Theory and Society: Zygmunt Bauman - Book Launch
Sponsored by BSA Theory Study Group & The Bauman Institute
13 December 2024 (2:00-3:30pm GMT)
Online
Guest Speakers
- Presenter 1 (lead editor): Dr Tom Campbell (University of Leeds)
- Presenter 2 (translator): Dr Katarzyna Bartoszyńska (Ithaca College)
- Discussant 1: Dr Elena Álvarez Álvarez (Universidad de Navarra)
- Discussant 2: Dr Martin Aidnik (Tallinn University)
- Chair: Professor Matt Dawson (University of Glasgow)
About the Event
The event will launch Theory and Society, the third and final volume of Zygmunt Bauman’s selected writings published by Polity Press (2021-24). It will mark the posthumous publication of a collection of little-known essays of Zygmunt Bauman, a major social theorist of the late-20th and early-21st century. The collection displays the breadth and depth of Zygmunt Bauman’s engagement with social theory and the history of social thought which has perhaps been underestimated, in part because many of his early writings were in Polish and never translated into English. It also evidences Bauman’s sustained commitment to humanism, a unifying thread which connects his pre-exile writings on Antonio Gramsci and C.W. Mills from the 1960s, all the way until late-life reflections on the influence of the Birmingham Centre for Cultural Studies.
Theory and Society – as with the other volumes in the series, Culture and Art (2021) and History and Politics (2023) – also contains previously unpublished material. Its publication represents the closure of an archive project, led by the series editors, which involved cataloguing and establishing the Papers of Janina and Zygmunt Bauman at the University of Leeds. The editorial team and translator will reflect on the possibilities and challenges of working in and with Bauman's personal archives. Moreover, the book will constitute a point of departure for reflecting on the archives of social theorists and what archival collections may (or may not) tell us about the relationship between life experience and intellectual work.
Registration
This event is free to attend but registration is required.
About the Group
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