The Committee on Social Theory (CST) is pleased to announce that we are once again accepting applications for Graduate Student Research Grants. 

CST supports research by University of Kentucky graduate students with interests in social theory, broadly defined. Grants between $500-$1,500 will be awarded. Funds can be used for any research-related expenses.

The grant competition is open to graduate students from across the University of Kentucky. Priority will be given to students working towards a ST certificate and/ or have taken the ST 600 or ST 500 course (or an equivalent) within the past two years. Support is available for master’s thesis research and doctoral dissertation research. Award is given up front (not reimbursement). Grantees are required to present their research at a ST graduate student showcase in Fall 2024.

Application deadline: May

Feb 16 I 2 pm EST (UKAA Alumni Auditorium)

"Pharmakonic Tobacco: A History of Masculinity & Biopolitics from the mid-Atlantic to Mao's China"

Speaker: Matthew Kohrman (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and, by courtesy, Department of Medicine; Senior Fellow, by courtesy, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University)

Mar 1 I 2 pm EST (B&E Room 191 (Gatton Business School))

Title TBA

Speaker: Arnika Fuhrmann (Professor, Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University)

Apr 12 I 2 pm EST (UKAA Alumni Auditorium)

Title TBA

Please join the Committee on Social Theory as we hear from Dr. Lauren Cagle as she discusses a draft chapter of her upcoming book manuscript, Slide Charts: Paper Computers in the Modern Age.

Dr. Cagle will present on the chapter before Dr. Fátima Espinoza Vásquez (University of Kentucky) and Dr. Guy McHendry (Creighton University) discuss and provide critical responses. 

This event will be held at the Bingham Davis House on Friday, November 17 from 3-4 pm. 

Please direct any questions or comments to the Social Theory Director Sharon Yam (s.yam@uky.edu) or the Social Theory research assistant Jed DeBruin (jed@uky.edu).

Author: 

Lauren Cagle, Associate Professor, Writing,

Please join the Committee on Social Theory as we hear from new Social Theory affiliates as they introduce themselves and their work. 

There will be presentations from Austin Lillywhite (WRD), Emily Mokros (History), Geronimo Sarmiento Cruz (English), Karrieann Soto Vega (WRD), Lydia Pelot-Hobbs (Geography) and Martin Luther Chan (MCLLC). 

This event will be held at the Bingham Davis House on Friday, November 3, 2023 from 3-4:15 pm. 

Please direct any questions or comments to the Social Theory Director Sharon Yam (s.yam@uky.edu) or the Social Theory research assistant Jed DeBruin (jed@uky.edu).

For more details, please check out the event page listed under "Upcoming Events" under the "Lecture Series" tab on the Social Theory homepage.

Please join the Committee on Social Theory on Wednesday, October 18, 2023 from 12-1 pm ET in the Bingham Davis House at the Gaines Center for the 1st Annual Graduate Student Travel Award Showcase! 

This past spring, CST welcomed applications for research awards by University of Kentucky graduate students with interests in social theory (broadly defined). Awards were designed to assist graduate students with travel, lodging, meals, and other research-related expenses.

A condition of receiving an award is that grantees would be required to present their research at a CST presentation in Fall 2023, and this showcase will highlight the research of the 2023 inaugural recipients: 

Lukas Bullock (Gender & Women's Studies)

Rachel Herrington (WRD/ History)

Jacob Saindon (Geography)

Please join the Committee on Social Theory for the fourth speaker in our Spring 2023 Speaker Series on the theme of Debility and After/ Alterlives happening on Friday, April14 at 2 pm ET via Zoom (https://tinyurl.com/springspeaker4) with Dr. Christina Cedillo! 

This series will be featuring guest speakers engaging with how race, gender, class, nation, sexuality, and ability shape which bodies (both human and non-human) are rehabilitatable, which bodies are marked as contagious or toxic and in need of containment, and which bodies are consequently rendered disposable. The framing seminar which incorporates these guest speakers, ST600: Debility and After/ Alterlives, is co-taught by Dr. Crystal Felima, Dr. Nari Senanayake, Dr. Karrieann Soto Vega, and Dr

Please join the Committee on Social Theory for the second speaker in our Spring 2023 Speaker Series on the theme of Debility and After/ Alterlives happening on Friday, February 24 at 2 pm ET in the UK Athletics Association Auditorium in the William T. Young Library with Dr. Melissa W. Wright! 

