a novel, especially ones assigned in class. Can you say more >> > about the kinds of exams/essays you envision assigning and why you think a >> > novel might be problematic in those contexts? >> > >> > >> > On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Laleh Khalili >> <lk180 at columbia.edu> wrote: >> > >> >> Dear All >> >> >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative >> Politics of >> >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >> >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel >> written by a >> >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >> >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >> >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian >> >> revolution in particular). >> >> >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls >> >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >> >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >> >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, >> >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for >> >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> >> >> Laleh >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> >> >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> >> >> > >>_______________________________________________ >>Interpretationandmethods mailing list >>Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >>http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Interpretationandmethods mailing list >>Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >>http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > >=== >Patrick Thaddeus Jackson >Director of General Education, American University >Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Relations and Development >http://www.kittenboo.com | >http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com >Twitter/AIM: ProfPTJ | calendar: >http://ical.mac.com/onyxdr/Patrick > >_______________________________________________ >Interpretationandmethods mailing list >Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods Michael J. Tierney Director of International Relations Associate Professor of Government College of William and Mary Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795 Tel: 757-221-3039 Web: http://mjtier.people.wm.edu/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/c46c6ec5/attachment-0001.html From dhn2 at georgetown.edu Thu Oct 15 11:52:29 2009 From: dhn2 at georgetown.edu (dhn2 at georgetown.edu) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:52:29 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <0FD0B9EA-8823-4133-918B-5E6A8FA50C87@gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910150750l418e58b5q368b24b548fdc40b@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150818u254f2f5doeaabe50e0ce667e3@mail.gmail.com> <4b80a9430910150821q1f21837i1de8035bb8ee0c86@mail.gmail.com> <0FD0B9EA-8823-4133-918B-5E6A8FA50C87@gmail.com> Message-ID: <20091015115229.AFW65876@mstore-prod-2.pdc.uis.georgetown.edu> Iver Neumann and I address some of these conceptual issues in our introduction to HARRY POTTER AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006) as do some of the chapters in the book, either implicitly or explicitly. You might also look at Jutta Weldes, ed. TO SEEK OUT NEW WORLDS and Clyde Wilcox's two edited volumes on science fiction in politics. Patrick has some excellent essays in three of the four collections I mention, even if one of them is undermined by my co-authorship :-). From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Thu Oct 15 12:42:15 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:42:15 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) Ted Hopf, where are you??? Ted used a whole variety of materials as data in his study of Russian society. My most vivid image from his methods discussion is of him buying magazines at the kiosk; but he also used other materials. I highly recommend his book on methodological grounds, as well as for his substantive findings. (In the same context, what about Timothy Mitchell's work, which you yourself turned me on to; or Jim Scott's? Not fiction, perhaps, but certainly drawing on varieties of materials other than 'straight' data.) What happens if you make that slight shift in frame, from treating the novel as a work of fiction to treating it as if it were data? Would that help in your students' perceptions of things? Would using not just other kinds of sources, as others have suggested here, but one or more other novels help? I've found several of Ursula LeGuin's novels tremendously helpful in several courses (Left Hand of Darkness, in particular). But the passage describing the retreat from Moscow in War and Peace; Orwell's 'Shooting an Elephant'; 10,000 Working Days (albeit an autobiography) -- these and others have long littered my syllabi. (There is, btw, research in the field of story-telling and narrative analysis that shows that we remember stories far after we've forgotten less narrative forms of communication.) Emily, this is a most provocative thought: "...I wonder about the fact that many if not most of us who work on the Middle East tend to gravitate towards using non-academic texts in teaching--something about the social location of ME studies and the politics of the region and the intellectual structures we draw from--but anyway." I'd love to know what you had in mind in the latter part of that. I also wonder if it's "true" -- or if it's an insight produced by your 'data' :) -- the circles you move in. Larry: now I have to go back and reread Ellison from a sociology of knowledge perspective! Tim: what clock are you on??? :) Dvora Yanow -----Original Message----- From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu [mailto:interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Laleh Khalili Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:08 PM To: interpretation and methods group Cc: Bernard Bray; C. McSwine; Portia Weeks; Louis Lassiter Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics This is brilliantly helpful, and I will look for Poetic Justice. I do have to say that my comparative literature friends, while excited about my use of fiction, are all pretty frustrated by my using them as "illustrative tools"! :) On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Larry Chappell wrote: > This is a big topic, but I can offer a few suggestions. I use novels in > many of my classes and they do indeed serve purposes that description -- > even thick description -- cannot match. In my course on the politics of > marginalized groups, I use Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and Margaret > Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." Both serve to focus attention and raise > questions about empirical configurations that a case study, and surely a > statistical analysis, would miss. > > Ellison's book raises the problem of invisibility, which is a key > problem in the sociology of knowledge. When we describe something we > often lose the reflexive awareness of the act of description. Ellison's > book asks us to look at looking and examine the filtering process. In > this case, it makes us aware of the racialized dimensions of looking > that would be invisible in many acts of description. > > Atwood's book calls attention to the role of imagination and > extrapolation. When we describe, part of our description involves an > imaginative leap into the not-yet. To describe the health care debates > is to extrapolate about he effects of one policy choice over another. > That is an act of imagination - not an assemblage of facts before us. > Atwood performs an imaginative act of exploring the confluence of > prevalent features of American politics under conditions of crisis (an > ecological disaster that has made most women infertile). She > imaginatively assembles a configuration of radical fundamentalism with > an ethos affirming the subservience of women to create a dystopia where > fertile women serve as the handmaids to powerful men. This is clearly > not an effort at description, but rather an attempt to lay bare elements > of political reality in their potentiality rather than their actuality. > The very idea of a "hypothesis" entails this capacity. Of course, one > has to ask if novels in corporate "factual" controls in their action > (Ellison and Atwood do). That establishes a point of connection with > conventional political science literature. One advantage is that the > element of imagination is not made invisible with silly metaphors like > "hard facts," but rather laid bare for examination and reflection. > > I recommend Martha Nussbaum's book "Poetic Justice." It is very good in setting forth the descriptive advantages of the novel over other genres. > > -----Original Message----- >> From: Laleh Khalili >> Sent: Oct 15, 2009 8:00 AM >> To: interpretationandmethods at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu >> Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics >> >> Dear All >> >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative Politics of >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. >> >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written by a >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings on >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and iranian >> revolution in particular). >> >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the pitfalls >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do I >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as representation, >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence for >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? >> >> Laleh >> _______________________________________________ >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > _______________________________________________ Interpretationandmethods mailing list Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Thu Oct 15 12:44:20 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:44:20 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC619@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Sorry for what now seems lack of clarity -- my exclamation was in response to colleagues worried about your use of novels as 'illustrative tools'. Dvora Yanow -----Original Message----- From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu [mailto:interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Dvora Yanow Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 6:42 PM To: interpretation and methods group Cc: C. McSwine; Bernard Bray; Portia Weeks; Louis Lassiter Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) Ted Hopf, where are you??? Ted used a whole variety of materials as data in his study of Russian society. My most vivid image from his methods discussion is of him buying magazines at the kiosk; but he also used other materials. I highly recommend his book on methodological grounds, as well as for his substantive findings. (In the same context, what about Timothy Mitchell's work, which you yourself turned me on to; or Jim Scott's? Not fiction, perhaps, but certainly drawing on varieties of materials other than 'straight' data.) What happens if you make that slight shift in frame, from treating the novel as a work of fiction to treating it as if it were data? Would that help in your students' perceptions of things? Would using not just other kinds of sources, as others have suggested here, but one or more other novels help? I've found several of Ursula LeGuin's novels tremendously helpful in several courses (Left Hand of Darkness, in particular). But the passage describing the retreat from Moscow in War and Peace; Orwell's 'Shooting an Elephant'; 10,000 Working Days (albeit an autobiography) -- these and others have long littered my syllabi. (There is, btw, research in the field of story-telling and narrative analysis that shows that we remember stories far after we've forgotten less narrative forms of communication.) Emily, this is a most provocative thought: "...I wonder about the fact that many if not most of us who work on the Middle East tend to gravitate towards using non-academic texts in teaching--something about the social location of ME studies and the politics of the region and the intellectual structures we draw from--but anyway." I'd love to know what you had in mind in the latter part of that. I also wonder if it's "true" -- or if it's an insight produced by your 'data' :) -- the circles you move in. Larry: now I have to go back and reread Ellison from a sociology of knowledge perspective! Tim: what clock are you on??? :) Dvora Yanow -----Original Message----- From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu [mailto:interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu] On Behalf Of Laleh Khalili Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:08 PM To: interpretation and methods group Cc: Bernard Bray; C. McSwine; Portia Weeks; Louis Lassiter Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics This is brilliantly helpful, and I will look for Poetic Justice. I do have to say that my comparative literature friends, while excited about my use of fiction, are all pretty frustrated by my using them as "illustrative tools"! :) From sule.sanchez at gmail.com Thu Oct 15 12:49:52 2009 From: sule.sanchez at gmail.com (Suzanne Levi-Sanchez) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:49:52 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: That's what I'm doing for a paper right now. I will be presenting a part of it at MESA and another part at ISA. The research has been incredibly illuminating -- granted I've been working on it for several years from the perspective of how leaders use these fictional and epic narratives to gain support but now I'm looking at how the stories actually influence the creation of the systems. I am so glad this discussion is happening here!! On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 12:42 PM, Dvora Yanow wrote: > Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) > > Ted Hopf, where are you??? Ted used a whole variety of materials as > data in his study of Russian society. My most vivid image from his > methods discussion is of him buying magazines at the kiosk; but he also > used other materials. I highly recommend his book on methodological > grounds, as well as for his substantive findings. > > (In the same context, what about Timothy Mitchell's work, which you > yourself turned me on to; or Jim Scott's? Not fiction, perhaps, but > certainly drawing on varieties of materials other than 'straight' data.) > > What happens if you make that slight shift in frame, from treating the > novel as a work of fiction to treating it as if it were data? Would > that help in your students' perceptions of things? > > Would using not just other kinds of sources, as others have suggested > here, but one or more other novels help? > > I've found several of Ursula LeGuin's novels tremendously helpful in > several courses (Left Hand of Darkness, in particular). But the passage > describing the retreat from Moscow in War and Peace; Orwell's 'Shooting > an Elephant'; 10,000 Working Days (albeit an autobiography) -- these and > others have long littered my syllabi. (There is, btw, research in the > field of story-telling and narrative analysis that shows that we > remember stories far after we've forgotten less narrative forms of > communication.) > > Emily, this is a most provocative thought: > > "...I wonder about the fact that many if not most of us who work on the > Middle East tend to gravitate towards using non-academic texts in > teaching--something about the social location of ME studies and the > politics of the region and the intellectual structures we draw from--but > anyway." > > I'd love to know what you had in mind in the latter part of that. I > also wonder if it's "true" -- or if it's an insight produced by your > 'data' :) -- the circles you move in. > > Larry: now I have to go back and reread Ellison from a sociology of > knowledge perspective! > > Tim: what clock are you on??? :) > > Dvora Yanow > > -----Original Message----- > From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu > [mailto:interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu] On Behalf > Of Laleh Khalili > Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:08 PM > To: interpretation and methods group > Cc: Bernard Bray; C. McSwine; Portia Weeks; Louis Lassiter > Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics > > This is brilliantly helpful, and I will look for Poetic Justice. > > I do have to say that my comparative literature friends, while excited > about my use of fiction, are all pretty frustrated by my using them as > "illustrative tools"! :) > > > On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Larry Chappell wrote: > > > This is a big topic, but I can offer a few suggestions. I use novels > in > > many of my classes and they do indeed serve purposes that description > -- > > even thick description -- cannot match. In my course on the politics > of > > marginalized groups, I use Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and > Margaret > > Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." Both serve to focus attention and > raise > > questions about empirical configurations that a case study, and surely > a > > statistical analysis, would miss. > > > > Ellison's book raises the problem of invisibility, which is a key > > problem in the sociology of knowledge. When we describe something we > > often lose the reflexive awareness of the act of description. > Ellison's > > book asks us to look at looking and examine the filtering process. In > > this case, it makes us aware of the racialized dimensions of looking > > that would be invisible in many acts of description. > > > > Atwood's book calls attention to the role of imagination and > > extrapolation. When we describe, part of our description involves an > > imaginative leap into the not-yet. To describe the health care debates > > > is to extrapolate about he effects of one policy choice over another. > > That is an act of imagination - not an assemblage of facts before us. > > Atwood performs an imaginative act of exploring the confluence of > > prevalent features of American politics under conditions of crisis (an > > > ecological disaster that has made most women infertile). She > > imaginatively assembles a configuration of radical fundamentalism with > > > an ethos affirming the subservience of women to create a dystopia > where > > fertile women serve as the handmaids to powerful men. This is clearly > > not an effort at description, but rather an attempt to lay bare > elements > > of political reality in their potentiality rather than their > actuality. > > The very idea of a "hypothesis" entails this capacity. Of course, one > > has to ask if novels in corporate "factual" controls in their action > > (Ellison and Atwood do). That establishes a point of connection with > > conventional political science literature. One advantage is that the > > element of imagination is not made invisible with silly metaphors like > > > "hard facts," but rather laid bare for examination and reflection. > > > > I recommend Martha Nussbaum's book "Poetic Justice." It is very good > in setting forth the descriptive advantages of the novel over other > genres. > > > > -----Original Message----- > >> From: Laleh Khalili > >> Sent: Oct 15, 2009 8:00 AM > >> To: interpretationandmethods at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu > >> Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics > >> > >> Dear All > >> > >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students > >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative > Politics of > >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK > >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. > >> > >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written > by a > >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings > on > >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with > >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and > iranian > >> revolution in particular). > >> > >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the > pitfalls > >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the > >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do > I > >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as > representation, > >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence > for > >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? > >> > >> Laleh > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list > >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/fbe8dba0/attachment-0001.html From jhuns at vt.edu Thu Oct 15 13:47:15 2009 From: jhuns at vt.edu (jeremy hunsinger) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:47:15 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC619@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC619@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: <72CFCC35-1E6C-42CC-855B-76E6C669341B@vt.edu> have to say that I tend to use science fiction in my classes, in e- governance i'm planning on using Daniel Saurez's Daemon, likely some selections from Italo Calvino, and probably The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster. To me, I think it is fairly normal to use fiction and even creative non-fiction to clarify issues that students may not experience. And even more so for seemingly contemporary topics like e- governance, having an E.M. Forster story from 1909 provides a bit of insight into today and as his concerns then, were very much ones of e- governance, perhaps there may be a bit more to the topic than the students suspect.. Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture Virginia Tech Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee http://wiki.tmttlt.com http://www.tmttlt.com Whoever ceases to be a student has never been a student. -George Iles From r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca Thu Oct 15 14:01:21 2009 From: r.bhuyan at utoronto.ca (Rupaleem Bhuyan) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:01:21 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] FW: on subjective knowledge Message-ID: <00fb01ca4dc1$81187110$83495330$@bhuyan@utoronto.ca> I'm resending this piece that Lloyd posted a while back. Seems congruent with our conversation on epistemic privilege on some genres of text over others. Cheers, Rupaleem -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/bad8b870/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: engaging subjective knowledge#0.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1107392 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091015/bad8b870/attachment-0001.pdf From larchap at earthlink.net Thu Oct 15 14:50:45 2009 From: larchap at earthlink.net (Larry Chappell) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:50:45 -0500 (GMT-05:00) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Message-ID: <25935865.1255632645966.JavaMail.root@elwamui-hound.atl.sa.earthlink.net> The novel as data is very important. Novels not only reveal context, convey meaning and the like, they are events in the cultural contexts we study. Can anyone imagine a well rounded study of the civil war and the emergence of racial imagery while ignoring "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? Or the collapse of the Soviet Union without reference to Solzhenitsyn or the emergence of Samizdat literature. A case study of the "eventfulness" of "The Satanic Versus" would have promising implications. Treating novels and other literatures as events requires reviewing them as continuing events & that requires tracing their reception history. There is a lot of good work on that vis a vis "Uncle Tom's Cabin" both as novel and play. "Sacred" literatures are eventful precisely because of their rich and powerful reception histories. There is also much to be gained by treating novels as a unique form of data -- framing devices for perceiving data. That is a good way to approach "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The work on genre analysis and narrative theory stemming from Hayden White and others is useful in this respect. -----Original Message----- >From: Dvora Yanow >Sent: Oct 15, 2009 11:42 AM >To: interpretation and methods group >Cc: "C. McSwine" , Bernard Bray , Portia Weeks , Louis Lassiter >Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics > >Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) > > From lk180 at columbia.edu Thu Oct 15 15:53:46 2009 From: lk180 at columbia.edu (Laleh Khalili) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:53:46 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics In-Reply-To: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: Ooh Dvorah! I can't believe you are saying this. I precisely DON'T want to use them as data (though inevitably they will be seen as such). I want them as tools for conceptual or empistemological subversion. On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Dvora Yanow wrote: > Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) > From M.J.vanHulst at uvt.nl Thu Oct 15 17:22:41 2009 From: M.J.vanHulst at uvt.nl (M.J. van Hulst) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:22:41 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Message-ID: <1255641761.8b66209cM.J.vanHulst@uvt.nl> I also think that novels can be used to illustrate good writing: how to make a good description, how to start, how to end, how to create a plotline etc. Last winter I read paul austers book of illusions, which started with the sentence "Everyone thought he was dead." Now, even thought Auster writes a different genre ('our' genre differs a lot