Julie Ren
@julieren.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at University of Amsterdam and University of Basel. Book Forum Editor, Urban Geography. SNSF Starting Grant "Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance" (2025-2029)
Reposted by Julie Ren
A compulsory mix - coffee, water, fruit and notebook - for attending academic workshops. Enjoying the two-day workshop on “Creative methods in uncertainty times” in Basel organised by @julieren.bsky.social and her team
October 24, 2025 at 12:51 PM
A compulsory mix - coffee, water, fruit and notebook - for attending academic workshops. Enjoying the two-day workshop on “Creative methods in uncertainty times” in Basel organised by @julieren.bsky.social and her team
My commentary on the idea of ontological locationality, and how it relates to positionality in Dialogues in Urban Research, in conversation with N. Palat Narayanan journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Ontological locationality: A reflection on positionality - Julie Ren, 2025
Palat Narayanan's concept of ontological locationality – the position from which research concerns emerge, distinct from geography or researcher identity –...
journals.sagepub.com
September 26, 2025 at 10:25 AM
My commentary on the idea of ontological locationality, and how it relates to positionality in Dialogues in Urban Research, in conversation with N. Palat Narayanan journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
A (post-)socialist reading of Creating Chinese Urbanism by Fulong Wu, driven by an agenda to expand the reading of certain geographies by certain geographers. With thoughts by S.Ferenčuhová, T.Tuvikene, E.Trubina, @liviu-chelcea.bsky.social, N.Kinossian www.urbangeographyjournal.org/journal/book...
'Leaving the soil': a (post-)socialist reading of Chinese Urbanism beyond China → Urban Geography
www.urbangeographyjournal.org
July 28, 2025 at 1:03 PM
A (post-)socialist reading of Creating Chinese Urbanism by Fulong Wu, driven by an agenda to expand the reading of certain geographies by certain geographers. With thoughts by S.Ferenčuhová, T.Tuvikene, E.Trubina, @liviu-chelcea.bsky.social, N.Kinossian www.urbangeographyjournal.org/journal/book...
Reposted by Julie Ren
🚨 I'm recruiting a funded MA + PhD to research poverty alleviation models w/ a leading Greater Manchester organisation!
More than a rough sleeper: Framing & examining holistic approaches to poverty alleviation.
Deadline: July 1 | Start: October
UK/home students only www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
More than a rough sleeper: Framing & examining holistic approaches to poverty alleviation.
Deadline: July 1 | Start: October
UK/home students only www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
More than a rough sleeper: Framing and examining holistic approaches to poverty alleviation at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - More than a rough sleeper: Framing and examining holistic approaches to poverty alleviation at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
June 3, 2025 at 1:24 PM
🚨 I'm recruiting a funded MA + PhD to research poverty alleviation models w/ a leading Greater Manchester organisation!
More than a rough sleeper: Framing & examining holistic approaches to poverty alleviation.
Deadline: July 1 | Start: October
UK/home students only www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
More than a rough sleeper: Framing & examining holistic approaches to poverty alleviation.
Deadline: July 1 | Start: October
UK/home students only www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Hiring a PhD researcher with Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance. Offering 4-year fully-funded joint degree with University of Basel and University of Amsterdam. Ideal candidate speaks Mandarin, Cantonese & English. Deadline June 18. career2.successfactors.eu/sfcareer/job...
Career Opportunities: PhD researcher position for the project Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance (6339)
career2.successfactors.eu
May 12, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Hiring a PhD researcher with Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance. Offering 4-year fully-funded joint degree with University of Basel and University of Amsterdam. Ideal candidate speaks Mandarin, Cantonese & English. Deadline June 18. career2.successfactors.eu/sfcareer/job...
Reposted by Julie Ren
Germany Turns to U.S. Playbook: Deportations Target Gaza War Protesters - my latest @theintercept.com
theintercept.com/2025/03/31/g...
theintercept.com/2025/03/31/g...
Germany Turns to U.S. Playbook: Deportations Target Gaza War Protesters
Four Gaza protesters in Germany are set for deportations despite objections from an immigration official that none were convicted of crimes.
theintercept.com
April 1, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Germany Turns to U.S. Playbook: Deportations Target Gaza War Protesters - my latest @theintercept.com
theintercept.com/2025/03/31/g...
theintercept.com/2025/03/31/g...
