Seminar Series on 'Keywords'

words cloud with keywords highlighted in red

This series of public talks takes inspiration from Raymond Williams's hugely influential 'Keywords' book to examine the terms and concepts that act as touchstones for today's society. Williams describes a keyword as one for which 'the problems of its meanings seem inextricably bound up with the problems it's being used to discuss.' So the act of defining the word is part of the process of exploring and arguing for the values that the concept represents. With speakers spanning disciplines from philosophy to political science and lexicography to literature, the series will look at how Williams's project is still highly valid today, and at what words - and the arguments around them - define society and culture in 2022.

All events are 4-5pm

10 Feb: Professor Tony Crowley on Privilege. More details and register via Eventbrite.

24 Feb: Professor Tim Blackman on Education. More details and register via Eventbrite.

31 March: Fiona McPherson on WOTY. More details and register via Eventbrite.

7 April: Kate Pullinger on Literature. More details and register via Eventbrite.

21 April: Professor Quentin Skinner on Three Concepts of Liberty. More details and register via Eventbrite.

5 May: Dr Lara Choksey on Peasant. More details and register via Eventbrite.

26 May: Dr Sarah Marie Hall on Rupture. More details and register via Eventbrite.