Some words to the books I have been reading in the past weeks, despite the heavy preparations for the exams, but of course some of the books I will use for my exams anyway.
State of Mind – „Where will the 99%, America, and the world be in twenty years? “State of Mind” is a future thriller that is relevant today.“ says the LA Times, the book is using cross media heavily. What would happen if chips for the mind would be available? Not only for accessing the internet but for controlling our bodies as well? Well written and a good thriller.
But to some more serious reading:
Pakistan: A Hard Country: A Hard Country – a very insightful book about one of the most troubling and interesting countries on the globe, which will be important to our future.
War of Words: Language Politics and 9/11 – How did the use of language prepare the (american) nation (or us) for the post 9/11 wars? Why did we hear phrases like „Global War on Terror“? A very interesting book.
Skateboarding, Space and the City: Architecture and the Body, Iain Borden – writes about why skateboarding is important, why it is a counter consumerist discurse and why skate spaces in the city have to be built. I hope we can manage to get Mr. Borden to the city of Freiburg for a lecture, the city planners would love him.
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science has devoted its entire issue No. 633 form November 2011 to the topic of youth participation.
Some of the articles I found very interesting and I wish to summarize them here a little bit:
Daniel Hart and Robert Atkins: „American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote“ To quote from the abstract: „American 16- and 17-year-olds ought to be allowed to vote in state and national elections. This claim rests upon a line of argument that begins with an exegesis of legal and philosophical notions of citizenship that identify core qualities of citizenship: membership, concern for rights, and participation in society. Each of these qualities is present in rudimentary form in childhood and adolescence. Analyses of national survey data demonstrate that by 16 years of age—but not before— American adolescents manifest levels of development in each quality of citizenship that are approximately the same as those apparent in young American adults who are allowed to vote. The lack of relevant differences in capacities for citizenship between 16- and 17-year-olds and those legally enfranchised makes current laws arbitrary, …“
They argue that by the age of 16 most indicators that stand we use to look on to judge that someone is ready to be a citizen like knowledge about politics, the feeling of political efficacy, the skills needed for political action, the interest in politics and tolerance are comparable to adults or even exceeding some adult groups. Therefore this youth should be given the right to vote. The study is based on a survey conducted by the authors.
In Participatory Niches for Emergent Citizenship in Early Adolescence: An International Perspective Judith Torney-Purta and Jo-Ann Amadeo write about different perspectives and argue that rather then lowering the voting age, campaigns to involve children and youth should be focused on every day participatory niches and that those niches should be expanded: „we argue for promoting “emergent participatory citizenship” during the adolescent years. Directing serious attention to enhancing the politically and civically relevant niches that those between ages 10 and 18 occupy in their everyday lives, in our view, has greater potential for positive effects than does a campaign to lower the voting age worldwide.“ (All the quotes in this section are taken from the article)
The written English exam is over – yeah! I have mostly good feeling although I mixed up the Miliband Brothers and said that David was the leader of the opposition – of course it is Ed. Unlike other people in my study group I had read all the books in the reading list. Some were interesting and very insightful, and I wish to highlight those here:
Marr, A. (2009) A History of Modern Britain, London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Andrew Marr is a very accomplished journalist and he writes well. Of course that is his job. I enjoyed reading the book which I got as an ebook for my kindle. You need some general previous knowledge about British history and current events to understand it, but the black series of the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung is a good starting point for that.
Woman won’t be able to advance their career by sleeping with the president but instead have to rely on their brains and skills!
He will always be better dressed then the other guys in the room. Especially true for Finland where male fashion is set by the lumberjacks..
People might be distracted from his policies by fantasies of hot shower scenes in which they are not allowed to participate.
He might fall in love with the gay foreign minister of Germany and start kissing him all over at an official government meeting (The long term relationship argument doesn’t count, as Bill had clearly one with Hillary)
Only for France: how would he get the two illicit children that qualify him for office?
He will have to think of a whole new disguise for his lovers, as the secretary thing won’t work any-more. Unfortunately the Finnish society has not yet progressed so far, as that man can work as secretaries without arising suspicion.
He won’t bomb Iran.
