The Intellectual and Literary History program in IASH continues its Masterclass initiative with the first of its second semester events.

When: Friday 2 September 11:00-12:30 (with a light lunch to follow)
Where: Level 6 Forgan Smith Building (1), Seminar Room

  • HaSS PhD and MPhil students are invited to participate in a Masterclass with Dr. Jessica Whyte. Dr. Whyte is Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Social Analysis at Western Sydney University, and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow. Her research interests include theories of sovereignty and biopolitics, critiques of human rights, and contemporary European philosophy (particularly Agamben and Foucault). Her work has been published in Law and CritiqueHumanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism and DevelopmentTheory and Event; and Contemporary Political Theory.She is also the author of Catastrophe and Redemption: The Political Thought of Giorgio Agamben (SUNY, 2013).
  • Dr. Whyte is currently completing a book that investigates the historical and conceptual affinities between the politics of human rights and neoliberalism in the late twentieth century. This topic will be the focus of her Masterclass at IASH. In preparation for the discussion participants will be expected to read two recent pieces: Dr. Whyte’s own essay “The Fortunes of Natural Man: Robinson Crusoe, Political Economy, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Humanity 5:3 (2014), along with Samuel Moyn’s “A Powerless Companion: Human Rights in the Age of Neoliberalism,” Law and Contemporary Problems 77: 147 (2014). These materials will be circulated in advance.
  • This Masterclass presents an exciting opportunity for HaSS RHD students to discuss cutting-edge humanities research with a leading early career researcher whose current project integrates two of the major thematic concerns of contemporary scholarship.
  • If you would like to attend, please fill out the survey on this website. Those interested are encouraged to do this as soon as possible as spaces are limited to 20 and will be assigned on a first come basis. Note that while the Masterclass will begin at 11:00am, there will be a light lunch provided for participants afterwards at 12:30.