SPECIAL PANEL EVENT
Dr Stathis Kouvelakis (King’s College London)
Kate Evans (cartoonist, artist, and activist)
John Rees (writer and activist)
Revolution Then and Now
Tuesday, 16 January, 5-7PM
Room: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre (BGLT), SOAS Brunei Gallery Building
The revolutionary tradition has a long history, and revolutionaries have inspired subsequent generations in fighting for a world free of exploitation, oppression and class distinctions. This panel discusses historical and contemporary debates between reformists, who have sought to discover a principle of harmony in social relations, bypassing the question of revolutionary politics, and revolutionaries, who have argued for working-class hegemony and the struggle for political and economic democracy. It examines the classical bourgeois revolutions, and particularly the English Revolution and the formation of the Levellers, who became central figures in the history of democracy. It also discusses the legacy of some of the great revolutionaries, the contributions they made to the canon of revolutionary socialist thought, and the obstacles they faced in their lives as revolutionaries. But revolution is not a thing of the past. As capitalist crisis deepens, inequality reaches dizzying levels and war remains firmly on the agenda, the panel asks what lessons we should draw from the revolutionary tradition.
Stathis Kouvelakis is Reader in Political Theory at King’s College London. He is author and editor of many books, including La France en révolte. Luttes sociales et cycles politiques (Textuel, 2007), Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism (Haymarket, 2009) and Lenin Reloaded: Toward a Politics of Truth (co-edited with Sebastian Budgen and Slavoj Zizek, Duke University Press, 2007), a book translated in German, Italian, Spanish and Turkish.
Kate Evans is a cartoonist, artist, and activist. She is the author of numerous books and zines including Bump: How to Make, Grow and Birth a Baby and Funny Weather: Everything You Didn’t Want to Know about Climate Change but Probably Should Find Out. She was awarded the John C. Laurence Award in 2016.
John Rees is an historian, broadcaster and campaigner. He is co-author of A People’s History of London and author of The Leveller Revolution and Timelines: A Political History of the Modern World, among other titles. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London and a National Officer of the Stop the War Coalition.
All welcome, no need to book but please do arrive early to be sure of a seat. Details of all events in the seminar series are provided below. We look forward to seeing you there.
On behalf of the seminar organising committee,
Feyzi Ismail, Alfredo Saad-Filho, Nithya Natarajan, Jai Bhatia, Patrick Norberg, and Jo Tomkinson
SOAS DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES & UCL, BLOOMSBURY AND EAST LONDON DOCTORAL TRAINING PARTNERSHIP
Seminar Series, Term 2, 2017-18
Tuesdays, 5-7PM
Room: Various
All welcome, no need to book
* 16 January *
SPECIAL PANEL EVENT
Dr Stathis Kouvelakis (King’s College London)
Kate Evans (cartoonist, artist, and activist)
John Rees (writer and activist)
Revolution Then and Now
Room: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre (BGLT), SOAS Brunei Gallery Building
* 23 January *
Professor Emeritus Göran Therborn (University of Cambridge)
Cities in Contexts of Power and Counterpower: A Global Perspective
Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), SOAS Main Building
* 30 January *
Dr Jeff Webber (Queen Mary, University of London)
World Market, Patterns of Accumulation, and State Forms: The Political Economy of the Latin American Left
Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), SOAS Main Building
* 6 February *
Dr Nick Srnicek (King’s College London)
The Crisis of Social Reproduction and the End of Work
Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), SOAS Main Building
* 20 February *
SPECIAL PANEL EVENT
Professor Benjamin Selwyn (University of Sussex)
Professor Mark Duffield (University of Bristol)
Dr Laura Hammond (SOAS, University of London)
The Struggle for Development
Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), SOAS Main Building
* 27 February *
Professor Barbara Harriss-White (University of Oxford)
The Wild East: India’s Criminal Economy and Politics
Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), SOAS Main Building
* 6 March *
Dr Kehinde Andrews (Birmingham City University)
Black Revolution: The Global Politics of Black Radicalism
Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), SOAS Main Building
* 13 March *
Dr Emma Mawdsley (University of Cambridge)
South-South Development Cooperation 3.0? Changes in the Decade Ahead
Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT), SOAS Main Building
Further details are available on the SOAS Development Studies Department website: https://www.soas.ac.uk/development/events/devstudseminars/
