The Sociological and Cultural Studies Division at the University of Glasgow is glad to welcome globally influential postcolonial sociologist Professor Julian Go from the University of Chicago for a conversation about several dimensions of his research.  

Professor Go will be delivering a lecture in the Sociology Seminar Series on Wednesday 16th April ‘Race, Capital, Critique: For a Theory of Racial Capitalism’ (1.00-3.00pm in Room 103, Hunterian Gallery), and this further special seminar event follows from that lecture, providing an opportunity for a broader and less formal conversation. The second event will provide an opportunity to consider and discuss several themes and publications from Professor Go’s body of research. Students are particularly encouraged to come and engage Professor Go in conversation, alongside academics; the event is open, with all welcome. The conversation will move through three sections, with opportunities for questions and comments in each and suggested reading as follows:

 

1. Postcolonial sociology and global historical sociology.

This section will particularly invite Professor Go to comment on the development of his work on postcolonial sociology, including particularly how this became combined in collaborative work with George Lawson and others in the pivotal and award winning volume Global Historical Sociology, which distinctively discerns a ‘third wave’ of global historical sociology that moves beyond a nation-state focus to focus more on ‘imperial-nation-states’ associated with empires and the continuing relevance of transboundary processes within empire frames even after formal decolonizations.       

Reading:

J. Go and G. Lawson (2017) ‘Introduction: For a Global Historical Sociology’ in: J. Go and G. Lawson, eds. Global Historical Sociology (Cambridge University Press). Available online via UofG library:  https://go.exlibris.link/dQYWRRCf.

J. Go (2016) Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory (Oxford University Press, 2016). Available online at: https://alfredocesarmelo.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/go-julian-postcolonial-thought-and-social-theory-oxford-university-press-2016.pdf.

 

2. Anticolonial thought as social theory.

This section will focus on the British Journal of Sociology Special Issue: BJS Annual Public Lecture debating Professor Go’s work from 2023, especially the lead article: Julian Go ‘Thinking against empire: anticolonial thought as social theory’ (derived from the British Journal of Sociology annual lecture, 2021).

Reading: J. Go (2023) ‘Thinking against empire: Anticolonial thought as social theory’, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 74, no.3, pp.279-293. Available online via UofG library: https://go.exlibris.link/srF4XQNT.

 

3. Policing Empires

This third section will focus on the recent book Policing Empires: Militarization, Race and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US (Oxford University Press, 2024). This section will be of particular interest to scholars and students of criminology, crime and policing as well as those with wider interests in empires and postcolonial analysis.

Reading: J. Go (2024) Policing Empires: Militarization, Race and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US (Oxford University Press). Available online via UofG library: https://go.exlibris.link/7D6pmV19.

Biographies:

Professor Julian Go is Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago (Webpage: https://sociology.uchicago.edu/directory/Julian-Go). His research has focused on US Empire and the relationship of postcolonial thought to social theory, while recent work has focused especially on policing in the context of empires. Books include: American Empire and the Politics of Meaning (Duke University Press, 2008); Patterns of Empire: The British and American Empires, 1688 to Present (Cambridge University Press, 2011); Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory (Oxford University Press, 2016); Global Historical Sociology, co-edited with George Lawson (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and Policing Empires: Militarization, Race and the Imperial Boomerang in Britain and the US (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Matthew Waites is Reader in Sociological and Cultural Studies at University of Glasgow (Webpage: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/staff/matthewwaites/). He is co-editor, with Corinne Lennox, of Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change (School of Advanced Study, 2013). Recent publications on themes of sexualities, genders, colonialisms and decolonizing have included ‘Comparative Colonialisms for Queer Analysis: Comparing British and Portuguese Colonial Legacies for Same-Sex Sexualities and Gender Diversity in Africa – Setting a Transnational Research Agenda’, International Review of Sociology 29 (2)(2019), and further journal articles such as in Current Sociology, International Sociology and International Politics.   A new book comparing eleven empires and current colonialities will be: Colonialisms and Queer Politics: Sexualities, Genders and Unsettling Colonialities, co-edited by Sonia Corrêa, Gustavo Gomes da Costa and Matthew Waites (Oxford University Press, forthcoming).     

Campus map/directions: https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/maps/

Accessibility: The venue room is wheelchair accessible. For any further access requirements or any questions about the event please contact Matthew Waites in advance (email Matthew.Waites@glasgow.ac.uk).

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Date: Thursday 17 April
Time: 11:00-13:00
Venue: Room 916, 42 Bute Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8RS

Chair/Discussant: Dr. Matthew Waites (University of Glasgow)

For further information and quieres, please contact Matthew.Waites@glasgow.ac.uk.

First published: 1 April 2025

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