This year has been busy for our PhD students, many have submitted their thesis' and have undergone or are awaiting their examination and some have successfully been awarded their PhDs.
Yonn Dierwechter 1997-00
Is an Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Washington. and has written a brilliant short article on President elect Obama's urban policy, they have written a paper:
(Im)possible Obamas:
An historical geography of alternative futures,
Abstract: As the first African-American to win US presidency, Barack Obama's victory arguably ranks alongside of Andrew Jackson's election in 1828 - and in fact surpasses JFK's inspired but tainted success in 1960. Young, charismatic, and communicatively gifted, Obama is nonetheless a pragmatic tactician who, like FDR in 1932, has moved to the center as a general election candidate in order to try to secure both electoral victory and a workable coalition for post-election governance. Moreover, in some people's minds supposedly "neoliberal times" and the deleterious legacies of George W. Bush's catastrophic administration blunt an overdue progressive turn in US history. In the face of his victory, then, what kind of 'progress' might Obama bring about? This article interrogates this question from historical and geographical perspectives, wherein extant developments at the national and global scales are analyzed within the context of Obama's historical performance. Special attention is paid to the role of catastrophe in providing opportunities for progressive presidential programs. For the full article click here!