It will create so much more opportunities for SETA jokes
Chuck Norris does not approve this*
10. He might be attacked by gay ice bears in the forest.
So before the holiday season begins and some of the fellow man do not have had time to go for shopping, because acidently and surprisingly christmas came, here are some book recomendations you might want to give as last minute presents, especially if the reciever of the present has a kindle:
Following the Wrong God Home by Cathrine Lim, She is a Singaporese Author and I’m half through the book by now. Chronicles the life of a young woman in Singapore and negotiates politics, religion and the perils of society. Niece read espiecally if you want somehting from outside the west for christmas.
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour – An English antropoligst explains the rules and grammer of life in England to us. Finally a book every student of English culture should read and keep in mind. Makes interacting with the Angloes so much easier. Also a good read.
The Afrika Reich Another book on the English or so, not the true christmas read, but I’m always in for some good alternative history fiction. And fighting fictional Nazis in their African Empire seems to be a worthwile task. Was on the the Economists List of best Fiction of 2011. Slows down during after the first half of the book a little.
Yesterday we had the first meeting of our english state exams learning group. I already started learning and reading the books but of course there is a lot to do and some of the others are even writing their thesis right now! Luckily I wrote my thesis already and now can concentrate on studying.
The topic for the English exam will be:
Cultural Studies: From Churchill to Cameron – Politics in Britain since WW II
And keywords are:
Political developments in the UK
Britain’s position in the world (wars, in the EU, Commonwealth)
Foreign Policy
Immigration and Multicultural society
Role in the classroom (e.g. ICC, multiculturalism, Britain in the Classroom)
He gave us quite a reading list and some I already studied, thats because I want to present some of the juiciest quotes here:
From „Patriots – National identity in Britain 1940 -2000„ by Richard Weight, p 300: “ Tory MP Bob Bothby, who was then sleeping with Harold Macmillan’s wife, Dorothy, observed: ‚In 1935 we were on top of the world: by 1956 it had all gone. It took the Roman Empire three hundred years of of most enjoyable decadence to achieve that end: all we can do is seek a fraction of that decadence in what we call our permissive society“
At least there is still very pleasant old English tunes, that you get to know when studying about, like Greensleves:
And on the Decline of the Empire and the Profumo affair (p. 269): „Nancy Mitford compared 1960s Britain to Venice in the sevententh century: ‚Perhaps‘, she suggested, ‚masked naked men, orgies and unlimited spying are an accompaniment of maritime powers in decline. Certainly the whole Ward affair comes straight out of Casanova'“
At least learning for the exams with the topic „Britain from Churchill to Cameron“ is at least entertaining.
Much less spicy but easier to read is Andrew Marr’s „A History of Modern Britain„. He is a BBC journalist and produced a TV series on the same topic as well:
When I travveld to America, I read a very good book about 9/11 it might actually become more and more important in the recepiton of 9/11 and its aftermath and the current American thought climate: „The Submission“ by Amy Waldman. What happens when a muslim American gets choosen to built the 9/11 memorial? There is a good review in the Atlantic. As horrible as the attack was,“ Waldman writes in The Submission, „everyone wanted a little of its ash on their hands.“ Also see the guardian article down for it.
The other book that dwells on the aftermath of what happend in America is well written, action packed book that tries to describe some of the worst aspects of the war in Afganisthan. „War“ by Sebastian Jungner. A book about the life of American soldiers in some dead forsaken valley.
Another wellwritten book is: the 9/11 Wars by Jason Burke. The book tries to give an insight into the policies and failures of the Western and largely American campaigns after 9/11. As to quote from the Guardian: „For those wanting to know why it often went so grimly wrong – and why it may yet do so again – Burke has now penned a solid reference tome, charting the fallout of 9/11 beyond the Manhattan dust cloud and across the Islamic world. It covers the struggles in all their many bloody theatres: the toppling of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein regimes, the horrific insurgency and civil war in Iraq, the al-Qaeda bombings in London and Madrid, and returning, with depressing circularity, to the resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan five years later“ Nothing I can add to that, except that I was really adicted to reading it.
There is an intresting aricle in the british daily the guardian about writers response towards 9/11: „After 9/11: our own low, dishonest decade – The world changed on 9/11, or so the cliche goes. How have writers responded to the challenge of representing this new reality?“
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