Editorial
– Volume 2 (1)
Introduction
Welcome to the third issue
of Exchanges: the Warwick Research Journal,
an online academic publishing platform for high quality articles and
shorter
critical reflections, from researchers at the University of Warwick as
well as
researchers from the wider academic community.
We have reached an
important milestone
in publishing our second volume. We want to take this opportunity to
reflect on
some of our successes so far. The journal has published work by early
career researchers
alongside established academics, as well as bringing them together in
our
‘Conversations with ...’ series. We have also provided
development
opportunities for early career researchers, not only in publishing
their work but
also by offering the opportunity to serve on the editorial board and
gain
experience of the peer review process. The journal is now listed in the
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), which represents a major
development
for the journal. The inclusion of the journal in the DOAJ is
recognition of the
quality of the journal and our peer-review process. We hope this will
help us
to reach a wider audience and improve the visibility of the journal to
the
international academic community.
The articles we have
published to-date
have represented a wide range of disciplines, including, film studies,
religious studies, philosophy, history, mathematics, engineering, and
sociology.
We are excited by the enthusiasm and quality of the interdisciplinary
work that
has emerged through the journal. We hope that this has inspired
fruitful
exchanges between academic disciplines and we look forward to reading
future
submissions.
The
Editorial Board
With each issue, we recruit
a new
editorial board (either current or past IAS Early Career Fellows). The
current
editorial board represents a wide range of disciplinary areas:
engineering,
sociology, philosophy and literature, and film and TV studies. We are
proud
that we have an issue that reflects not only our own interests but also
those
of the university as a whole.
The current editorial board
for Exchanges
have valued their experience due
to the insight and practical experience it has afforded them into the
world of
academic publishing. We have also found it highly rewarding to
have the
opportunity to develop such diverse and engaging articles from
submission to
the publishing stage. This has
provided the editors with a greater
appreciation of the processes involved in producing a journal.
Exchange,
debate, and dialogue
Award-winning American
Historian, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, Eric
Foner is considered one of the leading historians of the
Civil War
and Reconstruction, slavery and 19th Century America. In
‘Conversation
with ... Eric Foner’, Andrew Hammond (UN impact fellow and Early
Career Fellow,
IAS, University of Warwick) discusses Foner’s major contributions
and the
concept of freedom in relation to slavery. Foner also offers wise words
for
early career researchers on starting out in academia and publishing.
Cultural anthropologist,
Professor Bill
Maurer’s work is concerned with the economy, payment systems and
emerging
currencies, and their legal implications, topics which are very much on
contemporary concern since the Global Financial Crash. In
‘Conversation with
... Bill Maurer’, Lauren Tooker (PhD candidate, University of
Warwick) discuss
the origins or Maurer’s research and how his methodological
approach to his
research has evolved, which leads into a discussion about the economy
and emerging
currencies, such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin, payment infrastructure and
the public
good.
Crisis
and Conflict
As we launch this issue, we
are remembering
the start of the First World War as we witness a number of conflicts
around the
world including Iraq, Syria, and Gaza. We are also living in a time
where we
have even greater awareness of potential crises such as security
threats, climate
change, economic instability, etc. Such issues are naturally reflected
in the
focus of research around the world, which in turn is reflected in the
articles
published in this issue. In particular, we can see these themes as
dominant in
both conversations with Eric Foner and Bill Maurer.
The
article by Shonola and Joy presents a case study of Nigerian
universities to explore
the potential security threats students face when using their mobile
devices
for learning purposes. The article is inherently interdisciplinary
since such
technologies may be used across disciplines and the security issues
discussed
may be affluent deterrents of uptake of such technologies. The article
raises
questions, that as m-learning users, we should all be concerned with
how we use
and protect such technologies to ensure that the security of our
personal
information is maintained.
Sarrouy’s article
focuses on the
important global issue of climate change. Discussing the linkages
between
agriculture and climate change, and the role of women in global food
systems, Sarrouy
makes the case for a gendered approach to climate change adaptation and
mitigation. Her article discusses recent policy reports showing that
women have
developed more sustainable approaches to food production, but that
their
knowledge of food systems remains marginalised in current environmental
policy. The article considers both the social and environmental
impact of
food systems, thus applying a social science perspective (particularly
sociology and gender studies) to debates shaped mostly by economic
considerations. In focusing on women's knowledge of sustainable
food
systems, Sarrouy’s article does not simply criticise enduring
inequalities, but
makes the case for women's active role in environmental policy.
In Dickinson’s
article, we explore a
different approach to the theme of crisis and conflict, where she
reflects on a
recent conference held at Birmingham University. The conference was not
merely
reflecting on conflict and debates around the textual representation of
violent
conflict and war but using this concept as a springboard for thinking
about
literature and literary studies more generally in relation to inner
conflict
and audience responses. This nicely demonstrates the complexity of
thinking
about conflict and the fruitful discussion that can emerge from a
taking such a
multi-layered perspective.
Taking an historical look
at the
connection between literature and conflict, Pstrocki-Sehovic’s
article charts
the immense social change in 19th Century France in relation
to
three of the most influential novelists of the time: Flaubert, Zola and
Balzac.
Pstrocki-Sehovic argues that the novels of these authors acted as a
form of
social communication, where they not only depict different aspects of
society
during this period of upheaval and uncertainty but also influenced the
values
of French society.
Reflecting
multiculturalism
In the contemporary world,
we are also
seeing greater worldwide mobility and multiculturalism, which is
reflected in
two articles in this issue.
Coleman reports on her
ongoing
qualitative study into the value multilingual and bilingual pre-service
teachers attach to their linguistic abilities in relation to their
university
studies, and to their emerging identities as teachers. Coleman argues
that such
skills are valuable tools for learning and makes the case for looking
in more
detail at this aspect of a teacher’s identity. Coleman’s
article seeks to make
practical recommendations for how to foster the skills of multi-lingual
teachers
through university training programmes.
Benhamou discusses how the
representation of protagonists of colour has changed in Disney animated
films
since the 1990s. Her article combines Film Studies textual analysis
with
theories of race and multiculturalism, a multi-stranded
approach. The
article also potentially has a broader appeal and significance for
those
interested in how race representation has shifted in US society over
the
decades, connecting to broader historical and cultural contexts.
From
Multi-disciplinarity to Interdisciplinarity
This issue contains a
number of articles
that exemplify interdisciplinary approaches. We can see clearly those
that have
managed to successfully and fruitfully synthesise different
disciplines, such
as those articles by Sarrouy (mentioned above), Lewis and Smith, and
Cox.
Lewis and Smith’s
article considers
the effect of string tension variation on the tonal response of a
classical
guitar by using fundamental engineering principals, such as vibration
theory. The
article dives into the physics and scientific principles of a widely
appreciated instrument, the guitar. Their
treatment of musical appreciation spans across
disciplines of mathematical modelling, engineering and the
phenomenology of
music and the authors walk readers through an in depth scientific study
of
fundamental principles that produce different tonal responses. The article is
a great example of how specialist scientific knowledge can be applied
to
everyday things, such as music; isn’t that what higher education
should be
about?
In Cox’s article, she
brings together
approaches from chemistry and biology in order to tackle the challenges
of
developing scaffolding for repairing and healing bone, a topic which
itself
brings together considerations in health and technology. This article
brings to
the fore a number of on-going challenges in developing engineering
solutions to
mimicking bone. Cox’s approach demonstrates the value and
importance of taking
a multidisciplinary approach to this problem.
Focusing more broadly on
the very idea
of interdisciplinarity, Gaydon and Selleri reflect upon the outcomes of
21st
Century Theories of Literature: Essence, Fiction and Value, an
interdisciplinary conference held at the University of Warwick (27-29),
examining its achievements and the problems that it raised. Their
article
explores the gaps and overlaps between the distinct fields of Literary
Theory
and the Philosophy of Literature, considering ways in which stronger
connections could be built. As such, it is an article that
directly
focuses upon the issue of interdisciplinarity. It examines
specific
obstacles that have arisen in this area and potential solutions in a
manner
that might have much to offer similar sites of tension in other subject
areas.
Thanks
We hope you find this issue
as
stimulating as we have and that the connections that emerge, not just
between
the articles but also with your own research, will lead to exciting
avenues for
the future of our disciplines. Join in the discussion with our new Disqus function, which allows you to
share your thoughts or ask questions about the individual articles.
Finally, we want to
thank all of the peer reviewers who volunteered
their time to read each of our submissions carefully and provide
helpful,
constructive comments for our authors. We also want to thank Yvonne
Budden, Scholarly Communications Manager, University of Warwick
Library, for
her
continued support and assistance with the development of the journal.
We look forward to the next
issue,
which is due to be published April 2015.
The
Editors
Sophie
Cox / Engineering
Joseph
Oldham / Film & TV Studies
Karen
Simecek / Philosophy and
Literature
Simone
Varriale / Sociology