This series will be featuring guest speakers engaging with how race, gender, class, nation, sexuality, and ability shape which bodies (both human and non-human) are rehabilitatable, which bodies are marked as contagious or toxic and in need of containment, and which bodies are consequently rendered disposable. The framing seminar which incorporates these guest speakers, ST600: Debility and After/ Alterlives, is co-taught by Dr. Crystal Felima, Dr. Nari Senanayake, Dr. Karrieann Soto Vega, and Dr. Anastasia Todd

Please join the Committee on Social Theory for the third speaker in our Spring 2023 Speaker Series on the theme of Debility and After/ Alterlives happening on Friday, March 31 at 2 pm ET via Zoom (https://tinyurl.com/springspeaker3) with Dr. Eunjung Kim! 

This series will be featuring guest speakers engaging with how race, gender, class, nation, sexuality, and ability shape which bodies (both human and non-human) are rehabilitatable, which bodies are marked as contagious or toxic and in need of containment, and which bodies are consequently rendered disposable. The framing seminar which incorporates these guest speakers, ST600: Debility and After/ Alterlives, is co-taught by Dr. Crystal Felima, Dr. Nari Senanayake, Dr.

The Committee on Social Theory is proud to announce a list of new affiliates of the Committee (since March 2020 to present). If you would like to become an affiliate, please email the Director of Social Theory, Tad Mutersbaugh (tad.mutersbaugh@uky.edu)! 

Please join the Committee on Social Theory for the first speaker in our Spring 2023 Speaker Series on the theme of Debility and After/ Alterlives happening on Friday, January 27 at 2 pm ET via Zoom (https://tinyurl.com/springspeaker1) with Dr. Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez! 

This series will be featuring guest speakers engaging with how race, gender, class, nation, sexuality, and ability shape which bodies (both human and non-human) are rehabilitatable, which bodies are marked as contagious or toxic and in need of containment, and which bodies are consequently rendered disposable. The framing seminar which incorporates these guest speakers, ST600: Debility and After/ Alterlives, is co-taught by Dr. Crystal Felima, Dr. Nari Senanayake, Dr. Karrieann Soto Vega, and Dr.

By Aimee Imlay, Matthew Wentz, and Adrian Ho

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 19, 2020) — The editorial collective of disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory announces the release of its 29th volume, available on the journal's website. The issue focuses on theories of populism and brings together a wide range of perspectives relating to the phenomenon, experience and study of populism.

The recent uptick in populism signals political, economic or social unrest across the globe. This issue presents conversations about the types and origins of populisms; the editors believe that the development and definition of populism is both historically

By Christine Woodward, Zach Griffith, Sophonie Bazile, and Adrian Ho

The editorial collective of disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory is pleased to announce the call for papers for its 27th volume to be published in the summer of 2018. The volume will explore “archives” and the editors seek submissions that look at a range of archives, including national, personal and community archives, to investigate the ways in which documents, images, objects and places serve various purposes and occupy different types of cultural, intellectual and physical spaces. 

The volume will include interviews from four diverse scholars: Karen Till, Kimberly Christen, Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra and Michelle Caswell. Each scholar

By Lori Minter

A record number of students made the University of Kentucky Dean's List for the fall 2016 semester. The 7,408 students were recognized for their outstanding academic performance.  That's an increase of more than 200 over the previous record reached in fall 2015 when the number of students on the UK Dean's List surpassed 7,000 for the first time.  Last semester's Dean's List includes over 700 more students than the spring 2016 semester's list.

To make a Dean’s List in one of the UK colleges, a student must earn a grade point average of 3.6 or higher and must have earned 12 credits or more in that semester, excluding credits earned in pass-fail classes.  Some UK colleges require a 3.5 GPA to make the Dean’s List.

