Labour’s antisemitism row is scaring me (but, perhaps, not for the reasons you might expect)
Medium
Publication Date: May 5, 2016
Theme: Antisemitism, Racism, Hate, Personal/Memoire
Category: Journalism and essays
Writings
Here you can find a record of almost all my publications – from scholarly journal articles to newspaper articles – listed with the most recent first. In most cases there is either a downloadable pdf or a link to the publication itself. You can search by publication type (academic, non-academic, book reviews etc), by theme and by keyword. Enjoy!
The elephant in the room in Labour’s antisemitism row
The Guardian
These antisemitism controversies aren’t just about antisemitism. They underline the challenge of how we live cordially together in a multicultural society
Publication Date: April 28, 2016
Theme: Antisemitism, Racism, Hate, Politics
Category: Journalism and essays
Is Split Over Israel a Luxury Restricted to Countries With No Anti-Semitism?
The Forward
Discusses Dov Waxman's book 'Trouble in the Tribe: The American Jewish Conflict Over Israel'
Publication Date: April 12, 2016
Theme: Community, Conflict Resolution, Civility and Dialogue, Israel/Palestine, Jews, Judaism and Jewishness
Category: Book reviews, Journalism and essays
A Reply to Niall W.R. Scott and Tom O’Boyle
In: Global Metal Music and Culture: Current Directions in Metal Studies, edited by Andy R. Brown, et al London: Routledge
I am grateful to Niall W.R. Scott and Tom O’Boyle for taking my ideas seriously and engaging with their implications. As they recognize, my keynote at the 2013 conference, together with the selection of essays that followed it (Kahn-Harris, 2013; 2014), was intended to be a provocation and a stimulus to debate. While Niall and Tom take issue with some of my arguments, their piece is very much in the spirit of what I was aiming for. In some ways, Niall, Tom, and I are very much on the same page. In the final part of my series of essays, I suggest the concept of ‘Metal beyond Metal’ (Kahn-Harris, 2013g). This refers to taking metalness beyond the confines of what we currently understand as metal. Metalness here connotes the following:
It refers to something that is hard, intractable and resilient. It refers to something that is defiant, inexhaustible and unashamed. To be metal is to be unafraid to explore darkness and transgression, but to do it in such a way that one retains one’s sense of selfhood. To be metal is to possess a certain ebullient wit and playfulness that those outside metal often mistake for crassness. To be metal is to value fellowship, to commit to supporting and celebrating the bonds between like-minded people. (2013g)
I don’t know if Niall and Tom would necessarily sign up to this particular articulation of metalness, but I think we are reaching for the same thing: a future in which metal reaches out simultaneously in myriad different ( Deleuzian) directions at once. I found myself both excited and moved by the passionate way in which they uphold the possibilities of a transgressive and radical metal future. Yet, although I am struck by the similarities between our respective projects, I think there are significant and revealing differences in our relationship to metal today. Niall and Tom point out that my works to which they are responding are ‘not filled with empirical data to support his claims’ but I want to argue that, in fact, my piece is more grounded in an analysis of contemporary metal culture than may at first be apparent.
Publication Date: April 8, 2016
Theme: Metal Music and Culture
Category: Book chapters
Review: Losing Israel by Jasmine Donahaye
Journal of European Popular Culture 7(1) ,79-80
Publication Date: 2016
Theme: Israel/Palestine
Category: Book reviews
Book Review: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
The Independent
Publication Date: March 3, 2016
Theme: Miscellaneous
Category: Book reviews
Book Review: Diasporic Activism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Svenja Gertheiss
Fathom Journal
Publication Date: Spring 2016
Theme: Antisemitism, Racism, Hate, Israel/Palestine
Category: Book reviews
The Life Project by Helen Pearson, book review: Class of ’46 is a fine work in progress
The Independent
Publication Date: February 18, 2016
Theme: Miscellaneous
Category: Book reviews
The Next Steps in the Evolution of Metal Studies
In Riches, G. et al. (eds) Heavy Metal Studies and Popular Culture. 1st ed. 2016 edition. New York: Palgrave, pp. 1–18
Publication Date: January 13, 2016
Theme: Metal Music and Culture
Category: Book chapters
The Pleasures, Pain and Promise of Sociological Work Outside the Academy
Medium
Adapted from a talk given at the British Sociological Association Sociologists Outside Academia Group’s 10th Anniversary Event. It was first published on The Sociological Imagination blog.
Publication Date: December 11, 2015
Theme: Miscellaneous, Personal/Memoire
Category: Journalism and essays
Review: Jews Against Themselves by Edward Alexander
Jewish Quarterly
Publication Date: Winter 2015
Theme: Israel/Palestine, Jews, Judaism and Jewishness
Category: Book reviews
Zionism for the people
Jewish Chronicle
Review of: Words of Fire: Selected Essays of Ahad Ha’am, edited by Brian Klug
Publication Date: November 19, 2015
Theme: Israel/Palestine
Category: Book reviews
Pogrom November 1938: Testimonies from Kristallnacht, Edited by Ruth Levitt, book review: Night hope was shattered
The Independent
There are horrific 'treasures' in this collection that gives a voice to Jews who suffered Nazi persecution
Publication Date: November 5, 2015
Theme: Antisemitism, Racism, Hate, Jews, Judaism and Jewishness
Category: Book reviews
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Treasury of Solutions
My Impossible Books: 24
Publication Date: October 24, 2015
Theme: Impossible Books, Israel/Palestine
Category: Journalism and essays
Grains of Sand: The Politics of Jewish Surveys
My Impossible Books: 23
Publication Date: October 23, 2015
Theme: Impossible Books, Jews, Judaism and Jewishness
Category: Journalism and essays
How should we read religious texts?
New Humanist
Britain’s former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks advocates a more complex reading. But do his ideas fit with the modern world?
[Essay review of Jonathan Sacks’s new book Not in God’s Name]
Publication Date: Autumn 2015
Theme: Conflict Resolution, Civility and Dialogue, Jews, Judaism and Jewishness, Religion
Category: Book reviews, Journalism and essays
Waiting for Lemmy to Die
Souciant
Publication Date: October 19, 2015
Theme: Metal Music and Culture
Category: Journalism and essays
Being Civil Doesn’t Have to Mean Remaining Silent
Chronicle of Higher Education
Publication Date: October 8, 2015
Theme: Conflict Resolution, Civility and Dialogue, Israel/Palestine
Category: Journalism and essays