Reposted by Julie Ren
A very old Soviet joke, from an especially dark time:
Foxes are fleeing the USSR in droves.
Q: Why are you running away?
Fox: The Soviets passed a new law that they’re going to arrest all camels.
Q: But you’re foxes!
Fox: Yeah, why don’t *you* try proving to the NKVD that you’re not a camel.
Foxes are fleeing the USSR in droves.
Q: Why are you running away?
Fox: The Soviets passed a new law that they’re going to arrest all camels.
Q: But you’re foxes!
Fox: Yeah, why don’t *you* try proving to the NKVD that you’re not a camel.
If you accept that non-citizens have no right to due process, you are accepting that citizens have no right to due process. All the government has to do is claim that you are not a citizen; without due process you have no chance to prove the contrary.
March 27, 2025 at 10:21 PM
A very old Soviet joke, from an especially dark time:
Foxes are fleeing the USSR in droves.
Q: Why are you running away?
Fox: The Soviets passed a new law that they’re going to arrest all camels.
Q: But you’re foxes!
Fox: Yeah, why don’t *you* try proving to the NKVD that you’re not a camel.
Foxes are fleeing the USSR in droves.
Q: Why are you running away?
Fox: The Soviets passed a new law that they’re going to arrest all camels.
Q: But you’re foxes!
Fox: Yeah, why don’t *you* try proving to the NKVD that you’re not a camel.
"Masculinities in transit" a forum on Romit Chowdhury's book City of Men (@rutgersupress.bsky.social) with Sanjay Srivastava, Wangui Kimari, Manali Desai, Greg Noble, @colinmcfarlane.bsky.social, @plyushteva.bsky.social in @urbangeography.bsky.social: www.urbangeographyjournal.org/journal/book...
City of Men → Urban Geography
www.urbangeographyjournal.org
March 24, 2025 at 9:24 AM
"Masculinities in transit" a forum on Romit Chowdhury's book City of Men (@rutgersupress.bsky.social) with Sanjay Srivastava, Wangui Kimari, Manali Desai, Greg Noble, @colinmcfarlane.bsky.social, @plyushteva.bsky.social in @urbangeography.bsky.social: www.urbangeographyjournal.org/journal/book...
Reposted by Julie Ren
📣 JOB ALERT
PostDoc (3+3 years) and PhD (3 years) in Cultural Geography/Society-Environment Research in the new Society-Environment Research Group at @fau.de
Deadline: 28 March 2025.
More info here:
www.geographie.nat.fau.de/job-offer-po...
Do get in touch with any questions!
PostDoc (3+3 years) and PhD (3 years) in Cultural Geography/Society-Environment Research in the new Society-Environment Research Group at @fau.de
Deadline: 28 March 2025.
More info here:
www.geographie.nat.fau.de/job-offer-po...
Do get in touch with any questions!
March 4, 2025 at 7:20 PM
📣 JOB ALERT
PostDoc (3+3 years) and PhD (3 years) in Cultural Geography/Society-Environment Research in the new Society-Environment Research Group at @fau.de
Deadline: 28 March 2025.
More info here:
www.geographie.nat.fau.de/job-offer-po...
Do get in touch with any questions!
PostDoc (3+3 years) and PhD (3 years) in Cultural Geography/Society-Environment Research in the new Society-Environment Research Group at @fau.de
Deadline: 28 March 2025.
More info here:
www.geographie.nat.fau.de/job-offer-po...
Do get in touch with any questions!
"Everyday crisis" as a framework to facilitate the reading of quieter registers of subjectivity, agency, politics. The ubiquity of crisis narratives risks diminishing its significance. How to grapple with crisis as a condition without normalizing it? With @ifidimi.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/1360...
Critical geographies of everyday crisis
In various domains of social and political life, ‘crisis’ has become a ubiquitous taken-for-granted narrative. This ubiquity risks diminishing the political significance and meaning of the term and...
doi.org
February 18, 2025 at 11:03 AM
"Everyday crisis" as a framework to facilitate the reading of quieter registers of subjectivity, agency, politics. The ubiquity of crisis narratives risks diminishing its significance. How to grapple with crisis as a condition without normalizing it? With @ifidimi.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/1360...
