Category: Repression
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Imprisoned for a retweet: Swiss Geoscience Meeting 2021
I’m not going to lie – I miss the energy of conferences in real life. I’ve given a lot of talks this year, and while I’m grateful for the opportunities that virtual participation gives you, I find it increasingly hard to focus during these marathon online conferences. A happy exception to this trend was the…
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Between the minor and the intimate. New publication in Geopolitics!
I’m extremely happy with this article. It was a tough road but a valuable one. The seed was planted by the excellent Michele Lancione, who I was lucky enough to meet at a workshop in Neuchâtel in 2019. Michele introduced me to his approach to micropolitics and minor ethics, which he’d written about back in…
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The powerful innovation of video abstracts
I know I’m not the only one a bit overwhelmed at times by the amount of good, interesting, and important academic work there is coming out. Just about every day I get another content alert from a journal I like, and there’s usually at least one or three that I really want and need to…
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Blogging the Virtual – new article in print
I’m extremely happy with this one. This came to life from a rough paper I presented at University College London’s Urban Lab, but it really took shape through the peer review process at Antipode. I’m going to be honest here: there was a lot of tough feedback, and it definitely threw me for a loop.…
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Mega-events in Belarus
I went to Minsk. I never thought I’d get to see it, especially after my unfortunate encounters with the Russian security and migration authorities. But I was invited by a good friend at the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and so, I thought, why not try? Aside from the desire to see Belarus, this would be a…
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Secret Cameras and the Enemies of the State
More than a year after I got in trouble with the Russian Migration Service and the FSB, and 11 months after I was featured in some trashy and sensational articles that claimed I was a foreign agent bent on disrupting the 2018 World Cup, here I am back in the news once again. I’m reluctant…
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Research and Spycraft Revisited
In June, I was detained in Volgograd and questioned by the Russian migration authorities and the FSB. I was lucky, all things considered, even though the experience was extraordinarily unpleasant. I know that many others have had it much worse, particularly those Russians who might have differing or minority opinions and may try to effect…
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Doing Research in Russia, or I Swear I’m Not a Spy
Written in a Volgograd café in the aftermath of being questioned by the migration authorities and the FSB I’ve been involved with Russia for a long time. I’ve lived here for several years in total, but even when this country wasn’t my home, I would come for extended visits every year. I’m not naïve. I…