Recent News

Peter Marshall discusses new edition
Peter Marshall author of 'Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism', will be discussing the new edition of this landmark book (Harper Perennial, 2008). He will investigate the most recent developments in anarchist theory and practice, including 'post-anarchism', 'anarcho-primitivism' and the anarchist contribution to the Global Justice Movement.
Time: Friday, 14 March 2008, 2-4 pm.
Venue: Barriedale Buildings 4
Further Information: c.levy@gold.ac.uk

Newman delivers public lecture on Foucault
Dr Saul Newman was invited to teach at the Foucault Spring School 2008 at the University of Leuven in Belgium, where he delivered a public lecture on Michel Foucault on 19 March. The paper was entitled: '"Knowledge is made for cutting": Foucault's discourse of war.'

Newman publishes new book
Dr Saul Newman has recently published a new book Unstable Universalities: Poststructuralism and Radical Politics (Manchester University Press, Nov 2007). The book explores the theme of universality in radical politics today, arguing for a new understanding of, emancipation, democracy and politico-ethics, informed by poststructualist theory.
See further details

Funding for research on Belfast 1914-18 Memorial Roll
Dr Richard Grayson has been awarded funding from the University of London Central Research Fund for a project to digitise the names of approximately 7,800 soldiers (of all ranks) and their addresses from 1914-18 whose names are recorded in the Belfast Presbytery Memorial Roll. The project is significant because there is an ongoing academic debate over patterns of service within Ireland as a whole, and local studies are needed to take this debate further. There is no quantitative study of the membership patterns of Presbyterians, and many records of non-officers were lost in the 1940 London Blitz. The project will result in an article on the Belfast Presbytery Memorial Roll of 1914-18, covering both the methodological issues around the source, and the conclusions which can be drawn from it.

Seth publishes new book
Professor Sanjay Seth's new book, Subject Lessons: The Western Education of Colonial India, has been published by Duke University Press, in July 2007. The South Asian edition of the book has been published by Oxford University Press, India, in January 2008. This book is a study of how modern, western knowledge 'travelled' to the non-Western world, and with what effects. See further details.

Research award for Saul Newman
Dr Saul Newman has won a British Academy Small Research Grant for £2915. The project is 'Politics Most Unusual: Sovereignty, Religion and Violence in the War on Terror'. The project will explore the political, social and ethical dimensions and implications of the 'war on terrorism'. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective - combining political and social theory, with moral philosophy and psychoanalysis - the project will address themes and questions such as: the 'return' of religious fundamentalism and the relationship between religion and politics, sovereignty and theology; ethical and moral questions relating to torture, just war theory, and possible responses to terrorist violence; the tension between liberty and security; moral, political and psychological questions regarding racism, prejudice and intolerance; current liberal thinking on terrorism and appropriate responses to it, and its limitations; and the future of democratic and liberal institutions and practices. The main outcome of this project will be a co-authored book on the war on terror to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2008/09.

Rao publishes new book on cities
Prof Nirmala Rao's book 'Cities in Transition: Growth, Change and Governance in Six Metropolitan Areas' has been published by Routledge in October 2007. This is an up-to-date and topical treatment of how six major cities in Europe, North America and Asia are coping with the new demands on urban government. See further details.

Reardon wins study visit award
Dr John Reardon has been awarded a 'Study Visits for Senior Academics'award from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). This is arecognition of the international significance of his research.

New book on social liberalism
Two members of the Goldsmiths Department of Politics have collaborated on a book on the future of social liberalism, launched on 10 September 2007. Richard Grayson, the Head of Department, is co-editor of Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism in the 21st Century, published by Politico’s. He has also contributed a chapter on the NHS. Ed Randall, Deputy Head and Senior Tutor, has written on liberal environmentalism. The book is available on-line from the publisher and has been covered in the Guardian.

Dragovic-Soso delivered the 7th Annual Peter N. Kujachich Lecture
Dr Jasna Dragovic-Soso delivered the Seventh Annual Peter N. Kujachich Lecture in Serbian and Montenegrin Studies, UC Berkeley on 19 April 2007 with a paper entitled:
"Coming to Terms with the Recent Past: Intellectual Discourse and Public Polemics in Post-Milosevic Serbia".

Dutton wins international book prize
Professor Michael Dutton from the Department of Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London has just been announced as one of two 2007 Joseph Levenson Prize winners, for his book 'Policing Chinese Politics: A History' (Duke, 2005). It is particularly special as the award rarely goes to someone from outside the United States.

