Current Projects
- Dissertation – “The Human and Its Others in Early Modern Social Theory”: a study of, in particular, the relation between the development of the concept of ‘the human’ in relation to the concept of ‘the animal’ in late seventeenth and early eighteenth century English social theory. Chapters include an analysis of the meaning of “order” and “well-ordered” in seventeenth century apiary texts, an analysis of the relation between artifice/nature and human/animal in Thomas Hobbes’s thought, an analysis of the origin of property in the dominion over animals in John Locke, and an analysis of the relation between vice and order in Bernard Mandeville’s thought. Expected completion: summer/fall 2009.
- Article – “The Meaning of ‘Order’ and ‘Well-Ordered’ in Seventeenth Century Apiculture”: based upon a chapter from the dissertation, focusing upon Charles Butler’s The Feminine Monarchie and Moses Rusden’s A Full Discovery of Bees. I argue the concept of ‘order’ is closely related to the connection between labour and morality and, hence, is a version of the early modern concept of ‘police.’
- Article – “Recent Developments in ‘Animal Studies’”: an analytic and synthetic overview of the mountain of work published in the past couple of years in the broad field of ‘animal studies.’
- Article – “Untitled Paper on the Importance of the Sacred”: an attempt to develop the concept of ‘theology’ in ‘political theology’ through an encounter with Durkheimian sociology of religion.
- Article – “Untitled Paper on the Relation Between the Legal and the Political in Carl Schmitt”: an examination of Parts II and III in Carl Schmitt’s Constitutional Theory.
Dissertation Proposal
“Savages, Barbarians, and Citizen-Subjects,” February 2007 [pdf]
Comprehensive Examinations
“Advanced Introduction to Critical Social Theory,” Critical social theory comprehensive examination, July 2006 [pdf]
“The Social and the Political: On the Basic Concepts of Political Sociology,” Political sociology comprehensive examination, May 2006 [pdf]
Review Essays
“Empirical Insights and Theoretical Confusions,” review of Michel Foucault and Power Today (Alain Beaulieu and David Gabbard, eds) in International Journal of Baudrillard Studies Volume 3, Number 2 (July 2006) [html]
“Paolo Virno’s ‘New Seventeenth Century,’” review of A Grammar of the Multitude (Paolo Virno) in International Journal of Baudrillard Studies Volume 3, Number 1 (January 2006) [html]
Reviews
“Mark Neocleous’s Critique of Security,” Canadian Journal of Sociology, forthcoming
Conferences
“The ‘Human Question’ in Recent Social Theory,” Canadian Sociological Association, May 2009, Carleton University [paper] [notes]
“John Locke, Animals and Private Property,” Canadian Sociological Association, May 2009, Carleton University
“Thomas Hobbes and the Theologico-Political Problem,” Canadian Initiative in Law, Culture and the Humanities, October 2007, Carleton University
“The Impossibility of Humanity as a Political Concept: Reflections on Battlestar Galactica,” November 2006, Carleton University [notes]
Session chair and convener, “Pirate (And Other Nomad) Studies,” Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association, May 2006, York University
“Counter-Sovereignty,” March 2006, Carleton University [notes]
“‘Our Fathers the Germans’: Montesquieu on Force, Law and the War of the Races,” Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association, May 2005, University of Western Ontario
Occasional Writings
Bibliographies
“Carl Schmitt in English,” bibliography of Carl Schmitt’s works translated into English, updated November 1, 2008 [pdf]
Long Sunday Symposia
“Introduction: Carl Schmitt” and “The Two Politicals” for the “Long Sunday Symposium on Carl Schmitt’s ‘Theory of the Partisan’” (June 2006)
“Eating at Gayatri’s” for the “Carnival of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak” (April 2006)
“Refusing to Engage” for the “Long Sunday Symposium on Tronti’s ‘Strategy of Refusal’” (March 2006)
“The Three Names of Power” for the “Long Sunday Symposium on Benjamin’s ‘Critique of Violence’” (December 2005)
