Openings

Authors

  • Lydia Cole Durham University
  • Laura Mills University of St Andrews

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15664/jtr.1555

Abstract

International relations are complex, intricate and messy. Often, however, the disciplinary (and disciplining) boundaries of International Relations (IR) as a field curtail our ability to account for these complexities and to depict, narrate and imagine international relations differently. We are therefore pleased to introduce a new creative section within Contemporary Voices: The St Andrews Journal of International Relations (CVIR). Building on CVIR’s aim to transform what and how ‘voices’ are heard in IR , the Openings section provides a site to experiment with different forms of academic practice and to rethink how we ‘do’ IR.

Author Biographies

Lydia Cole, Durham University

Lydia is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University. She holds an MA in Human Rights (Law/Political Science) from the University of Manchester and a PhD in International Politics from Aberystwyth University. Her doctoral research focused on sexual and gender-based violence and post-conflict justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Exploring several key post-conflict frames – the legal, the psychological, and the testimonial – it examined the possibilities and limitations of recognition through such processes. Lydia has also been part of the commissioning team for Stitched Voices, a major art exhibition and associated event programme featuring global conflict and protest textiles. This ongoing project draws upon artistic, performative and practice-based research methodologies to explore knowledge production surrounding political violence. Lydia’s research spans several fields of inquiry including feminist theory, post-conflict and transitional justice, theories of recognition, and human rights.

Laura Mills, University of St Andrews

Laura is an Associate Lecturer in International Relations at University of St Andrews. Her research interests are interdisciplinary, drawing on International Relations (IR), social and political theory, critical security studies, international political sociology, cultural studies, and cultural and public diplomacy. Her work explores two largely under-analysed areas of enquiry in IR – the cultural and the everyday – and argues that culture and everyday life are co-constitutive of global politics. Theoretically, her research engages with and seeks to contribute to contemporary cross-disciplinary debates regarding identity, difference, global governmentality, performativity, everyday practice and power. Empirically, her research monograph examines the everyday sites, practices and performances of three US cultural diplomacy programmes launched after 9/11. Challenging mainstream IR approaches to cultural diplomacy and their preoccupation with soft power, the monograph seeks to provide a much-needed critical purchase of post-9/11 American cultural diplomacy. More recently, her research has been exploring further entanglements of culture, everyday life and global politics through the examination of the themes of war, aesthetics, and militarisation, and security and counter-terrorism.

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Published

2020-01-17

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 3 (2020): Contemporary Voices

Section

Openings

License

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