Anticolonial Thought and Social Theory
As social scientists explore alternative theoretical frameworks to the conventional Eurocentric canon, they have turned to a number of sources, from “Southern Theory” to “decolonial thought” to “non-Western perspectives” or “indigenous” perspectives. This talk argues against ‘geoepistemic essentialism’ and suggests that anti colonial thought should be considered as a rich resource for social theorizing. Discussing mostly 20th century anticolonial writers, thinkers and movements, it shows that as colonized peoples critiqued empire and colonialism, they also generated alternative sociological imaginations that deserve attention.
About the speaker
Julian Go is Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago where he is also a Faculty Affiliate in the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture and The Committee on International Relation. He is also a Fellow of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory and former President of the Social Science History Association.
Julian Go’s research explores the social logics, forms and impact of empires and colonialism; postcolonial/decolonial thought and related questions of social theory, epistemology, and knowledge; and global historical sociology. Much of Go’s work has focused on the US empire, resulting in, among other work, his trilogy on empire: American Empire and the Politics of Meaning (Duke University Press, 2008), Patterns of Empire: the British and American Empires, 1688 to Present (Cambridge, 2011) and Policing Empires: Militarization, Race, and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the United States (Cambridge, 2024). His other work is on postcolonial thought and social theory, represented by various articles in his books Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory (Oxford, 2016) and Anticolonialism and Social Thought (co-edited with Anaheed Al-Hardan) and global historical sociology and transnational field theory: Fielding Transnationalism(co-edited with Monika Krause, Wiley & Sons, 2016) and Global Historical Sociology, co-edited with George Lawson (Cambridge, 2016).
Event co-organized with the Centre for Digital Humanities and Multilateralism
