Collaboratory in Critical Security Methods
The International Collaboratory on Critical Methods in Security Studies is an ESRC funded project (RES-810-21-0072)
Library
Harding (1987) The Method Question
Harding, Sandra (1987) 'The Method Question', Hypatia vol. 2(3): 19-35.
A continuing concern of many feminists and non-feminists alike has been to identify a distinctive feminist method of inquiry. This essay argues that this method question is misguided and should be abandoned. In doing so it takes up the distinctions between and relationships among methods, methodologies and epistemologies; proposes that the concern to identify sources of the power of feminist analyses motivates the method question; and suggests how to pursue this project.
Aradau and van Munster (2011) Politics of Catastrophe
Aradau, Claudia and Rens van Munster (2011), Politics of Catastrophe: Genealogies of the Unknown (Abingdon: Routledge).
This book argues that catastrophe is a particular way of governing future events – such as terrorism, climate change or pandemics – which we cannot predict but which may strike suddenly, without warning, and cause irreversible damage.
La Caze (2011) 'Terrorism and Trauma'
La Caze, Marguerite. "Terrorism and Trauma: Negotiating Derridean "Autoimmunity"." Philosophy & Social Criticism 37, no. 5 (2011): 605-19.
Gusfield (1981) The Culture of Public Problems
Gusfield, Joseph R. The Culture of Public Problems. Drinking, Driving and the Symbolic Order. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1981.
Classic text on how certain problems become problems 'international action has to do something about'.
Laclau (2005) "On "Real" And "Absolute Enemies"
Laclau, Ernesto. "On "Real" And "Absolute Enemies"." The New Cenntenial Review 5, no. 1 (2005): 1-12.
Links terrorism and Carl Schmitt's definition of enemies.
Laclau (1999) "The Politics of Rhetoric."
Laclau, Ernesto. "The Politics of Rhetoric." In Material Events: Paul De Man and the Afterlife of Theory, edited by Tom Cohen, J. Hillis Miller and Barbara Cohen, 229-53. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1999.
One of the rare contributions of Laclau on the materiality of discourse.
Hultin (2010) Repositioning the Front Lines? Reflections on the Ethnography of African Securityscapes
Hultin, N. (2010). "Repositioning the Front Lines? Reflections on the Ethnography of African Securityscapes." African Security 3(2): 104-125.
Leander (2002) Do we really need reflexivity in IPE? Bourdieu's two reasons for answering affirmatively
Leander, A. (2002). "Do we really need reflexivity in IPE? Bourdieu's two reasons for answering affirmatively." Review of International Political Economy 9(4): 601-609.
This is a short introductory piece by Leander that gives a basic summary of Bourdieu's approach to reflexivity, and how it can be used to explore the impact of research on confronting and exposing the social hierarchies in which it is produced.
Neumann (2007) "A Speech That the Entire Ministry May Stand For," or: Why Diplomats Never Produce Anything New
Neumann, I. B. (2007). "“A Speech That the Entire Ministry May Stand for,” or: Why Diplomats Never Produce Anything New." International Political Sociology 1(2): 183-200.
This is a great article that is written from Neumann's own experience as a speech writer in the Norweigian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I have put it in the library because I think it offers insight into the kind of research that can be realised through critical research techniques, and in particular through engaging with our own situadness and the experiences it generates.
Wacquant (1996) Towards a Reflexive Sociology: A Workshop with Pierre Bourdieu
Wacquant, L. J. D. (1996). "Toward a reflexive sociology: A workshop with Pierre Bourdieu." Social theory and sociology: The classics and beyond: 213-229.
This is an article put together by Loic Wacquant and includes transcripts of talks given by Bourdieu to students studying his work. It is a good introduction to some of his tools and how they can be used for critical study of society.