PE Scholar’s Post

One of the strangest experiences I've had working in international development research was when I worked for a company that used "evolutionary psychology" to inform its programming and thinking. Despite repeated efforts on my end to point out that the ideas encompassed in this theory were both bad science and deeply racist and sexist, the organization's leadership refused to think otherwise. Ironically, a company that professed to be guided by evidence found it hard to digest evidence that challenged its simplistic and backward ideas about the world. Policy research is always interpretative, and in the case of international development research, practitioners must maintain a strong understanding of the contexts they work in in order to produce interpretations that can be trusted and workable. At that same organization mentioned above, I worked alongside people who had zero understanding of international politics, could not speak a second language despite working in non-English speaking countries, and who had limited travel and work experience abroad. One colleague of mine with a PhD in "moral psychology" possessed little comprehension of international affairs and politics, and was somehow awarded a doctorate for a double-spaced, 68-page dissertation based on a sophomoric survey experiment of university undergraduate students. I regularly found myself embarrassed by the comments and thoughts I heard my colleagues express in meetings and with calls with partner organizations abroad. I often wondered if the failure of US development efforts could be attributed to the mismatch in talent and task reflected by this organization. I like to think about my time at this organization alongside one of my favorite books in anthropological history, Anne Laura Stoler's, Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Digging into the colonial archive of the Netherlands Indies, Stoler shows how colonial bureaucrats carried racist ideas into their governance practices leading to confusion and misapprehension of the places they were assigned to govern. The insights she draws do not just apply to the Dutch colonial experience, but seem just as relevant in the world of private international development contracting. Where some organizations seek to cultivate expertise rooted in experience in order to respond to the challenges and contradictions of development, others, like the place I worked for, contribute to a long history of colonial ignorance. They smuggle racist and backwards ideas into their programs, resulting in little tangible success, and contributing to a sense of hopelessness and cynicism among the locals they're paid to serve. There is important work to be done in international development, but to avoid the mistakes of the past requires cultivating an expertise rooted in a willingness to try and understand the contexts one is working in. Some organizations do this well, while others make no attempt whatsoever.

Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics Vol. 48, No. 3, Autumn 2025 Special Issue | Call for Papers A FESTSCHRIFT FOR PETER LAMARQUE Guest Editor: Washington Morales-Maciel (Professor of Philosophy, Universidad de la República, Uruguay) In felicitation of Peter Lamarque's oeuvre, we are bringing out a special issue titled "A Festschrift for Peter Lamarque". This edition aims to celebrate his distinguished academic career, characterized by a commitment to the highest standards of clarity, intellectual depth, and rigorous thought. His internationally acclaimed work has significantly shaped diverse fields within the arts, challenging traditional debates in aesthetics and pioneering new directions within the discipline. The journal itself has had the privilege of serving as both a platform for his original contributions and as a witness to his influence, with him also serving as an honorary member of the editorial board. In recognizing the breadth of his scholarship and the generosity of his intellectual spirit, the journal aims to pay tribute to a body of work that has, from its inception, treated literature as a vital subject within philosophical aesthetics. Lamarque's approach challenges the narrow subordination of literary theory to the semantics and pragmatics of fiction, while also resisting the dissolution of boundaries between continental literary criticism and the social sciences. His enduring contributions to the discipline's distinct identity, his defence of its autonomy, and his forward-looking research initiatives collectively form a philosophical legacy that this special issue seeks to honour. We invite original research articles in 5,000-10,000 words (MLA style) addressing among others, but not exclusively, the following topics and problems: 1. Metacriticism – Aesthetic Interpretation of Literature 2. Ontology of Literature 3. Epistemic Assumptions of Metacriticism 4. Ethics and Literature 5. Methodologies of Speculative Aesthetics Submission deadline: 31 March 2025 Email: washington.morales@fhce.edu.uy, editor@jcla.in

On September 18, 2024, Nicola Gardini, Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Oxford University, gave a lecture at John Cabot University titled "Why We Need the Humanities." Hosted by the Department of Modern Languages and Literature, Gardini emphasized the enduring importance of the humanities, drawing on historical examples and addressing modern challenges like AI and big data. He called for a renewed commitment to the humanities in education, advocating for interdisciplinary learning and the revival of Renaissance ideals. #JCURome #InterdisciplinaryLearning #ModernLanguages #AIandHumanities

Fresh off the press! This paper introduces principles for the application and challenges of small data ethnography in digital research. It discusses the need to incorporate ethics in every step of the research process. As teachers and researchers within the digital humanities, we argue for the value of a qualitative approach to digital contents, spaces, and phenomena. This article is relevant as a guide for students and researchers whose studies examine digital practices, phenomena, and social communities that occur in, through, or in relation to digital contexts. https://lnkd.in/dk3k9xCe

Confs: Approaches to Migration, Language and Identity: Scholars working on migration, language and identity in disciplines such as the humanities, disability studies, education, geography and social sciences are invited to submit their proposals in due course. Proposals for research papers could cover, but are not restricted to, the following topic areas: Language, Migration and Technology Lifestyle migration and identity Language, transnationalism and identity Migration, language and intersectionality Historical cases of language and migration Mo

Calls: Doctoral Conference: Phenomenologies of memory: interconnecting literary, linguistic, and philological studies / Convegno Dottorale: Fenomenologie della memoria: studi letterari, linguistici e filologici a confronto: Call for Papers: PhD students are invited to send their proposals on the following subjects (or similar/related themes): - Literature: individual/collective memory, explicit/implicit memory, prospective memory and post-memory, Trauma studies, autobiographical, biographical and historical/documentary writing, reconstructive memory and identity. - Linguistics: the mechanisms of memory and the structures of language from a synchronic and diachronic perspective; writing and metalinguistic canons;

Quick Reference CONJUNCTURE A term used by so-called structural Marxists (see Louis Althusser) to refer to the concrete state of political-economic and especially class relations, in a specific society, at a particular point in time (as in ‘specific historical conjuncture’). From: conjuncture in A Dictionary of Sociology » Subjects: Social sciences — Sociology Related content in Oxford Reference https://lnkd.in/eMPMUJVR

Read our latest article in the Humanities and Me series. Marc Ó Cathasaigh provides an insightful reflection - ‘Through the Humanities, we will have to reimagine a society that redefines personal worth in a way that doesn’t rely on material extractivism, a society that prioritises quality of life over standard of living’ https://lnkd.in/dXJ7ihDT

I am thrilled to share the publication of the collective volume Posthumanism and Education: Transgression or Interdependence, where I co-authored a chapter with Vasso Kapetanou titled "Cinema, Different Cyborgs, Accessibility and Convenience". This chapter delves into the relationship between human identity, disability, technology, and cinema within the framework of the Posthuman movement. We explore the ideologies of Critical Posthumanism and Transhumanism, particularly how they influence identity transformation for individuals with mobility challenges. Our study introduces Captain Johnny Walker, a specialized mobility aid, and through film screenings and the Thinking Aloud method, we examine public perceptions of mobility aids and identity. Furthermore, we discuss the blurring boundaries between humans and technology, and how cinema can play a crucial role in challenging stereotypes and fostering greater understanding. https://lnkd.in/d8rUsYxC