Category: History of Ideas

Migration, mobility and aircraft, sea serpents, deep time, Covid, poetry and Notre Dame de Paris ‘entangled’ – Anthropocenes Journal 2021 contents
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Migration, mobility and aircraft, sea serpents, deep time, Covid, poetry and Notre Dame de Paris ‘entangled’ – Anthropocenes Journal 2021 contents

Seven new research articles/contributions have been published in UWP’s journal Anthropocenes – Human, Inhuman, Posthuman. Journal authors continue to rethink in the words of the editors (about the journal) ‘abstraction, art, architecture, design, governance, ecology, law, politics and discourses of science in the context of human, inhuman and posthuman frameworks’. And this is showcased in an eclectic and uniquely interdisciplinary mix of material published in Vol 2 issue 1 which covers January 2021 to the end of July so far.

See here for the new issue contents for this year and here for 2020.

Readers have enthusiastically responded to the journal’s mix of material that mirrors and interprets the Anthropocene; that have reflected on the significance of eels, ‘sea serpents’, polar bears, invasive insects and human bodies; considered urban, mixed-use, dune, river and post-industrial landscapes; presented material as poetry, audio essays, visual essays, book reviews and creative writing on science. And of course reflected broadly on the key issues of climate change disasters, deep time, culture and the uses of architecture, data aesthetics, frontier technology, hyperobjects, Covid-19 and how to move beyond anthropocentricism.

Covid-19 and the Value of Participation
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Covid-19 and the Value of Participation

Now published 12 July 2021 a new open access title DEMOCRACY IN A PANDEMIC: Participation in Response to Crisis that makes the case for enhanced engagement during and beyond emergency contexts.

Covid-19 has highlighted limitations in our democratic politics – but also lessons for how to deepen our democracy and more effectively respond to future crises. In the face of an emergency, the working assumption all too often is that only a centralised, top-down response is possible. This book exposes the weakness of this assumption, making the case for deeper participation and deliberation in times of crises. During the pandemic, mutual aid and self-help groups have realised unmet needs. And forward-thinking organisations have shown that listening to and working with diverse social groups leads to more inclusive outcomes. 

Participation and deliberation are not just possible in an emergency. They are valuable, perhaps even indispensable. 

This book draws together a diverse range of voices of activists, practitioners, policy makers, researchers and writers. Together they make visible the critical role played by participation and deliberation during the pandemic and make the case for enhanced engagement during and beyond emergency contexts.

Another, more democratic world can be realised in the face of a crisis. The contributors to this book offer us meaningful insights into what this could look like.

The Editors:

GRAHAM SMITH is Professor of Politics and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster and Chair of the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development.

TIM HUGHES is the outgoing Director of Involve and a leading specialist in the field of participatory and deliberative democracy.

LIZZIE ADAMS is Project and Governance Lead at Involve, the UK’s leading public participation charity.

CHARLOTTE OBIJIAKU is Project Administrator at Involve and a member of the 2020/21 Charityworks graduate scheme.

CONTENTS: Short listing

Introduction
Part One: VOICES FROM THE PANDEMIC 
Part Two: LESSONS FOR DEMOCRACY
Conclusion: A Manifesto for Democracy in a Crisis

FORMAT
E-book, PDF free on publication from www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/57. PDF 978-1-914386-18-3 ePub 978-1-914386-19-0 Kindle 978-1-914386-20-6  DOI: 10.16997/book57

Paperback 978-1-914386-17-6 203 x 103mm 160 pages
UK £14.99 US $20 EUR €18 CAN $25 AUS $28