from other scientific genres as well), for me reading just this sentence is rather inspiring. Think I put the book down for five minutes. Most of the times I try to write THE first sentence of anything, something so boring comes out that I would not want to read 15 pages more of that myself. So, students could be told as well that writing is hard work, but that the result can do wonders if it finds a convincing shape. Merlijn van Hulst -----Original Message----- From: Laleh Khalili To: interpretation and methods group Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:53:46 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Ooh Dvorah! I can't believe you are saying this. I precisely DON'T want to use them as data (though inevitably they will be seen as such). I want them as tools for conceptual or empistemological subversion. On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Dvora Yanow wrote: > Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) > _______________________________________________ Interpretationandmethods mailing list Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods Dr. M.J. (Merlijn) van Hulst Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration Tilburg University tel: 013 4668189 From jhuns at vt.edu Thu Oct 15 22:49:09 2009 From: jhuns at vt.edu (jeremy hunsinger) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:49:09 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Fwd: [cultstud-l] QI2009 Call for Submissions References: Message-ID: Begin forwarded message: > From: Norm Denzin > Date: October 14, 2009 1:10:54 PM EDT > To: Norm Denzin > Subject: [cultstud-l] QI2009 Call for Submissions > Reply-To: Cultural Studies > > The Sixth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (QI2010) is > now > taking submissions online. The theme of the 2010 Congress is > "Qualitative > Inquiry for a Global Community in Crisis." > > It is clear that in these troubling political times qualitative > researchers > are called upon to become human rights advocates, to honor the > sanctity of > life, and the core values of privacy, human dignity, peace, justice, > freedom > from fear and violence. > > The 2010 Congress will offer scholars the opportunity to form > coalitions, to > engage in debate, and dialogue on how qualitative research can be > used to > can advance the causes of social justice, while addressing racial, > ethnic, > gender and environmental disparities in education, welfare and > healthcare. > Delegates will show how critical inquiry can be used to bridge gaps in > cultural and linguistic understandings. > > Sessions will take up such topics as: the politics of evidence; > alternatives > to evidence-based models; mixed-methods; public policy discourse; > social > justice; human subject research; indigenous research ethics; > decolonizing > inquiry; standpoint epistemologies. Contributors are invited to > experiment > with traditional and new methodologies, with new presentational > formats > (drama, performance, poetry, autoethnography, fiction). Such work > will offer > guidelines and exemplars showing how qualitative research can be > used in the > human rights and policy-making arenas. > > > > To submit a paper or poster abstract or a panel, please visit the > website > below: > > www.icqi.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > CULTSTUD-L mailing list: CULTSTUD-L at lists.comm.umn.edu > http://lists.comm.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/cultstud-l From Hopf.2 at polisci.osu.edu Fri Oct 16 01:15:56 2009 From: Hopf.2 at polisci.osu.edu (Hopf, Theodore (.2)) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:15:56 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net><5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: <8F8B71D06051AA46ACAC9494EADE6A270100FE43@PSEXCH4.polisci.ohio-state.edu> Ted Hopf is in Istanbul, but cant pass up invite from Dvora I used novels in my book to recover everyday Soviet and Russian identities. Novelists, esp. those writing pulp fiction, romances, and crime novels have at least one desire: to communicate to as many people as possible, as they wish to be bestsellng authors. Ergo, they use language designed to immediately inform casual readers of whats going on. This means they are great depictors of the everyday taken for granted world of their characters. If something needs to be explained, say Marinina explaining why a husband is cooking dinner, you know that that gender relationship requires explanation because it is strange, and not part of everyday reality. More on this in the book.... -----Original Message----- From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu on behalf of Suzanne Levi-Sanchez Sent: Thu 10/15/2009 12:49 PM To: interpretation and methods group Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics That's what I'm doing for a paper right now. I will be presenting a part of it at MESA and another part at ISA. The research has been incredibly illuminating -- granted I've been working on it for several years from the perspective of how leaders use these fictional and epic narratives to gain support but now I'm looking at how the stories actually influence the creation of the systems. I am so glad this discussion is happening here!! On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 12:42 PM, Dvora Yanow wrote: > Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) > > Ted Hopf, where are you??? Ted used a whole variety of materials as > data in his study of Russian society. My most vivid image from his > methods discussion is of him buying magazines at the kiosk; but he also > used other materials. I highly recommend his book on methodological > grounds, as well as for his substantive findings. > > (In the same context, what about Timothy Mitchell's work, which you > yourself turned me on to; or Jim Scott's? Not fiction, perhaps, but > certainly drawing on varieties of materials other than 'straight' data.) > > What happens if you make that slight shift in frame, from treating the > novel as a work of fiction to treating it as if it were data? Would > that help in your students' perceptions of things? > > Would using not just other kinds of sources, as others have suggested > here, but one or more other novels help? > > I've found several of Ursula LeGuin's novels tremendously helpful in > several courses (Left Hand of Darkness, in particular). But the passage > describing the retreat from Moscow in War and Peace; Orwell's 'Shooting > an Elephant'; 10,000 Working Days (albeit an autobiography) -- these and > others have long littered my syllabi. (There is, btw, research in the > field of story-telling and narrative analysis that shows that we > remember stories far after we've forgotten less narrative forms of > communication.) > > Emily, this is a most provocative thought: > > "...I wonder about the fact that many if not most of us who work on the > Middle East tend to gravitate towards using non-academic texts in > teaching--something about the social location of ME studies and the > politics of the region and the intellectual structures we draw from--but > anyway." > > I'd love to know what you had in mind in the latter part of that. I > also wonder if it's "true" -- or if it's an insight produced by your > 'data' :) -- the circles you move in. > > Larry: now I have to go back and reread Ellison from a sociology of > knowledge perspective! > > Tim: what clock are you on??? :) > > Dvora Yanow > > -----Original Message----- > From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu > [mailto:interpretationandmethods-bounces at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu] On Behalf > Of Laleh Khalili > Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 5:08 PM > To: interpretation and methods group > Cc: Bernard Bray; C. McSwine; Portia Weeks; Louis Lassiter > Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics > > This is brilliantly helpful, and I will look for Poetic Justice. > > I do have to say that my comparative literature friends, while excited > about my use of fiction, are all pretty frustrated by my using them as > "illustrative tools"! :) > > > On Thu, 15 Oct 2009, Larry Chappell wrote: > > > This is a big topic, but I can offer a few suggestions. I use novels > in > > many of my classes and they do indeed serve purposes that description > -- > > even thick description -- cannot match. In my course on the politics > of > > marginalized groups, I use Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" and > Margaret > > Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." Both serve to focus attention and > raise > > questions about empirical configurations that a case study, and surely > a > > statistical analysis, would miss. > > > > Ellison's book raises the problem of invisibility, which is a key > > problem in the sociology of knowledge. When we describe something we > > often lose the reflexive awareness of the act of description. > Ellison's > > book asks us to look at looking and examine the filtering process. In > > this case, it makes us aware of the racialized dimensions of looking > > that would be invisible in many acts of description. > > > > Atwood's book calls attention to the role of imagination and > > extrapolation. When we describe, part of our description involves an > > imaginative leap into the not-yet. To describe the health care debates > > > is to extrapolate about he effects of one policy choice over another. > > That is an act of imagination - not an assemblage of facts before us. > > Atwood performs an imaginative act of exploring the confluence of > > prevalent features of American politics under conditions of crisis (an > > > ecological disaster that has made most women infertile). She > > imaginatively assembles a configuration of radical fundamentalism with > > > an ethos affirming the subservience of women to create a dystopia > where > > fertile women serve as the handmaids to powerful men. This is clearly > > not an effort at description, but rather an attempt to lay bare > elements > > of political reality in their potentiality rather than their > actuality. > > The very idea of a "hypothesis" entails this capacity. Of course, one > > has to ask if novels in corporate "factual" controls in their action > > (Ellison and Atwood do). That establishes a point of connection with > > conventional political science literature. One advantage is that the > > element of imagination is not made invisible with silly metaphors like > > > "hard facts," but rather laid bare for examination and reflection. > > > > I recommend Martha Nussbaum's book "Poetic Justice." It is very good > in setting forth the descriptive advantages of the novel over other > genres. > > > > -----Original Message----- > >> From: Laleh Khalili > >> Sent: Oct 15, 2009 8:00 AM > >> To: interpretationandmethods at malagigi.cddc.vt.edu > >> Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics > >> > >> Dear All > >> > >> I am revamping a course I have taught (to non-politics MA students > >> interested in the political of Middle East) titled Comparative > Politics of > >> the Middle East. The course is 20 sessions long, and has an exam (UK > >> style) and two essays as part of its assessment process. > >> > >> I am thinking about changing the reading to alternate a novel written > by a > >> Middle Eastern author with a prevalent theme with academic writings > on > >> that theme (e.g. Marjane Satrapi's _Persepolis_ alternated with > >> theoretical and historical articles on revolution in general and > iranian > >> revolution in particular). > >> > >> I am curious as to whether there is anything that discusses the > pitfalls > >> and benefits of such an approach and the problems surrounding the > >> epistemological status of the novels/fiction. In other words, how do > I > >> get the students to read the novels not as "fact" but as > representation, > >> and what do I do if they try to cite the novels as empricial evidence > for > >> a particular argument in an essay or on the exam? > >> > >> Laleh > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Interpretationandmethods mailing list > >> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > >> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 7829 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091016/488d3c8f/attachment-0001.bin From tfcarver at earthlink.net Fri Oct 16 03:59:30 2009 From: tfcarver at earthlink.net (tfcarver at earthlink.net) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:59:30 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Message-ID: <29494927.1255679970503.JavaMail.root@wamui-june.atl.sa.earthlink.net> This is a great discussion, but there's a lot built into the framing of a text as 'fiction' and/or 'art' or 'literature' here, without due regard for the separation that these terms suggest between (fictional) 'representation' ... of 'something