Jamie Johnson
Title of thesis
Ethical Encounters – Time and Biopolitics in Afghanistan
Supervisors
Professor Maja Zehfuss and Dr Peter Lawler
Planned submission date
September 2012
Research interests
My research interrogates the logics that underpin the current interventions in Afghanistan. Looking at the ways in which security and development have become increasingly inter-related in the current conflict, my research looks at the implications of this blurring between war-making and peace-building efforts. Drawing on critical theory perspectives, particularly post-structuralist and post-colonial approaches, my research is interested in the ways in which various identities have been mobilised and enacted in the conflict as we negotiate the tension of killing some lives in order to let others live. Central to this research is exploring how 'life' or the 'human' has come to be understood as an object of government to be secured, regulated and promoted. As the way in which we come to understand ourselves and others shapes the use of military force and the kind of peace to be built in Afghanistan, this research looks to show the ways in which questions of identity are vital for understanding the ethical dimensions of the conflict in Afghanistan. While this research is situated somewhat within critical security and war studies, it is not simply confined to this sub-discipline as it touches upon a number of prominent issues within international relations such as exploring shifting norms of sovereignty; the relationship of culture and religion; as well as understandings of community, citizenship and cosmopolitanism.
Keywords: Human Security, War and Intervention, Development, Afghanistan, War on Terror, Post-structuralism, Post-colonialism, Biopolitics, Identity and Subjectivity, Temporality.
Conference papers
'Immanent Life: The Temporalised Subject of Security' (forthcoming, 2012) – Paper to be presented at the International Studies Association (ISA) conference, San Diego
'Contingent Deviance, Potential Normality: Governing Emergence in Afghanistan' (2011) – Paper co-presented, with Dr Patrick Pinkerton (University of Manchester), at the Global Insecurities: Insurgency, Development and World Order: Ten Years On conference at the School of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), University of Leeds
'Ethics, Time and Becoming: Notes on Punctuation' (2011) – Paper presented at the Aberystwyth-Lancaster Graduate Colloquium at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University
'Gender and Civilisation: Subjectivity and Temporality in Afghanistan' (2011) – Paper presented at the International Studies Association (ISA) conference, Montreal
'The "Human" of Human Security' (2010) – Paper presented at the Aberystwyth-Lancaster Graduate Colloquium at the Department of Geography, Durham University
Teaching experience
- Graduate Teaching Assistant on POLI10601 – Introduction to International Politics
- Graduate Teaching Assistant on POLI20522 – Questions about International Politics
Additional information
- Co-Convenor of the Open Manchester working group on Higher Education and Current Affairs
- Secretary of the Post-Structuralism and Critical Thought Research Cluster (2009-2012)
- Politics PhD Student Representative (2009-2010)