Engaging With Radical Ideas

The postgraduate lead project is aimed at exploring radical and critical theoretical strands that often remain underrepresented within academic research. The group received funding for a seminar series, a postgraduate workshop on public engagement and a one day conference to be held in June 2011. The group has also been invited to contribute to local community radio station Phonic FM, appearing fortnightly on the discussion programme ‘A Head of the Curve’.

Universities have long been sites of radical and critical thought. Recently, such thinking has forged spaces for innovative and radical praxis which challenge the ways in which academic theorising is performed. Feminist, anarchist, Marxist, and poststructuralist insights have been enriched by engaging with publics outside of the university walls, activist-scholars have developed approaches that work in solidarity with radical political groupings, and new forms of disseminating critical ideas have enabled audiences to engage with theories that seek to critically inform issues of social change. The Engaging Radical Ideas project in collaboration with the Anarchist reading group open spaces for thinking about critical and radical theory and practice that is open to academics and non-academics, creating a public space for discussion and debate. The first seminar of the series was presented by Human Geography postgraduate Kerry Burton who spoke on linking critical theory and radical praxis within academic research.

The group will be hosting a one day workshop on the 22 November, at Exeter University. The day will comprise of a panel discussion in the morning with Dr Ian Cook, Dr Elena Isayev and Professor Mick Dumper whose praxis engages with publics beyond the borders of the university. After lunch students will have an opportunity to take part in two practical workshops designed to aid them in extending the production and communication of their radical research to publics beyond the university

The long-term aim of the interdisciplinary project (also involving the College of Humanities and the College of Social Science and International Studies) project is to create a network of PhD students working on radical theories in the South West, who are committed to challenging the boundaries between academia and the wider community.

More details of the project can be found on the radical ideas blog.