Book review: academic conferences as neoliberal commodities by Donald J. Nicolson

What role do academic conferences play in the construction of an academic career? In Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities, Donald J. Nicolson examines the link between the value attributed to participation in academic conferences and the broader neoliberalisation of the academy. Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani welcomes this short book for beginning a meaningful conversation about the significance of this aspect of academic life

Book review: air & light & time & space: how successful academics write by Helen Sword

With Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write, Helen Sword explores how academics find the ‘air and light and time and space’ to write, drawing on interviews with 100 scholars seen as exemplary writers in their fields. In underscoring that there is no one ideal way to write, this is an elegantly crafted book for those who like to experiment with and think deeply about their writing practices, recommends Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani

Speaking Back to the Self: A Call for Voice Notes as Reflexive Practice for Feminist Ethnographers

While what comprises “feminist research methods” is subject to debate, research with a feminist orientation is often characterised by heightened reflexivity and a recognition of the subjective nature of knowledge claims (Ryan-Flood and Gill, 2010). By drawing upon ethnographic research conducted among young people in post-apartheid South Africa, this paper interrogates the potential value of audio recordings or “voice notes” during fieldwork, in conjunction with the more traditional form of the fieldwork diary. I argue that, by providing an additional means through which to articulate the inevitable messiness of fieldwork, the recording of “voice notes” enables the researcher to “speak back” to themselves, generating valuable material to reflect upon when analysing and writing up one’s data. By privileging voice, this companion method potentially elucidates the conscious, and unconscious, self-censorship we impose when relying solely upon a textual rendering of experience. As such, it helps to lessen the uncomfortable distance between what researchers feel in the “field” and what they express at the “desk.” Mobilizing the insights of post-structural feminist scholars, I consider the importance of acknowledging ethnographic “processes” as well as “products,” in order to develop more reflexive research practice and a feminist sensibility, which interrogates the representations that it makes

Book review: crumpled paper boat: experiments in ethnographic writing edited by Anand Pandian and Stuart McLean

In Crumpled Paper Boat: Experiments in Ethnographic Writing, editors Anand Pandian and Stuart McLean offer a collection that seeks to open up the possibilities for ethnographic research by approaching writing as a ‘material adventure’. As the volume grapples with longstanding questions regarding the ethical challenges of capturing one’s subjects in language, Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani nonetheless finds this a moving reminder of the power of words to enable entry into alternative ways of seeing, and potentially being, in the world

Progressive HIV infection in the presence of a raised CD4+ count: HIV/HTLV-1 co-infection

There are a number of pathophysiological causes for a normal or raised CD4 count in the context of progressive HIV infection. These include various co-infections, previous splenectomy, and lymphoproliferative disorders. Such circumstances can both confound HIV diagnosis and delay initiation of chemoprophylaxis and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We describe the case of a patient co-infected with HIV and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) who, prior to HAART initiation, was found to have progressive immune deficiency associated with a raised CD4 count

Life ‘on high alert’:How do people with a family history of motor neurone disease make sense of genetic risk? Insights from an online forum

Open access via Taylor and Francis agreement Acknowledgements We wish to thank the MND Association for allowing us to use the publicly available information on the MND Association Forum for this research, and for their overall support of the study. We are grateful to Karen Forrest Keenan and Gabrielle King for feedback on an earlier version of the paper. Jade Howard is funded by a doctoral studentship provided by the Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen. Funding Jade Howard is funded by a doctoral studentship provided by the Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen. Louise Locock is supported by funding from the Scottish Chief Scientist Office.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Navigating the ‘new South Africa’: an ethnographic study of the ‘born free’ generation in Mpumalanga province

This thesis explores the aspirations of black South Africans who were born after the end of apartheid. These young people are controversially referred to as the ‘born free’ generation. They were born into a democracy that officially offers them equal opportunities but continues to grapple with a legacy of racial discrimination, spatial segregation and unequal educational provision. Despite the majority of ‘born frees’ experiencing poor educational attainment and high levels of unemployment, existing research indicates that those in this category hold ambitious future aspirations, although these rarely come to fruition. The focus of my work is the aspirations of rural youth and draws upon ten months of ethnographic data collected within a township in Mpumalanga province. It analyses selected curriculum content, observations, focus groups and interviews with two groups of young people – those in their last year of schooling and those two years out of school. Through ethnographic observations in one secondary school in particular, I elucidate how students’ schooling environments relay particular discourses concerning what constitutes a ‘good education’ and what it means to aspire towards a ‘good life.’ Integrating insights from feminist, poststructural and postcolonial theories, I consider how the discourses of the ‘new South Africa’ are transmitted within the schooling environments, homes and wider social and political arenas which these young people occupy, thereby creating and structuring ways for them to speak and think about their futures. My analysis engages with the shifting attachments that shape how South Africans living in a rural area construct their narratives of the future and demonstrates how these young people’s performances of identity are both spatially constructed and affectively negotiated. By considering the silences and contradictions in their imaginaries, this thesis shows how the discourses through which these imaginaries are constructed create boundaries around ways of being and becoming that are deemed valuable and those that are not. In problematising an understanding of aspiration as an individual disposition, my research demonstrates that the hopes of young, black South Africans are rooted in social and spatial inequalities

Book review: race, education and citizenship: mobile Malaysians, British colonial legacies and a culture of migration by Sin Yee Koh

In Race, Education and Citizenship: Mobile Malaysians, British Colonial Legacies and a Culture of Migration, Sin Yee Koh offers a study of the migratory trajectories of tertiary-educated mobile Malaysian migrants and explores how the legacies of colonialism continue to impact upon the meanings of race, education and citizenship in this context. Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani strongly recommends this book to scholars interested in conceptualising migration and citizenship practices through a post-colonial lens