Tom Cowan
@termcern.bsky.social
Urban Geographer writing on property, technology & urbanisation |
Author of Subaltern Frontiers
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/subaltern-frontiers/C7AFB9376F61176080F3CF9B43B72905
Author of Subaltern Frontiers
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/subaltern-frontiers/C7AFB9376F61176080F3CF9B43B72905
Pinned
Tom Cowan
@termcern.bsky.social
· Feb 4
Geographies of subsumption - Thomas Cowan, 2026
This article draws on heterodox scholarship on capitalist subsumption to revise core approaches within Marxist and critical geography. The article argues that a...
doi.org
New publication! In this paper I draw on heterodox marxist engagements with subsumption to revise core approaches within marxist geography. Subsumption provides us with a dynamic tool to rethink capitalist property, uneven development and difference. Do reach out for access!
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
The absolute best of humanity in a time of profound and relentless inhumanity. They’re volunteers supported by donations so please consider donating and sharing links to donate.
Link to donate directly here.
rnli.org/support-us/g...
Link to donate directly here.
rnli.org/support-us/g...
September 10, 2026 at 7:47 AM
The absolute best of humanity in a time of profound and relentless inhumanity. They’re volunteers supported by donations so please consider donating and sharing links to donate.
Link to donate directly here.
rnli.org/support-us/g...
Link to donate directly here.
rnli.org/support-us/g...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
At Critical Legal Thinking, Tanzil Chowdhury discusses Left and Right strategies of legislative supremacy in Great Britain.
Left and Right Strategies of Legislative Supremacy in Great Britain
Over at the LPE blog, a series of contributions has advanced why legislative supremacy ought to be part of a socialist left strategy. Partly, this is a
criticallegalthinking.com
June 5, 2026 at 3:08 PM
At Critical Legal Thinking, Tanzil Chowdhury discusses Left and Right strategies of legislative supremacy in Great Britain.
Reposted by Tom Cowan
Pubs for the People has a new cover
An antidote to right wing fantasies that present the pub as white England, we highlight the everyday togetherness forged in the pubs across the nation
Out Oct @manchesterup.bsky.social
A bargain £18.99 for hardback ⬇️
www.waterstones.com/book/pubs-fo...
An antidote to right wing fantasies that present the pub as white England, we highlight the everyday togetherness forged in the pubs across the nation
Out Oct @manchesterup.bsky.social
A bargain £18.99 for hardback ⬇️
www.waterstones.com/book/pubs-fo...
June 22, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Pubs for the People has a new cover
An antidote to right wing fantasies that present the pub as white England, we highlight the everyday togetherness forged in the pubs across the nation
Out Oct @manchesterup.bsky.social
A bargain £18.99 for hardback ⬇️
www.waterstones.com/book/pubs-fo...
An antidote to right wing fantasies that present the pub as white England, we highlight the everyday togetherness forged in the pubs across the nation
Out Oct @manchesterup.bsky.social
A bargain £18.99 for hardback ⬇️
www.waterstones.com/book/pubs-fo...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
Just over one month to go until two-day Summer School: Class, Culture & Discontents
All ⭐ line-up
📆 23-24 July
📍 Chestnut Grove Academy, Balham, South London
Supported by @thesociologicalreview.org
Come one, come all (+ free lunch!)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/summer-sch...
@sriucl.bsky.social
All ⭐ line-up
📆 23-24 July
📍 Chestnut Grove Academy, Balham, South London
Supported by @thesociologicalreview.org
Come one, come all (+ free lunch!)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/summer-sch...
@sriucl.bsky.social
June 22, 2026 at 11:19 AM
Just over one month to go until two-day Summer School: Class, Culture & Discontents
All ⭐ line-up
📆 23-24 July
📍 Chestnut Grove Academy, Balham, South London
Supported by @thesociologicalreview.org
Come one, come all (+ free lunch!)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/summer-sch...
@sriucl.bsky.social
All ⭐ line-up
📆 23-24 July
📍 Chestnut Grove Academy, Balham, South London
Supported by @thesociologicalreview.org
Come one, come all (+ free lunch!)
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/summer-sch...
@sriucl.bsky.social
Reposted by Tom Cowan
The University of Nottingham is cutting over 600 academic jobs. This includes 1 in 3 #geography lecturers.
"The lecturers *are* the University, and without them it's nothing" - Geography student (BBC interview):
www.instagram.com/reels/DYprAN...
