Articles by: Simon Cooper

Author Biography:

Simon Cooper teaches in film and literary studies at Federation University. He is an Arena Publications editor, an Associate Editor of Arena (third series) and part of the editorial team behind Arena Online. His research areas include literature and film, philosophy, social theory and techno-science.

"In April of this year, Arena said farewell to our most recent city centre, a…

Informit: Stop press

Arena Quarterly no. 3

Guy Rundle, Melinda Hinkson, Simon Cooper

Sep 2020

PDF available from Informit

In April of this year, Arena said farewell to our most recent city centre, a former warehouse on Kerr Street, Fitzroy. It's the third city centre we've had since we established our first on Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy, in 1983. But the 2020 farewell had far greater significance, since it marked the conclusion of our active involvement with printing, both of our own publications and commercially, through a full-service firm. That would have been the…

"How bad will it be? Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, international-student revenue for Australian universities…

Informit: Last chance for universities?

Arena Quarterly no. 2

Simon Cooper, Tyler Comrie

Jul 2020

PDF available from Informit

How bad will it be? Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, international-student revenue for Australian universities had been around 25 per cent across the sector, with many of Australia's 'sandstone' universities relying on international students for at least a third of their income. The loss of much of this revenue for the near to mid-future represents the biggest crisis the sector has faced. The paucity of government support and the federal minister's real or feigned ignorance…

Last Chance for Universities?

Arena Quarterly no. 2

Simon Cooper

Jul 2020

How bad will it be? Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, international-student revenue for Australian universities had been around 25 per cent across the sector, with many of Australia’s ‘sandstone’ universities relying on international students for at least a third of their income. The loss of much of this revenue for the near to mid-future represents the biggest crisis the sector has faced. …universities will act vigorously to manage their finances.

"Review(s) of: From universal love to global anomie, by Christos Tsiolkas and Michel Houellebecq, on…

Informit: From universal love to global anomie [Book Review]

Arena Quarterly no. 1

Simon Cooper

Mar 2020

PDF available from Informit

Review(s) of: From universal love to global anomie, by Christos Tsiolkas and Michel Houellebecq, on the beginning and end of Western civilisation

"Gerd Schroder-Turk and academic freedom The news that Murdoch University is suing one of its…

Informit: The university: Eats its own

Arena Magazine no. 163

Simon Cooper

Dec 2019

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Gerd Schroder-Turk and academic freedom The news that Murdoch University is suing one of its own staff, Gerd Schroder-Turk, after he made comments on an ABC program is yet another indication that universities are little more than corporatised accreditation factories whose relationship to knowledge is not framed by truth or critical inquiry but by the generation of capital-where academic freedom has been sacrificed to the university brand. After Schroder-Turk, an associate professor and a member…

"Review(s) of: Seeing Beyond Picasso, Picasso's Vollard Suite, Art Gallery of Ballarat, 2019.

Informit: Exhibition: Seeing Beyond Picasso

Arena Magazine no. 160

Simon Cooper

Jun 2019

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Review(s) of: Seeing Beyond Picasso, Picasso's Vollard Suite, Art Gallery of Ballarat, 2019.

"Developing a critique of technoscientific change The news that the CSIRO had unwittingly lent its…

Informit: Techno-science and the post-human condition

Arena Magazine no. 159

Simon Cooper

Apr 2019

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Developing a critique of technoscientific change The news that the CSIRO had unwittingly lent its name to the latest batch of Blackmores weightloss pills - pills that had no demonstrable effect or scientific validation - barely registers as a surprise in a world where we have become used to the distortion of scientific ideals by market imperatives. The aggressive push to commercialise the CSIRO under the direction of Larry Marshall - licensed to restructure the…

"Review(s) of: The eulogy, by Janine Hosking, 2018.

Informit: Thinking about classical music

Arena Magazine no. 156

Simon Cooper

Oct 2018

PDF available from Informit

Review(s) of: The eulogy, by Janine Hosking, 2018.

"Review(s) of: No end of a lesson: Australia's Unified National System of higher education, by…

Informit: Universities after Dawkins [Book Review]

Arena Magazine no. 153

Simon Cooper

May 2018

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Review(s) of: No end of a lesson: Australia's Unified National System of higher education, by Stuart Macintyre, Andre Brett and Gwilym Croucher (MUP, 2017).

"The fetishisation of safety points to a larger transformation across Western democracies.