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Green places

Those places where nature is more vitally present have been the happiest places.

What is good about having a pet? We adopted a cat about a week before my father died this year. It wasn’t really the right time, because of course I then spent some time away with my mother and a new feline addition to the household needs stability. But, frankly, if you wait for theContinue reading “Joy, and Joyness”

Begin it Now

Begin it Now

Nations & nationalities are not inherent categories

What’s something you believe everyone should know. They’re constructions of approximately the last 200 years. Much of the conflict we see globally can be traced back to entirely arbitrary geographical boundaries being drawn up by what are now former imperial powers. Of course humans naturally form groups, communities and societies, but the nation states ofContinue reading “Nations & nationalities are not inherent categories”

Surviving First Contact (aka., beginning data collection)

Many moons ago, my thesis supervisor uttered words of great wisdom, which I have carried with me and shall endeavor to pass on to any unsuspecting research student who doesn’t run away fast enough. “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” He was speaking in the aftermath of my first foray into data collection.Continue reading “Surviving First Contact (aka., beginning data collection)”

Achieving Personal Coherence

One of the first things a sociology or human geography student will be taught is that none of us have just one identity: we have many.

Moving the Overton Window

Who was Overton? What is his window? Why and how does it move? I came across the concept of the ‘Overton Window’ when I was in the early stages of my PhD. At the time, it didn’t seem to have much ‘traction’ in the academic circles I was, well, circling and no-one else seemed atContinue reading “Moving the Overton Window”

I stand with Claudia.

Last night, while browsing #AcademicTwitter, I came across a heart-breaking post from Dr Claudia Schwarz-Plaschg, recounting her horrific experiences in the #HarvardSTS program lead by one of the ‘greats’ of the Science & Technology Studies (STS) field. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. I link her tweet below; it’s gratifying toContinue reading “I stand with Claudia.”

Guess who’s back?

Well, Bonnie Charlie is gone for sure, but you lucky folks get ME! [after yet another unplanned hiatus – sorry] Part of the reason for that hiatus has been The Summer and The Aftermath of The Summer. In short, I went to a really cool conference, reconnected with a group of amazing scholars, and gotContinue reading “Guess who’s back?”

A little bit of Wittgenstein goes a looooong way

“For a large class of cases of the employment of the word ‘meaning’—though not for all—this word can be explained in this way: the meaning of a word is its use in the language” (PI 43). Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations While idly watching reruns of NCIS a while ago, I began daydreaming about the differences betweenContinue reading “A little bit of Wittgenstein goes a looooong way”