"The lecturers *are* the University, and without them it's nothing" - Geography student (BBC interview):
www.instagram.com/reels/DYprAN...
BBC Nottingham on Instagram: "The action would "effectively block the university from handing out graduation certificates".
Students have joined lecturers on the picket line at a protest over job los...
6,038 likes, 179 comments - bbceastmidlands on May 22, 2026: "The action would "effectively block the university from handing out graduation certificates".
Students have joined lecturers on the picke...
www.instagram.com
May 28, 2026 at 9:14 AM
The University of Nottingham is cutting over 600 academic jobs. This includes 1 in 3 #geography lecturers.
"The lecturers *are* the University, and without them it's nothing" - Geography student (BBC interview):
www.instagram.com/reels/DYprAN...
"The lecturers *are* the University, and without them it's nothing" - Geography student (BBC interview):
www.instagram.com/reels/DYprAN...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
URGENT - UCU St Andrews Member - Antonis Vradis is on the Qannir La Cirena boat in the Global Summid Flotilla which has been intercepted by Israel
Contact your MP and MSP
Contact the Principal
Please share
Contact your MP and MSP
Contact the Principal
Please share
May 19, 2026 at 9:02 AM
URGENT - UCU St Andrews Member - Antonis Vradis is on the Qannir La Cirena boat in the Global Summid Flotilla which has been intercepted by Israel
Contact your MP and MSP
Contact the Principal
Please share
Contact your MP and MSP
Contact the Principal
Please share
Reposted by Tom Cowan
Solidarity with colleagues at Nottingham. While the UK government play musical chairs with the keys to number 10, the Higher Education sector continues to burn to the ground.
The levels of social, scientific and cultural loss across UK universities in the past 5 years is beyond calculation.
The levels of social, scientific and cultural loss across UK universities in the past 5 years is beyond calculation.
Nottingham job cuts ‘pose systemic risks to research’, union warns.
Research-intensive university told it risks “intellectual stagnation” as 2,700 staff put at risk of redundancy.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Research-intensive university told it risks “intellectual stagnation” as 2,700 staff put at risk of redundancy.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Nottingham job cuts ‘pose systemic risks to research’, union warns - Research Professional News
Research-intensive university told it risks “intellectual stagnation” as 2,700 staff put at risk of redundancy
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
May 14, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Solidarity with colleagues at Nottingham. While the UK government play musical chairs with the keys to number 10, the Higher Education sector continues to burn to the ground.
The levels of social, scientific and cultural loss across UK universities in the past 5 years is beyond calculation.
The levels of social, scientific and cultural loss across UK universities in the past 5 years is beyond calculation.
Reposted by Tom Cowan
I could not be angrier or more heartbroken today as thousands of staff at the University of Nottingham receive official communication that they’re up for redundancy. But I also could not be prouder of my inspiring colleagues who refuse to simply accept this as inevitable. We will fight for our jobs!
May 12, 2026 at 6:15 PM
I could not be angrier or more heartbroken today as thousands of staff at the University of Nottingham receive official communication that they’re up for redundancy. But I also could not be prouder of my inspiring colleagues who refuse to simply accept this as inevitable. We will fight for our jobs!
Reposted by Tom Cowan
My new paper is out in @antipodeonline.bsky.social!
It contributes to ongoing debates on the current conjuncture and conjunctural analysis by placing the destruction of Gaza at the center.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
It contributes to ongoing debates on the current conjuncture and conjunctural analysis by placing the destruction of Gaza at the center.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Theorising the Conjuncture Through Gaza: Urban Destruction and the Intensification of Authoritarian Neoliberalism
This paper deploys a Gramscian theorisation of the conjuncture to argue that the contemporary global political economy is becoming constituted through the destruction of Gaza. It contends that Gaza's...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
May 8, 2026 at 5:54 AM
My new paper is out in @antipodeonline.bsky.social!
It contributes to ongoing debates on the current conjuncture and conjunctural analysis by placing the destruction of Gaza at the center.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
It contributes to ongoing debates on the current conjuncture and conjunctural analysis by placing the destruction of Gaza at the center.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
📢 The Department of Geography and Environmental Science @uniofreading.bsky.social are looking to hire two Lecturers in Human Geography. Info on each post in thread below. Please share widely!
⭐ You can read more about our Human Geography Research Cluster here: www.reading.ac.uk/ges/research...
