Events
Past Events
2023 London Graduate Conference
Thursday 22nd June, 2023 – Friday 23rd June, 2023
The 14th Annual London Graduate Conference will explore the way in which political thinkers and actors throughout history have understood the relationship between property and power.
The keynote lecture will be delivered by Sudhir Hazareesingh (Oxford) and the closing roundtable will feature Valentina Arena (UCL), Dina Gusejnova (LSE), Nicola Miller (UCL), and David Armitage (Harvard and QMUL).
The full programme for this conference can be found here. A plain-text version of the programme is also available here.
To register, please click here.
Manuscript Workshop: Catastrophic Technology in Cold War Political Thought
Tuesday 13th June, 2023
14:00 - 18:00, QMUL
A discussion of Dr Caroline Ashcroft’s forthcoming book: Catastrophic Technology in Cold War Political Thought (Edinburgh University Press).
Catastrophic Technology explores a critical idea of technology shared by many influential political thinkers of the Cold War era. This critique posits technology as a central but profoundly dangerous and even catastrophic force in contemporary politics and society. In the work of theorists including Theodor Adorno, Günther Anders, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Ellul, Martin Heidegger, Max Horkheimer, Hans Jonas, Herbert Marcuse, and Lewis Mumford, a form of technology particular to modernity appears as a transformational and exceptionally problematic influence on the contemporary world. This book asks the question of what this particular concept of technology means for these philosophers in political terms, arguing that their conceptualisation of technology is a mode of radical political critique. It was also, however, a sophisticated and developed theory of technology and its influence on politics and society. This book shows how this critique of technology was an important and substantive theme in political thought during the Cold War; one which brought together unlikely allies from across the ideological spectrum, and which has not been widely recognised as such in intellectual histories of the era to date.
All are welcome, but registration for this event is essential. Registered attendees will receive a copy of the draft manuscript by email prior to the event. Please register here.
New Book Symposium: Maurizio Isabella’s ‘Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions’
Thursday 18th May, 2023
16:00-19:00, QMUL Graduate Centre, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
The Centre for the History of Political Thought, as well as the Queen Mary School of History, are delighted to be co-hosting a new book symposium on Maurizio Isabella’s Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions (Princeton, 2023).
The Future of Intellectual History: A Celebration of Quentin Skinner’s London Years
Wednesday 10th May, 2023
15:00-18:00, ArtsTwo Lecture Theatre, QMUL, Mile End
Queen Mary’s Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought is pleased to invite you to a celebration of Prof. Quentin Skinner’s career in London on 10 May.
2023 Nicolai Rubinstein Lecture: Prof. Sanjay Subrahmanyam
Friday 31st March, 2023
18:15, Arts Two Lecture Theatre, QMUL
The Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought and the School of History at Queen Mary University of London are delighted to invite you to the 2023 Annual Nicolai Rubinstein Lecture in Intellectual History.
This year’s lecture will be delivered by Professor Sanjay Subrahmanyam (Distinguished Professor & Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences, UCLA). The title of his paper is: ‘Sceptical Views of Early Modern Empire in Europe and Beyond: A rereading of Michel de Montaigne’. The event will be chaired by Professor David Armitage (The Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University)
Date: Friday 31 March 2023
Time: 18.15 (to be followed by reception)
Venue: Arts Two Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London
Registration is essential. To register please click here.
13th Annual London Graduate Conference in HPT
Thursday 30th June, 2022 – Friday 1st July, 2022
Registration is now open for the Annual London Graduate Conference in the History of Political Thought, which takes place in person at UCL (30 June to 1 July 2022).
The keynote address will be delivered by Prof. Adom Getachew (University of Chicago).
A PDF version of the full programme is available here.
Booking is essential. To register, please click here.
Rethinking Liberty: a colloquium and reception
Friday 20th May, 2022
14:00 - 18:00, Bush House, King’s College London
An in-person colloquium at King’s College London to reflect on different ways of thinking about liberty. The colloquium will be followed by a reception to celebrate the work of Quentin Skinner and to mark the publication of Rethinking Liberty before Liberalism, edited by Hannah Dawson and Annelien de Dijn (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Book symposium: Andrew Fitzmaurice’s ‘King Leopold’s Ghostwriter’
Friday 13th May, 2022
16:00 – 19:00, Room GC201, Graduate Centre, Queen Mary University of London
The Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought and the Schools of Law and History at Queen Mary University of London are delighted to co-host a New Book Symposium on Professor Andrew Fitzmaurice’s ‘King Leopold’s Ghostwriter: The Creation of Persons and States in the Nineteenth Century‘ (Princeton University Press, 2022).
The event is organised by Professor Maksymilian Del Mar (QMUL) and Professor Georgios Varouxakis (QMUL).
Speakers:
Professor David Armitage (Harvard)
Professor Michael Lobban (LSE)
Professor Lisa Siraganian (Johns Hopkins)
Dr. Inge Van Hulle (Max Planck, Frankfurt)
Professor Andrew Fitzmaurice (QMUL)
Chaired by Professor Quentin Skinner (QMUL) and Professor Maksymilian Del Mar (QMUL).
Date & Time: Friday 13 May 2022, 16.00 – 19.00, followed by a reception in the Arts Two SCR.
Venue: Room GC201, Graduate Centre, Queen Mary University of London
Booking is essential. To book, please click here.
Book launch: Caroline Ashcroft’s ‘Violence and Power in the Thought of Hannah Arendt’
Tuesday 22nd March, 2022
17:15–18:30, 1.12 Laws Building, Queen Mary University of London
Queen Mary’s Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought and School of History are delighted to host the launch of Dr Caroline Ashcroft’s (QMUL) ‘Violence and Power in the Thought of Hannah Arendt’ (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021). The event is organised by Dr Waseem Yaqoob (QMUL).
Speakers:
Dr Caroline Ashcroft (QMUL)
Professor Kimberley Hutchings (QMUL)
Dr Andrew Schaap (Exeter)
Dr Waseem Yaqoob (QMUL)
Chaired by Professor Andrew Fitzmaurice (QMUL).
Time: Tuesday 22 March 2022, 17.15 – 18.30, followed by a reception in the Senior Common Room
Venue: 1.12 Laws Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS
Please register to attend here.
12th Annual London Graduate Conference in HPT
Thursday 24th June, 2021 – Friday 25th June, 2021
10:00 – 18:30, Virtual
