Arts and Humanities Research Seminar Series at St Mary’s

The School of Arts and Humanities at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, is to host a series of Research Seminars over the coming months. The series of seminars will introduce a number of speakers from the University and beyond, who will be discussing a variety of fascinating topics ranging from Irish literature to the rise of radical politics in the age of austerity. The first seminar in the series entitled Social Theory Since the Financial Crisis of 2008: From Debt and Stagnation to a New Radical Politics? will be given by Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Media Arts Dr David Evans. The seminar will survey some of the contributions that the critical social sciences and the humanities have made to understanding the world since the financial crisis of 2008. In the run-up to the next UK General Election in May and, also, the rise of Syriza and Podemos in Greece and Spain, the seminar will be an opportunity to discuss the part that those working in the social sciences and humanities could play in helping to create possibilities for a world beyond the neo-liberal social model of austerity, debt, precarity, and inequality. Senior Lecturer in Drama and Coordinator of the research seminar series Dr Michelle Paull said, “We hear much about the international debt crisis and less about how to resolve the problem in the long term, so Dr Evans's paper is timely and will provide the opportunity for considered discussion and debate.” The seminars are free and open to all, taking place in room G1 on St Mary’s Strawberry Hill campus at 5pm. For further details, or to give a paper in the series, please contact Dr Michelle Paull at michelle.paull@stmarys.ac.uk. The full list of seminars can be found below. Social Theory Since the Financial Crisis of 2008: From Debt and Stagnation to a New Radical Politics? Dr David Evans St Mary’s Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Media Arts Tuesday 3rd March The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Decline and Fall of the Corn King Kim Salmons St Mary’s PhD Student Tuesday 24th March Philosophy, Gadflies, and Irritation: a question of dialogue? Dr Yasemin Erden St Mary’s Programme Director and Lecturer in Philosophy Tuesday 28th April Language and Dynamic Systems Theory: Perfect fit or square peg in a round hole? Professor Pauline Foster St Mary’s Professor in English and Applied Linguistics Tuesday 12th May Irish writing and the Celtic Tiger Professor Cornelius Murphy Nanyang Technical University Singapore Tuesday 26th May