Democracy Studies|Policy Studies| Social Affairs

FULL CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Introduction, Graham Smith, Tim Hughes, Lizzie Adams and Charlotte Obijiaku
PART ONE: VOICES FROM THE PANDEMIC
Some Things Are So Urgent That We Can’t Afford to Do Them Quickly Martin Johnstone
The Perfect Storm? Emerging from the Crisis Stronger, Through Sharing What We Have  Jez Hall
Building More Vibrant and Inclusive Democracies: How to Meet the challenges of Covid-19
Sanjay PradhanDoes Democracy Need a Time Rebellion? Roman Krznaric
Building Back Inclusively Dayo Eseonu
Ordinary and Extraordinary Stories: Including People with Learning Disabilities in Policy Development and Research Rhiann McLean and Angela Henderson
Organising to Humanise the Gig Economy Alex Marshall
Let’s Talk About Covid-19 Ethics Dave Archard
Democracy – A Dish Well Done Frances Foley
Learning How to Listen in a Pandemic Laura Seebohm
No Justice Without Us: Respecting Lived Experience of the Criminal Justice System Paula Harriott
Participation on Whose Terms? Javier Sanchez-Rogriguez
The Queer House Party: Solidarity and LGBTQI+ Community-Making in Pandemic Times Francesca Romana Ammaturo and Olimpia Burchiellaro
Student Democracy in the Face of Covid-19 Isobel Walter
Experts by Experience: Enabling the Voice of Survivors to Transform the Response to Domestic Abuse in the UK Martha Tomlinson
The Best Time to Start Involving the Public in Covid Decision-Making was a Year Ago The Next Best Time Is Now Jon Alexander
PART TWO: LESSONS FOR DEMOCRACY
Hearing Diverse Voices in a Pandemic: Towards Authentic Inclusion Ruth Ibegbuna
Mutual Aid and Self-Organisation: What We Can Learn from the Rise of DIY Responses to the Pandemic Matt Leach
How the Pandemic Has Accelerated the Shift Towards Participatory Public Authorities Donna Hall,
Simon Kaye and Charlotte Morgan
Citizen Voice in the Pandemic Response: Democratic Innovations from Around the World Antonin
Lacelle-Webster, Julien Landry and Ann Marie D. Smith
Is Democracy Too Much Trouble in a Pandemic? Archon Fung
Conclusion: A Manifesto for Democracy in a Crisis Tim Hughes and Graham Smith

13 July 2021

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AI for Everyone? Critical Perspectives

UWP is pleased to announce that it will soon be publishing a new book exploring the role of contemporary AI and issues that need to be addressed concerning it. The volume will be edited by Pieter Verdegem of the University of Westminster. And it will be published open access in the series, Critical Digital and Social Media Studies edited by Christian Fuchs.

Description
We are entering a new era of technological determinism and solutionism in which governments and business actors are seeking data-driven change, assuming that AI is now inevitable and ubiquitous. But we have not even started asking the right questions, let alone developed an understanding of the consequences. Urgently needed is debate that asks and answers fundamental questions about power. This book brings together critical interrogations of what constitutes AI, its impact and its inequalities in order to offer an analysis of what it means for AI to deliver benefits for everyone.

The book is structured in three parts: Part 1, AI: Humans vs. Machines, presents critical perspectives on human-machine dualism. Part 2, Discourses and Myths about AI, excavates metaphors and policies to ask normative questions about what is ‘desirable’ AI and what conditions make this possible. Part 3, AI Power and Inequalities, discusses how the implementation of AI creates important challenges that urgently need to be addressed.

Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and regional contexts, this book offers a vital intervention on one of the most hyped concepts of our times.

Contents

  1. 1. Introduction: Why We Need Critical Perspectives on AI
    Pieter Verdegem

Part 1: AI – Humans vs. Machines

2.Artificial Intelligence (AI): When Humans and Machines Might Have to Coexist 
Andreas Kaplan

3. Digital Humanism: Epistemological, Ontological and Praxiological Foundations 
Wolfgang Hofkirchner

4. An Alternative Rationalization of Creative AI by De-Familiarizing Creativity: Towards an Intelligibility of Its Own Terms 
Jenna Ng

5. Post-Humanism, Mutual Aid
Dan McQuillan

Part 2: Discourses and Myths About AI

6. The Language Labyrinth: Constructive Critique on the Terminology Used in the AI Discourse
Rainer Rehak

7. AI Ethics Needs Good Data
Angela Daly, S. Kate Devitt and Monique Mann

8. The Social Reconfiguration of Artificial Intelligence: Utility and Feasibility
James Steinhoff 

9. Creating the Technological Saviour: Discourses on AI in Europe and the Legitimation of Super Capitalism
Benedetta Brevini

10. AI Bugs and Failures: How and Why to Render AI-Algorithms More Human?  Alkim Almila Akdag Salah

Part 3: AI Power and Inequalities 

11. Primed Prediction: A Critical Examination of the Consequences of Exclusion of the Ontological Now in AI Protocol
Carrie O’Connell and Chad Van De Wiele

12. Algorithmic Logic in Digital Capitalism
Jernej A. Prodnik

13. Not Ready for Prime Time: Biometrics and Biopolitics in the (Un)Making of California’s Facial Recognition Ban
Asvatha Babu and Saif Shahin

