Raymond Williams Reconsidered: Sociology, Structure(s) of Feeling, and the Politics of Place - Black Hawk Hancock

Right-wing populism is undermining Liberal democracies in both the Unted States and Europe. The reactionary politics of this period, moreover, are very much a intertwined with the economic policies of the past thirty years. Systemic changes in employment and wages have generated socio-economic insecurities, while global migration has destabilized traditional conceptions of national identity. Raymond Williams speaks directly to these issues. The themes of capitalism, industrialization, and national identity run throughout his work where he chronicled the processes of deindustrialization and the regional responses to its effects. His approach to cultural analysis emphasized how feeling—the meaning, values, and practices lived and felt by those who are caught up in them—has a structure that pulls together people’s social experiences and articulates them in terms of shared outlooks and expressions that are manifested in “structure(s) of feeling.” From here, he theorized the kinds of “livelihood,” “bonding,” and “the politics of place” that were needed as strategies for cultivating “communities that hold” together in the face of fractious social spheres and the politics of everyday life. It is helpful, then, to reconsider Williams’s work, and what it has to say about the current moment and how we might address the crisis of democracy that we now confront.

About the speaker...
Black Hawk Hancock is a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor. His work focuses on Culture, Theory, and Qualitative Methodology. He is the author of the ethnography American Allegory: Lindy Hop and the Racial Imagination (University of Chicago Press). He has also written new introductions to the 2nd editions of John Fiske’s books Power Plays, Power Works (Routledge), and Media Matters (Routledge). His articles engage theorists as diverse as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, Jean Baudrillard, Jaques Derrida, and Georg Simmel, amongst others. His most recent book, co-authored with Roberta Garner, is Change and Disruption: Sociology of the Future (Routledge).

*Please note: Event delivered in English

Mae poblyddiaeth asgell dde yn tanseilio democratiaethau rhyddfrydol yn yr Unol Daleithiau ac Ewrop. Ar ben hynny, mae gwleidyddiaeth adweithiol y cyfnod hwn yn gysylltiedig i raddau helaeth â pholisïau economaidd y deng mlynedd ar hugain diwethaf. Mae newidiadau systemig mewn cyflogaeth a chyflogau wedi creu ansicrwydd economaidd-gymdeithasol, tra mae mudo byd-eang wedi ansefydlogi cysyniadau traddodiadol o hunaniaeth genedlaethol. Mae Raymond Williams yn siarad yn uniongyrchol am y materion hyn. Mae themâu cyfalafiaeth, diwydiannu a hunaniaeth genedlaethol yn llifo drwy ei waith lle cofnododd y prosesau dad-ddiwydiannu a'r ymatebion rhanbarthol i'w effeithiau. Gwnaeth ei ymagwedd at ddadansoddi diwylliannol bwysleisio sut mae gan deimlo—yr ystyr, y gwerthoedd a'r arferion sy'n cael eu byw a'u teimlo gan y rhai hynny sy'n gysylltiedig â hwy—strwythur sy'n tynnu profiadau cymdeithasol pobl ynghyd ac yn eu mynegi yn nhermau safbwyntiau a mynegiant a rennir sy'n cael eu hamlygu mewn "strwythur(au) teimlo." O'r fan hon, damcaniaethodd y mathau o "fywoliaeth," "bondio," a "gwleidyddiaeth lle" yr oedd eu hangen fel strategaethau ar gyfer meithrin "cymunedau sy'n dal" gyda'i gilydd yn wyneb bydoedd cymdeithasol afreolus a gwleidyddiaeth bywyd pob dydd. Felly mae'n ddefnyddiol ailystyried gwaith Williams, a'r hyn sydd ganddo i'w ddweud am y foment bresennol a sut gallem fynd i'r afael â'r argyfwng democratiaeth yr ydym bellach yn ei wynebu.

Am y siaradwr...
Mae Black Hawk Hancock yn Athro Gwadd Ymddiriedolaeth Leverhulme. Mae ei waith yn canolbwyntio ar ddiwylliant, damcaniaeth, a methodoleg ansoddol. Ef yw awdur yr ethnograffeg American Allegory: Lindy Hop and the Racial Imagination (University of Chicago Press). Mae hefyd wedi ysgrifennu cyflwyniadau newydd i ail argraffiadau llyfrau John Fiske, sef Power Plays, Power Works (Routledge) a Media Matters (Routledge). Mae ei erthyglau'n cynnwys damcaniaethwyr amrywiol megis Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, Jean Baudrillard, Jaques Derrida a Georg Simmel, ymhlith eraill. Ei lyfr diweddaraf, a ysgrifennwyd ar y cyd â Roberta Garner, yw Change and Disruption: Sociology of the Future (Routledge).

*Sylwch: Cyflwynwyd y digwyddiad yn Saesneg