THE FACULTY of SOCIAL SCIENCES of CHARLES UNIVERSITY in Prague, the Czech Republic is accepting applications for an assistant professor in U.S. Cultural/Social History/Studies with specialties in recent and contemporary studies. Click New North American Studies Position online announcement.doc for more information.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Lecture, Arthur Daemmrich
THE HISTORY of SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, and MEDICINE program is hosting a lecture by Professor Arthur Daemmrich titled "Vulnerable Subjects, Vulnerable Knowledge: Children's Chemical Testing Programs in the United States and European Union" on Friday, December 5th at 3:35 pm in 131 Tate Lab of Physics. Click f14_Daemmrich.pdf for more information.
ICGC Global Food Security Fellowship
THE ICGC is accepting applications for the Global Food Security Fellowship for the 2014-2015 academic year. The fellowship awards a stipend of up to $30,000 for one year. Applications for Spring 2015 are due December 12th, 2014 and applications for Summer of Fall 2015 are due February 15th, 2015. Click here for more information.
Katherine Beane Defends Dissertation, Begins New Post Doc Position at UC Santa Cruz
KATHERINE BEANE successfully defended her dissertation Woyakapi Kin Ahdipi "Bringing the Story Home": A History Within the Wakpa Ipaksan Dakota Oyate on November 24th and will be beginning a University of California President's Postdoc position at the University of California Santa Cruz this month.
UPDATE - Brenda Child Interview on New Book on Minnesota Public Radio
BRENDA CHILD will be discussing her recent book, My Grandfather's Knocking Sticks: Ojibwe Family Life and Labor on the Reservation (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2014) on the Daily Circuit, Minnesota Public Radio, on Wednesday, December 10th from 11am - 12pm.
Department of Geography, Environment, and Society Talk, Mohammed Bamyeh
THE DEPARTMENT of GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, and SOCIETY is hosting a coffee hour on Friday, December 5th at 3:30 pm in Blegen Hall 445. The talk will be given by University of Pittsburg professor Mohammed Bamyeh and titled "Do Revolutions Always Disappoint?"
Do Revolutions Always Disappoint?
Mohammed Bamyeh
University of Pittsburg - Sociology
Abstract
Based on observations from the Arab Spring countries, this paper pursues two related aims. First, it argues that revolutions have a tendency to disappoint, largely due to dynamics that are latent in their very character. Second, based on this thesis, the paper calls for a different approach to studying the promise and prospects of revolutions. The first goal is accomplished by surveying how new, utopian political imagination develops during the revolution and becomes one of its main driving forces. A specific social psychology becomes intertwined with that imagination. That social psychology is not equipped to outlast the revolutionary environment in the form of political institutions, although it does outlast the revolutionary moment as forms of revolutionary psychology and forms of memory among certain constituencies. It also survives at the cultural level in the form of long-term transformation in values and perspectives.
This analysis suggests that revolutions ought not to be evaluated on the basis of their immediate political accomplishments, which are typically unsatisfactory to perhaps the majority of participants. Rather, revolution and post-revolution should be treated as analytically distinct moments, in spite of their relationship. Here, the paper explores the differences between the two moments in terms of social psychology, levels of popular unity, the role of social traditions in revolutionary and post-revolutionary mobilization, how different individuals experience "progress" during the two moments, and how they remember and forget events. While the paper shows that the feeling of disappointment that is often felt after revolutions has something to do with dynamics that are latent in the revolutions themselves, it also suggests that a different level of disappointment is produced by social science itself. Specifically, the very analytical tools that social scientists prefer to use when they study revolutions and social movements in general, themselves tend to produce disappointment.
Do Revolutions Always Disappoint?
Mohammed Bamyeh
University of Pittsburg - Sociology
Abstract
Based on observations from the Arab Spring countries, this paper pursues two related aims. First, it argues that revolutions have a tendency to disappoint, largely due to dynamics that are latent in their very character. Second, based on this thesis, the paper calls for a different approach to studying the promise and prospects of revolutions. The first goal is accomplished by surveying how new, utopian political imagination develops during the revolution and becomes one of its main driving forces. A specific social psychology becomes intertwined with that imagination. That social psychology is not equipped to outlast the revolutionary environment in the form of political institutions, although it does outlast the revolutionary moment as forms of revolutionary psychology and forms of memory among certain constituencies. It also survives at the cultural level in the form of long-term transformation in values and perspectives.
This analysis suggests that revolutions ought not to be evaluated on the basis of their immediate political accomplishments, which are typically unsatisfactory to perhaps the majority of participants. Rather, revolution and post-revolution should be treated as analytically distinct moments, in spite of their relationship. Here, the paper explores the differences between the two moments in terms of social psychology, levels of popular unity, the role of social traditions in revolutionary and post-revolutionary mobilization, how different individuals experience "progress" during the two moments, and how they remember and forget events. While the paper shows that the feeling of disappointment that is often felt after revolutions has something to do with dynamics that are latent in the revolutions themselves, it also suggests that a different level of disappointment is produced by social science itself. Specifically, the very analytical tools that social scientists prefer to use when they study revolutions and social movements in general, themselves tend to produce disappointment.
Graduate Workshop in Modern History Discussion
THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT is hosting their Graduate Workshop in Modern History on Friday, December 5th at 12:00 pm in Heller Hall 1229. The discussion is on Laura Luepke's dissertation chapter "Science, Religion, and the Project of Professional Boundary Maintenance." Hard copies are available in the history main office. Click here for access to an electronic version of the chapter.
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