Roland Boer's Blog, page 61

Confirmation of my hatred of alarm clocks

I have always dislike alarm clocks: they wake me up when I do not want to be woken up, to go somewhere I do not want to go, to do something I do not want to do for the sake of someone I do not want to see. Recently, an enterprising Swede has come up with the best reason to hate alarm clocks. Go to minute 3.18 if you do not wish to see the preamble.

On the Deutscher Lecture

On Friday evening at the Historical Materialism conference in London, I had the opportunity to deliver the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Lecture. I must admit, I was somewhat nervous, but Gilbert Ashcar, the chair, put me at ease. He enabled me to redirect my energies to the lecture, at which a good crowd seemed to pay close attention. A photo sent to me after the lecture:

The text of the opening of the lecture, called ‘Marxism, Religion and the Taiping Revolution‘, is as follows:

In early 183...

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: The first modern revolution in China

I am increasingly drawn to the Taiping Revolution of 1850-1864, especially in light of Samir Amin’s observation: it was the ‘ancestor of the “anti-feudal, anti-imperialist popular revolution” as formulated later by Mao’. However, what no student of the revolution has yet examined is that the Taiping Revolution marks the moment when the revolutionary Christian tradition arrives in China. I will be speaking about this to some extent – as a way to deal with the question of Marxism and religion –...

Busting some myths about teaching and research at universities

An interesting report from the Grattan Institute on higher education funding for teaching and research has just appeared. Among a number of points, I enjoyed these the most:

1. There is little direct connection between research and teaching. I suggest it is because the courses taught usually have little if anything to do with the research undertaken. This busts the myth, propounded again and again, that teaching and research go hand-in-hand.

2. Universities in Australia already make about 3.2...

2015 Deutscher Lecture Announcement

TheDeutscherMemorial Prize Committee informs you of the title and venue of the 2014 winner’sIsaac and TamaraDeutscherPrize Lecture RolandBoer– Marxism, Religion and the Taiping Revolution Hosted by Historical Materialism 2015Conferenceat SOAS,University of London Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, Friday November 6, 2015, 18:15 –20:00pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre ***** We are alsopleasedto announce the 2015Isaac and TamaraDeutscherPrizeCommitteeshortlist Dave Beech,Art and...

Two interesting facts about China

At the recent World Cultural Forum, held in Beijing and sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, I happened to hear a rather intriguing paper. It offered comparisons between some major European countries, the USA, Japan, South Korea and China, among others.

It turns out that of these places, China ranks highest for confidence in the government and the greatest equality of wealth. Strange how these facts fail to make it into the corporate new networks.

Help! We are besieged by a nature-hating strata executive

Have you ever met people who are afraid of trees, animals, or indeed anything that resembles nature? Our strata executive seems to made up of such people. For them, trees are dangerous, threatening to overwhelm us all unless we fight them and subdue them. Any animal that may even dare to be in the vicinity is a ‘rodent’. This includes possums, birds, snakes, cats, dogs, lizards and the usual types you find around our place. What next? Perhaps all the green areas will be cemented over. Or they...

What is it like to check email once a week (at most)?

On a recent rail journey around Australia(stories here and here), I checked my email once in two weeks. For some reason, the removal from my daily life of one significant source of consistent interruption meant that I could relax in a way I have not done for a long time. Of course, on return home, I began to check my email many times a day – until today. As part of my semi-retirement, I will check my email again only on Thursday next week, and then at most weekly after that. However, I did fi...

First article on Stalin published

I am somewhat thrilled thatThe Soviet and Post-Soviet Reviewhas just published my first article on Stalin. It appears in issue 42.3 and is called‘Against Culturism: Reconsidering Stalin on Nation and Class’ (247-73).

Abstract:

This article argues that the key to Stalin’s early theoretical work on the national question may be read as an attack on culturism – the propensity to identify an intangible ‘culture’ (often with religious factors) as the basis for collective identity. Although his crit...

The PLA and I – at the World Cultural Forum

As part of a rather crazy rush conferences in China last week, I went from one in Nanjing celebrating 120 years since the death of Engels to the World Cultural Forum in Beijing. It was organised by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and had many Russians present – a sign of the increasingly close ties between the two countries that make up the bulk of Eurasia. However, my favourite moment was a paper by a general from the People’s Liberation Army. He saluted us before he began and deliver...