Research Unit in Politics & Ethics Events
The Libertarian Impulse: Theories, Histories, Comparison
Seminar series 2009-2010 academic year
From October 2009 until March 2010 RUPE will hold a series of seminars on the theme of libertarian politics and theory. With the collapse of state socialism, the unseemly decline of social democracy, and with the devolving of liberalism into a narrow politics of security, we believe it is high time to turn to political heresies like anarchism, left-libertarianism and autonomist Marxism, which have existed until now on the margins of more recognized political traditions. With the unprecedented deployment and expansion of state power and surveillance post-9/11, and with the symptomatic crisis of legitimacy experienced by representative party politics, we think it is important and timely to investigate alternative sites of the political – the autonomous and anti-systemic social movements and activist networks which have proliferated across the global horizon in recent years. The series will focus on different ways of thinking about individual and collective liberty, difference and equality, as well as political identities, practices, modes of organization, action and democracy outside the state order.
This seminar series will explore related themes of: anarchist theory, utopian thought, cosmopolitanism, the politics of direct action, new social movements, social liberty, autonomous politics, piracy and biopolitics, and continental radical political philosophy. It will bring together a series of experts and thinkers from different disciplines – Politics, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Policy – who are all moved in some way by the libertarian impulse.
The seminars will be held on Tuesday evenings 6-8pm in the Senior Common Room (Level 2 RHB). Drinks will be provided, and everyone is invited. The program is as follows:
Autumn Term
6 October – Professor Kevin McDonald (Sociology, Goldsmiths): 'Between autonomy and vulnerability: grammars of action and experience in movements today'
Seminar 1 - Kevin McDonald [295MB Podcast m4v] [295MB mp4]
10 November – Dr. Carl Levy (Politics, Goldsmiths): ‘Anarchism and Cosmopolitanism’
Dr. Carl Levy [281MB Podcast m4v] [281MB mp4]
17 November – Dr. Simon Griffiths (Politics, Goldsmiths): ‘Informing the ‘Gentleman in Whitehall’: Wainwright, Hayek and the revival of pluralism’
Simon Griffiths [281MB Podcast m4v] [281MB mp4]
24 November - Dr. David Graeber (Anthropology, Goldsmiths): ‘We are all already communists (reconsidered)’
David Graeber [282MB Podcast m4v] [282MB mp4]
1 December – Professor Gianni Vattimo (Philosophy, Turin): ‘Philosophy and Emancipation’
Gianni Vattimo [282MB Podcast m4v] [282MB mp4]
Spring Term
19 January – Dr. Alberto Toscano (Sociology, Goldsmiths): ‘Freedom, Claustrophobia and Colonisation: Lessons from the Anarchist Geography of Elisee Reclus’
Dr. Alberto Toscano [282MB Podcast m4v] [282MB mp4]
2 February – Dr. Ruth Kinna (Politics, Loughborough): ‘William Morris: Time & Utopia’
9 March - Geoffrey Pleyers (FNRS Researcher, University of Louvain) 'Autonomy in the alterglobalization movement: theories, cultures, and practices'
Geoffrey Pleyers talk [310MB Podcast m4v] [310MB mp4]
18 March - Amedeo Policante (Politics, Goldsmiths): 'Anarchism, Nomadism and the Working Class: Lessons from Deleuze', SCR
Amedeo Policante talk [265MB Podcast m4v] [265MB mp4]
16 March – Dr. Saul Newman (Politics, Goldsmiths): Booklaunch: ‘The Politics of Postanarchism’ CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
*Please direct any enquiries to Saul Newman: s.newman (@gold.ac.uk) / Tel: 0207 919 7747