The Committee on Social Theory at The University of Kentucky is hosting Professor Mahmood Mamdani as its Fall Distinguished Speaker. On October 2, Dr. Mamdani will give a talk entitled “Political Violence and Political Justice: A Critique of Criminal Justice as Accountability.” The talk will take place at 3:30 pm in the W.T. Young Library Auditorium.
The Committee on Social Theory at The University of Kentucky is hosting Professor Mahmood Mamdani as its Fall Distinguished Speaker.
From the Social Theory Spring 2015 Lecture Series: Transnational Lives, February 6th, 2015.
"Transnational mobilities and translocational belongings: reflecting on identities and inequalities"
Floya Anthias Professor of Sociology University of East London
April 3, 2015 University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences
"Chicanosmosis and the Transnational Imaginary (Imaginary): 21st Century Mextasy in and Beyond the Ivory Tower"
Dr. William Nericcio Professor of English and Comparative Literature & Chicana/o Studies San Diego State University
April 24, 2015 University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences
In part two of a four part series, this Transnational Lives podcast focuses upon social theory, language, and society and the roles they play in diversity.
Connecting with people from around the world is much easier now than it has ever been before. With the internet, phones, and fast travel, we can build relationships and networks in new ways - breaking through the barriers of national boundaries. This development of relationships and their influence despite national borders is known as transnationalism, a social phenomenon that we will be focusing on throughout a four part series.
This is a continuation of a previous post, and this one will be even less intelligible unless you read that one first.
So, even though we rarely use the term, geoscientists have our metanarratives. Metanarrative is something of a perjorative for postmodern (pomo) critical social theorists, but just because because a metanarrative doesn’t really explain everything, even within its domain, doesn’t make it wrong, useless, or even hubris-y. As long we don’t make claims or insinuations, or have expectations, of a “theory of everything,” overarching theories or explanatory frameworks can be evaluated on their own merits or lack thereof—that is, whether a construct can be considered a metanarrative or not is independent of its utility and value.
At my job I am housed in a building occupied mostly by social science and humanities scholars, many of whom are postmodern, post-structuralist, “critical” social theory oriented. The “critical” is in quotes not to cast aspersions, but because these folks use the term somewhat differently than do scientists, for whom all well-conceived legitimate work is critical in the sense of skepticism, testability, and the potential for falsification. Anyway, my office location ensures that I am exposed to a good deal of the concepts and jargon of that community.
One of those is metanarrative. According to the Sociology Index web site:
