1273 - Honoring Stuart Hall: Sociologists Engage Hall's Legacy

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

Stuart Hall (1932-2014), formerly Professor of Sociology at the Open University from 1979-1997, was a preeminent black public intellectual and pioneer in the field of Cultural Studies. Through an astonishing volume of writings, lectures, and speeches, Hall helped to deepen sociological understandings of culture, rethought the limitations and possibilities of Marxist theory, identified the key ideological components of neoliberalism, contributed significantly to the analytics of race, identity and subjectivity, and brought questions concerning diaspora and hybridity into discussion with issues of nationalism, globalization and theories of the State. While it is difficult to summarize the breadth of Hall’s intellectual thought, it is undeniably the case that his scholarship influenced many disciplines and fields of study across both the social sciences and humanities. Somewhat remarkably, the American Sociological Association is yet to mark Stuart Hall’s unique contributions to sociology or to adequately acknowledge the importance of Hall’s “conjunctural” sociological project to U.S. sociology. This panel brings together leading sociologists with expertise in a range of areas, including race and media, postcolonial theory, migration studies, visual sociology, and gender and sexuality studies, to reflect on Stuart Hall’s enduring legacy, to consider the ways his work has (re)vitalized aspects of U.S. sociology, as well as to address how key areas of sociological inquiry stand to benefit by engaging his prolific and generative body of thought.

Sub Unit

• Special Sessions

Session Organizer

• Ben Carrington, University of Southern California

Individual Presentations

• On the Dusks and Dangers of Nationalism: Thinking With Stuart Hall - Jyoti Puri, Simmons College

• Sociology and Stuart Hall’s Voice - Roderick Ferguson, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Reading Stuart Hall in (New) Times of Ultra-right Nationalism - Sharmila Rudrappa, University of Texas-Austin