"Reworking relations of epistemological authority in teaching collaborations" w Hanna Hilbrandt, a critical reflection on prj w Sans-Papiers & students now out as part of special feature "Decolonising urban knowledge(s): an ordinary imperative in extraordinary times" in City doi.org/10.1080/1360...
Reworking relations of epistemological authority in teaching collaborations
Though knowledge about urban change is increasingly developed in partnership, knowledge production in teaching often remains entrenched in traditional roles of teaching and learning, research objec...
doi.org
February 10, 2025 at 1:27 PM
"Reworking relations of epistemological authority in teaching collaborations" w Hanna Hilbrandt, a critical reflection on prj w Sans-Papiers & students now out as part of special feature "Decolonising urban knowledge(s): an ordinary imperative in extraordinary times" in City doi.org/10.1080/1360...
"Doing urban geography in times of crisis" co-organized w H. Hilbrandt, now @ Geographica Helvetica. From the impact of right-wing media on uni admin, to the subjects doing research navigating the growing incompatibilities of institutional rules v. academic aims gh.copernicus.org/articles/80/...
Doing urban geography in times of crisis: introduction to the forum “Urban geography in times of crisis”
Abstract. Crises dominate current political debates. They shift the spaces of possibility for geographical research practice and global theory formation. Our starting point in this forum is the diagno...
gh.copernicus.org
January 27, 2025 at 12:05 PM
"Doing urban geography in times of crisis" co-organized w H. Hilbrandt, now @ Geographica Helvetica. From the impact of right-wing media on uni admin, to the subjects doing research navigating the growing incompatibilities of institutional rules v. academic aims gh.copernicus.org/articles/80/...
Reposted by Julie Ren
today FNV union members begin our strike at the uni of amsterdam. our exec. board continues to impose antidemocratic limits on protest & refuses to cut ties with institutions complicit in grave human rights violations. but the university isn’t them, it’s students & workers www.fnv.nl/cao-sector/o...
Samen opkomen voor bescherming van mensenrechten
Vorig jaar stemde een overweldigende meerderheid van de bij FNV aangesloten UvA-medewerkers vóór onderhandelingen met het College van Bestuur (CvB) over twee cruciale eisen.
www.fnv.nl
December 9, 2024 at 7:26 AM
today FNV union members begin our strike at the uni of amsterdam. our exec. board continues to impose antidemocratic limits on protest & refuses to cut ties with institutions complicit in grave human rights violations. but the university isn’t them, it’s students & workers www.fnv.nl/cao-sector/o...
Hiring a postdoctoral researcher on the project "Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance," 4 years, full time, based at the University of Basel. Deadline Dec 20. See details: jobs.unibas.ch/offene-stell...
Universität Basel: Postdoctoral Researcher (FTE)
The University of Basel, Switzerland, invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher (100% FTE) for the project Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance (ASPIRA) The function of a ...
jobs.unibas.ch
November 12, 2024 at 1:38 PM
Hiring a postdoctoral researcher on the project "Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance," 4 years, full time, based at the University of Basel. Deadline Dec 20. See details: jobs.unibas.ch/offene-stell...
"Crisis and Collectives Shaping Art Events: From Events that Matter to Events that Care" now online at Third Text, written with Charlotte Matter, Rosa Sancarlo and Virginia Marano, partly an outcome of our crisis-shaped reading. Available open access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com
January 15, 2024 at 3:15 PM
"Crisis and Collectives Shaping Art Events: From Events that Matter to Events that Care" now online at Third Text, written with Charlotte Matter, Rosa Sancarlo and Virginia Marano, partly an outcome of our crisis-shaped reading. Available open access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Collaboration is not an elixir; it can be enormously challenging under the best circumstances. And yet we hope "Research-based collaboration: A toolkit for teaching and learning" might inspire/inform new efforts: www.zueri-urban.com/toolkit
#AcademicSky #FeministSky @ifidimi.bsky.social
#AcademicSky #FeministSky @ifidimi.bsky.social
January 9, 2024 at 8:15 AM
Collaboration is not an elixir; it can be enormously challenging under the best circumstances. And yet we hope "Research-based collaboration: A toolkit for teaching and learning" might inspire/inform new efforts: www.zueri-urban.com/toolkit
#AcademicSky #FeministSky @ifidimi.bsky.social
#AcademicSky #FeministSky @ifidimi.bsky.social
Reposted by Julie Ren
reposting from bird: join us for a symposium on the urban politics of infra-density at UZH on 14th of December 2023. With Yimin Zhao, @jonschu.bsky.social, @julieren.bsky.social, @nitin bathla, ColinMcFarlane, Gabriela Debrunner, Charlotte Lemanski and Hanna Hilbrandt www.geo.uzh.ch/en/units/sok...
