Author: Michael Dunford is currently a PhD Candidate at the School of Culture History and Language. His research asks how how agrarian economies and agrarian ecologies intersect with the politics of ethno-racial difference in mainland Southeast Asia. Prior to his time at ANU, Michael was a social science instructor at the Parami Institute in Yangon, … Continue reading Purity, Danger, and Handwashing
Ep #99 The Conference Extravaganza: AAS &AAA: This month on TFS
The Familiar Strange · Ep #99 The Conference Extravaganza: AAS &AAA: This month on TFS This week we’re back with a conference extravaganza! With the AAS and AAA’s just passed, listen in to Familiar stranger Alex, Lachie, Sean and Ruonan’s thoughts! Alex and Ruonan attended the AAS while Lachie and Sean attended the AAA in … Continue reading Ep #99 The Conference Extravaganza: AAS &AAA: This month on TFS
Victorian Pseudoscience on a Netflix Budget: “Ancient Apocalypse” and the Paradox of Science Communication Online
As scholars and investigators of conspiracy theory communities have noted, people who cling to these ideas long after they have been demonstrated to be factually false tend to do so for two reasons. One, because the conspiracy theory links them to a community of supportive, like-minded “others” among whom they feel a deep sense of belonging. And two, because it allows them to maintain an identity as the kind of person who knows and understands how the world “really works”.
Desires in Gear: The Politics of Kinky Sexuality and Consumption in the Gear Fetish Community
When you think of an expensive outfit, what comes to mind probably won’t be a hazmat diving suit designed to keep your entire body out of contaminated water. For some, however, this is the height of sexual attire, an expression of sexuality. At a time when the logic of free market and consumption has encroached upon every aspect of our lives, any of our private desires and pleasures, kinky or vanilla, normal or perverted, are all deeply embedded as part of contemporary capitalism and are constantly shaped by it.