Monday 29 October 2012

Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction research programme


Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction research programme

Rhodes University

PhD bursary

Applications for a Doctoral bursary are invited by candidates wishing to join a dynamic team of researchers in the area of Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction at Rhodes University. Prof Catriona Macleod is the team leader and will supervise the research.


Friday 19 October 2012

Call for papers for thespecial issue of the journal Universitas Psychologica on Critical Social Psychology of Work


Call for papers for thespecial issue of the journal Universitas Psychologica on Critical Social Psychology of Work

In recent years there have been developed and consolidated a number of conceptual and methodological alternatives to the hegemonic vision of the world of work which has historically prevailed in psychology.These perspectives that could be grouped under the label of "critical social psychology of work" distance themselvesfrom both the managerial and functionalist approach that has characterized much of the industrial/organisational psychology and its conceptualisation of workers as a resource to be managed towards maximising business productivity.

Critical social psychology of work is characterised by considering, in many different ways, the category "work" within inter-and transdisciplinary conceptual frameworks.As a consequence, studies developed in this area are distinguished by including in their analysis aspects such as:the different forms, manifestations and socio-historical transformations which capitalism stamps on work organisation in different contexts; the regional ways through which global designs such as neoliberalism are appropriated; the relationship between modernity and coloniality in terms of the international division of labour; the peculiar expressions of contemporary processes of flexibilisation, precarisation, informalisation, de-industrialisation and unemployment, and the way these phenomena affect the experiences, identities and processes of subjectivation in, for and through work.

At the same time, the geopolitics of knowledge in relation to psychology, as well as the possibilities of alternative knowledge and ways of organising work that deviate both from the current economic model, and from the discourses and practices that are prescribed by the North Atlantic countries, have been a constant concern of the studies conducted in this area.

For this special issue of the journal Universitas Psychologica on Critical Social Psychology of Work, it is expected that contributions can give visibility to the centrality of workplaces as:

  •   spaces of construction of subjectivities, experiences, and personal and collective identities;
  •   spheres of configuration of dynamics of control and resistance;
  •   places in which processes that can either lead to disease or promote the health of workers are produced;
  •   territories in which alternatives to the global prescriptions of contemporary capitalism emerge;
  •    fields in which different discourses and practices are used as psychological strategies for governing the workforce;
  • environments that produce everyday interactions which support exclusion and unequal relations of gender, race, age, amongst others;
  •  locations where new alternatives to the economic development model emerge.

Contributions should be submitted before February 28, 2013 via emailto the international editors invited for this special issue:

Hernán Camilo Pulido-Martínez, Ph.D. (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia) cpulido@javeriana.edu

Leny Sato, Ph.D. (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil) lenysato@usp.br

Papers must follow the form and recommendations set forth in the guidelines for publication of the APA 6th edition. If a paper is accepted for publication, printing rights of reproduction in any form or medium are of the usual editor of the journal. The author may request permission to reasonably reproduce their contributions.

Web site of the journal in http://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/sitio/psychologica/

Monday 8 October 2012

PROTEST AGAINST SUSPENSION OF IAN PARKER


A prominent international figure in critical social psychology, Ian Parker, has been suspended from his post at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Ian's colleagues and students have been given little to no explanation as to why he has been suspended, and the university has prohibited him from contacting them and from using his university email. However, it appears that the suspension is, ironically, related to an earlier email he sent protesting against arbitrary and secretive management practices at the university.

Ian Parker is one of the most highly respected critical theorists in psychology. He has authored numerous books on social psychology, psychoanalyis, critical psychology, qualitative methodology and discourse analysis, and is at the centre of an extensive network of critical psychologists around the world. There have been protests against his suspension from academics in, amongst others, Canada, Turkey and South Africa. Ian's students have written to the vice-chancellor and have put posters and flyers up on campus. They suggest that concerned academics should email the Vice-Chancellor of MMU, John Brooks (c.j.green@mmu.ac.uk), and the Head of the Department of Psychology, Christine Horrocks (c.horrocks@mmu.ac.uk). These messages can be copied as messages of solidarity to the MMU UCU chair Pura Ariza (p.ariza@mmu.ac.uk).