else', namely 'real' life/politics/feelings etc. The 'popular culture' frame, derived from cultural studies, but notably practised in International Relations theory/writing these days, takes this directly on board, not only with reception history, but also with 'cross-over' into elite/democratic politics (via 'issues' or the mere fact of publishing on 'issues', in some contexts). A recent BISA workshop on 'art and literature and politics' was most interesting in that some of the 'aesthetics' people said they 'didn't know anything about popular culture'! (which can't be true), and the 'popular culture' people were wondering exactly how this 'aesthetic' and 'art' stuff functioned (as artefacts and as framing) in politics, national and international. The points below about samizdat and bestsellers (add in prizewinners and airport fiction) in relation to reception history is well taken. Also remember that elites/leaders read (or don't read or - perhaps more importantly - watch) these kinds of things and sometimes recycle them more or less explicitly in speeches/remarks, even policies/'spin' (Reagan and 'Star Wars'). Try the work of Jutta Weldes and Debbie Lisle in IR, but there's lots. The Yacoubian Building (Egypt) and Elite Squad (Brazil) were important national/international novels/movies that are more accessible to politics/IR-type students, and other students, e.g. in anthro/cultural studies, if the reception discussion includes all this political 'real world' stuff, and goes 'lite' on framing the materials as 'art' or 'literature' or even 'fiction' in the first place. Best wishes, Terrell -----Original Message----- >From: Larry Chappell >Sent: Oct 15, 2009 2:50 PM >To: interpretation and methods group >Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics > >The novel as data is very important. Novels not only reveal context, convey meaning and the like, they are events in the cultural contexts we study. Can anyone imagine a well rounded study of the civil war and the emergence of racial imagery while ignoring "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? Or the collapse of the Soviet Union without reference to Solzhenitsyn or the emergence of Samizdat literature. A case study of the "eventfulness" of "The Satanic Versus" would have promising implications. > >Treating novels and other literatures as events requires reviewing them as continuing events & that requires tracing their reception history. There is a lot of good work on that vis a vis "Uncle Tom's Cabin" both as novel and play. "Sacred" literatures are eventful precisely because of their rich and powerful reception histories. > >There is also much to be gained by treating novels as a unique form of data -- framing devices for perceiving data. That is a good way to approach "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The work on genre analysis and narrative theory stemming from Hayden White and others is useful in this respect. > >-----Original Message----- >>From: Dvora Yanow >>Sent: Oct 15, 2009 11:42 AM >>To: interpretation and methods group >>Cc: "C. McSwine" , Bernard Bray , Portia Weeks , Louis Lassiter >>Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics >> >>Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) >> >> >_______________________________________________ >Interpretationandmethods mailing list >Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods Professor Terrell Carver Department of Politics University of Bristol 10 Priory Road Bristol BS8 1TU United Kingdom +44 (0)117 928 8826 www.bristol.ac.uk/politics From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Fri Oct 16 04:08:16 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:08:16 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics References: <29494927.1255679970503.JavaMail.root@wamui-june.atl.sa.earthlink.net> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A710@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091016/f96c9257/attachment.html From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Fri Oct 16 04:12:47 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:12:47 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics References: <19114358.1255618725232.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net><5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC617@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A712@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091016/bc0c7fe0/attachment.html From tfcarver at earthlink.net Fri Oct 16 05:20:05 2009 From: tfcarver at earthlink.net (tfcarver at earthlink.net) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:20:05 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics Message-ID: <10113449.1255684805384.JavaMail.root@wamui-june.atl.sa.earthlink.net> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091016/6b5a282c/attachment.html From amar at lawso.ucsb.edu Sat Oct 17 13:19:50 2009 From: amar at lawso.ucsb.edu (Paul E. Amar) Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:19:50 -0700 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Framing, reception, production: narrative as data In-Reply-To: <16505262.1255680223854.JavaMail.root@wamui-june.atl.sa.earthlink.net> References: <16505262.1255680223854.JavaMail.root@wamui-june.atl.sa.earthlin k.net> Message-ID: <2749DD0CF53EB7ABAD76B068@host-128-130.ucsb.edu> Sorry, I didn't follow the debate until Carver's intervention. Did people refer to the literatures on discourse analysis, metanarratives, framing devices, mimesis, etc, that leave aside the unproductive fiction/nonfiction debate? Of course "fiction" texts are sources and 'data mines' for the above units of analysis. And reception-tracking studies since Radway's "Reading the Romance" have bridged the gap between "discourse-centric," neo-Marxist class/gender analysis, and ethnographic approaches. And production-focused studies since Anderson's "Imagined Communities" have articulated the scales of international political economy and coloniality to that conversation. -Amar --On Friday, October 16, 2009 4:03 AM -0400 tfcarver at earthlink.net wrote: > Laleh posted to this list asking about the use of fiction as > representation in teaching middle east politics (bit surprising!) and how > students should handle a 'source' that's 'fiction'. Quite a lot of people > chipped in; my blast is below, which I'm forwarding, to credit you > privately with the punch line on Egypt & Brazil! You're such a best mate. > T > > -----Forwarded Message----- >> From: tfcarver at earthlink.net >> Sent: Oct 16, 2009 3:59 AM >> To: Larry Chappell , interpretation and methods >> group , interpretation >> and methods group >> Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics >> >> This is a great discussion, but there's a lot built into the framing of >> a text as 'fiction' and/or 'art' or 'literature' here, without due >> regard for the separation that these terms suggest between (fictional) >> 'representation' ... of 'something else', namely 'real' >> life/politics/feelings etc. The 'popular culture' frame, derived from >> cultural studies, but notably practised in International Relations >> theory/writing these days, takes this directly on board, not only with >> reception history, but also with 'cross-over' into elite/democratic >> politics (via 'issues' or the mere fact of publishing on 'issues', in >> some contexts). A recent BISA workshop on 'art and literature and >> politics' was most interesting in that some of the 'aesthetics' people >> said they 'didn't know anything about popular culture'! (which can't be >> true), and the 'popular culture' people were wondering exactly how this >> 'aesthetic' and 'art' stuff functioned (as artefacts and as framing) in >> politics, national and international. The points below about samizdat >> and bestsellers (add in prizewinners and airport fiction) in relation to >> reception history is well taken. Also remember that elites/leaders read >> (or don't read or - perhaps more importantly - watch) these kinds of >> things and sometimes recycle them more or less explicitly in >> speeches/remarks, even policies/'spin' (Reagan and 'Star Wars'). Try the >> work of Jutta Weldes and Debbie Lisle in IR, but there's lots. The >> Yacoubian Building (Egypt) and Elite Squad (Brazil) were important >> national/international novels/movies that are more accessible to >> politics/IR-type students, and other students, e.g. in anthro/cultural >> studies, if the reception discussion includes all this political 'real >> world' stuff, and goes 'lite' on framing the materials as 'art' or >> 'literature' or even 'fiction' in the first place. Best wishes, Terrell >> >> -----Original Message----- >>> From: Larry Chappell >>> Sent: Oct 15, 2009 2:50 PM >>> To: interpretation and methods group >>> Subject: Re: >>> [Interpretationandmethods] Using Fiction in Politics >>> >>> The novel as data is very important. Novels not only reveal context, >>> convey meaning and the like, they are events in the cultural contexts >>> we study. Can anyone imagine a well rounded study of the civil war and >>> the emergence of racial imagery while ignoring "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? Or >>> the collapse of the Soviet Union without reference to Solzhenitsyn or >>> the emergence of Samizdat literature. A case study of the >>> "eventfulness" of "The Satanic Versus" would have promising >>> implications. >>> >>> Treating novels and other literatures as events requires reviewing them >>> as continuing events & that requires tracing their reception history. >>> There is a lot of good work on that vis a vis "Uncle Tom's Cabin" both >>> as novel and play. "Sacred" literatures are eventful precisely because >>> of their rich and powerful reception histories. >>> >>> There is also much to be gained by treating novels as a unique form of >>> data -- framing devices for perceiving data. That is a good way to >>> approach "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The work on genre analysis and narrative >>> theory stemming from Hayden White and others is useful in this respect. >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: Dvora Yanow >>>> Sent: Oct 15, 2009 11:42 AM >>>> To: interpretation and methods group >>>> Cc: "C. McSwine" >>>> , Bernard Bray , >>>> Portia Weeks , Louis Lassiter >>>> Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] Using >>>> Fiction in Politics >>>> >>>> Sheesh! What about using them as "data"? :) >>>> >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Interpretationandmethods mailing list >>> Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu >>> http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods >> >> >> Professor Terrell Carver >> Department of Politics >> University of Bristol >> 10 Priory Road >> Bristol >> BS8 1TU >> United Kingdom >> +44 (0)117 928 8826 >> www.bristol.ac.uk/politics > > > Professor Terrell Carver > Department of Politics > University of Bristol > 10 Priory Road > Bristol > BS8 1TU > United Kingdom > +44 (0)117 928 8826 > www.bristol.ac.uk/politics Paul Amar, PhD Assistant Professor, Law and Society Program University of California, Santa Barbara 2326 Girvetz Hall Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4015 USA tel: 1-805-893-2645 fax: 1-805-893-5532 From jhuns at vt.edu Sun Oct 18 16:36:34 2009 From: jhuns at vt.edu (jeremy hunsinger) Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:36:34 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] ethnographer's experiences of IRB/ethics regulation survey Message-ID: this may be of interest to some of you, it is a survey of ethnographer's experiences of IRB or other ethics oversight. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=N1v1MJvyg3USMopDA0QV3g_3d_3d jeremy hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture Virginia Tech Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu ) () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.aoir.org The Association of Internet Researchers http://www.stswiki.org/ stswiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ LI-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Mon Oct 19 10:13:49 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:13:49 +0200 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] fyi on critical theory Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC62B@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> http://www.essl.leeds.ac.uk/roundhouse/ Welcome to Roundhouse, a student-led journal at the Univeristy of Leeds. The journal showcases work by recent graduates studying Critical Theory with a current emphasis on applications of Jurgen Habermas. The first edition of this journal is due for publication next month. Both our research and this site aims to be a valuable resource for students of Critical Theory and part of a continuing discourse in the field. