Professor David Harvey (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, City University of New York, USA)
Anti-Value in Marx
Thursday, 17 November (note change of day), 5-7PM
Room: BGLT (SOAS Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre)
At the end of the very first section of Capital, after offering an initial definition of the labour theory of value, Marx observe that “nothing can be of value without being an object of utility. If the thing is useless, so is the labour contained in it; the labour does not count as labour, and therefore creates no value.” For the rest of Volume 1 of Capital Marx assumes everything exchanges at its value. What happens to the theory when we drop that assumption?
David Harvey is one of the most prominent scholars of Marxism in the twenty-first century, one of the most cited intellectuals in the humanities, and a leading academic in the field of radical and Marxist geography. He is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and the Director of Research, Center for Place, Culture and Politics. He has authored over 25 influential books including The Ways of the World (2016), Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (2014), A Brief History of Neoliberalism (2005), The New Imperialism (2003), The Limits to Capital (1982 and 2006) and Social Justice and the City (1973). His research interests span geography and social theory; geographical knowledges; urban political economy and urbanisation in the advanced capitalist countries; architecture and urban planning; Marxism and social theory; cultural geography and cultural change; environmental philosophies; environment and social change; ecological movements; social justice; geographies of difference; and utopianism. He taught at University of Bristol, University of Oxford, Johns Hopkins University and others. He has been teaching Karl Marx’s Capital for over 40 years, and has a free online course ‘Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey’ which inspired the 2010 book A Companion to Marx’s Capital.
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.
SOAS DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES & BLOOMSBURY DTC FOR THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Seminar Series, Term 1, 2016-17
Tuesdays (except for Thursday 17 November), 5-7PM
Various rooms All welcome, no need to book
*Thursday 17 November (note change of day)* 5-7PM
Professor David Harvey (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, USA)
Anti-Value in Marx
Room: BGLT (SOAS Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre)
***
*Tuesday 22 November* 5-7PM
Professor Anastasia Nesvetailova (City Political Economy Research Centre, City, University of London, UK)
The Russian Crisis and Global Geopolitics: Dilemmas of Authoritarian Rule
Room: Alumni Lecture Theatre (ALT), Room 110, Senate House North Block
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*Tuesday 29 November* 5-7PM
Dr Johnna Montgomerie (Department of Politics and International Relations, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)
Is Debt Write-off a Viable Solution to the Crisis of Financialisation?
Room: Alumni Lecture Theatre (ALT), Room 110, Senate House North Block
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*Tuesday 6 December* 5-7PM
Professor Barbara Harriss-White (University of Oxford)
Professor Terry Byres (SOAS, UK)
Professor Henry Bernstein (SOAS, UK)
Professor Jan Douwe van der Ploeg (Wageningen University, Netherlands)
Chaired by Dr Jens Lerche (SOAS, UK)
Special Panel Event: Agrarian Questions Then And Now
Room: Alumni Lecture Theatre (ALT), Room 110, Senate House North Block
Further details are available on the SOAS Development Studies Department
website: https://www.soas.ac.uk/development/events/devstudseminars/