Upcoming Symposium: The urban politics of infra-density
www.geo.uzh.ch
November 30, 2023 at 1:00 PM
reposting from bird: join us for a symposium on the urban politics of infra-density at UZH on 14th of December 2023. With Yimin Zhao, @jonschu.bsky.social, @julieren.bsky.social, @nitin bathla, ColinMcFarlane, Gabriela Debrunner, Charlotte Lemanski and Hanna Hilbrandt www.geo.uzh.ch/en/units/sok...
"Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance" is a project about the cruelty of hope, about recognizing aesthetic possibilities in the face of inevitability, about Hong Kong and Taipei, and about urban theorizations at the very small scale. Thrilled about this SNSF Starting Grant.
The SNSF Swiss National Science Foundation has awarded another six Starting Grants to University of Basel researchers.
Congratulations to:
Jean-Christophe Beltra
Jonathan De Roo
Karen Dixon
S. Nemiah Ladd
Marie Muschalek
@julieren.bsky.social
www.unibas.ch/en/News-Even...
Congratulations to:
Jean-Christophe Beltra
Jonathan De Roo
Karen Dixon
S. Nemiah Ladd
Marie Muschalek
@julieren.bsky.social
www.unibas.ch/en/News-Even...
Six SNSF Starting Grants for the University of Basel
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has awarded another six Starting Grants to University of Basel researchers. The projects come from the fields of biomedicine, chemistry, environmental scie...
www.unibas.ch
November 30, 2023 at 11:04 AM
"Aspirational Urbanism and the Recodification of Defiance" is a project about the cruelty of hope, about recognizing aesthetic possibilities in the face of inevitability, about Hong Kong and Taipei, and about urban theorizations at the very small scale. Thrilled about this SNSF Starting Grant.
Reposted by Julie Ren
Geographers might want to read and sign this letter to the RGS on their de-platforming Palfest
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Letter to RGS concerning de-platforming of PalFest
Dear Professor Joe Smith, Nigel Clifford, Trustees, and members of the Royal Geographical Society,
We write to express our deep concern with the Royal Geographical Society’s decision to cancel its h...
docs.google.com
November 1, 2023 at 4:46 PM
Geographers might want to read and sign this letter to the RGS on their de-platforming Palfest
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Julie Ren
'We refuse the false choice between Jewish safety and Palestinian freedom; between Jewish identity and ending the oppression of Palestinians. In fact, we believe the rights of Jews and Palestinians go hand-in-hand.'
A Dangerous Conflation
We are Jewish writers, artists, and activists who wish to disavow the widespread narrative that any criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic. Israel and its defenders have long used this rhetoric...
www.nplusonemag.com
November 2, 2023 at 5:56 PM
'We refuse the false choice between Jewish safety and Palestinian freedom; between Jewish identity and ending the oppression of Palestinians. In fact, we believe the rights of Jews and Palestinians go hand-in-hand.'
Reposted by Julie Ren
A v good overview of the state of Germany rn by @hahauenstein.bsky.social .
Racism, islamophobia, and anti-Semitism all on the rise, backed by German gvt.
Stand-out quote by Ben Mauk:
“It seems hard to get institutions and politicians in Germany to recognise that Palestinians are human beings.”
Racism, islamophobia, and anti-Semitism all on the rise, backed by German gvt.
Stand-out quote by Ben Mauk:
“It seems hard to get institutions and politicians in Germany to recognise that Palestinians are human beings.”
