You are warmly invited to a seminar with Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society (CIRCUS), Uppsala University.
Abstract
In the recent edited volume “The Imposter as Social Theory” (Woolgar et al. 2021*) I, together with my co-editors and contributors, explored the many facets of the figure of the imposter. We asked what insights the troublesome figure of the imposter can offer into the social relations and cultural forms from which it emerges. In the book, we argued that the imposter in social theory traditionally had been taken as an aberration useful for unveiling the underlying social order. We proposed to bring the imposter and impostering practices to the centre as interesting phenomena in their own right. In short, we claimed that the imposter is a figure worthwhile to ‘think with’, much like the parasite or the trickster who previously become prominent figures in social theorising.
This talk takes its starting point in the above book, but then turns the light on what these sensitivities could mean for looking at encounters across disciplines. Motivated by my current position as director of Circus tasked to facilitate cross-disciplinarity, I will explore disciplinary encounters under the rubric of imposter syndrome, the publication fraud, and humour.
* Woolgar, Steve, Else Vogel, David Moats, and Claes-Fredrik Helgesson, eds. The Imposter as Social Theory: Thinking with Gatecrashers, Cheats and Charlatans. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2021.
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-imposter-as-social-theory
Join Zoom Meeting
The seminar will be held in English and send through zoom. Employees at the department will get the link by e-mail. If you want to participate and are not employed - send an e-mail to paolo.velasquez@umu.se