Against Blind Faith in Learning

Mao on Professors in 1958 (22 March) talks at Chengtu (p116-7 Talks and letters):  … of entering into the spirit of it, or really understanding it’ (p117).   best bit: … ‘Naturally, we cannot go out tomorrow and beat them up … we have to make friends with them’  

Ahava

Join us this Saturday 25th of September as we continue to disturb Ahava’s unlawful business, which profits from the sale of stolen goods manufactured in an illegal settlement in the West Bank. Map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=530080&y=181156&z=0&sv=WC2H+9DD&st=2&pc=WC2H+9DD&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf The fascist English Defence League and the zionist federation have promised to show their support for the state of israel, hence this call [...]

Grand, just Grand.

For some time now, with varied success and certainly with lively consequences still yet to be fully implemented, we have been discussing the future of research and teaching in CCS at Goldsmiths (see the Attack the headquarters link in the sidebar). All that has been great and the enthusiasm and engagement impressive. I’ve even heard [...]

At-HQ – Cristobal Bianchi: Three attacks to the Headquarters

One If you read the booklet of the Centre for Cultural Studies after being at the college for more than one year, you can understand why the institution has invested in developing an image that wallpapers the reality of the college. When one finally sees the gap created by our confused expectations, the university –the [...]

AtHQ – Some Thoughts on Work…

Since the last Attack the Headquarters I have been thinking about the nature of work… especially with all the discussions about theory, practice, vocational and educational issues. To start with a provocation: When Stanley Aronowitz spoke a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he saw part of his role as an academic as finding his [...]

At-HQ – Sharing some doubts about the creative industries and how these should be addressed by Cultural Studies

I have to admit that I have far more doubts and questions than certainties or answers about how the whole socio-economic paradigm opened by the creative industries should be addressed by cultural studies. The public discourse around the creative industries officially appeared in the UK in about 1996 and was heavily endorsed by New Labour [...]

AtHQ – Let’s take over the CCS

In the attack the headquarter events there were voices asking for changes. Some were exited, some were frustrated, some were content, some were dissatisfied. What could we make out of that? What comes next after the head quarter was attacked? What if there remains another headquarter with a new dress? Did we just create something [...]

At HQ – Exploring the headquarters

We have been reflecting on the identity of culture studies, in the context of the university, capitalism and the state. In my presentation, I tried to provoke people into considering that the boundaries between all of these things is considerably more fluid than we might prefer, but that this is taking place in a more [...]

AtHQ – Claudia Firth

I wanted to add some thoughts after the session on Tuesday. I’ve been a bit slow due to recovering from post-traumatic exam disorder. I perhaps had a slightly more traumatic experience than most, being in the Assistive Technology Centre where the Technology wasn’t at all assistive. (Is it really hopeless to call for the abolition [...]

AtHQ – Defending the Headquarters

Does cultural studies have its own territory that is worthy of being defended? Given that the autonomy of disciplines has been vehemently debated and de facto denied as usefully productive by many, how can cultural studies be the source of any resistance whatsoever without staking out a particularized terrain and theatre of potential operations? (channelling [...]

AtHQ – Is Reality Fabulating?

(There are many things I’d like to add after Tuesday’s event to this original version of my provocation. Mainly thanks to Matthew’s presentation – and the way it made me to revisit my ideas on practice – and to some of the comments on theory and the institution. But sometimes it’s good to resist the [...]

AtHQ – Containment … Gesture … (negative) … excess(?)

‘Attack the Headquarters’ has left me thinking about certain themes that I feel permeate much of the debates. When approaching the ‘AtHQ’ event I was energized, as I was hoping that this event would allow a space for the creation/deployment of a clearly articulated and mutually constituted base level of consensus amongst the staff and [...]

ATHQ Tom B

I hadn’t orginally intended to present anything at ATHQ, and ended up doing so as a result of a communication error. As such I was initially a little puzzled as to what I’d say – but after the first session I ended up slightly keener on the idea, and decided that I might want to [...]

Public reading of ‘radical material’ that led to ‘terror arrests.

Demonstration against the deportation of Hicham Yezza and for academic freedom Nottingham academics to give public reading from Al-Qaeda training manual. The document had been downloaded from an official US government website, for academic research into political extremism. Photo Opportunity: Outside the Hallward Library, University Park Campus, 2:00pm, 28/05/08. The reading will be followed by [...]

AtHQ – Concerning ‘Attack the Headquaters.’

As I wasn’t invited to deliver my thoughts to the meeting (of course I wasn’t – who would have invited me? Who would even have thought to?), I have collected some of them here for review at leisure. Please do REVIEW them – dispute them, second them or second-guess them. That much has been said [...]

AtHQ Round 2

With the second part of Attack the Headquarters coming up this Tue 27th (2-6pm, RHB 150, as before), would it be worth asking if there is anything in particular that participants would like to see happen differently from the first day – in particular in terms of the collective discussions? The provocateurs lined up will [...]

AtHQ – Education Privatization – Union Campaign

From the Uuniversties and College Union campaign update: Challenging the Market in Education – Conference takes the campaign up a gear More than 120 delegates attended UCU’s conference ‘Challenging the Market in Education’ last Saturday, another indication that this is a high campaigning priority for members. The conference heard Professor Dexter Whitfield providing an overview [...]

AtHQ: Jennifer Bajorek

AtHQ session 14 May What I tried to say and would say again: 1. On the Centre as a disciplinary entity versus the Centre as inserted in an institution I was happy to hear from Luciana that we are done talking about interdisciplinarity! I take this to mean that it is no longer helpful to [...]

AtHQ: transversality – Luciana Parisi

Attack the Headquarters – this is Luciana’s presentation from after the break on the first session of AtHQ. Luciana Parisi – AtHQ: transversality When one thinks of attacking the headquarters, one assumes, especially in the context of the geneaological history of Cultural Studies, that a critical point has been reached in the formation of the [...]

AtHQ: Dangerous Ideas – Jeff Kinkle

‘A revolutionary career does not lead to banquets and honorary titles, interesting research and professorial wages. It leads to misery, disgrace, ingratitude, prison and a voyage into the unknown, illuminated by only an almost superhuman belief.’ Max Horkheimer The underlying theme of my provocation today will be the idea of provocation: its relevance, effectiveness, and [...]