14. Beyond Mechanical Turk: The Work of Brazilians on Global AI Platforms  Rafael Grohmann and Willian Fernandes Araújo

15. Towards Data Justice Unionism? A Labour Perspective on AI Governance  Lina Dencik

The Authors

Index 

(Paperback): 978-1-914386-16-9 (PDF): 978-1-914386-13-8 (EPUB): 978-1-914386-14-5

ISBN (Kindle): 978-914386-15-2

DOI: 10.16997/book55

Anthropocene Islands published to acclaim

Anthropocene Islands published to acclaim

A new book exploring the significance of Island Studies for the Anthropocene was published yesterday to advance acclaim, as described in a recent blog posting. As with all University of Westminster Press titles it is available open access.

Anthropocenes Islands: Entangled Worlds was written by Jonathan Pugh and David Chandler.

Acclaim for Anthropocene Islands

‘A must read … In this long-awaited book, [Pugh and Chandler] open up a new analytical agenda for the Anthropocene, coherently drawing out the power of thinking with islands.’ – Elena Burgos Martinez, Leiden University

‘This is an essential book. By thinking with islands, Pugh and Chandler articulate new ontologies and epistemologies to help us understand the relational entanglements of the Anthropocene. The four analytics they propose—Resilience, Patchworks, Correlation, and Storiation—offer both a critical agenda for island studies and compass points through which to navigate the haunting past, troubling present, and precarious future.’ – Craig Santos Perez, University of Hawai’i, Manoa

‘All academic books should be like this: hard to put down. Informative, careful, sometimes devasting, yet absolutely necessary – if you read one book about the Anthropocene let it be this. You will never think of islands in the same way again.’ –  Kimberley Peters, University of Oldenburg

‘Makes the compelling case that islands have never been merely geocultural objects of study, but rather, generative conceptual “objects” [for understanding and engaging] the wider, planetary, relational matrix within which the conditions of the Anthropocene era were created.’ – Michelle Stephens, Rutgers University

‘What if we were to start not with the great drama of the world’s falling apart, but with a myriad of smaller stories of its coming together? … a unique journey into the Anthropocene. Critical, generous and compelling’.  – Nigel Clark, Lancaster University

‘Replete with “aha!” and “huh!” moments, this book offers insights for all of us … who may not have recognised … the value of “thinking with” islands more purposively.’ – Lauren Rickards, RMIT University

‘ … a must-read … elucidates novel understandings of islands not only as patches of intensified Anthropocene proliferation, but as sites to examine the intricate relationships between life, matter, and meaning in a changing world.’ – Adam Searle, University of Cambridge

‘Anthropocene Islands establishes Pugh and Chandler as two critical and agenda-setting thinkers within island scholarship … [It] cogently argues that islands have become emblematic figures of the Anthropocene and are moreover influencing the manner in which Anthropocene thinking is developing. … a timely and essential contribution …’ – Adam Grydehøj, Editor-in-Chief, Island Studies Journal

The University of Westminster Press is the publisher of the journal Anthropocenes: Human, Inhuman, Posthuman

Anthropocene Islands – forthcoming title
CULTURE WARS: STATUES, FLAGS, STREETS AND SQUARES
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CULTURE WARS: STATUES, FLAGS, STREETS AND SQUARES

CALL FOR PAPERS/ABSTRACTS: WESTMINSTER PAPERS IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE
Issue Editor: Anthony McNicholas

Flags, emblems, monuments, street names, statues are some of the means by which nations and states promote themselves, both to their own citizens and to the world at large; the public face of our imagined communities. But as they seek to unify, such symbols have often been the occasion for contestation, disagreement, violence even. Empires, systems, regimes rise and fall. Societies change, and with such change comes a reassessment of societies’ symbolic life, as yesterday’s heroes become today’s villains, past triumphs a present embarrassment. The past is continually raked over, re-examined and reinterpreted, with each re-examination argued over. Examples abound from across the globe: the toppling of Rhodes’ statue in Cape Town in 2015; in Budapest, Soviet era leaders are gathered together in Memento Park. While Ukraine had by 2017 decreed the removal of all 1,320 statues of Lenin. And in Germany there are no monuments commemorating the military in the war years. In the USA, statues of Confederate leaders are being taken down; thwarted by a statute forbidding such removals, the mayor of Birmingham Alabama had one offending figure covered in plastic. Outside Delhi statues of military and British royalty languish, a ‘shambles’ in a ‘veritable dust bowl’ (Times of India) awaiting a revamp that never seems to arrive, the neglect telling its own story. In the UK the national flag and the statues of slavers are being fought over by the government and sections of the population deploying memes, hashtags and video footage whilst also appearing in official and commercial films, TV, documentary, news footage. 

