REVIEW – ANNA CATHENKA, THEY ARE REALLY MOLLUSCS

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged Anna Cathenka, biology, C.P. Snow, featured, humanities, imagery, metaphor, nostalgia, Observer's Books, ocean life, poetry, review, Salò Press, science, they are really molluscs.

By Laura Potts

A real literary personality runs through the poems Anna Cathenka has cleverly curated and carefully linked in her new book they are really molluscs, recently published by Salò Press. In producing this collection, Cathenka notes that she drew on three Observer’s Pocket Books, and as a result each poem stands as if it could belong to a passage from a textbook, with references to strange organisms and a scientific rigidity of structure. We are offered an insight into the world of the Anna Cathenka, and a number of other strange worlds, through the unfamiliar and occasionally confusing lens of biological ocean life.

MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged AI, anniversary, artificial intelligence, arts, book, brain, computer, culture, Elon Musk, ethics, featured, frankenstein, Google, humanities, information theory, Jaan TAllinn, Larry Page, Mary Shelley, Max Tegmark, morals, neuromorphic computer, Nick Bostrom, philosophy, prometheus, research, science, society, STEM, technology, William Godwin.

by Justin Reynolds

Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus, the classic novel by Mary Shelley that stands at the pinnacle of the gothic tradition and looks forward to the new genre of science fiction, was first published 200 years ago this month. Shelley’s visceral tale of the terrible consequences that follow the failure of brilliant young scientist Victor Frankenstein to take responsibility for the strange new life he creates, is both of its time and utterly contemporary.

It can be read as a high Romantic fantasy set against a background of electric storms, shimmering Alpine peaks, Rhineland forests and Arctic wastelands, and as a subtle meditation on themes of knowledge and responsibility that resonate with today’s hopes and fears for the possibilities opened by artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology.Continue Reading

ELITISM REFUSES TO DIE – THE UNIVERSITY FUNDING PROBLEM

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged arts, charity research funding, community colleges, Connecticut, Connecticut University System, conservatives, course closures, cuts, david richardson, education, elitism, employability, fossil free, Fossil Free UEA, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, Freddie DeBoer, government, higher education, higher education funding, humanities, inequality, Ivy League, marketisation, mental health, mental health services, pay inequality, people and planet, public funding, rent hikes, russell group, STEM, student accommodation, student activism, Student Support Services, tuition fees, UEA, uk, UK Funding Councils, UK Research Councils, university management, USA, wages, Yale.

by Robyn Banks

Last month, Freddie DeBoer wrote about the failure of the university system in the United States to equally fund different institutions across the country. Looking specifically at Connecticut, DeBoer shows how Yale, one of the prestigious Ivy League universities, fuels social inequality by receiving public funds as well as other sources for revenue whilst other, more accessible community colleges are “cut to the bone”.

CAN I HAVE AN EDUCATIONAL REFUND?

Posted on June 16, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Student and tagged A level, academies, Connie Asenback, consumers, degree, education, Free Education, future, graduate, graduate job, Hospitality, humanities, institution, learning, libraries, Mälardalen University, modules, money, non graduate job, privatisation, service, student, tuition fees, university, value, voluntary, worth.

by Candice Nembhard

It’s not wrong to ask what university is actually for, is it? As a soon to be graduate, it almost seems expected to find myself questioning what I have been doing for the last three years. Admittedly, a lot of all-nighters and sleep, but more importantly, I am pondering as to what I’ve actually learnt in my time as a student.

I’ve had a flick through all my old notes, essay papers, and emails and amidst it all, I am struggling to find that hallmark which encapsulates what it means to be a student and a humanities one at that. I am not necessarily taking a stab at the content of my degree, rather I am querying its usefulness, and how I can apply what I’ve been taught into my daily activities. No doubt there are many modules, books, and ideas that will stay with me for some time to come, but my question is, what is the practical value of obtaining a degree and should there even be one?Continue Reading