The Joseph Levenson Prize is awarded for non-fiction scholarly books on China. Two prizes are given each year, one for works focusing on China before 1900 and one for works focusing on post 1900 China. Professor Dutton's book won the award for the post-1900 China category.

Michael's work is a retelling of the story of what animated the Chinese revolutionary politics through an empirical history of policing. The book is described by the prize office as "This theoretically innovative and remarkably well-sourced study in institutional history gives a compelling portrait of the magic of commitment and faith as well as the institutional politics of post-revolutionary policy."

Michael Dutton comments: "This is a rare honour that is hardly ever awarded to anyone outside the US Academy. Only a handful of 'foreigners' have won it and, as far as I know, only one other person from Britain has been awarded the Levenson in the past. Personally, I was delighted by the news but thought, at first, that it must be a hoax. I have never really been a 'mainstream' China studies scholar and this award is, I think, both a great honour for me but also recognition of the changing nature of China studies in the West."

Dr James Martin  wins teaching award
Dr James Martin has won a college Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. The award was made for his Politics and Rhetoric unit which second year students consistently rate very highly. It has utilised innovative strategies and techniques with impressive results.

Politics student wins essay prize
Politics student Andreas Panayides has won the Oxford University Press Baylis and Smith Prize for the best first year essay in international relations. His essay provided an excellent critique of Keohane and Nye's 'complex interdependence' theory.

Student Maya Pritchard wins Oxford University Press Baylis and Smith Prize for best first year essay in international relations.

Dr Carl Levy: Study Leave and Presentations

Dr Carl Levy, Head of Politics at Goldsmiths in 2002-6 has been presenting a series of papers in Europe and America as part of his study leave in 2006-7.  The presentations are:

• 'Italian anarchism during the Fascist ventennio’, Department of Italian Studies, Rutgers University.
• 'Errico Malatesta in London: Anarchism, Diaspora and Globalization, 1889-1914’, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
• 'Sovversivismo: The Radical Political Culture of Otherness’, Department of History, Princeton University.
• 'L'assassino anarchico nella storia italiana, dal 1870 al 1930', LUISS (Libera Università degli Studi Sociali Carli di Roma) , Rome.
• 'Italy and its Racisms', Casa Italiana, Department of Italian History, NYU.
• ‘The Rooted Cosmopolitan: Aspects of a Biography of Errico Malatesta’, Centre for Political Ideologies, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford.
• 'Anarchist Assassinations in Italian History’, ‘Waves of Terrorism: Then and Now, the Significance or Insignificance of Historical Parallels', sponsored by Terrorism and Political Violence and the Department of Homeland Security, Washington DC. li>'Into the Zone: The Geneva Convention, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and the EU’s Projects for Extra-Territorial Solutions’, Maison De l’Europe Contemporaine, Université Paris X-Nanterre, Colloque International Interdiscipline de la Villa Finaly, Florence.
• ‘Antonio Gramsci: Anarchism, Syndicalism and Sovversivismo, The Enduring Legacy of Antonio Gramsci: Theory, Politics, Society and Culture', ECPR General Conference, Pisa.

As part of his study leave, Dr Carl Levy was a Member (Fellow) of the highly distinguished Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton from September 2006 to April 2007. He was then a Visiting Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford from April to August 2007 and attached to the Centre for Political Ideologies and the Modern European History Research Centre of Oxford University.

Dragovic-Soso and Grayson win teaching awards
Two of Goldsmiths’ prestigious awards for ‘excellence in teaching’ have been won by Dr Jasna Dragovic-Soso and Dr Richard Grayson.  The Peake Teaching Awards have been made to them for the 2005-6 academic year.  Previous winners in the politics department include Dr James Martin and Mr Ed Randall – but it is very unusual for one department to be given two awards in one year.

Lawson awarded CELT fellowship
Dr George Lawson has been awarded a Goldsmiths CELT fellowship fro the 2006-6 academic year.  This is to provide funding for a ‘Learning Beyond the Classroom’ initiative with the following objectives:

• To develop technologies which help to better deliver the outcomes of the Level 2 course - Contemporary International Relations: Theory and Practice.
• To use appropriate technologies (such as forums, blogs and wikis) as a means of augmenting the course’s summative forms of assessment with a diverse range of formative assessment tools.
• To use visual technologies such as Flash to animate complex theoretical issues in a novel way.
• To use online communication tools (such as forums, blogs and wikis) as a means of generating a continuous set of interactions between lecturer and students.
• To overcome contact and teaching time constraints by engaging students beyond formal contact hours in lectures and seminars through fully moderated online debates,  i.e. taking student learning ‘beyond the classroom’.