The full Dean's List can be accessed by visiting www.uky.edu/PR

By Jennifer T. Allen

The 25th volume of Social Theory journal disClosure was recently released focusing on the topic of “Transnational Lives.” The issue’s theme brings together a variety of genres, including creative pieces, analytical articles, interviews and art, as it explores concepts related to the topic.

“Simple words such as ‘home’ or ‘religion’ take on an entirely new meaning when they are considered across transnational spaces,” said Catherine Gooch, co-editor of the issue and graduate student in the Department of English. “In addition, there are larger implications both on a personal and public level. If we think about our economic system and how globalization has caused capitalism to expand transnationally, around the world, we see how this economic expansion impacts everything from our personal lives to the higher education system.”

Dr. Mahmood

By Allison Elliott-Shannon

(Oct. 22, 2015) — Open Access is a consistent theme in university libraries across the world, as researchers seek to share and collaborate in new ways. “Open for Collaboration” is the theme of Open Access Week 2015, a global event taking place Oct. 19–25. As scholars, research institutions and funding agencies acknowledge the benefits of open access, they have made an increasing number of scholarly content freely available online for people to reuse and build upon for innovation. 

An advocate for open access, University of Kentucky Libraries has forged collaborative partnerships with various campus units to

By Dara Vance

The Committee on Social Theory at The University of Kentucky is hosting Professor Mahmood Mamdani as its Fall Distinguished Speaker. On October 2, Dr. Mamdani will give a talk entitled “Political Violence and Political Justice: A Critique of Criminal Justice as Accountability.” The talk will take place at 3:30 pm in the W.T. Young Library Auditorium. 

Dr. Mamdani is a Professor of Anthropology, Political Science and African Studies at Columbia University. He is also the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University’s School of Internal Affairs. Additionally, he is the Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research in Kampala, Uganda.

A native of Uganda, Dr. Mamdani was awarded one of 26 scholarships to study in the United States when Uganda won its independence. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh,

By Gail Hairston

(April 8, 2015) ‒ Anna Secor, professor of geography, social theory, and gender and women’s studies at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has been named the university’s first Hajja Razia Sharif Sheikh Islamic Studies Professor.

The endowed professorship was created by Dr. Hamid Hussain Sheikh Sr. (a Lexington obstetrics and gynecology specialist) and his wife Amy Lee Sheikh, in memory of his mother Hajja Razia Sharif Sheikh. A native of Lahore, Pakistan, Hajja Sheikh was active in her community and a leader in her faith. Although she did not receive a formal education, she held a strong belief in education and encouraged all eight of her children to pursue a college education.

“One of

by: Lydia Whitman

(Feb. 2, 2015) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Science's Committee on Social Theory will host its 2015 lecture series, “Transnational Lives,” throughout the spring semester. This well-established series, organized around a different topic each year, gives the public access to lectures by four international scholars visiting the university campus to address a particular aspect of social theoretical thought from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. All lectures will be held on Fridays at 2 p.m. and are free to the public.

Committee director Marion Rust said these are among “the most exciting intellectual opportunities available to the UK community.”

by Sarah Schuetze

Sitting at the front of the room at a seminar table crowded with more students than anyone imagined, professor Francie Chassen-Lopez said, “I always say I have one foot on either side of the border.”

Chassen-Lopez is one of the four instructors teaching Social Theory 600, a graduate seminar called “Transnational Lives.” The professors include Ana Liberato, Cristina Alcalde, and Steven Alvarez—each representing a different discipline and approach to the course. “What makes this so exciting,” Alcalde said, “is we’re all coming at this from different perspectives.”

In many ways,

by Gail Hairston

(Dec. 4, 2014) — The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Committee on Social Theory's Fall 2014 Distinguished Speaker is Margaret Archer, professor of sociology at l'Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. 

The free lecture is slated at 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12, in the Singletary Center's President's Room.

Archer was a professor of sociology at Warwick University where she developed her Morphogenetic Approach to social theory. She now heads the project at EPFL "From Modernity to Morphogenesis."

She was elected as the first woman president of the International Sociological Association at the 12th World Congress of Sociology. She is a founding member of both the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Academy of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences and is a trustee of the