Sara Ahmed - Changing Institutions: Common Sense, Complaint and Other Lessons in Legacy
This information has been updated to reflect changes

Please note: This talk will now take place in the Gulbenkian Lecture Theater, English Faculty, St Cross Building, Manor Road (the same building/location as originally advertised but a different lecture theatre within that building).

Please note there is a new link for online registrations – you can register here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/changing-institutions-common-sense-complaint-and-other-lessons-in-legacy-tickets-901474102307?aff=erelpanelorg&_gl=1*1crtclx*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTI5NjU5MjQ5OC4xNzE1MjQ0ODM5*_ga_TQVES5V6SH*MTcxNTI0NDgzOS4xLjAuMTcxNTI0NDgzOS4wLjAuMA..

You are still able to register for in-person attendance. If the event is showing as sold out, we suggest you could come along, and wait at the venue. If there is still space when the event is about to start, we may be able to accommodate you, but we can’t promise to do so.: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/changing-institutions-common-sense-complaint-and-other-lessons-in-legacy-tickets-867290016787?aff=erelexpmlt&_gl=1*vlojv6*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTIzNzQ0NDIxLjE3MTUyNDQwNDY.*_ga_TQVES5V6SH*MTcxNTI0NDA0Ni4xLjAuMTcxNTI0NDA0Ni4wLjAuMA

In my book, On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life, published over a decade ago, I explored how diversity is used by institutions as a way of appearing to doing something. The appearance of change can be a form of resistance to change. And yet, diversity is increasingly framed as forced change, an ideological imposition, or as compelled speech. Given these attacks on diversity and equality initiatives, it might seem that it is time to abandon our critiques of what diversity is not doing. One of my aims in this lecture is to show how these critiques give us the tools to explain and challenge what is going on. I will draw on two projects: the first on complaint; the second on common sense. For the former, I spoke to academics and students who had made or considered making complaints about abuses of power and inequalities within universities. I am now working on a new book A Complainer’s Handbook: A Guide to Building Less Hostile Institutions, in which I pull out the significance of this research for an understanding of institutional change. I will also draw on a new project on common sense. Common sense is increasingly appealed to as a legacy, an alternative to “wokeism,” and as an argument against institutional change.’

Online registration closes 15 minutes before the start of the event. You will be sent the joining link within 48 hours of the event, on the day and once again 10 minutes before the event starts.

Sign up to attend in person here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/changing-institutions-common-sense-complaint-and-other-lessons-in-legacy-tickets-867290016787?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile
Date: 9 May 2024, 14:00 (Thursday, 3rd week, Trinity 2024)
Venue: Gulbenkian Lecture theatre, English Faculty, St Cross Building, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UL
Speakers: Speaker to be announced
Organising department: Humanities Division
Part of: Feminist Thinking Seminar Series 2024
Booking required?: Recommended
Booking url: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/changing-institutions-common-sense-complaint-and-other-lessons-in-legacy-tickets-867312383687?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Maisy Bentley