Frictions - the blog-journal of the ScienceCampus launches

The fi

rst contributions in our new blogjournal Frictions are now online. The insights come in a range of formats: from longer peer-reviewed essays, through fieldwork-based research notes, to discussion pieces and workshop reports in the current debates section.

The insights show that frictions can be productive or disruptive, keeping things moving while transforming the vectors of intersecting global, regional and localized processes. This multi-scalar approach is embodied in the work of the ScienceCampus and in the mission statement of the blogjournal.

We launch with essays on EU migration policy and Brexit literature, notes from Berkeley on protest movements and Bucharest on post-socialist housing estates, plus critical reflections on doing a master’s degree and life after it. You can also learn more about a recent workshop on migration, media and liminality held at the Campus.

 

 

Jannis Panagiotidis (Vienna) discusses in an essay how despite the transnational nature of migration, nation-state continues to be a key policy actor. The COVID-19 Pandemic, too, has made clear that arguments regarding the obsolescence of the state are far-removed from reality.

Jana Stöxen, recipient of first prize in the inaugural Regensburg Prize for Outstanding Master’s Theses in Area Studies, offers two contributions. One is a photo-essay based on her fieldwork from a housing estate in Bucharest, which explores the multifaceted nature of post-socialism. The second is a provocative discussion piece on how to find inspiration for – and after – a master’s thesis in challenging circumstances.

Verena Baier (Regensburg) was the first PhD researcher to travel to the University of California, Berkeley, as part of the UR exchange programme with our US partner. She left in late 2019 and encountered challenges because of the pandemic in conducting her research on the Nicaraguan solidarity movement. Nevertheless, she had some fascinating archival findings and encounters on the ground in which she outlines in her contribution.

Dirk Wiemann, like Jannis Panagiotidis, attended the inaugural CITAS conference in 2019, to discuss the role of the nation-state under conditions of globality. Exploring recent Brexit fiction, his essay considers the ways novels negotiate the agonism that threatens to undo social cohesion.

The blog also offers insight into the work of the ScienceCampus, with Joanna Moszczyńska reporting on the recent international workshop on Migration, Mediality and Liminality that was organized in collaboration with our partners at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

All the blog entries are available as webpages and PDFs that are archived with doi numbers. The essays have been peer-reviewed, with all contributions going through a thorough editorial process.

We will be adding to the blog in the coming weeks - and the editorial team look forward to receiving your contributions, too.

https://frictions.europeamerica.de/