Reading group reflections

Here is an open thread for people wanting to continue or join the discussion from this week’s Queer Thinking group. Our readings were: Annamarie Jagose “Feminism’s Queer Theory,” Feminism and Psychology 19.2 (2009): 157-74. Annamarie Jagose “Couterfeit Pleasures: Fake Orgasm and Queer Agency,” Textual Practice 24.3 (2010): 517-39. Sara Ahmed “Sexual Orientations” in Queer Phenomenology, [...]

Flux or precarity? It depends who you write for

Two articles I read this week offer contrasting insights into the state of the work world at present. One is from a notorious business cheerleader, one is from a Leftist magazine, but it seems to me they are writing about the same thing. The first piece, coming out in next month’s Fast Company, describes Generation [...]

Holiday consumption

This fascinating post at Supervalent Thought is timely motivation for new year writing projects. Makes me wonder if I should rethink my avoidance of MLA. I’ve never been, having lost touch with literary studies after my Honours year. I still think in terms of textuality though… indeed the more I go through peer review processes [...]

First class

As promised, this semester I will be blogging alongside the class I teach on gender and cultural studies research methods. This is partly because I think it could be useful for postgrads elsewhere who don’t get access to this sort of advice regularly. But it is also because the course is designed to illustrate the [...]

On the value of work

One of the reasons I mentioned home economics classes in the previous post was because I’m starting to think that Matthew Crawford’s book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, has some hidden lessons for feminism. Make no mistake – it is a blokey book. Plenty of shop scenes and not much discussion of women’s participation in trades. [...]

Reading list

Here is the list! Thanks for the tips, some of which are from last year when I needed help the first time. And just to note that many of these were originally selected by Ruth Barcan, the previous convenor of the course. Please do continue to add suggestions! Week 1 – What is a thesis? [...]

Paying for quality journalism

The New Matilda fundraiser ends on Wednesday. If you haven’t donated yet, do consider it. These background articles explain the basis of the appeal. A lot of hot air surrounds the support of online initiatives, and the work that goes in to providing independent research, opinion and analysis is rarely rewarded in full. So if [...]

Consuming drugs, books, tele

I’ve just uploaded our co-authored article, “Underbelly, true crime and the cultural economy of infamy” on the Other Writing page. We would welcome any feedback while it’s under peer review, especially since there will likely be more to this project than just one paper. Thanks to Tim Laurie for so much help with the background [...]

Mid-semester break

I have a little break from teaching now and will be a) catching up on a few ongoing projects b) having a birthday holiday! Some of you would have heard the interview I did on Radio National yesterday about Facebook in the workplace, which drew on the material mentioned here a few weeks ago. Thanks [...]

Suggested reading: online friends and intimacies

Just in time for my course outline, a fantastic manifesto addressing the limits of online social networking on Geert Lovink’s blog. A taste: Social networks register a ‘refusal of work’. But our net-time, after all, is another kind of labour. Herein lies the perversity of social networks: however radical they may be, they will always [...]

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