Submissions are welcome covering the role of the media in all forms (from public service broadcasting to social media, feature films to advertising) exploring contested representations of such symbols and their remediation. WPCC publishes research articles, commentaries and book reviews. For guidelines see https://www.westminsterpapers.org/site/author-guidelines

Deadline for abstracts:
Please submit a 150-250 word abstract with keywords to WPCC’s submission system with 6 keywords by Monday 28 June 2021 by registering at here uploading the abstract in addition to filling in the submission details. You will receive feedback regarding encouragement to submit a full paper (a resubmission on the system) or feedback from the issue editor(s)/WPCC within 7-10 days later.

Deadline for full papers:
Full papers are expected by Monday 30 August 2021, 23:59 submitted to the WPCC system. All papers will go through double peer-review. 

Publication date: from 1 November 2021
WPCC is an open access journal and there are no fees for contributors. Published by the University of Westminster Press in conjunction with CAMRI. All content in this issue and in its archive is available free to read. 
www.westminsterpapers.org

Anthropocene Islands – forthcoming title
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Anthropocene Islands – forthcoming title

UWP are pleased to announce they are to publish a new book exploring the ‘Entangled Worlds’ of Anthropocene Islands by Jonathan Pugh and David Chandler. UWP is the publisher of the journal, Anthropocenes – Human, Inhuman, Posthuman.

ANTHROPOCENE ISLANDS: ENTANGLED WORLDS
The island has become a key figure of the Anthropocene – an epoch in which human entanglements with nature come increasingly to the fore. For a long time islands were romanticised or marginalised, seen as lacking modernity’s capacities for progress, vulnerable to the effects of catastrophic climate change and the afterlives of empire and coloniality. Today, however, the island is increasingly important for both policy-oriented and critical imaginaries that seek, more positively, to draw upon the island’s liminal and disruptive capacities, especially the relational entanglements and sensitivities its peoples and modes of life are said to exhibit. 

Anthropocene Islands: Entangled Worlds explores the significant and widespread shift to working with islands for the generation of new or alternative approaches to knowledge, critique and policy practices. It explains how contemporary Anthropocene thinking takes a particular interest in islands as ‘entangled worlds’, which break down the human/nature divide of modernity and enable the generation of new or alternative approaches to ways of being (ontology) and knowing (epistemology). The book draws out core analytics which have risen to prominence (Resilience, Patchworks, Correlation and Storiation) as contemporary policy makers, scholars, critical theorists, artists, poets and activists work with islands to move beyond the constraints of modern approaches. In doing so, it argues that with engaging islands has become increasingly important for the generation of some of the core frameworks of contemporary thinking and concludes with a new critical agenda for the Anthropocene.

CONTENTS
Preface 
1: There Are Only Islands After the End of the World 
2: Resilience: The Power of Interactive Life 
3: Patchworks: The Ontology of the World 
4: Correlation: Registers of Change
5: Storiation: Holding the World 
6: Conclusion: A Critical Agenda for the Anthropocene 
References |Index | 196 pp

JONATHAN PUGH is Reader in Island Studies, University of Newcastle, UK. He is the author of over 70 publications developing relational thinking with islands and, more recently, the figure of the island in the Anthropocene. He leads the ‘Anthropocene Islands’ initiative Anthropocene Islands: https://www.anthropoceneislands.online.

DAVID CHANDLER is Professor of International Relations, University of Westminster. He edits the journal Anthropocenes – Human, Inhuman, Posthuman. His recent books include Becoming Indigenous: Governing Imaginaries in the Anthropocene (2019) and Ontopolitics in the Anthropocene: An Introduction to Mapping, Sensing and Hacking (2018). 

Island Studies| Anthropocene Studies | Human Geography | Environmental Philosophy

FORTHCOMING 9 JUNE 2021
Format paperback 978-1-914386-00-8 229 x 152mm UK  £17.99. US  $22.95. EUR €20
Format ebook E-book, PDF free from http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books PDF 978-1-914386-01-5 ePub 978-1-914386-02-2 Kindle 978-1-914386-03-9
DOI: 10.16997/book52 (active on publication)