#STANDWITHJNU AND ITS RIPPLE EFFECTS

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Student and tagged #standwithJNU, academia, Afzal Guru, Arnab Goswami, BJP, Chennai, Dalit, Delhi, fascism, free speech, freedom, Gandhi, humanities, India, international, Islamaphobia, Jadavpur, Jawaharlal Nehru, JNU, JU, Kanhaiya Kumar, Kashmir, Kolkata, Modi, NAAC, nationalism, Noam Chomsky, persecution, politics, protest, resistance, right wing, solidarity, student, student movement, university.

by Kunal Chattopadhyay

Seldom has an incident in an Indian University received so much international coverage and solidarity as the ongoing confrontation in Jawaharlal Nehru University. 450 scholars, among who were names like Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar, as well as JNU alumni, signed a statement. 358 academics from Universities across California issued a letter in which they condemned the harassment of students for their political beliefs. The letter called the police crackdown on the students an “alibi for the incursion of an authoritarian regime onto the university campus”. Oxford University and the University of Chicago among others have sent in their support. Within India, solidarity actions developed in Delhi, Chennai, and various academic institutions, including notably Jadavpur University in Kolkata. And there have also been massive, unrelenting state and rightwing attacks, including physical violence.Continue Reading

THE FREEDOM OF A LIBRARY

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Community and tagged #LibraryAdvent, #SaveOurLibrary, access, alex hort francis, arts, austerity, Benjamin Johncock, CILIP, Community, council cuts, cuts, david cameron, Ed Vaizey, equality, free, George Szirtes, humanities, income, librarian, libraries, library, literacy, literature, Love Your Library, Megan Bradbury, My Library By Right, no cuts, Norfolk County Council, norfolk peoples assembly, norwich, OECD, Patrick Barkham, PLR, public library, writer, writing.

by Rowan Whiteside

All across the country, libraries are being closed. This has been happening for years: quiet reservoirs of knowledge and fantasy disappearing from villages, towns, cities. Since David Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010, library funding has dropped by 16% and we have 549 fewer libraries.

It is difficult to really assess the impact of this. We know that visits to libraries have dropped by almost 14%, but we don’t know how many lives have been changed, how many jobs have been lost, how many children can no longer borrow something new to read. 549 libraries is an abstract figure. It sounds like a lot (because it is), but it doesn’t actually show what has been taken away. And what has been stolen is so much more than statistics can show.Continue Reading

STUDENTS: END AUSTERITY NOW! JOIN THE NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Student and tagged anti austerity, arts, austerity, climate change, climate crisis, conservative, debt, demonstration, disability, DSA, education, EMA, employment, environmental crisis, food bank, fossil fuel, fossil fuel industry, further education, ge15, general election, higher education, humanities, international students, Kafka, national demonstration, NUS, poverty, protest, renewable energy, STEM, student debt, student loan, the peoples assembly against austerity, university, workers.

by Liam McCafferty

Over the last five years, students have felt the impact of austerity. With the recent election shock of a Conservative majority, we can expect further hardship: more cuts, more pain. But how exactly have students been affected by austerity, and why should we care?

WHY I TEACH (THE HUMANITIES)

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged arts, children, comics, education, humanities, ideas, norwich, people, phD, poetry, research, students, teach, teaching, translation, UEA, university, writing.

by Alex Valente

This is not another defence of the Humanities as a subject worthy of study, funding, support.
This is not a defence of creative writing as a subject worthy of teaching, practising, support.
This is not a way to convince myself that teaching English Literature at a higher education institution in the UK is a career worth pursuing. Though maybe it is, maybe it is all of those.
This is not, in any way, a researched piece. The editors have allowed me to voice my thoughts on the matter because I wanted to say something about it.

humanities

REVIEW – ANNA CATHENKA, THEY ARE REALLY MOLLUSCS

MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ELITISM REFUSES TO DIE – THE UNIVERSITY FUNDING PROBLEM

CAN I HAVE AN EDUCATIONAL REFUND?

#STANDWITHJNU AND ITS RIPPLE EFFECTS

THE FREEDOM OF A LIBRARY

STUDENTS: END AUSTERITY NOW! JOIN THE NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION

WHY I TEACH (THE HUMANITIES)

Support the Radical

Subscribe

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Support the Radical

Subscribe