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Outside the Bubble: The Experience of Commuting Students at The University of St. Andrews
No full textThe act of commuting and the subsequent effect it has on the quality of experience any one student will have at The University of St. Andrews is determined by many factors. It necessitates disconnect from the academic and social environment, contextualised based on the all-encompassing social integration that the small town allows. From my own experience as a commuting student living in Dundee, I became aware of and interested in the impact of commuting. Through grounded experience and conversation with fellow commuters, I explore the impact and consequences of conditions surrounding transport, space, time, personal wellbeing, and academic success to highlighting the good and the bad of what commuting means for the some of the students at St. Andrews. 
Interlocutorial Friendship
Full text linkWhile kinship is a key and thoroughly analyzed tenet of anthropology, friendship has not been afforded the same status, as it is notoriously difficult to categorize. This paper seeks to contribute to the widening of this field through analyzing the experiences and definitions of friendship of four interlocutors, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of friendship between interlocutor and anthropologist in ethnographic fieldwork
Vulnerability, Empathy, and Allyship in Syria: : Reflections of an Ethnographer
Full text linkLongterm anthropological fieldwork in Syria often relies on relationships with interlocutors forged across ideological and other divisions, generating ethical dilemmas for which there are no easy solutions. Although they can never be taken for granted, such relationships feel ever more perilous with wartime displacement. For anthropologists, they involve a vulnerability of position that stems from the impossibility of reciprocating hospitality. This essay ponders the changing roles of the ethnographer in Syria by presenting my own fieldwork, conducted since the early 1990s, as a case study. It questions anthropology’s ethos of empathy and proposes a move towards allyship.  
Reclaiming "Othered" Epistemologies: Dalit Perspectives in Postcolonial Scholarship
Full text linkThis research delves into the intricate dynamics of the concept of subalterns within Postcolonial scholarship, mainly focusing on contributions from South Asian academia. It critically addresses the marginalisation of resurgent epistemologies and the revitalisation of other ontologies in South Asia, overshadowed by dominant systems and paradigms, especially those perpetuated by Upper-caste Savarna scholars. It interrogates how postcolonial scholarship, dominated by upper-caste savarna academics, continues to sideline Dalit epistemologies (and perspectives) within South Asian intellectual life. Framing this silencing as an epistemic crisis, it argues that mainstream notions—such as the celebrated “plurality” of lifeworlds—remain ill-equipped to grasp Dalitality or the subaltern condition. Using discourse-analytic methods, the article tracks how experience and theory co-produce Dalit subjectivity, exposing the persisting outsider–insider split that governs academic representation and sustains “soft” censorship of dissenting knowledge. Grounded in Dalit and Southern theoretical traditions, the analysis re-centres marginalised ontologies, maps the isolation tactics embedded in scholarly practice, and uncovers the corrupt epistemologies that follow. By foregrounding subaltern writings and perspectives, the paper shifts discussion from rhetoric to praxis, proposing that genuine decolonial insight emerges only when those historically excluded steer academic and global debates. In advancing this claim, the research calls for transversal solidarities that redraw intellectual boundaries and foster a more inclusive, equitable response to shared planetary challenges
Beyond theodicies: Responding to suffering and the stubborn persistence of theological complexity
Full text linkTheodicies are often criticised for making concrete suffering into an abstract exercise in theological conjecture. The common response is that complex theodicies are not as important as responding to suffering. This paper, however, contends that responding to suffering still presents theological complexities, as illustrated by James Cone’s rebuttal of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism. At the heart of the debate is a recurrent theme throughout theological history that considers the extent to which human action can overcome rather than just ameliorate suffering. This article argues that the persistence of sin and the irruption of God into creation are helpful reminders about the limitation of human action and the necessity of God for overcoming suffering
MEETINGS, ORGANISATIONS, AND ACTIVISMS: ROUNDTABLE ON FIELDWORK IN ORGANISATIONAL SETTINGS
Full text linkThis article is the first of two roundtable discussions that sought to demystify fieldwork for those who have not yet undergone it. The conversations brought together post-field PhD students, for whom the experience remained fresh, to reflect on the practical, emotional, and epistemological dimensions of ethnographic research. Each contribution develops a distinct thematic focus. The first examines researchers working with meetings and organisations, highlighting the challenges of gaining access, the negotiation of positionality and identity, and the affective intensities that arise throughout the research process. It further considers how the boundedness of organisational spaces mirrors the shifting boundaries of the ‘fieldworker’ identity, which is inevitably influenced by, and absorbed into, other aspects of the self
The owl of Minerva takes fright
Full text linkThis paper presents a sociological analysis of the ways in which Scotland has been transformed over the last 25 years. It takes as its starting point the talk the author gave in 1996 entitled “The Post-Modern Condition of Scottish Society”, setting out how Scotland has changed in the intervening years. It sketches out and reflects on the defining events of the period: devolution and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament; the rise to power of the Scottish National Party (SNP) as well as its shifting fortunes; all set in the context of the Scottish independence and Brexit referendums. It concludes by offering critical commentary on contemporary global issues, particularly the loss of the sense of social reality in the face of the current mood of individualism, moral relativism and post-factual narratives
Is Aesthetic Judgement Gendered? – A Critical Comparison of Feminist Aesthetic Theory and Kantian Formalism
Full text linkKantian aesthetic formalism holds that aesthetic judgement is not a matter of knowledge or cognition, nor does it implicate the contexts of the artist or beholder. By contrast, feminist aesthetics maintains that the work of art and the ‘gaze’ of the beholder are gendered and, by extension, politicised: this obliges a contextualist approach to aesthetic philosophy. In this essay, I explore the conflicts between these two approaches, the failures of formalism and the necessity of feminist aesthetics to analyse art in the 21st centur
Intellect, Personhood, and the Coherence of Cure
Full text linkPeople tend to associate intelligence with personhood, and likewise, there is a tendency to tacitly deny personhood to those with intellectual disabilities. However, Iargue that this denial of personhood is not automatic, and I will draw from recentwork in the social psychology of autism to explain the role of empathy in ascriptionsof personhood. I will argue that the tendency to deny personhood to people withcognitive and intellectual disabilities is the result of a lack of reciprocal empathy. Iwill then describe how this is illustrative of key differences between how physicaldisabilities and cognitive/intellectual disabilities impact one’s identity and explainhow these differences should inform our understanding of whether the idea of curingcognitive/intellectual disabilities is coherent
When Self-Trust and Peer-Trust Collide
Full text linkAccording to the Asymmetry View, one rationally ought to have more epistemic self-trust than trust in one’s disagreeing epistemic peer unless one has case-specific reasons not to (e.g. one is drunk during the given disagreement). In this essay, I argue that the Asymmetry View is wrong as a general principle of how to balance epistemic self-trust and trust in one’s peer. To this end, I challenge Enoch’s argument from the ineliminability of the first-person perspective, which I deem the most compelling defence of this principle. I concede that Enoch could defend a more modest version of the Asymmetry View by altering his argument to account for my criticisms. Nonetheless, I stress that this modified principle is applicable only in rare and indeed unrealistic cases