This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend.
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Scholarship Details
Politics at Newcastle University is delighted to offer a PhD scholarship funded jointly between Politics Alumni and the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University.
The scholarship commemorates the lifetime contribution made by Professor Hugh Berrington to Politics at Newcastle and the UK academic community. Professor Berrington, who very sadly died in late 2010, was an internationally regarded researcher whose work focussed largely on British politics and political behaviour.
Politics at Newcastle has a vibrant and thriving research culture and environment and a long history of providing excellent teaching and supervision and producing internationally renowned leading edge research.
Value
The studentship will include payment of full-time tuition fees (home rate only) for three years and an annual stipend at the relevant research council rate.
Duration
Three years (the successful candidate will be expected to start their PhD in October 2012)
Research Areas
We welcome applications from suitable candidates looking to undertake a PhD in the areas of British politics and political behaviour in one of the following areas:
• parliamentary politics
• political organizations – political parties and interest groups
• political participation
• political behaviour and attitudes
• party competition
Newcastle Politics has supervisors with the necessary expertise to oversee projects in these subject areas, and an appropriate supervisory team (minimum two supervisors) will be appointed on the basis of the agreed research project.
Person Specification
Candidates will normally be expected to have a good first degree and a Masters degree in Politics or a related subject. The studentship is open to new postgraduate researchers only (i.e. existing PhD students are ineligible).
The successful applicant will be selected on the basis of the strength of their application and supporting documents, including their research proposal. If necessary, a short-list of candidates will be interviewed.
How to Apply
Applicants will need to provide the following:
• A research proposal of 2000 words (maximum, excluding bibliography) which should include key questions to be addressed, research context, theoretical and methodological approach, timetable and a bibliography.
• 2 academic references
• A full curriculum vitae (maximum 6 pages)
• A supporting statement which outlines why you are an excellent candidate for the Berrington Scholarship (maximum 500 words)
Applications should be sent directly to:
Dr Martin Coward
Director of Postgraduate Research,
Tel. 0191-222- 8824.
The submission deadline is 16 March, 2012.
Further Information
Informal enquiries should be directed to Dr Martin Coward, Director of Postgraduate Research, (Tel. 0191-222- 8824).
I recently came across this film produced by the British Council in 1950 introducing cricket. I found the narrative fascinating, particularly the way that the rhythms, traditions, and totems of the game are presented as pastoral in origin. There is an emphasis on manners, leisure, and craft in the film. My argument then is that this film provides a performative of the spirit of cricket for an international audience.
Cricket became institutionalized as a national game during the Victorian era. Its development as a sport was deeply embedded in the dramatic social changes brought about by industrialization, capitalism, and imperialism. From the start, cricket attempted to recall an era that had passed, never-mind if such an era had even ever existed in the form presented by its 19th century conservative proponents. Its mythology was pedagogical. It was geared towards the transmission of proper social mores, etiquette, and deference to authority. More recent initiatives regarding the spirit of cricket, like that drafted by the MCC, have attempted to reinvigorate these disciplinary qualities that exist in excess of the formal laws of the game. But for me, what this film demonstrates is that the English cricket has always been locked in a process of becoming, performatively asserting itself to hide the absence of any true substantive spirit.
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend.
Photo credit: pcorreia
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Peace.
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This weekend in the reading roundup:
Enjoy!
Photo credt: mtkopone
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend.
Photo credit: eirikref
North East Doctoral Training Centre ESRC Funded Studentships in Politics
Politics at Newcastle University is pleased to announce the availability of ESRC funded PhD studentships as part of the North East Doctoral Training Centre. We are seeking high calibre candidates interested in doctoral study who have clearly defined research projects and wish to be considered for these awards.
The studentships will be allocated on a competitive basis and include 1+3, +3, 3.75 and 2+3 awards. The deadline for approaching prospective supervisors is 27 January 2012. The deadline for submitting completed applications is 24 February 2012.
Preliminary inquiries can be directed to Dr. Kyle Grayson until 30 January, 2012 and to Dr. Martin Coward after that time.
Further details:
The following studentships are available to UK citizens and EU nationals:
Politics at Newcastle University enjoys a strong international reputation. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) Newcastle Politics consolidated its position with a very strong research output profile and excellence in terms of research environment and esteem. The RAE Panel noted that: "Research outputs were predominantly of internationally recognised quality" and the "Research environment was predominantly of internationally recognised quality ... (including) a large school of PhD students, with good completion rates". Politics has enjoyed strong growth in staff numbers in recent years indicating excellence in its research and teaching and the overall strength of the programme. Incoming students will be able to fully participate in our program of research related activities and active graduate community.
We offer research supervision expertise in:
International Politics
Political Philosophy and Political Theory
Governance and Political Organisations:
Further details on how to apply can be found here.
Further information about postgraduate research in Politics at Newcastle can be found here.
Key Deadlines:
Formation of a supervisory team for the 2012-13 competition: 27 January, 2012
Submission of a completed application for the 2012-13 competition: 24 February, 2012
Popular Culture and World Politics v. 5.0
9-11 November, 2012
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Geneva, New York, 14456, USA
What do zombies have to do with world politics? How might the Twilight sagas inform and illuminate our way of understanding world politics and changes in the global political economy? In what ways do videogames, the sales of which now exceed those of music CDs and DVDS combined, shape the identities and political understandings of frequent players? Is visual media destined to replace print as the primary source of news and entertainment in advanced industrial societies and how might this affect the construction of meaning of world affairs? As a means of communication readily available to an ever-expanding number of individuals and groups, how might the internet offer paths of resistance to corporate and Western news and entertainment hegemony? How can tango dancing make the world a more peaceful place?
This conference explores the multiple ways of investigating the intersections of world politics and the production, circulation, content, and consumption of various popular cultural forms. Engaging a range of disciplines and practices in the social sciences, humanities and the arts, the conference encourages participants to question what terms such as ‘global,’ ‘popular,’ and ‘culture’ mean both in isolation and when used in conjunction. It asks in what ways and with what effects popular culture has become a series of sites at which political meaning is made, where political contestation takes place, and where political orthodoxy is reproduced and challenged. The conference provides a highly-focused and interdisciplinary environment in which the increasing numbers of scholars that are engaging in culture-related research can present their work and participate in the kind of extended discussion that larger conferences do not permit. The conference aims to provide an intimate forum at which debates about interdisciplinary methods and theoretical approaches can be developed to facilitate debate across disciplines that share interests in world politics and culture. We welcome proposals for performances, screenings, panels, or individual papers, on any aspect of world politics and popular culture.
Building on the preceding four PCWP conferences, version 5.0 will be held on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, a small liberal arts institution located in the beautiful Finger Lakes (wine-making) region of western New York state.
Inquiries should be sent to PCWP@hws.edu
The deadline for proposals is 15 July 2012
Many thanks to Kevin Dunn who has graciously agreed to host and organize this year's event!
This weekend in the reading roundup:
Have a good weekend.
Photo credit: Abhi Shinde