October 2021 SPIN Round-up Newsletter

November 5, 2021

Below is a round-up of some of the events and projects which we’ve been working on at SPIN this October:

 

Ongoing

 

  • Over 2021, SPIN has nurtured a partnership with Bristol’s We The Curious to develop ‘A-Z of Secrecy and Ignorance’, a new set of activities for school-age children and their parents to work through, to gather data on understandings of secrecy and ignorance. We’re hoping to publish these findings in a paper or series of interviews soon.

 

 

  • In September, SPIN hosted the book launch for Professor William Walters’ ‘State Secrecy and Security: Refiguring the Covert Imaginary‘. In the book, William Walters calls for secrecy to be given a more central place in critical security studies and elevated to become a core concept when theorising power in liberal democracies. A video recording of the event is forthcoming.

 

Upcoming events – save the date!

 

November 2021 

 

  • If you are attending the International Studies Association-Northeast Conference (Nov 4th-6th) this year, do consider joining us. SPIN is sponsoring a panel entitled ‘Rethinking Secrecy, Space, Power’ in association with the SPIN project exploring new conceptions of space (spatialities) in secrecy studies (panel convened by Dr. Clare Stevens, Portsmouth). 

 

  • Prof. Brian Rappert’s upcoming Zoom-based show “Magical Encounters”, Nov 8th 19:30-21:00, offers a highly innovative session that makes use of entertainment magic to explore themes about how we live together with secrecy and deception. Though tickets are sold out, do consider registering for a future date. 

 

  • On Nov 24th at 1pm, we’re pleased to welcome Adam Sisman, author of John Le Carré: The Biography (2015) to talk about researching, interviewing and writing about such an elusive subject and key figure in the history of UK intelligence, known for his work in British intelligence and for his influential fiction. Register via Eventbrite here.

 

  • Our next bi-monthly Research in Progress seminars is scheduled on the 24th of November at 3pm. Do join in to catch up on research or share a research problem. 

 

January 2022 

 

  • SPIN’s online workshop ‘Revelations’ on the 14th January 2022 seeks to provide greater refinement to ‘Revelations’, a concept often invoked but insufficiently examined. Do consider submitting an abstract and joining us. Further details on the SPIN website.

 

  • More SPIN-SWDTP events over the next 12 months; for more information or to suggest an event that is secrecy and/or ignorance related, please email us. 

 

Welcoming new members 

 

  • We are pleased to welcome Max Perry, whose research looks at the ways secrecy & ignorance are structurally built into the technology of record keeping and how the medical record thrives on a strategic deployment of invisibility. Read more about Max’s project here.

 

 

If you have any publications or events that you’d like SPIN to share via our channels, please get in touch with SPIN via our Contact Page.

 

 

 

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