Lisa Downing

Author & Professor @unibirmingham | Edits @ParagraphEUP | Author: The Subject of Murder, Selfish Women & more | Against Affect out w/ Nebraska UP, 1 April '26.

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Today is Against Affect Publication Day, coinciding with April Fools' Day in the UK. Is it foolishly optimistic to call for a redistribution of reason in an age of febrile, emotive tribalism? Perhaps. But fools have long told uncomfortable truths.
https://t.co/JLwSH4ULQe

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Today is Against Affect Publication Day, coinciding with April Fools' Day in the UK. Is it foolishly optimistic to call for a redistribution of reason in an age of febrile, emotive tribalism? Perhaps. But fools have long told uncomfortable truths.
https://t.co/JLwSH4ULQe

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

🎉New SI of Paragraph published! 🎉

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

**New Paragraph Special Issue**
49:1: "Temporalities of Refusal: Fugitivity, Imagination, Radical Futurities" guested-edited by David Ventura & German Primera.
Free-to-read "Glitching Colonial Radio History" by Luc Marraffa. https://t.co/Iv875QDYF3

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

🎉Paragraph Prize 2026🎉
The editors are pleased to announce that a prize will be awarded for an outstanding article submitted for publication before 30 Sept 2026. Articles can be on any topic appropriate to the journal’s remit: to explore critical theory & its applications.
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[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

@ParagraphEUP Prize 2026 announced. Submit articles by end of September '26. We look forward to reading them.

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

🎉Paragraph Prize 2026🎉
The editors are pleased to announce that a prize will be awarded for an outstanding article submitted for publication before 30 Sept 2026. Articles can be on any topic appropriate to the journal’s remit: to explore critical theory & its applications.
1/3

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Modern Languages as a discipline has been targeted too hard & too long in the UK for a range of nefarious, anti-intellectual, xenophobic cultural reasons. Sign the petition against the outrageous proposal to close languages programmes @ University of Nottingham, a sector leader.

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

Stop the removal of Modern Languages courses at the University of Nottingham! - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/wrqXe2Nyht via @UKChange

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Paragraph Prize-Winners 2023-2024 announced:

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

🎉Paragraph Prize Winners🎉

The editors are delighted to announce 2 joint prize-winners of the 2023-24 prize:

Tobias Barnett (@TobiasLDBarn)
and
Thomas Waller (@thomasowaller)

Both prize-winning articles are free to read - links in the next message (downthread).

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[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Publication is still 6 months away but we have pre-orderability and a cover design. https://t.co/ssY4vrBbnO

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

I do love a bargain! Paragraph "Special Issues as Books" titles reduced from £26.99 to £16.99, including my edited Critical Freedoms (2023)
https://t.co/l6ZQlxskzi

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

🫰💰 SALE💰🫰
Some titles in the Paragraph "Special Issues as Books" series, which ran until 2023, are currently on sale - selected titles slashed from £26.99 to £16.99.
https://t.co/BCcfPabGCp

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

New SI of @ParagraphEUP on "Thinking Care in the 21st Century" now published. The SI is dedicated to the memory of Isabelle McNeill and Isabelle's article is the free-to-read one.
My article on "reactionary feminism" and why we need *more* not *less* female freedom is also here.

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

🌟Just published🌟: 48:2, SI on "Thinking Care in the 21st Century" ed. Jasmine Cooper & Katie Pleming.
This issue is dedicated to the memory of Isabelle McNeill who is very profoundly missed. Isabelle's article is the free-to-read article at the link. https://t.co/LoZcSydRnm

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Honoured to see “self-fulness” featured in this poem by @natasharoses87

[Natasha Sanders-Kay @natasharoses87]

With reference to the book Selfish Women by @ProfLisaDowning

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

@natasharoses87 How wonderful!

[Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory @ParagraphEUP]

The Paragraph editors are pleased to announce that a prize will be awarded for an outstanding article submitted for publication before 30 Sept. 2025. Submissions can be on any topic in our remit: to explore critical theory & its application to literature, arts & culture.
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[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Anyone wishing to hear all/ part of the event will find a Zoom link at the URL.

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

I'll be speaking at this conference in Vienna on female rage. (2-4 April.) My argument that anger, while valid, is less politically effective than often claimed, will borrow from the anti-affective thesis in my (forthcoming) book Against Affect. https://t.co/kFLDyOQkXj

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

The latest attack on the humanities, and especially the discipline of Modern Languages, in #UKHE is the thread of closures at Cardiff. Please sign and share this petition. https://t.co/wr126qaLGP

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Wishing all my friends, near and far...
A very happy new year!
Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
Boldog új évet!
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
Bonne Année!
Un an nou ferecit!
С Новым Годом!
Frohes Neues Jahr!
Sťastný nový rok!
Feliz Ano Novo!
Честита Нова Година!
Gott Nytt År!
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

Greetings of the season, Xers.

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

@stinaface Just followed you "over there". I intend to maintain both accounts.

[Lisa Downing @ProfLisaDowning]

I am, for now, on both Bsky & X. The reason? I joke about being "the perfect centrist" - & there is no centrist echo chamber. I don't want to see only "Left" or "Right" viewpoints. How centrist am I? Here's the result of a test I did. I'm *that* dot. Right in the middle.