⭐ You can read more about our Human Geography Research Cluster here: www.reading.ac.uk/ges/research...
April 20, 2026 at 3:17 PM
📢 The Department of Geography and Environmental Science @uniofreading.bsky.social are looking to hire two Lecturers in Human Geography. Info on each post in thread below. Please share widely!
⭐ You can read more about our Human Geography Research Cluster here: www.reading.ac.uk/ges/research...
⭐ You can read more about our Human Geography Research Cluster here: www.reading.ac.uk/ges/research...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
I've got a new paper out with the brilliant @savannahcox.bsky.social & Emma Colven! We took a social studies of finance lens to explore the practices of 'framing, standardization & classification' that 'center' private finance at the core of urban climate action. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Centering work: toward more ‘social’ accounts of urban climate finance
In recent years, high-profile financial actors have developed a dizzying array of services and devices that promise to help cities devise ‘solutions’ to climate change. But what must happen for pri...
www.tandfonline.com
February 10, 2025 at 12:11 PM
I've got a new paper out with the brilliant @savannahcox.bsky.social & Emma Colven! We took a social studies of finance lens to explore the practices of 'framing, standardization & classification' that 'center' private finance at the core of urban climate action. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Tom Cowan
One final call for this session at the RGS, as we could do with one more paper to round out some amazing looking sessions. Please consider submitting, or share with someone who might!
tacity.co.uk/2026/01/30/c...
tacity.co.uk/2026/01/30/c...
CfP @ RGS-IBG 2026: Unconventional Geographies of Solidarity
01-04 September 2026, London Session Organizers: Oli Mould (Royal Holloway, University of London), Hanxi Wang (University College London) In Multitude (2004), political philosophers Michael Hardt a…
tacity.co.uk
February 24, 2026 at 9:07 AM
One final call for this session at the RGS, as we could do with one more paper to round out some amazing looking sessions. Please consider submitting, or share with someone who might!
tacity.co.uk/2026/01/30/c...
tacity.co.uk/2026/01/30/c...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
New publication! In this paper I draw on heterodox marxist engagements with subsumption to revise core approaches within marxist geography. Subsumption provides us with a dynamic tool to rethink capitalist property, uneven development and difference. Do reach out for access!
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
Geographies of subsumption - Thomas Cowan, 2026
This article draws on heterodox scholarship on capitalist subsumption to revise core approaches within Marxist and critical geography. The article argues that a...
doi.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:39 AM
New publication! In this paper I draw on heterodox marxist engagements with subsumption to revise core approaches within marxist geography. Subsumption provides us with a dynamic tool to rethink capitalist property, uneven development and difference. Do reach out for access!
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
🎉 2025 IJURR Best Article goes to Expert Fixers: Bureaucratic Informality, Brokerage and the Politics of Land in Mumbai by Sangeeta Banerji.
👉 www.ijurr.org/best-article...
👉 www.ijurr.org/best-article...
February 4, 2026 at 5:02 PM
🎉 2025 IJURR Best Article goes to Expert Fixers: Bureaucratic Informality, Brokerage and the Politics of Land in Mumbai by Sangeeta Banerji.
👉 www.ijurr.org/best-article...
👉 www.ijurr.org/best-article...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
BREAKING: NO CONVICTIONS AS VERDICTS COME IN FOR FILTON24 TRIAL
After 8 days of deliberation, the jury have not convicted Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Ellie (Leona) Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin on any charge.
Defend Our Juries comment to follow.
After 8 days of deliberation, the jury have not convicted Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Ellie (Leona) Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin on any charge.
Defend Our Juries comment to follow.
February 4, 2026 at 12:47 PM
BREAKING: NO CONVICTIONS AS VERDICTS COME IN FOR FILTON24 TRIAL
After 8 days of deliberation, the jury have not convicted Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Ellie (Leona) Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin on any charge.
Defend Our Juries comment to follow.
After 8 days of deliberation, the jury have not convicted Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Ellie (Leona) Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin on any charge.
Defend Our Juries comment to follow.
Reposted by Tom Cowan
UK pro-Palestinian activists not guilty of aggravated burglary at Israeli firm's factory reut.rs/4a0pqbe
UK pro-Palestinian activists not guilty of aggravated burglary at Israeli firm's factory
Six British pro-Palestinian activists were acquitted on Wednesday of aggravated burglary relating to a 2024 raid on a factory operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit, with a jury unable to reach verdicts on charges of criminal damage.
reut.rs
February 4, 2026 at 12:40 PM
New publication! In this paper I draw on heterodox marxist engagements with subsumption to revise core approaches within marxist geography. Subsumption provides us with a dynamic tool to rethink capitalist property, uneven development and difference. Do reach out for access!
