Book: "The Elements of Power"

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

logicical OR	the periodic table | mining | elements COBALT
the 'table' ... family communities	CHILD LABOUR   power

“A tale of rapacious colonialism, Cold War spy games, dazzling technical innovation, big business rivalry, big power geopolitics . . . Niarchos has produced an unflinching, landmark work on the nature of extractive capitalism.” —Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times best-selling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing

Epic, shocking, and deeply reported, The Elements of Power tells the story of the war for the global supply of battery metals—essential for the decarbonization of our economies—and the terrible, bloody human cost of this badly misunderstood industry

'Congo is rich. Swaths of the war-torn African country lack basic infrastructure, and, after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, tungsten, and other treasures. Recently, this veritable periodic table of resources has become extremely valuable because these metals are essential for the global “energy transition”—the plan for wealthy nations to wean themselves off fossil fuels by shifting to sustainable forms of energy, such as solar and wind. The race to electrify the world’s economy has begun, and China has a considerable head start. From Indonesia to South America to Central Africa, Beijing has invested in mines and infrastructure for decades. But the U.S. has begun fighting back with massive investments of its own, as well as sanctions and disruptive tariffs. ...'

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709025/the-elements-of-power-by-nicolas-niarchos/

My source: James McConnachie, The dirty truth behind our 'clean energy' cars, saturday review, The Times, 17 January 2026, p.13.

Previously: 'mining' : 'corruption' : 'Africa' 

Yuki Kihara: Darwin in Paradise Camp - The Whitworth, Manchester

3 October 2025 – 1 March 2026

'A visually stunning exhibition centring Indigenous, queer worlds by Japanese-Sāmoan artist Yuki Kihara.

The Whitworth is proud to present Yuki Kihara’s acclaimed installation Paradise Camp (2022), first presented at the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion in the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, and a new video work, Darwin Drag (2025).

Kihara delves into art histories and archives to unpick the effects of colonialism on the peoples and ecologies of the Pacific. Her visually compelling projects centre and empower the Fa’afafine and Fa’atama in Sāmoa, traditional yet marginalised third gender communities to which the artist belongs. In this exhibition, Kihara focuses on two celebrated Western figures – French modernist artist Paul Gauguin and evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) – who each shaped Western understandings of the Pacific.

Paradise Camp responds to famous paintings of Tahiti and its people by French modernist artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). Through archival research, Kihara links Gauguin’s paintings to colonial photographs taken in Sāmoa. Described by Kihara as an act of 'upcycling', she recreates Gauguin’s compositions in a series of 12 resplendent high definition photographs, shot on location in Upolu Island. Collaborating with Fa’afafine models and production crew, Kihara repurposes these cultural artefacts to speak to, and from, queer Indigenous worlds in a profound gesture of reclamation.'

My source:

Josh Lustig. Yuki Kihara, Gallery, FT Magazine, November 22, 2025, #1152. pp.12-13.

Leurs (2023) Data as Boundary Objects, Datafication as Boundary Work

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic -------------------------------------------  mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group-population

PERSON SUBJECT	person [DATA] OBJECT
'Situating data' inequality 'Conceptual Stepping Stones' - Social (and Political)  choreography?	SLAVERY REGISTERS - PASSPORTS RACISM COLONIALISM FEMINISM Star .. feminist slogan “the personal is political.”

Leurs, K. (2023). Data as Boundary Objects, Datafication as Boundary Work. In K. van Es & N. Verhoeff (Eds.), Situating Data: Inquiries in Algorithmic Culture (pp. 123–140). Amsterdam University Press.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376113967_6_Data_as_Boundary_Objects_Datafication_as_Boundary_Work

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_personal_is_political

Situated: Does the 'work' that can be done by a concept vary by definition, according to the (care / knowledge) domain it is found / placed in? Does this is turn influence the 'objects' that are found in the act of crossing(s)?

Play - “The Ballad of Crooked Lane” 6th & 7th Oct.

Media Release - 

Blind Poet’s Life to be Celebrated in New Play. 

The life of Edward Rushton, Blind Poet and key figure in the Campaign against Slavery, will be spotlighted in a new production by Valley Theatre Drama Group in Liverpool. The play – entitled “The Ballad of Crooked Lane” – is set on the day Rushton, now well into middle age, awaits eye surgery to regain his sight. While waiting, he goes over his eventful life with his friend and biographer, William Shepherd, the Minister of Gateacre Chapel.

“Rushton was a larger-than-life character,” says writer and director Tom Mclennan. “The story is that he lost his sight going below deck to help sick African captives on their way to the plantations. I first read about him in Bill Hunter’s biography “Unsung Hero” and have always felt his life deserves more recognition.”

