PhD student research interests
Gavin Grindon
Working Title for PhD Thesis
The concept of carnival in twentieth century cultural criticism
Supervisors: Terry Eagleton / Nick Thoburn
Background
BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature (University of Leeds)
MA in English Studies (University of Manchester)
Research Interests
My current research looks at the development in the twentieth century of a thread of radical theoretical thought which has at its heart the concept of 'carnival' or 'festival' as a form of cultural experience with revolutionary social implications, produced by the forces of joy and desire. This thread is comprised of a number of groups and theorists: The College of Sociology, Henri Lefebvre and The Situationist International, Mikhail Bakhtin, the Italian autonomia and the North American anarchist milieu of the 1980s and 90s, exemplified by the writing of Hakim Bey, which has influenced the activity of Reclaim the Streets and the development of the contemporary practice of 'carnivals against capitalism' in the global justice movement.
I recently gave a paper on the College of Sociology's initial conceptualisation of festival in these terms at the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition 2004 conference in Vermont
Publications:
"Carnival Against Capitalism: A Comparison of Bakhtin, Vaniegem and Bey" Anarchist Studies 12(2), 2004 (also translated into Turkish in Siyahi 5, 2005)
"The Breath of the Possible" Constituent Imagination: Militant Investigation, Collective Theorization, AK Press (forthcoming)
Other Interests
I came to this subject through my practical engagement in the global justice movement, and am always enthusiastic about hearing from others engaged in grassroots activsm. As well as being keen to hear from anyone doing work relating to any of the ideas or theorists above, I would also be very interested to hear from anyone who shares my developing interest in engaging cultural theory with the project of animal liberation.
My e-mail address is Gavin@cyber-rights.net.