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091019/8f4e0040/attachment.html From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Tue Oct 20 02:00:04 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:00:04 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] On Money: NSF, Minerva, Defense Department.... Message-ID: <4b80a9430910192300v6253e2bbn33bf4310fc713b8b@mail.gmail.com> I hope this Coburn-amendment inspired NYTimes article (pasted below) on the "relevance" of [US] political science will provoke some listserv discussion around what Ido Oren calls a reflexive political science (*Our Enemies and US: America's Rivalries and the Making of Political Science;* see also Robert Vitalis,' "Birth of a Discipline"). I'm curious about people's thoughts on the relationship between funding and the oft-repeated mantra that, "methods should follow the question" or that research should be "problem driven" (just like peanut butter and jelly or mangoes and sticky rice, this mantra is almost always accompanied by its trusty sidekick, the toolbox metaphor). But, to take up Anne Norton's critique (see her excellent, "Political Science as a Vocation"), how does a "problem-driven political science" problematize the problems? What's the link between funding and when problems become problems? And, is there anything unique about an interpretive orientation to the study of politics--its insistence on reflexivity, for example--that makes it especially suited to exploring these kinds of questions? Or, more pointedly: aside from the instinctive reaction of "No, don't take our money away!," what DO people on this listserv think about the broader questions raised by Coburn's push to eliminate funding for political science from the NSF? Here's an excerpt from the article that I hope might provoke some discussion: "Yet even as he [Coburn] is trying to restrict National Science Foundation financing of social science, the Defense Department has been recruiting scholars in the same fields to work on security issues like terrorism, Iraq and China?s military. The nation must embrace ?eggheads and ideas,? Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said, to meet potential national threats. Some Defense Department grants were awarded by the Pentagon through a new program titled Minerva; others were distributed through the National Science Foundation because it has experience in grant making and is apolitical." I don't know about you, but whenever someone claims something is apolitical, I get a bit excited.... Timothy October 20, 2009, nytimes Field Study: Just How Relevant Is Political Science? By PATRICIA COHEN After Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, this month proposed prohibiting the National Science Foundation from ?wasting any federal research funding on political science projects,? political scientists rallied in opposition, pointing out that one of this year?s Nobel winners had been a frequent recipient of the very program now under attack. Yet even some of the most vehement critics of the Coburn proposal acknowledge that political scientists themselves vigorously debate the field?s direction, what sort of questions it pursues, even how useful the research is. Much of the political science work financed by the National Science Foundation is both rigorous and valuable, said Jeffrey C. Isaac, a professor at Indiana University in Bloomington, where one new winner of the Nobel in economic science, the political scientist Elinor Ostrom, teaches. ?But we?re kidding ourselves if we think this research typically has the obvious public benefit we claim for it,? he said. ?We political scientists can and should do a better job of making the public relevance of our work clearer and of doing more relevant work.? Mr. Isaac is the editor of Perspectives on Politics, a journal that was created by the field?s professional organization to bridge the divide after a group of political scientists led a revolt against the growing influence of statistical methods and mathematics-based models in the discipline. In 2000 an anonymous political scientist who called himself Mr. Perestroika roused scores of colleagues to protest the organization, the American Political Science Association, and its flagship journal, The American Political Science Review, arguing that the two were marginalizing scholars who focused on traditional research based on history, culture and archives. Though there is still jockeying over jobs, power and prestige ? particularly in an era of shrinking budgets ? much of that animus has quieted, and most political scientists agree that a wide range of approaches makes sense. What remains, though, is a nagging concern that the field is not producing work that matters. ?The danger is that political science is moving in the direction of saying more and more about less and less,? said Joseph Nye, a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, whose work has been particularly influential among American policy makers. ?There are parts of the academy which, in the effort to be scientific, feel we should stay away from policy,? Mr. Nye said, that ?it interferes with the science.? In his view statistical techniques too often determine what kind of research political scientists do, pushing them further into narrow specializations cut off from real-world concerns. The motivation to be precise, Mr. Nye warned, has overtaken the impulse to be relevant. In recent years he and other scholars, including Robert Putnam and Theda Skocpol, both former presidents of the American Political Science Association, have urged colleagues not to shy away from ?the big questions.? Graduate students discussing their field, said Peter Katzenstein, a political science professor at Cornell University, often speak in terms of ?an interesting puzzle,? a small intellectual conundrum that tests the ingenuity of the solver, rather than the large, sloppy and unmanageable problems that occur in real life. ?This is the great divide on what we are doing,? he said, adding that political scientists did not agree on the unit of analysis (whether the focus should be on the individual or social relationships), the source of knowledge or how to measure things. Rogers Smith, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who has been active in the ?Perestroika? movement, said that the question should determine the method. If you want to test cause and effect, ?quantitative methods are the preferred way to go,? he said, but they can?t tell ?how political phenomena should be understood and interpreted? ? whether a protest, for instance, is the result of a genuine social movement or an interest group, whether it is religious or secular. Arthur Lupia, a professor in the University of Michigan?s political science department, said he was using the scientific method to understand what processes and institutions were necessary for a democratic society to function. Mr. Lupia is the lead investigator on one of the projects financed by the National Science Foundation that Senator Coburn has attacked: the American National Election Studies. Senator Coburn has maintained that commentators on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other news media outlets ?provide a myriad of viewpoints to answer the same questions.? He has argued that the $91.3 million that the foundation spent on social science projects over the last 10 years should have gone to biology, chemistry or pharmaceutical science. Mr. Lupia, whose background is in applied mathematics and economics, concedes that political science is not quite like the natural sciences. First, the subjects under study ?can argue back.? But he maintains that it uses the same rigorous mechanisms to evaluate observations as any other science. The elections project, which has been financed by the foundation in various forms for more than three decades and has involved 700 scientists, tracks why citizens vote and how they respond to elections. The database is used by thousands of scholars, and has been widely praised as illuminating the question of why democracy works. No date has been set for a vote on Senator Coburn?s proposal, which was introduced on Oct. 7. Yet even as he is trying to restrict National Science Foundation financing of social science, the Defense Department has been recruiting scholars in the same fields to work on security issues like terrorism, Iraq and China?s military. The nation must embrace ?eggheads and ideas,? Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said, to meet potential national threats. Some Defense Department grants were awarded by the Pentagon through a new program titled Minerva; others were distributed through the National Science Foundation because it has experience in grant making and is apolitical. As for those who criticize quantitative analysis as too narrow, Mr. Lupia said that the big questions were precisely what interested him. His work has been used by the World Bank and government officials in India, for example, to figure out which villages had sufficient institutions and practices to ensure that money earmarked to build a water system would not end up in someone?s pocket. Political science can also help determine what institutions and arrangements are needed to help a dictatorship make the transition to a democracy, he added. After the fall of Communism, ?when Eastern European governments were writing their constitutions, I can guarantee you they weren?t calling George Stephanopoulos,? Mr. Lupia said. ?I try to identify problems and then identify solutions to them,? he said, ?to find the type of scientific method? that can answer the question. From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Tue Oct 20 02:55:17 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:55:17 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Specifics on Minerva & Department of Defense Message-ID: <4b80a9430910192355i3a046cbel7dad74baa85934f2@mail.gmail.com> Here is some additional information about Minerva from the Department of Defense website. Note that one of the explicit aims of Minerva is to, "strengthen ties between the department [of United States Defense] and the social science community." Note also that the NYTimes article identified the NSF as a vehicle for the distribution of DoD funding because of the NSF's "experience with making grants" and the NSF's "apolitical" character. Below the US Department of Defense press release, I've also listed the institutions, principal investigators, and project titles of the 2008 award recipients. Of the seven principal investigators, four are political scientists and one, with a Ph.D. in physics, has a background in the United Nations (the other two are from psychology and religious studies). Of particular note: from the project titles, it appears that at least one project is a discourse analysis and at least one project contain a basic ethnographic sensibility. Press Release: First Minerva Research Initiative Awards Announced The Department of Defense announced plans today to make awards to academic institutions to perform scholarly research in the social sciences under the department?s Minerva Research Initiative. The Initiative is a DoD-sponsored, university-based social science basic research program initiated by the secretary of defense. It focuses on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security policy and seeks to increase the department?s intellectual capital in the social sciences, improve its ability to address future challenges, and build bridges between the department and the social science community. The total amount of the awards is expected to be as much $50 million over five years. Awards are subject to the successful completion of negotiations between the academic institutions and DoD research offices that will make the awards: the Army Research Office (ARO), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). Based on the proposals selected in the fiscal 2009 competition, more than 16 academic institutions, including three non-U.S. institutions, are expected to participate in the seven research efforts. According to Thomas Mahnken, deputy assistant secretary of defense for policy planning, "we were extremely impressed with the breadth and quality of the Minerva proposals. These grants lay the groundwork for exciting new research and relationships that will bring the best work of academics to bear on our country's most pressing national security challenges." Researchers were encouraged to assemble teams with appropriate disciplinary strengths to develop scholarship in the areas identified in the program announcement. The awards announced today are for an initial five-year base period with a five-year option contingent upon availability of appropriations and satisfactory research progress. These awards are intended to be larger and longer in duration than traditional awards to help build an enduring capacity to conduct DoD-related basic research in the social sciences. The initial Minerva solicitation was extremely competitive. The department solicited proposals in five topics of strategic importance and received a total of 211 white papers. The awards announced today were selected for funding based on merit review by panels of subject matter experts in the pertinent fields. The secretary of defense speech to the Association of American Universities where Minerva was launched may be found at: http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1228%20 . For additional information on the Minerva Initiative, see http://minerva.dtic.mil/ 2008 Minerva Funding Recipients: University of California, San Diego--Susan Shirk (Political Science), The Evolving Relationship Between Technology and National Security in China: Innovation, Defense Transformation, and China?s Place in the Global Technology Order Arizona State University--Mark Woodward (History, Philosophy, Religious Studies), Finding Allies for the War of Words: Mapping the Diffusion and Influence of Counter-Radical Muslim Discourse Monterey Institute of International Studies--Patricia Lewis (PhD Physics, UN Disarmament Background), Iraq?s Wars with the US from the Iraqi Perspective: State Security, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Civil-Military Relations, Ethnic Conflict and Political Communication in Baathist Iraq Princeton University--Jacob Shapiro (Politics), Terrorism Governance and Development San Francisco State University--David Matsumoto (Psychology), Emotion and Intergroup Relations The University of Texas at Austin--James Lindsay (Political Science), Climate Change, State Stability, and Political Risk in Africa Massachusetts Institute of Technology--Nazli Choucri (Political Science), ECIR - Explorations in Cyber International Relations From lk180 at columbia.edu Tue Oct 20 06:10:43 2009 From: lk180 at columbia.edu (Laleh Khalili) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:10:43 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Specifics on Minerva & Department of Defense In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910192355i3a046cbel7dad74baa85934f2@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910192355i3a046cbel7dad74baa85934f2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Dear Tim, I just want to comment on one thing you mention: "Of particular note: from the project titles, it appears that at least one project is a discourse analysis and at least one project contain a basic ethnographic sensibility." Obviously in this instance methodologies that could potentially be used critically are placed uncritically at the service of DoD. This is, of course, not at all surprising given the "culturalisation" of warfare, the emergence of the Human Terrain System, and the use of anthropology to advance military aims. Best Laleh From timothy.pachirat at gmail.com Tue Oct 20 06:52:30 2009 From: timothy.pachirat at gmail.com (Timothy Pachirat) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:52:30 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Specifics on Minerva & Department of Defense In-Reply-To: References: <4b80a9430910192355i3a046cbel7dad74baa85934f2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4b80a9430910200352n773cd96ci4e30fe663b25e381@mail.gmail.com> Yes, I agree Laleh, and of course the use of anthropological tools to advance the aims of empire is intimately tied up with the birth of that discipline. But anthropology has also been the discipline that has done the most to grapple with this (to the point of paralysis in the 1980s, some would argue), while political science is afflicted by an opposite paralysis of non-reflexivity about its historical and contemporary complicity/involvement in and legitimation by projects of empire (and this distinction continues today: note the ongoing debates over Minerva and the Human Terrain System in the AAA vs. the complete silence over these issues in the APSA). I think one possible discussion that comes out of this is whether there is *any* affinity between methodology and/or method (as Patrick Jackson usefully distinguishes between those terms) and substantive rationality and/or critical aims. I am skeptical that there is, but I'd be interested in hearing other thoughts. Timothy On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 6:10 AM, Laleh Khalili wrote: > > Dear Tim, > > I just want to comment on one thing you mention: > > "Of particular note: ?from the project titles, it appears that at least > one project is a discourse analysis and at least one project contain a > basic ethnographic sensibility." > > Obviously in this instance methodologies that could potentially be used > critically are placed uncritically at the service of DoD. ?This is, of > course, not at all surprising given the "culturalisation" of warfare, the > emergence of the Human Terrain System, and the use of anthropology to > advance military aims. > > Best > Laleh > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > From patrickthaddeusjackson at gmail.com Thu Oct 22 09:38:10 2009 From: patrickthaddeusjackson at gmail.com (Patrick Thaddeus Jackson) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:38:10 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] On Money: NSF, Minerva, Defense Department.... In-Reply-To: <4b80a9430910192300v6253e2bbn33bf4310fc713b8b@mail.gmail.com> References: <4b80a9430910192300v6253e2bbn33bf4310fc713b8b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Drowning in writing commitments and midterms here, but I did want to very briefly weigh in on Tim's two excellent questions: > What's the link between funding and when > problems become problems? And, is there anything unique about an > interpretive orientation to the study of politics--its insistence on > reflexivity, for example--that makes it especially suited to exploring > these kinds of questions? 1) to my way of thinking the more fundamental question is not how funding is implicated in making something a problem, but how funding is implicated in the way that some issue gets transformed into a ("legitimately") researchable question. Whether something like terrorism or poverty or nuclear proliferation gets on the agenda is, I suspect, largely overdetermined: lots of things tacitly conspire to put something on the horizon. but When NSF or SSRC or whomever gets involved, they of necessity support work on that topic that conforms to their methodological orientation -- and here I mean methodology in the broad philosophical sense, so the methodology of a government funding agency is not separable from a certain notion of policy- utility, and so forth. So to my mind, funding shapes how we think about issues and topics, and that's the really troubling aspect. 2) I am not sure that reflexivity per se is the distinctive aspect of interpretive (broadly understood) approaches. Or, rather, I think that we use the word "reflexivity" in two senses: one as a general admonition to be self-aware about the values and agendas driving our research, and one as a more specific kind of epistemic warrant for empirical claims. The latter is what gives much self-identified "critical" work its claim to epistemic distinction: because we are reflexive about the conditions of production of our knowledge-claims, the argument implicitly runs, our claims are in some sense better than those advanced by non-reflexive scholars. (I think Pierre Bourdieu is among the most vocal contemporary advocates of that point of view; you get it in feminist standpoint epistemology as well, and in some post- colonial work.) And I don't think that such reflexivity is required for exploring questions about the links between funding and research; nor do I think that it's required to do "interpretive" work broadly understood. Instead, I would say (as I argued at the NSF workshop in Toronto, not surprisingly) that when we say "interpretive" we mean "philosophical- ontologically monist," in the sense that we are rejecting the dualist presumption that knowledge mirrors or represents a mind-independent world. That implies that knowledge can't be rooted in (the aspiration for) such a mind-world correspondence, but instead knowledge-claims have to express some set of socially sustained values and commitments. This is like "reflexivity" in the first, broad sense, but I prefer to call it "expressivity" so as to leave open the possibility that a monistic ( = "interpretive") scholar might not tie the epistemic warrant of their claims to institutional conditions of production, but might instead root their claims in a set of value-commiments a la Max Weber. And in that sense, I would say that interpretive ( = monistic) scholars and scholarship do have a special advantage for exploring questions about funding and its effects, because they are always and already attuned to the expressive quality of social-scientific work. Back to writing, and grading, and drowning. PTJ === Patrick Thaddeus Jackson Director of General Education, American University Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Relations and Development http://www.kittenboo.com | http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com Twitter/AIM: ProfPTJ | calendar: http://ical.mac.com/onyxdr/Patrick From Hopf.2 at polisci.osu.edu Thu Oct 22 09:52:45 2009 From: Hopf.2 at polisci.osu.edu (Hopf, Theodore (.2)) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:52:45 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] On Money: NSF, Minerva, Defense Department.... References: <4b80a9430910192300v6253e2bbn33bf4310fc713b8b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <8F8B71D06051AA46ACAC9494EADE6A270100FE81@PSEXCH4.polisci.ohio-state.edu> PTJ, isnt "monistic" a strange way to describe an inherently "dialogic" process of intersubjectivity reconstruction? Whats the nomenclature from? -----Original Message----- From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu on behalf of Patrick Thaddeus Jackson Sent: Thu 10/22/2009 9:38 AM To: interpretation and methods group Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] On Money: NSF, Minerva,Defense Department.... Drowning in writing commitments and midterms here, but I did want to very briefly weigh in on Tim's two excellent questions: > What's the link between funding and when > problems become problems? And, is there anything unique about an > interpretive orientation to the study of politics--its insistence on > reflexivity, for example--that makes it especially suited to exploring > these kinds of questions? 1) to my way of thinking the more fundamental question is not how funding is implicated in making something a problem, but how funding is implicated in the way that some issue gets transformed into a ("legitimately") researchable question. Whether something like terrorism or poverty or nuclear proliferation gets on the agenda is, I suspect, largely overdetermined: lots of things tacitly conspire to put something on the horizon. but When NSF or SSRC or whomever gets involved, they of necessity support work on that topic that conforms to their methodological orientation -- and here I mean methodology in the broad philosophical sense, so the methodology of a government funding agency is not separable from a certain notion of policy- utility, and so forth. So to my mind, funding shapes how we think about issues and topics, and that's the really troubling aspect. 2) I am not sure that reflexivity per se is the distinctive aspect of interpretive (broadly understood) approaches. Or, rather, I think that we use the word "reflexivity" in two senses: one as a general admonition to be self-aware about the values and agendas driving our research, and one as a more specific kind of epistemic warrant for empirical claims. The latter is what gives much self-identified "critical" work its claim to epistemic distinction: because we are reflexive about the conditions of production of our knowledge-claims, the argument implicitly runs, our claims are in some sense better than those advanced by non-reflexive scholars. (I think Pierre Bourdieu is among the most vocal contemporary advocates of that point of view; you get it in feminist standpoint epistemology as well, and in some post- colonial work.) And I don't think that such reflexivity is required for exploring questions about the links between funding and research; nor do I think that it's required to do "interpretive" work broadly understood. Instead, I would say (as I argued at the NSF workshop in Toronto, not surprisingly) that when we say "interpretive" we mean "philosophical- ontologically monist," in the sense that we are rejecting the dualist presumption that knowledge mirrors or represents a mind-independent world. That implies that knowledge can't be rooted in (the aspiration for) such a mind-world correspondence, but instead knowledge-claims have to express some set of socially sustained values and commitments. This is like "reflexivity" in the first, broad sense, but I prefer to call it "expressivity" so as to leave open the possibility that a monistic ( = "interpretive") scholar might not tie the epistemic warrant of their claims to institutional conditions of production, but might instead root their claims in a set of value-commiments a la Max Weber. And in that sense, I would say that interpretive ( = monistic) scholars and scholarship do have a special advantage for exploring questions about funding and its effects, because they are always and already attuned to the expressive quality of social-scientific work. Back to writing, and grading, and drowning. PTJ === Patrick Thaddeus Jackson Director of General Education, American University Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Relations and Development http://www.kittenboo.com | http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com Twitter/AIM: ProfPTJ | calendar: http://ical.mac.com/onyxdr/Patrick _______________________________________________ Interpretationandmethods mailing list Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 5557 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091022/3ab87cef/attachment.bin From patrickthaddeusjackson at gmail.com Thu Oct 22 10:10:58 2009 From: patrickthaddeusjackson at gmail.com (Patrick Thaddeus Jackson) Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:10:58 -0400 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] On Money: NSF, Minerva, Defense Department.... In-Reply-To: <8F8B71D06051AA46ACAC9494EADE6A270100FE81@PSEXCH4.polisci.ohio-state.edu> References: <4b80a9430910192300v6253e2bbn33bf4310fc713b8b@mail.gmail.com> <8F8B71D06051AA46ACAC9494EADE6A270100FE81@PSEXCH4.polisci.ohio-state.edu> Message-ID: <1976FB23-66C4-4A97-9131-D8F31A8CB263@gmail.com> Ted: "Monistic" for me means philosophical-ontologically monistic, i.e. rejecting the classical mind-body distinction and its concomitant formulation of the problem of epistemology as one of representing a mind-independent world. Dialogical practices are, in that sense, monistic: the dialogue in question involves multiple participants, but there's no mind-independent interlocutor who serves as the arbiter of the true. Which is why a reconstruction of a dialogical process is, I would say, never a matter of simple (classically "objective") description, but always and already involves the participation of the observer/researcher -- and this in turn raises questions, at least to my mind, about the language of "variables" and "coding" that suggests a disappearance of the observer from the process of observation. As for the terminology, it's loosely derived from Rorty and the American pragmatic tradition. I spell it out in my 2008 review of International Studies article and in my piece of the the forum on pragmatism that Gunther Hellmann put together in the latest issue of International Studies Review, and as you remember from the Toronto workshop I am using it extensively in the philosophy of science book I am finishing up at the moment. (Podcasts of those presentations are up at kittenboo.com -- actually, here: http://kittenboo.com/blog/2009/09/02/2009-apsa-workshop-presentation/ -- if anyone who couldn't make the workshop is curious about the more elaborate argument.) PTJ On 22 Oct 2009, at 9:52 AM, Hopf, Theodore (.2) wrote: > PTJ, isnt "monistic" a strange way to describe an inherently > "dialogic" process of intersubjectivity reconstruction? Whats the > nomenclature from? > > > -----Original Message----- > From: interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu on > behalf of Patrick Thaddeus Jackson > Sent: Thu 10/22/2009 9:38 AM > To: interpretation and methods group > Subject: Re: [Interpretationandmethods] On Money: NSF, > Minerva,Defense Department.... > > Drowning in writing commitments and midterms here, but I did want to > very briefly weigh in on Tim's two excellent questions: > >> What's the link between funding and when >> problems become problems? And, is there anything unique about an >> interpretive orientation to the study of politics--its insistence on >> reflexivity, for example--that makes it especially suited to >> exploring >> these kinds of questions? > > 1) to my way of thinking the more fundamental question is not how > funding is implicated in making something a problem, but how funding > is implicated in the way that some issue gets transformed into a > ("legitimately") researchable question. Whether something like > terrorism or poverty or nuclear proliferation gets on the agenda is, I > suspect, largely overdetermined: lots of things tacitly conspire to > put something on the horizon. but When NSF or SSRC or whomever gets > involved, they of necessity support work on that topic that conforms > to their methodological orientation -- and here I mean methodology in > the broad philosophical sense, so the methodology of a government > funding agency is not separable from a certain notion of policy- > utility, and so forth. So to my mind, funding shapes how we think > about issues and topics, and that's the really troubling aspect. > > 2) I am not sure that reflexivity per se is the distinctive aspect of > interpretive (broadly understood) approaches. Or, rather, I think that > we use the word "reflexivity" in two senses: one as a general > admonition to be self-aware about the values and agendas driving our > research, and one as a more specific kind of epistemic warrant for > empirical claims. The latter is what gives much self-identified > "critical" work its claim to epistemic distinction: because we are > reflexive about the conditions of production of our knowledge-claims, > the argument implicitly runs, our claims are in some sense better than > those advanced by non-reflexive scholars. (I think Pierre Bourdieu is > among the most vocal contemporary advocates of that point of view; you > get it in feminist standpoint epistemology as well, and in some post- > colonial work.) And I don't think that such reflexivity is required > for exploring questions about the links between funding and research; > nor do I think that it's required to do "interpretive" work broadly > understood. > > Instead, I would say (as I argued at the NSF workshop in Toronto, not > surprisingly) that when we say "interpretive" we mean "philosophical- > ontologically monist," in the sense that we are rejecting the dualist > presumption that knowledge mirrors or represents a mind-independent > world. That implies that knowledge can't be rooted in (the aspiration > for) such a mind-world correspondence, but instead knowledge-claims > have to express some set of socially sustained values and commitments. > This is like "reflexivity" in the first, broad sense, but I prefer to > call it "expressivity" so as to leave open the possibility that a > monistic ( = "interpretive") scholar might not tie the epistemic > warrant of their claims to institutional conditions of production, but > might instead root their claims in a set of value-commiments a la Max > Weber. And in that sense, I would say that interpretive ( = monistic) > scholars and scholarship do have a special advantage for exploring > questions about funding and its effects, because they are always and > already attuned to the expressive quality of social-scientific work. > > Back to writing, and grading, and drowning. > > PTJ > === > Patrick Thaddeus Jackson > Director of General Education, American University > Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Relations and Development > http://www.kittenboo.com | http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com > Twitter/AIM: ProfPTJ | calendar: http://ical.mac.com/onyxdr/Patrick > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods === Patrick Thaddeus Jackson Director of General Education, American University Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Relations and Development http://www.kittenboo.com | http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com Twitter/AIM: ProfPTJ | calendar: http://ical.mac.com/onyxdr/Patrick From WJKELLPRO at aol.com Sun Oct 25 16:46:41 2009 From: WJKELLPRO at aol.com (WJKELLPRO at aol.com) Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:46:41 EDT Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] On Money: NSF, Minerva, Defense Department.... Message-ID: Q: Do money and its sources have any influence on research projects and methods in political science? Point 1 : The money comes from the elite sector of the political system -- government agencies and private foundations, which are themselves wholly dependent upon the dominant forces in the mode of production. Point 2: Both the questions for research and the methods considered "professional" are invariably non-judgmental of the political system, and ape the illusion of descriptiveness in the natural sciences. A: Political scientists aren't going to bite the hand that feeds, and pets, them. William J. Kelleher, Ph.D. In a message dated 10/22/2009 6:54:28 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, Hopf.2 at polisci.osu.edu writes: PTJ, isnt "monistic" a strange way to describe an inherently "dialogic" process of intersubjectivity reconstruction? Whats the nomenclature from? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091025/7c3e8c04/attachment.html From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Mon Oct 26 12:11:44 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:11:44 +0100 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Announcement of Publication - Roundhouse Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E01FBC66F@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> fyi. Dvora Yanow ________________________________ 'Roundhouse: A Journal of Critical Theory and Practice' an online student journal of recent graduates work is now published and available to view online at: www.essl.leeds.ac.uk/roundhouse The journal has been discursively edited, peer reviewed and developed by Critical Theory students from the Politics and International Studies Department at the University of Leeds. The Autumn Edition of the Roundhouse showcases nine articles from recent graduates examining the 'applied turn' in Critical Theory along with an editorial statement of principles. Roundhouse's main directives are student inherited research and horizontal learning. It aims to spread communicative practices in higher education, create a more flexible style of learning and directly challenge the image of undergraduate students as 'passive consumers'. We would appreciate any feedback or comments you have on the journal and hope that you will continue to visit and read Roundhouse. Best regards, The Roundhouse Group -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091026/ab4c3f3c/attachment.html From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Thu Oct 29 12:19:12 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:19:12 +0100 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] FW:Call for Papers References: A<1256832213.4ae9bcd5bab96@webmail.mun.ca> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A866@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091029/ec1c51a5/attachment-0001.html From auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk Fri Oct 30 07:54:48 2009 From: auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk (Aurogeeta Das) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:54:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] New Book announcement: Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons Message-ID: <334913.44063.qm@web24106.mail.ird.yahoo.com> fyi. I seem to remember someone in this group being interested in political cartoons. Hope this helps. Best wishes, Aurogeeta The Scarecrow Press, Inc. > >NEW >Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons >Nichola Dobson > >Animation was once a relatively simple matter, >using fairly primitive means to produce rather >short films of subjects that were generally >comedic and often quite childish. However, >things have changed, and they continue changing >at a maddening pace. One new technique after >another has made it easier, faster, and above >all cheaper to produce the material, which has >taken on an increasing variety of forms. > >The Historical Dictionary of Animation and >Cartoons is an introduction to all aspects of >animation history and its development as a >technology and industry beyond the familiar >cartoons from the Disney and Warner Bros. >Studios. This is done through a chronology, an >introductory essay, photos, a bibliography, and >over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on >animators, directors, studios, techniques, >films, and some of the best-known characters. >Nichola Dobson is an independent scholar based >in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is currently >researching in the areas of animation studies and television genre. > >THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. >$85.00 ? >Cloth ? >0-8108-5830- 4 | 978-0-8108-5830- 5 ? >August 2009 >? 304 pp >To order, visit www.scarecrowpress. com, call 1-800-462-6420 > >http://www.scarecro wpress.com/ Catalog/Flyer2. shtml?SKU= 0810858304 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091030/080a2c61/attachment.html From vpdrul at essex.ac.uk Fri Oct 30 08:56:04 2009 From: vpdrul at essex.ac.uk (Druliolle, Vincent P) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:56:04 +0000 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] RE : cartoons Message-ID: <9D0306935260054CA859A41A7263A6411F3DBA8806@MBOX2.essex.ac.uk> Yes, I sent a message about political cartoons some time ago. Thanks for the reference. For those who may be interested, I have since then come across some books about comics and cartoons, some of which explicitly focus on the issue of the interaction between word and image in the production of meaning. These books are published by University Press of Mississippi, the Comics and Popular Culture series, and some of them seem really interesting, for example Comics as Philosophy. More details about the series here : http://www.upress.state.ms.us/category/comics_popular_culture Vincent ________________________________ De : interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu [interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu] de la part de Aurogeeta Das [auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk] Date d'envoi : vendredi 30 octobre 2009 11:54 ? : interpretation and methods group Objet : [Interpretationandmethods] New Book announcement: Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons fyi. I seem to remember someone in this group being interested in political cartoons. Hope this helps. Best wishes, Aurogeeta The Scarecrow Press, Inc. > >NEW >Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons >Nichola Dobson > >Animation was once a relatively simple matter, >using fairly primitive means to produce rather >short films of subjects that were generally >comedic and often quite childish. However, >things have changed, and they continue changing >at a maddening pace. One new technique after >another has made it easier, faster, and above >all cheaper to produce the material, which has >taken on an increasing variety of forms. > >The Historical Dictionary of Animation and >Cartoons is an introduction to all aspects of >animation history and its development as a >technology and industry beyond the familiar >cartoons from the Disney and Warner Bros. >Studios. This is done through a chronology, an >introductory essay, photos, a bibliography, and >over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on >animators, directors, studios, techniques, >films, and some of the best-known characters. >Nichola Dobson is an independent scholar based >in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is currently >researching in the areas of animation studies and television genre. > >THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. >$85.00 ? >Cloth ? >0-8108-5830- 4 | 978-0-8108-5830- 5 ? >August 2009 >? 304 pp >To order, visit www.scarecrowpress. com, call 1-800-462-6420 > >>http://www.scarecro wpress.com/ Catalog/Flyer2. shtml?SKU= 0810858304 From auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk Fri Oct 30 09:04:46 2009 From: auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk (Aurogeeta Das) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:04:46 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] RE : cartoons In-Reply-To: <9D0306935260054CA859A41A7263A6411F3DBA8806@MBOX2.essex.ac.uk> Message-ID: <512214.36792.qm@web24105.mail.ird.yahoo.com> Hi Vincent, Though not explicitly with reference to comics, you might want to look at Anne Marie Christin's book titled A History of Writing. See below for full ref. To date, it is the most comprehensive, well-researched book I have ever come across on the interaction between word and image in the production of meaning. She used to head the Centre d'Etude de l'Ecriture et de l'Image at the University of Paris. I don't remember whether the book had a chapter on comics (I was focussing on other areas) but it's a gem with excellent illustrations, rigorous research and elegant writing. Do have a look if you can. Best, Aurogeeta A History of Writing. From Hieroglyph to Multimedia Edited by Anne-Marie CristinParis: Flammarion, 2002 (403 pages) --- On Fri, 30/10/09, Druliolle, Vincent P wrote: From: Druliolle, Vincent P Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] RE : cartoons To: "interpretation and methods group" Date: Friday, 30 October, 2009, 12:56 PM Yes, I sent a message about political cartoons some time ago. Thanks for the reference. For those who may be interested, I have since then come across some books about comics and cartoons, some of which explicitly focus on the issue of the interaction between word and image in the production of meaning. These books are published by University Press of Mississippi, the Comics and Popular Culture series, and some of them seem really interesting, for example Comics as Philosophy. More details about the series here : http://www.upress.state.ms.us/category/comics_popular_culture Vincent ________________________________ De : interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu [interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu] de la part de Aurogeeta Das [auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk] Date d'envoi : vendredi 30 octobre 2009 11:54 ? : interpretation and methods group Objet : [Interpretationandmethods] New Book announcement: Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons fyi. I seem to remember someone in this group being interested in political cartoons. Hope this helps. Best wishes, Aurogeeta The Scarecrow Press, Inc. > >NEW >Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons >Nichola Dobson > >Animation was once a relatively simple matter, >using fairly primitive means to produce rather >short films of subjects that were generally >comedic and often quite childish. However, >things have changed, and they continue changing >at a maddening pace. One new technique after >another has made it easier, faster, and above >all cheaper to produce the material, which has >taken on an increasing variety of forms. > >The Historical Dictionary of Animation and >Cartoons is an introduction to all aspects of >animation history and its development as a >technology and industry beyond the familiar >cartoons from the Disney and Warner Bros. >Studios. This is done through a chronology, an >introductory essay, photos, a bibliography, and >over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on >animators, directors, studios, techniques, >films, and some of the best-known characters. >Nichola Dobson is an independent scholar based >in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is currently >researching in the areas of animation studies and television genre. > >THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. >$85.00 ? >Cloth ? >0-8108-5830- 4 | 978-0-8108-5830- 5 ? >August 2009 >? 304 pp >To order, visit www.scarecrowpress. com, call 1-800-462-6420 > >>http://www.scarecro wpress.com/ Catalog/Flyer2. shtml?SKU= 0810858304 _______________________________________________ Interpretationandmethods mailing list Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/pipermail/interpretationandmethods/attachments/20091030/50608a77/attachment.html From vpdrul at essex.ac.uk Fri Oct 30 10:06:22 2009 From: vpdrul at essex.ac.uk (Druliolle, Vincent P) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:06:22 +0000 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] RE : RE : cartoons In-Reply-To: <512214.36792.qm@web24105.mail.ird.yahoo.com> References: <9D0306935260054CA859A41A7263A6411F3DBA8806@MBOX2.essex.ac.uk>, <512214.36792.qm@web24105.mail.ird.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <9D0306935260054CA859A41A7263A6411F3DBA880A@MBOX2.essex.ac.uk> looks really interesting, thanks again for the ref!! V ________________________________ De : interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu [interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu] de la part de Aurogeeta Das [auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk] Date d'envoi : vendredi 30 octobre 2009 13:04 ? : interpretation and methods group Objet : Re: [Interpretationandmethods] RE : cartoons Hi Vincent, Though not explicitly with reference to comics, you might want to look at Anne Marie Christin's book titled A History of Writing. See below for full ref. To date, it is the most comprehensive, well-researched book I have ever come across on the interaction between word and image in the production of meaning. She used to head the Centre d'Etude de l'Ecriture et de l'Image at the University of Paris. I don't remember whether the book had a chapter on comics (I was focussing on other areas) but it's a gem with excellent illustrations, rigorous research and elegant writing. Do have a look if you can. Best, Aurogeeta A History of Writing. From Hieroglyph to Multimedia Edited by Anne-Marie Cristin Paris: Flammarion, 2002 (403 pages) --- On Fri, 30/10/09, Druliolle, Vincent P wrote: From: Druliolle, Vincent P Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] RE : cartoons To: "interpretation and methods group" Date: Friday, 30 October, 2009, 12:56 PM Yes, I sent a message about political cartoons some time ago. Thanks for the reference. For those who may be interested, I have since then come across some books about comics and cartoons, some of which explicitly focus on the issue of the interaction between word and image in the production of meaning. These books are published by University Press of Mississippi, the Comics and Popular Culture series, and some of them seem really interesting, for example Comics as Philosophy. More details about the series here : http://www.upress.state.ms.us/category/comics_popular_culture Vincent ________________________________ De : interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu [interpretationandmethods-bounces at listserv.cddc.vt.edu] de la part de Aurogeeta Das [auroville1976 at yahoo.co.uk] Date d'envoi : vendredi 30 octobre 2009 11:54 ? : interpretation and methods group Objet : [Interpretationandmethods] New Book announcement: Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons fyi. I seem to remember someone in this group being interested in political cartoons. Hope this helps. Best wishes, Aurogeeta The Scarecrow Press, Inc. > >NEW >Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons >Nichola Dobson > >Animation was once a relatively simple matter, >using fairly primitive means to produce rather >short films of subjects that were generally >comedic and often quite childish. However, >things have changed, and they continue changing >at a maddening pace. One new technique after >another has made it easier, faster, and above >all cheaper to produce the material, which has >taken on an increasing variety of forms. > >The Historical Dictionary of Animation and >Cartoons is an introduction to all aspects of >animation history and its development as a >technology and industry beyond the familiar >cartoons from the Disney and Warner Bros. >Studios. This is done through a chronology, an >introductory essay, photos, a bibliography, and >over 200 cross-referenced dictionary entries on >animators, directors, studios, techniques, >films, and some of the best-known characters. >Nichola Dobson is an independent scholar based >in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is currently >researching in the areas of animation studies and television genre. > >THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. >$85.00 ? >Cloth ? >0-8108-5830- 4 | 978-0-8108-5830- 5 ? >August 2009 >? 304 pp >To order, visit www.scarecrowpress. com, call 1-800-462-6420 > >>http://www.scarecro wpress.com/ Catalog/Flyer2. shtml?SKU= 0810858304 _______________________________________________ Interpretationandmethods mailing list Interpretationandmethods at listserv.cddc.vt.edu http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods From D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl Fri Oct 30 15:03:43 2009 From: D.Yanow at fsw.vu.nl (Dvora Yanow) Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:03:43 +0100 Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] an ethnography of Wall Street References: <125e343a0910300740p32ca0526sa5c642d303818a8@mail.gmail.com> A<8AC4333A-FA36-4DF7-BF2D-4EC2D12D757C@mac.com> <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A88D@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> <6B2170177EED420F807CBF9D2A5BC689@DS> Message-ID: <5286BEEC21FADA47A24AA92D8BC9270E0373A8A0@fswmail01.scw.vu.nl> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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