Why Is Germany Cracking Down on Pro-Palestine Protest?
A climate of fear and division has been stoked by the government’s increasingly hard-line stance against migrants and dissent.
Hanno Hauenstein @hahauenstein.bsky.social
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
A climate of fear and division has been stoked by the government’s increasingly hard-line stance against migrants and dissent.
Hanno Hauenstein @hahauenstein.bsky.social
www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Why Is Germany Cracking Down on Pro-Palestine Protest?
A climate of fear and division has been stoked by the government’s increasingly hard-line stance against migrants and dissent.
www.thenation.com
October 30, 2023 at 9:54 AM
A v good overview of the state of Germany rn by @hahauenstein.bsky.social .
Racism, islamophobia, and anti-Semitism all on the rise, backed by German gvt.
Stand-out quote by Ben Mauk:
“It seems hard to get institutions and politicians in Germany to recognise that Palestinians are human beings.”
Racism, islamophobia, and anti-Semitism all on the rise, backed by German gvt.
Stand-out quote by Ben Mauk:
“It seems hard to get institutions and politicians in Germany to recognise that Palestinians are human beings.”
Reposted by Julie Ren
Brief aus Berlin: kritische Wissenschaftler*innen an deutsche Politik + Öffentlichkeit
Es ist möglich, gegen antisemitische Anschläge und rassistische Polizeigewalt, gegen das Massaker der Hamas und die Kriegsverbrechen der israelischen Armee gleichzeitig zu sein.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Es ist möglich, gegen antisemitische Anschläge und rassistische Polizeigewalt, gegen das Massaker der Hamas und die Kriegsverbrechen der israelischen Armee gleichzeitig zu sein.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Brief aus Berlin – kritische Wissenschaftler*innen an die deutsche Politik und Öffentlichkeit
Seit den Massakern der Hamas in Israel am 7.10.2023 und der darauf folgenden Kollektivbestrafung Gazas durch das israelische Militär werden in Berlin zahlreiche Proteste verboten, die sich mit der Zi...
docs.google.com
October 28, 2023 at 5:01 PM
Brief aus Berlin: kritische Wissenschaftler*innen an deutsche Politik + Öffentlichkeit
Es ist möglich, gegen antisemitische Anschläge und rassistische Polizeigewalt, gegen das Massaker der Hamas und die Kriegsverbrechen der israelischen Armee gleichzeitig zu sein.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Es ist möglich, gegen antisemitische Anschläge und rassistische Polizeigewalt, gegen das Massaker der Hamas und die Kriegsverbrechen der israelischen Armee gleichzeitig zu sein.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Julie Ren
I wrote about Michael Eisen's ousting from eLife for defending Palestinian life, and what kind of science can happen under occupation
defector.com/who-is-allow...
defector.com/who-is-allow...
Who Is Allowed To Do Science? | Defector
On Oct. 13 Michael Eisen, the editor-in-chief of the science journal eLife, retweeted a piece from The Onion titled “Dying Gazans Criticized For Not Using Last Words To Condemn Hamas” with a singl...
defector.com
October 27, 2023 at 8:29 PM
I wrote about Michael Eisen's ousting from eLife for defending Palestinian life, and what kind of science can happen under occupation
defector.com/who-is-allow...
defector.com/who-is-allow...
Reposted by Julie Ren
Eine Woche nachdem die rechtsextreme Demo auch vor ein geplantes Flüchtlingsheim in #Dresden-#Klotzsche zog, gab es dort jetzt einen Brandanschlag - es ist bereits der Zweite innerhalb von vier Wochen. Die Täter scheinen sich bestätigt zu fühlen.
Eine beklemmende Drohkulisse...
Eine beklemmende Drohkulisse...
October 27, 2023 at 3:56 PM
Eine Woche nachdem die rechtsextreme Demo auch vor ein geplantes Flüchtlingsheim in #Dresden-#Klotzsche zog, gab es dort jetzt einen Brandanschlag - es ist bereits der Zweite innerhalb von vier Wochen. Die Täter scheinen sich bestätigt zu fühlen.
Eine beklemmende Drohkulisse...
Eine beklemmende Drohkulisse...