Becoming a foreigner in my own language
I’ve been living and working in the Netherlands for three years now, learning the language because I think it’s important, but slowly because, well, life. I’m a much better ‘passive’ user of the language than active – reading and listening reasonable, speaking and writing something just short of Jip en Janneke taal, simple language named after characters in a famous series of childrens’ books. What’s … Continue reading Becoming a foreigner in my own language
‘Bricking it’ Part 2: the results
Five months ago I wrote about an intrepid group of Honours students taking their first steps into the wonderful world of Lego Serious Play. Well, the work is done and the report is in – and the team has allowed me to share it here. Not only that, but they produced a podcast too! I have some reflections on what happened, but have a look … Continue reading ‘Bricking it’ Part 2: the results
Bricking it: teaching and researching with Lego
I love my job, but there are times when I really, really love it. And despite corona restrictions forcing us out of classrooms and onto Zoom, I’m having one of those ‘really, really’ times right now. It’s teaching a group of Honours students in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at Maastricht how to use Lego Serious Play to conduct research. And, of course, … Continue reading Bricking it: teaching and researching with Lego
Some learnings from the gifting space
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about language and communication lately, particularly the largely-unexamined assumptions about language that lurk in the background of my particular branch of democratic theory. I’ll write something longer about that shortly, but broadly speaking I think of language in rather anthropological terms as fluid systems of social meaning-making, not as fixed systems for conveying pre-linguistic truth. Despite that, … Continue reading Some learnings from the gifting space
A new job in Europe!
Followers of my social media feeds will already know this, but on 1 January 2019 I take up a new position as Professor of Social and Political Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. It’s a rather exciting opportunity because the whole faculty works in a very boundary-crossing way. The department itself has … Continue reading A new job in Europe!
*Waves hello*
Hello! I’m popping my head above the parapet for the first time in — oh my goodness, nearly 18 months. And what an 18 months it’s been. I feel like I’ve barely drawn breath, and have not had the headspace let alone time to write here. I’ll not go into all the details, but the key highs and lows include: getting started on the National … Continue reading *Waves hello*
John Parkinson 