Wow, two wonderful meetings in one afternoon? What luck!

Our first meeting of the Theory Group for the 2019-2020 academic year is this Friday, October 25, at 3pm, in the English Library (401A HL). We’ll be tackling the introduction and third chapter of Alexis Shotwell’s Against Purity: Living Ethically in Compromised Times. Not having read any of this book, might it be relevant to last season’s discoveries about the point system on The Good Place? Hmmm, something to think about.

Here is a brief blurb on the book from the publisher’s website:

In Against Purity, Alexis Shotwell proposes a powerful new conception of social movements as custodians for the past and incubators for liberated futures. Against Purity undertakes an analysis that draws on theories of race, disability, gender, and animal ethics as a foundation for an innovative approach to the politics and ethics of responding to systemic problems. 

If that sounds interesting to you, why not join us to discuss this book on Friday? You can find the relevant excepts on the group’s Google site here. (If you’re already logged into Google, you might get an error when trying to access this site, you need to log in with your g.syr.edu email address.)

If you’ve never been to the Theory Group, it is open to graduate students and faculty, though you shouldn’t be put off by the idea of faculty presence. It is fairly low stakes and a place to come, ask questions, and enjoy as much discussion as you want to. Even if you can only read a bit of the text, it is still interesting to sit in on the discussion (and even contribute!). It was originally conceptualized by Chrises Forster and Eng along with Wil and yours truly as a group where we could come together and discuss interesting recently published theoretical texts, both related and unrelated to our own academic interests. We run off of suggestions, so if Shotwell’s work doesn’t interest you but there is a text you’ve been wanting to tackle, you can always submit it as a suggestion and we’ll likely read it during a future meeting.