Event overview
Göran Therborn (Universities Uppsala and Cambridge)
Cities as Representations of Power
Göran Therborn, Prof. emeritus of Sociology, University of Cambridge
Political power needs representation, of its legitimacy, of its might, of its intentions of direction. Cities, and capital cities in particular, are sites of power, of its representation as well as of its exercise. What are the key variables of urban representations of power? What can cities tell us about different kinds of power? Can lines of modern historical development of them be discerned? Can the myriad of variations be grasped in meaningful patterns? These are questions this seminar will touch upon, drawing upon an ongoing global research project on capital cities.
Göran Therborn retired from the Chair of Sociology at Cambridge last October and now lives in Sweden. His latest books include, The World. A Beginner’s Guide (Polity 2011), From Marxism to Postmarxism? (Verso 2008), Between Sex and Power. Family in the World, l900-2000 (Routledge 2004).
Publications from his Cities of Power project include: ´Capital Cities and their Contested Roles in the Life of Nations´, special section (on Southeast Asia) in City vol. 13:1 (2009), ´Eastern Drama: Capitals of Eastern Europe, 1830s-2006´, monographic section of International Review of Sociology vol. 16:2 (2006), ´Monumental Europe: The national years. On
the iconography of European capital cities´, Housing, Theory and Society vol. 19:1 (2002). The Ideology of Power and the Power of Ideology (1980) is one of the most important interventions into ideological formation.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Feb 2011 | 4:00pm - 5:30pm |
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