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
Geographies of subsumption - Thomas Cowan, 2026
This article draws on heterodox scholarship on capitalist subsumption to revise core approaches within Marxist and critical geography. The article argues that a...
doi.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:39 AM
New publication! In this paper I draw on heterodox marxist engagements with subsumption to revise core approaches within marxist geography. Subsumption provides us with a dynamic tool to rethink capitalist property, uneven development and difference. Do reach out for access!
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
doi.org/10.1177/2043...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
DIGITAL ECOLOGIES is available for just £15 in paperback until the end of January; discount applied automatically unless you're in North America, where you need to type "JAN40" at payment
this also applies to ALL @manchesterup.bsky.social books!!!
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526188601/
this also applies to ALL @manchesterup.bsky.social books!!!
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526188601/
Manchester University Press - Digital ecologies
Digital ecologies - Browse and buy the Paperback edition of Digital ecologies by Jonathon Turnbull
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
January 8, 2026 at 4:15 PM
DIGITAL ECOLOGIES is available for just £15 in paperback until the end of January; discount applied automatically unless you're in North America, where you need to type "JAN40" at payment
this also applies to ALL @manchesterup.bsky.social books!!!
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526188601/
this also applies to ALL @manchesterup.bsky.social books!!!
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526188601/
Reposted by Tom Cowan
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 8:36 AM
New essay, written for the excellent @transitionsec.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Propelled by the climatic and hegemonic transitions, military-imperial forms of state capitalism are confiscating our collective right to a safe, green, tech-powered future.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
@campolis.bsky.social
Reposted by Tom Cowan
💥 New publication out on the alignment of AI & authoritarianism 💥
We argue that AI is not simply extending, but actively modulating, key dynamics of authoritarianism, and present a flexible analytical framework to account for these changes.
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We argue that AI is not simply extending, but actively modulating, key dynamics of authoritarianism, and present a flexible analytical framework to account for these changes.
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
November 24, 2025 at 9:39 AM
💥 New publication out on the alignment of AI & authoritarianism 💥
We argue that AI is not simply extending, but actively modulating, key dynamics of authoritarianism, and present a flexible analytical framework to account for these changes.
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We argue that AI is not simply extending, but actively modulating, key dynamics of authoritarianism, and present a flexible analytical framework to account for these changes.
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
Precarity is not a niche issue.
One-third of academic Geographers in the UK are on fixed-term contracts.
Our report shows the profound personal, professional, and disciplinary impacts of this. #StatesofPrecarity
Full report: www.rgs.org/research/hig...
One-third of academic Geographers in the UK are on fixed-term contracts.
Our report shows the profound personal, professional, and disciplinary impacts of this. #StatesofPrecarity
Full report: www.rgs.org/research/hig...
States of precarity in UK Higher Education geography
Findings from a discipline-focused research project exploring the lived realities of precarious academic work within UK Higher Education geography.
www.rgs.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Precarity is not a niche issue.
One-third of academic Geographers in the UK are on fixed-term contracts.
Our report shows the profound personal, professional, and disciplinary impacts of this. #StatesofPrecarity
Full report: www.rgs.org/research/hig...
One-third of academic Geographers in the UK are on fixed-term contracts.
Our report shows the profound personal, professional, and disciplinary impacts of this. #StatesofPrecarity
Full report: www.rgs.org/research/hig...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
This is not the way, and @cnygren.bsky.social and I lay out in detail why it isn’t in this essay here. static1.squarespace.com/static/55577...
November 24, 2025 at 1:16 PM
This is not the way, and @cnygren.bsky.social and I lay out in detail why it isn’t in this essay here. static1.squarespace.com/static/55577...
Reposted by Tom Cowan
Please sign c.org/cYgDXSqx62
Save Geography at the University of Leicester
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
c.org
November 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Please sign c.org/cYgDXSqx62
Reposted by Tom Cowan
Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!
November 6, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Human Geography at Leicester is facing closure. Staff contracts are to end in June 2026; students are to be relocated to other universities, or taught out by a maximum of two (!) teaching-only staff. Other departments and subjects are facing closure, too. Please join the demo!