Apart from campaigning against the slave trade – not always a popular thing to do in those days, since a large amount of Liverpool’s wealth was based on the evil triangular trade – Rushton was also instrumental in establishing the Liverpool School for the Blind, one of the first in the country, as well as being at the forefront of efforts to end the notorious pressgangs that terrorised coastal neighbourhoods, intent on kidnapping sailors for the British Navy.

“The Ballad of Crooked Lane” will be performed as part of a double bill along with Day Sheehan’s “Wake” for the Liverpool Fringe on Monday October 6th, 7.30pm, at Valley Theatre n Netherley, and on Tuesday 7th October, 7.30pm, at The Studio Beyond, 63 Wood Street, Liverpool L1 4AL

Entrance for the Valley Theatre event is free (pay a donation if you like it). Tickets for the Studio Beyond are £8/£6 and can be bought from:

https://store.makeitwrite.org/product/balladandwake/

I read a part for this at Valley Theatre, very interesting and will look to see a performance.

See also: Edward Rushton: Who was this blind revolutionary?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-29957645

My source: https://www.philosophyinpubs.co.uk/

Currently reading, Arnold Wesker's 'The Friends'.
https://www.arnoldwesker.com/plays/the-friends/index.html

Book - open access: 'Planetary Politics'

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

My source: Email EUP.

Lucy Benjamin (2025) Planetary Politics - Arendt, Anarchy and the Climate Crisis. Edinburgh University Press. https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-planetary-politics.html

planet : planetary

Diagrams - AMO/OMA at Prada Foundation Venice

"There is no such thing as an innocent map, observes Philippe Rekacewicz in his catalogue essay that accompanies Diagrams, a new exhibition at the Prada Foundation in Venice.

A renowned cartographer, the Paris-born Rekacewicz is well aware of his medium's capacity to transform narratives for good and ill. His own work includes maps that illustrate the deaths of migrants as they bid for new lives in Europe. "A map," Rekacewicz continues, "is above all a social and political act - and therefore inherently subjective."' p.5.

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

Am I Free? My history ...	Philippe Rekacewicz / The African big wheel, 2007 The wheel symbolizes permanence and continuity in the context of a profoundly unequal exchange, drawing, color pencil and ink, exhibition copy. Courtesy Philippe Rekacewicz (Image credit: Philippe Rekacewicz)
SOCIETY ... is our history ...	Freedom National & International Law Justice

'Other pictures are equally revealing for what they conceal. Consider the diagram entitled "Universal commercial history", a visual analysis drawn up by the Scottish engineer William Playfair in 1805 which traces the rise and fall of global wealth since 1500 BC against what he terms "Remarkable Events Relative to Commerce". Playfair, who is said to have invented the pie chart, includes moments such as "Rome founded" "Mahomet's Flight" and "America discovered". He never mentions slavery.

With such a broad-brush approach, lacunae are inevitable. It is a shame that the work of Viennese social scientist Otto Neurath - who, along with his wife Marie and colleague Gerd Arntz, invented the Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) - is not on show. Based on pictograms, Neurath's Isotypes are an lmportant forerunner to the digital vernacular (from emojis to icons) so familiar to us today. Nor does the exhibition include maps of the devastation of Gaza since October 2023, such as those made by investigative research agency Forensic Architecture, which are proving among the most critical diagrams of our time.' p.5.

Philippe Rekacewicz - https://www.grida.no/resources/10988

My source:

Rachel Spence. Hidden truths in the best laid plans. Diagrams | What charts, maps and graphics can - and can't - tell us. Collecting, FTWeekend. 26-27 April 2025. p.5. 

With many thanks acknowledging length of quotation.

Image source:

https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/oma-amo-diagrams-prada-foundation-venice

See also: 'icon' : 'symbols' : 'diagram' : 'map' : 'Forensic Architecture'

Archived listing Links II Sciences - inc. 'Diagrams' & 'Visualization I' and 'II': 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150822143740/http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/linksTwo.htm

Invitation: Health and Health Care Inequities – Book Launch (June 27)

Hi everyone,

You are warmly invited to the Toronto launch of Health and Health Care Inequities, taking place on Friday, June 27, 2025, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM EDT.

This event is free and open to the public, with both in-person and online attendance options.

👉 Please register in advance:

Select tickets – Health and Health Care Inequities - Toronto Book Launch – Friends House

The launch is co-hosted by the Leo Panitch School with the support of Fernwood Publishing.

Featuring the author Arnel Borras and guests:

• Wendy Panagopoulos
• John Clarke
• Carles Muntaner
• Dr. Freida Chavez
• Errol Sharpe

We hope to see you there!

Warm regards,
Arnel

Arnel Borras
*****************

My source: Politics of Health Group Mail List Messages

Visit the PoHG website for lots of interesting links and publications: http://www.pohg.org.uk/

Follow us on Twitter: @pohguk

You can subscribe to / unsubscribe from the PoHG mail list here: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/POHG