W.H.R. Rivers Memorial Lecture (20th November 2024): Professor David Scott (Columbia University)

The Provocation to Biography: Writing the Life of Stuart Hall

The talk will explore what it is about the life and work of Stuart Hall (1932–2014) that "calls" on us to think biographically, how in a sense his art of life and his intellectual orientation disclose an uncommon interconnection. The talk will reference Hall's formative years in Jamaica.

David Scott teaches at Columbia University in New York, where he is the Ruth and William Lubic Professor in the Department of Anthropology. He is the author of a number of books, including Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment (Duke, 2004); Omens of Adversity: Tragedy, Time, Memory, Justice (Duke, 2014); Stuart Hall’s Voice: Intimations of an Ethics of Receptive Generosity (Duke, 2017), and most recently, Irreparable Evil: An Essay in Moral and Reparatory History (Columbia, 2024). He is currently at work on two book projects, one of which is a biography of Stuart Hall. He is also the founder and editor of the journal Small Axe, and the director of the Small Axe Project.

All are welcome to attend. Drinks reception from 18.00