Book review: networks of sound, style and subversion: the punk and post-punk worlds of Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, 1975–80

This book examines the birth of punk in the UK and its transformation, within a short period of time, into post-punk. Deploying innovative concepts of ‘critical mass’, ‘social networks’ and ‘music worlds’, and using sophisticated techniques of ‘social network analysis’, it teases out the events and mechanisms involved in punk’s ‘micro-mobilisation’, its diffusion across the UK and its transformation in certain city-based strongholds into a variety of interlocking post-punk forms. Alex Hensby thinks this is a fine piece of work; a book that is driven by the author’s palpable knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject

The Influence of Higher Education Study on Practitioners in the Field of Outdoor and Adventure Education

This thesis sets out to answer whether higher education (HE) study specific to outdoor and adventure education (OAE) influences the practice of OAE practitioners in the field of OAE. From my own experience in the field of OAE and the field of HE, the reasons why a practitioner should study an OAE degree were under-researched. The current work is set in the context of the current body of knowledge surrounding the field of OAE. It recognises the limited evidence base that acknowledges the impact of OAE HE on practitioners in the field. The theoretical framework used in this research is that of Wenger’s 1998 communities of practice (CoP) theory. The research focuses on two distinct CoP’s, the OAE HE CoP and the OAE practitioner CoP. It includes participants from a local OAE centre, a local HE institute and participants from the wider field of OAE. The theoretical framework has been developed into a heuristic device, which also encompasses the term’ personal knowledge capital’ developed from the work of Young (2012) as a term for this research. The heuristic device is used as an analytical tool to provide specific entry points to analyse the data generated through four stages of research. Through the entry point of ‘identity’, the data was analysed, and three themes were discussed: what an OAE expert is, the role of multi membership, and the role of personal knowledge capital. Personal knowledge capital is discussed as a boundary artifact that can be exchanged between the two CoP’s and has the potential to influence the identity construction of the practitioners. It was found that brokers have a role to play in negotiating the meaning of experiences for the OAE practitioners and can, in turn, influence the identity construction of the OAE practitioners. This thesis explores what an OAE HE programme can offer to OAE practitioners in the field and contributes to a new body of knowledge in two ways. First and foremost, in the originality of the outcomes of the data, the influence of HE study on OAE practitioners in the field of OAE is an area that has not yet been explored. Secondly, originality lies in the unique use of the heuristic device created and the underpinning CoP theory. The limitations of this research undertaken throughout the Covid-19 global pandemic have been recognised

Heidegger and Derrida on Animals and World: Questioning the Purity of the Animal-Human Difference in The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics

This paper questions Heidegger’s interpretation of animals in his 1929-1930 seminar, The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude. Heidegger denies that animals have access to the ‘as such,’ to beings as such, and yet it must be asked if he can maintain this. His course is open to two interpretations: either we deny that the binding, encountering, struggling, and adapting that Heidegger attributes to animals are possibilities for animals, and we thereby make the animal what I call ‘the impossible’—and I provide additional reasons against this option by arguing against Heidegger’s interpretation of the central bee experiments—or we retain binding, encountering, struggling and adapting in line with my argument and thereby see animals as diversified: each kind of animal has different drives/disinhibitions, and so each is in a different kind of ‘world.’ To make this argument, Derrida’s later work on this seminar is drawn upon. Derrida’s particular deconstructive strategy of asking whether the human actually has what it attributes to itself is not pursued here; however, a related deconstructive strategy, concerning questioning the purity of the animal realm, is deployed. Making the animal realm pure is the result of an operation of a sacrificial structure: animals are sacrificed to maintain the abyssal difference of the human. This sacrifice, and the suffering it allows, is enabled by the denial that animals are open to beings ‘as such.

Millbank tendency: the strengths and limitations of mediated protest ‘events’ in UK student activism cycles

UK students’ desire to create disruptive, media-friendly ‘events’ during the 2010-11 protests against fees and cuts is reflective of wider cycles and processes in student activism history. First, constant cohort turnover restricts students’ ability to convert campaigns into durable movements, necessitating that they must periodically ‘start from scratch’. This informs a second process, namely the need to gain the attention of mainstream media, as this can potentially amplify students’ grievances far beyond their own organisational capacities. Both have shaped student activism over the past fifty years, compelling contemporary students to create protest events that live up to their radical history. These processes were evident in autumn 2010, when an NUS demonstration saw students attack and briefly occupy Conservative Party headquarters at 30 Millbank. The protest’s mass mediation was central to activists’ ‘eventing’ processes, and provided the spark for the radical UK-wide campaign that followed. Yet once the fees bill was passed by Parliament, students’ dependency on mainstream media cycles was quickly exposed. With ‘mediatization’ tendencies having dogged student activism since the sixties, this article argues that creating ‘events’ epitomises students’ longstanding strengths and limitations as society’s ‘incipient intelligentsia’ (Rootes, 1980: 475)

'acKnowledge: Race and Ethnicity in Sociology' Repository Final Report to the British Sociological Association

