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Tag: everyday

A quick summary of my keynote in Riga: Ethics and the everyday in times of global crisis

A quick summary of my keynote in Riga: Ethics and the everyday in times of global crisis

Last week I had the pleasure and honor of giving the Eurasian Geography and Economics keynote lecture at the 10th International Urban Geographies of Post-Communist States conference. This year it was in Riga – my first time there. The opening was held in this gorgeous Stalinka that has been mostly de-Sovietized. It was a very fitting venue. This was the 10th edition of the “Cities After Transition” conference – our beloved CATference. In my keynote, I took stock of the…

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New Article: The Intimate and Everyday Geopolitics of the Russian War Against Ukraine

New Article: The Intimate and Everyday Geopolitics of the Russian War Against Ukraine

It’s out in the world. This piece is the final product of the collaboration I wrote about a little while back, co-written with Olena Denysenko, Dina Krichker, Olga Rebro, and Maria Gunko. In contrast to the abstractions of global headlines, we focus on the micro perspectives of everyday lived experience. One theme running through all of the contributions is a variety of bordering processes that fracture territories, families, and lives. I don’t like being too self-promotional, but I think this…

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Blurry Microgeographies of the New Normal

Blurry Microgeographies of the New Normal

I seem to have developed a bit of a side gig writing about covid. Back in April 2020, I wrote a small blog about the Great Pause. It feels funny to read it now, of course, because we now know what the ruptures to the status quo did and did not accomplish. But at the same time it’s interesting to look back at the early days of the pandemic, if for no other reason than to satisfy a sort of…

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Between the minor and the intimate. New publication in Geopolitics!

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 2017. I’d missed that article, unfortunately, but was deeply moved and inspired by his talk and by our later conversations. After our meeting, I returned…

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The Great Pause, new article in print

The Great Pause, new article in print

So, thanks to the great scholar and my good friend Michael Gentile, I had the opportunity to put some of these pandemic ideas into a quick publication for one my favorite journals: Eurasian Geography and Economics. I’m really happy with this one. It was a quick job with a tight deadline but it was fun to write. And I’m grateful that I was given the chance to use minor theory to try and make sense of these global issues. If…

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The Great Pause

The Great Pause

I’m sick of looking at logarithmic scales and comparing infection rates among different nations. I can’t peel myself away from the data, though, looking at site after site after site. I text with friends and family around the world, comparing the news media to lived experience. I feel lucky. I feel guilty. I feel scared. I’m continuing my work as best I can. My university suspended activities. My kids are home from school too and everything would be fine except…

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