Samuel A. Chambers was a 2016 Leverhulme Funded Visiting Professor based in CAPPE. He teaches political theory and cultural politics. He co-edits the journal Contemporary Political Theory and is series co-editor of Routledge's Innovators in Political Theory. His interests are broad and interdisciplinary—ranging from central issues in social and political theory, to engagements with contemporary feminist and queer theory, to contributions to critical television studies. All of his work maintains a core concern with a sort of "glue" that holds together things—e.g., political regimes, sex/gender identities, pedagogical relations—in a way that is neither narrowly political (in the traditional sense of legislation or public policy), nor reductively socio-biological, nor grounded in ethics or morality à la so-called normative political philosophy. His published writings are similarly wide-ranging. He has authored five books, edited four more, and published more than two dozen journal articles, along with numerous chapters and essays. His most recent published books are Bearing Society in Mind: Theories and Politics of the Social Formation, (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2014) and The Lessons of Rancière (Oxford, 2013). His current research project has the working title “How to Be a Capitalist.” While in Brighton Sam will run a number of research seminars, and work with colleagues in reading groups and public lectures. We are particularly pleased to welcome him to Brighton.
Professor Chambers convened the CAPPE reading group Reading Capital, which returned to Marx's original text (as well as Michael Heinreich's seminal introduction to the first three volumes) to consider its relevance and implications in today's political and economic climate.
Professor Chambers hosted three CAPPE workshops on 'The Future of Queer Theory'.
The first session considered canonical arguments of queer theory as presented by David Halperin, Judith Butler, and Michael Warner.
The second session reexamined the notion of 'queer critique' within contemporary theoretical debates.
The final session looked to the future of queer theory by examining recent trends and texts within the field as they relate to current issues about sexuality and gender.
Professor Chambers delivered three lectures on 'The Future of Political Economy'. Videos of two of the lectures are below:
