There is so much going on in the global megalopolis that it is difficult to get one’s head around the constant buzz of events and news coming from every direction. And at the same time, after a storm that has left us all kind of dizzy, a Prime Minister who advises people faced with rising energy bills to wear jumpers(!), one is left with a strange feeling of the ‘end of an era‘.
Add to this bleak image the global crisis that hits the shores of the Island with much greater violence than the recent typhoon: the Red Cross just announced that it is about to launch its first emergency food aid since World War II. As one walks the streets of the City, packed with people in smart suits rushing for their business lunches in fancy restaurants, it is difficult to imagine that this Geneva based charity, which usually intervenes in disaster struck regions, is about to distribute food to Britains’ needy.
Here, like in the rest of Europe, the current financial crisis has led the government to track down migrants. The ‘banality of evil’ seems to be as simple as a text message: apparently over the past weeks the The UK Border Agency has sent what are by now thought to be hundreds of intimidating text messages to British Citizens threatening them with deportation. Who knew border control had just become so easy!
At the same time students continue to occupy their universities while they are trying to keep the momentum in their continued struggle against privatization. I feel inspired by Occupy Sussex in particular: the creativity and the political maturity of the students of this movement set an example for us all. They may not receive as much publicity as Russel Brand’s revolutionary talks, but Allegra stands in solidarity!
However, London is not only about strikes, crisis and xenophobic politics. For those interested in ‘indigeneity’, there are a series of talks & performances currently going at the Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, organised by the research group ‘Indigeneity in the Contemporary World: Performance, Politics, Belonging’ @ Royal Halloway. Do not miss their exhibition EcoCentrix: Indigenous Arts, Sustainable Acts – an exhibition that brings to London the work of more than 40 artists from the Americas, Australia, the Pacific and South Africa from now until November, 9.
On November 2, there is a Q&A at the screening of Releb’al Q’ij (Where The Sun Is Born) – Institute of Contemporary Arts. And until November, 3: Origins: Festival of First Nations at Richmix.
Need more entertainment still? From 24 to 30 November, Hackney Picture House will host London Feminist Film Festival. Over the seven day event 10 feature length films and 21 short films will be screened from 18 different countries. The festival includes eight UK Premieres, eight European Premieres, and six World Premieres.
The academic life, in spite of – or perhaps thanks to? – budget cuts and all this artistic excitement is equally vibrant. On October 25th, Allegra contributor Gavin Weston at the Anthropology Department of Goldsmith, organized a one day conference under the fancy title of ‘Fieldwork playlist’. Check out the website, the abstracts and the fieldwork playlist on youtube!
If you want to get in all the fun, the London Review of International Law is currently calling for papers, under the theme: ‘Sociological Inquiries into International Law’. The aim of this workshop is to help bring contemporary international law scholarship into a closer conversation with a number of inspiring and theoretically rich literatures on law and markets deriving from traditions of thinking within sociology and anthropology. This promises to be an inspirational conference at the London School of Economics (Deadline: 1 November 2013).
And since you’re at it, why not apply to this position at LSE? The Law department is looking for an Assistant Professor in Law and Anthropology. Deadline for applications: 20 November 2013.
