** apologies for cross-posting**
British Sociological Association Presidential Event: Sociology,
Suffering and Humanitarianism Friday 3rd February 2012, 10:00 - 16:00
The British Library Conference Centre, London
Confirmed speakers:
- Craig Calhoun (London School of Economics)
- Iain Wilkinson (University of Kent)
- Larry Ray (University of Kent)
- Kate Nash (Goldsmiths, University of London)
- Gillian Bendelow (University of Sussex)
The magnitude and force of critical events of human suffering mark out
modern times as an unparalleled 'age of extremes'. The scale of
military conflict, the vast numbers of people trapped in systems of
totalitarian oppression, the accumulation of conditions of mass
humanitarian disaster and the entrenched poverty of the new 'mega-slums'
leave many of us shocked and appalled by the harms we inflict on one
another.
It is also now widely understood that we have created social conditions
in which the maintenance of an affluent lifestyle and pursuit of
consumer aspiration at one end of the globe are structurally implicated
in the intensification of forces of violent oppression at the other. In
this respect, the problem of suffering has changed not only in relation
to the catastrophes that break apart societies, but also in accordance
with the extent to which these are understood to be generated by social
practices that at their point of origin may seem quite harmless and
benign.
The brute fact of human suffering is frequently taken as a prompt for us
to question the social, political and cultural circumstances in which we
are made to live. It makes sociologists of us all. In almost every
instance, the most significant developments in sociology have been
inspired under the attempt to better understand the conditions that give
rise to human misery; and further, how these can be re-fashioned for the
project of building humane forms of society.
This BSA Presidential event is dedicated to the ongoing attempt to
devise a sociological account of causes and consequences of human
suffering. It also aims to cultivate a broad-ranging debate over the
role of humanitarianism within our culture and the vocation of sociology
itself.
Visit the event website www.britsoc.co.uk/events/presidential to
register and for further event details.
For more details about joining the BSA please visit
www.britsoc.co.uk/join.
Please direct any enquiries to the BSA office at [log in to unmask]
***Check out our advert in the Times Higher Education on Thursday 12th
January***
|