A tribute to Eric Hobsbawm

Academics inspired by a man widely regarded as one of the world's greatest historians will pay tribute to his life and work at an event in Brighton next weekend.

Eric Hobsbawm's studies on the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism, particularly The Age of Extremes and his trilogy – The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital and The Age of Empire – are widely considered masterly analyses of 19th and 20th century history and have become foundational texts for generations of students from the 1960s to the present.

Even the right-leaning Spectator described Hobsbawm, a lifelong Marxist, who died October this year aged 95, as "arguably our greatest living historian – not only Britain's but the world's".

The free one-day symposium takes place on 8 December and academics taking part come from across the UK.

They include Professor Alex Callinicos, Head of European Studies at Kings College, University of London, who has written extensively on the philosophy of history; Professor Eileen Yeo, Emeritus Professor of Social and Cultural History at the University of Strathclyde, who established the Society for Labour History with Hobsbawm; Mark Perryman, Research Fellow in Sport and Leisure Culture at the University of Brighton, who worked with Hobsbawm politically in the 1980s; and Zoe Sutherland, visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Arts, who worked with Hobsbawm during the last two years of his life in the preparation of his latest works (one of which, on art and culture, will be published in March 2013).

The event, hosted by the 'Politics, Aesthetics, Philosophy' group in the faculty, will address some of the major themes of Hobsbawm's work such as bandits, rebels and popular resistance, labour history, the role of ideology in history and globalisation. It will also examine his interest in music, particularly jazz, film and painting.

Tom Hickey, lecturer in Politics and Aesthetics at the University of Brighton, has organised the event. He said: "This will be a tribute not just to a great figure of the academy in the UK but to one who thought that history was too important to be left to historians. He wanted to make his discoveries and insights available to all. His lasting legacy to the discipline of history was an affirmation of its importance and its character, and a counter-blast to those Postmodernists who would demean it – 'the historian's business (he argued in 1963) is not praise and blame, but analysis'."

The event takes place at the University of Brighton, 10-11 Pavilion Parade, Brighton, on 8 December 10am to 4.30pm. The event is free, but advance booking is essential.

For further information, contact Tom Hickey on 07816 921105 or email: t.hickey@brighton.ac.uk.