Evidence shows that the pedagogical practices in teaching race and ethnicity in Sociology requires a major shift from the margins and more to centre of Sociology (Joseph-Salisbury et al, 2020). In tune with the 2020 report, Cureton & Gravestock (2019) have argued that lacking a sense of belonging is common for BME students within higher education. While there is some clear focus in the commitment to addressing the lack of essential focus of race and ethnicity in Sociology, the pace of change is slow and sporadic across UK universities with much of the work placed on certain staff members with a particular interest in EDI or broadly related work on access, retention and racial social justice. There remains a greater need for senior management support, funding and human resources in these areas of work to in order to improve racial equity in Sociology. Overview of report In response to these key concerns, this BSA-funded research project set out to collate, analyse and promote examples of best practice in relation to improving the teaching of race in Sociology, as well as best practice in recruitment and retention of BAME students and scholars. Following the recommendations of the Race and Ethnicity in British Sociology report (Joseph-Salisbury et al, 2020), this project qualitatively surveyed and collated a range of widening participation initiatives and interventions in Sociology departments and cross-disciplinary departments around the United Kingdom with a particular focus on race. The survey findings were then collated into a number of thematic strands, such as decolonising the curriculum and encouraging a sense of belonging. The themes were informed by current research and pedagogy in critical race theory and evidenced by showcasing the work of Sociology departments that are demonstrating tangible progress in this field. This report focuses upon analysis of the survey submissions, breaking down the demographics of contributors who submitted to particular thematic strands. There were a total of 77 submissions to the repository. The report also refers back to the pedagogy and practice focused recommendations in the 2020 Race in Sociology report, highlighting best practice case studies submissions that help engage BME students, enhance a sense of belonging, and address the ‘leaky pipeline’ to postgraduate study for these students. The report then discusses the challenges and reflections on working in this area, and the constraints and opportunities of the project. Finally, the report offers key recommendations for the continued use and future potential of the repository, assisting members and other interested parties who use the BSA website to find tried and tested ways of improving racial equity in higher education

Recovery in Mind: A Recovery College's journey through the Covid-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: The Covid-19 restrictions of 2020-2021 are known to have undermined the UK population's mental health. Working alongside staff, peer trainers and students at Recovery in Mind (RiM), a Recovery College (RC) in West Berkshire, England, this mixed-methods study is amongst the first to investigate how an RC has responded to the pandemic. METHODS: Working in co-production with RiM staff and peer-trainers, this study employed a mixed-methods design, gathering Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) well-being outcome measures by questionnaire and student experience, learning and co-production by interviews. FINDINGS: This research found that RiM continued to produce demonstrable improvements in student mental health. Students welcomed the way that RiM adapted to offering online and socially distanced provisions. Students valued the skills that RiM taught and the way that RiM courses reinforced prior learning; above this, however, they valued the mutual support and sense of community that participation provided. CONCLUSION: This study underlines the value of RCs maintaining 'hidden curriculums' of peer support and community involvement. This research emphasizes co-production as not only a tool for empowerment or service improvement but as a valuable skill for personal mental health recovery. Even when operating under the most unforeseen or challenging of conditions, RCs should always endeavour to prioritize and maintain co-production. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: In accordance with the RC ethos, this was an entirely co-produced study, with academic researchers and RiM staff and peer trainers working democratically in partnership with one another to design and manage the study and to write up and disseminate findings. To ensure the independence and rigour of findings, data analysis was undertaken by external academic researchers

Bottom-up Infrastructures: Aligning Politics and Technology in building a Wireless Community Network

Contemporary innovation in infrastructures is increasingly characterized by a close relationship between experts and lay people. This phenomenon has attracted the attention from a wide range of disciplines, including computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), science and technology studies (S&TS), organization studies and participatory design (PD). Connecting to this broad area of research, the article presents a qualitative case study concerning the building and maintenance of a grassroots, bottom-up information infrastructure in Italy, defined as wireless community network (WCN). Methodologically, the research is based on qualitative interviews with participants to the WCN, ethnographic observations and document analysis. The aim of the article is to understand the alignment between the technical work implied in building this bottom-up infrastructure and the political and cultural frameworks that move people to participate to this project. Relying on the field of science & technology studies, and in particular on the notions of ‘inverse infrastructure’ and ‘research in the wild’, we disclose the WCN’s peculiar innovation trajectory, localized outside conventional spaces of research and development. Overall, the presentation of the qualitative and ethnographic data allows to point out a more general reflection on bottom-up infrastructures and to enrich the academic debate concerning bottom-up infrastructuring work and other similar typologies of collaborative design projects in the domain of infrastructures

Book review: Becoming right: how campuses shape youngconservatives

Conservative pundits allege that the pervasive liberalism of America’s colleges and universities has detrimental effects on undergraduates, most particularly right-leaning ones. Becoming Right demonstrates the power that campus culture has in developing students’ conservative political styles and shows that young conservatives are made, not born. Alex Hensby finds this is a comprehensive, fascinating and accessible piece of research