What Matters? The Politics of Narrating War

University of Massachusetts Lowell May 16-17, 2024

The workshop is organized into an online panel on Thursday, May 16 and four panels on Friday, May 17, each taking place at Allen House at 51视频 (with a hybrid option for those unable to attend in person). This will be concluded with a discussion about the overall conference content, the Media, War and Conflict special issue plans, and the return conference in 2025 at Queen鈥檚 University Belfast. Following the workshop, we will have drinks and dinner at Fuse Bistro in Lowell, MA.听
Taxis will be provided for those travelling from the Sonesta Hotel to campus on Friday and from campus to Fuse Bistro in Lowell that evening.听
For anyone with practical enquiries please contact Adam Lerner at adam_lerner@uml.edu听or the UML Political Science Administrative Assistant Judith Aquino at Judith_Aquino@uml.edu听 or 978-934-4139. Those in need of campus parking passes should request them in advance by emailing Judith and Adam.
Note: All times are given in Eastern Standard Time (EST)

Thursday, May 16, 2024

9-11:30 a.m.: Thursday Online Panel
Chair: Adam Lerner (UML)
Discussant: Ben O鈥橪oughlin听 (Royal Holloway)
  • Alexandra Homolar (Warwick) 鈥� 鈥淣arrating Future War: Reimagining Enmity before the Collapse of Bipolarity鈥�
  • Georg Lofflman (QMUL) and Malte Rieman (Leiden)鈥� 鈥淲ar and Temporal Security: Germany鈥檚 Zeitenwende and the Reframing of National Security between Ontological Disruption and Strategic Continuity鈥澨�
  • Jessie Barton Hronesova (UCL) - The Resonance of Victimhood as a Strategic Ontology in Serbia
  • Drew Hogan (Minnesota) 鈥� 鈥淭he Power and Peril of Cycle Rhetoric in Legitimating and Prolonging Military Intervention"
6:30 p.m.: Early Arrivers Meet-and-Greet at 听

Friday, May 17, 2024

8:30 a.m.: Arrive at Allen House, UML South Campus 2 Solomont Way, Lowell, MA 01854
8:30鈥�9 a.m.: Coffee and breakfast provided
9鈥�10:45 a.m.: Panel 1: Future Developments/Imaginaries of War and Conflict
Chair: Alister Miskimmon (QUB)
Discussant: Adam Lerner (UML)
  • Hannah Partis-Jennings (QUB) 鈥� 鈥淣arrating Future War鈥�
  • Shane Brighton (QUB) and Tarak Barkawi (Johns Hopkins) 鈥� 鈥淏attle Imaginaries in World Politics鈥�
  • Jarrod Hayes (UML) 鈥� 鈥淣arratives of the end: Identity, redemption, and desecuritizing the enemy鈥�
10:45-11 a.m. Short Break
11 a.m.鈥�12:45 p.m.: Panel 2: States, Citizens, and War
Chair: Ben O鈥橪oughlin (Royal Holloway)
Discussant: Rhys Crilley (Glasgow)
  • Catherine 51视频-Khalil (Boston University), Ardeth Thawnghmung (UML) and Jenifer Whitten-Woodring (UML) 鈥� 鈥淐an Pandora鈥檚 Box be Closed? How People in Myanmar Access and Identify Trustworthy Information After the Coup鈥�
  • Zach Mondesire (Boston University)鈥斺�淪outh Sudan and the Narrative of Self-Determination鈥�
  • Dan Levine (Alabama)鈥� 鈥溾�楥an the Comprador Speak?鈥� Zionism and the Strategic Ontology of 鈥楪reater Britain鈥欌��
  • Gwen Bouvier (SISU)鈥斺�淜nowing conflicts through gender politics: Tweeting to show solidarity with the women of Afghanistan鈥�
12:45鈥�1:30 p.m.: Lunch served at Allen House
1:30鈥�3:15 p.m.: Panel 3: Communications in War/Conflict
(coffee available throughout Panel 3)听
Chair: Adam Lerner (UML)
Discussant: Alister Miskimmon (QUB)
  • Lauren Rogers (Edinburgh) 鈥� 鈥淥ntological (In)Security: EU Foreign Policy Narratives and the War in Ukraine鈥�
  • Ren茅e Marlin-Bennett (Johns Hopkins) 鈥� 鈥淚nformation Flows and Wars鈥� Ontologies鈥�
  • Christopher McIntosh (Bard) 鈥� 鈥淣arrating Violence Without War: Exploring the Idea of War Abolition鈥�
  • Renato Fakhoury (UML) and Gabriella Gricius (Colorado State) 鈥� 鈥淪pace as Identity: Narratives of Russian Expansionist Foreign Policy鈥�
3:30 鈥� 5:15 p.m.: Panel 4: Technology and War
Chair: Alister Miskimmon (QUB)
Discussant: Jenifer Whitten-Woodring (UML)听
  • Sanne Verschuren (Boston University) 鈥� 鈥淭he United States and the Forever Dream of Missile Defense鈥�
  • Natasha J Williams (Penn) 鈥� 鈥淲ar Influencers: Agency, Digital Memory, & Emergent Narrative Authority Online鈥�
  • Andrew Ross (Johns Hopkins) 鈥� 鈥淧undits, Sleuthers, and Citizens: Investigating War in the Age of Epistemic Ambiguity鈥�
  • Rhys Crilley (Glasgow) 鈥� 鈥淪trategic Ontologies of Nuclear War鈥�
  • Jessica Auchter (Universit茅 Laval) 鈥� 鈥淰isualizing War Through Satellite Footage: Technological Capacity, Truth, and the View from Above鈥�
5:15-6 p.m.: Concluding remarks and group discussion
6 p.m.: Taxis Arrive to Take Group to
6-7 p.m.: Happy hour and pre-dinner drinks at Fuse Bistro
7 p.m.: Joint dinner at Fuse Bistro

Conference Organizers

Adam B. Lerner
Associate Professor of Political Science, Director of the Bachelor of Liberal Arts
University of Massachusetts at Lowell
Adam_Lerner@uml.edu听
Alister Miskimmon
Professor, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen鈥檚 University, Belfast
A.Miskimmon@qub.ac.uk
Ben O鈥橪oughlin
Professor of Politics and International Relations, Director of the New Political Communication Unit, Royal Holloway, University of London
Ben.Oloughlin@rhul.ac.uk