Gurminder K. Bhambra

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Gurminder K. Bhambra is a British sociologist, theorist, and public intellectual specialising in postcolonial and global historical sociology. Her current work focuses on epistemological justice and reparations. While her research primarily focuses on global historical sociology, she is also interested in the intersection of the social sciences.

Bhambra is currently Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies at the University of Sussex and a Fellow of the British Academy.[1][2] Previously, she was Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick and held visiting professorships at Linnaeus University, EHESS, Paris, Princeton University, University of Brasilia.[1][2]

Bhambra is centrally involved in numerous public sociology projects, including online magazine Discover Society, website providing brief introductions to theory and theorists Global Social Theory, and open-access curriculum project Connected Sociologies.[3][4][5]

Bhambra is the series editor of the Theory for a Global Age Series, originally published by Bloomsbury until 2015 when it moved to Manchester University Press.[6][7]

Awards and recognition[edit]

Bhambra's first monograph, Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination (2007), won the British Sociological Association's 2008 Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for best first book in sociology, with the committee stating that the book "presents a fundamental reconstruction of the idea of modernity in contemporary sociology and social theory".[8]

Bhambra has held numerous visiting fellowships and professorships around the world, including as Guest Professor of Sociology and History at the Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, Linnaeus University, Sweden (2016-2018), during which time she was also Visiting Professor at EHESS, Paris (2017).[9] Prior to these appointments, she was a visiting fellow in the Department of Sociology and a Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, both at Princeton University, a Visiting academic at the University of Brasilia, and held an affiliation with REMESO, Linköping University, Sweden.[9]

In 2020, Bhambra was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy, in the Sociology, Demography and Social Statistics section.[2]

Public sociology projects[edit]

Discover Society[edit]

Bhambra was involved in setting up and co-edits Discover Society with John Holmwood and Sue Scott alongside Pat Lockley as not-for-profit online magazine to promote accessible social research, commentary, and policy analysis.[3][10]

Global Social Theory[edit]

Bhambra set up Global Social Theory in 2015, a website that provides brief introductions to theorists and theories from around the world, in response to the student campaign 'Why is my curriculum white?'.[11][4]

Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project[edit]

Bhambra is the Project Director of the Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project, launched in October 2020 and funded by The Sociological Review.[5][12] This project is an open-access collaborative effort to addresses British colonial and imperial histories and how they shape the present, with particular attention to the teaching of Sociology and Bhambra's ongoing work critiquing Eurocentric conceptualisations of modernity and history.[5][12]

Public talks and media[edit]

Bhambra regularly gives talks and writes for a public audience on topics such as 'race', colonialism, imperialism, Brexit, Britain, universities, reparations, including articles in The New York Times,[13] The Conversation,[14] Open Democracy,[15] Foreign Policy,[16] the Sociological Review's blog,[17] Media Diversified,[18] the LSE blog,[19] University World News,[20] and Times Higher Education.[21]

In 2017, she gave a TEDxBrum talk called 'Everything you know about Brexit is wrong' exploring dominant narratives on Brexit through her broader work on the idea of Britain as a nation.[22]

Nottingham Contemporary hosted a 2019 talk 'Whose Welfare? Colonial Regimes of Extraction and British Subjecthood'.[23] The same year she provided a keynote address to the Atlantic Institute's Global Convening of Senior Fellows titled' History Matters: Inequalities, Reparation and Redistribution'.[24]

Bhambra appeared on the Social Science Bites Podcast in January 2020 discussing postcolonial social science.[25]

Works[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Bhambra, Gurminder K. (2007). Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Bhambra, Gurminder K. (2014). Connected Sociologies. London: Bloomsbury.

Edited books[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Prof Gurminder Bhambra". University of Sussex. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Professor Gurminder K Bhambra FBA". The British Academy. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b "About Us". Discover Society. 21 July 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b "About". Global Social Theory. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Khurana, Lukas Kikuchi, Ishan. "Connected Sociologies". Connected Sociologies. Retrieved 26 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Bloomsbury. "Bloomsbury - Theory for a Global Age Series". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Theory for a Global Age". Manchester University Press. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Philip Abrams Memorial Prize Archive". British Sociological Association. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Gurminder K Bhambra". SPERI. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Five Minutes with John Holmwood and Sue Scott: "Discover Society puts social research back at the heart of public debate."". Impact of Social Sciences. 4 October 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Why is my curriculum white?". UCL - Dismantling the Master's House. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  12. ^ a b Bhambra, Gurminder K. (5 October 2020). "The Connected Sociologies Curriculum Project". The Sociological Review. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  13. ^ Bhambra, Gurminder K. (12 June 2020). "Opinion | A Statue Was Toppled. Can We Finally Talk About the British Empire?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  14. ^ Bhambra, Gurminder K. "Europe won't resolve the 'migrant crisis' until it faces its own past". The Conversation. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Author Page". openDemocracy. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  16. ^ Adem, Gurminder K. Bhambra, Yolande Bouka, Randolph B. Persaud, Olivia U. Rutazibwa, Vineet Thakur, Duncan Bell, Karen Smith, Toni Haastrup, Seifudein. "Why Is Mainstream International Relations Blind to Racism?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 26 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ "gurminder bhambra". The Sociological Review. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  18. ^ Diversified, AuthorMedia (25 June 2018). "Racial hierarchy and migration in Britain | Windrush 70th Anniversary series". Media Diversified. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  19. ^ "Why are the white working classes still being held responsible for Brexit and Trump?". LSE. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  20. ^ Bhambra, Gurminder K. (13 June 2020). "Learning about our past and how it affects the present". University World News. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Gurminder K. Bhambra". Times Higher Education. 20 September 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  22. ^ TEDx Talks (11 December 2017). "Everything you know about Brexit is wrong | Gurminder Bhambra | TEDxBrum". YouTube. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  23. ^ CAMPUS Talks: Gurminder K. Bhambra, retrieved 26 March 2021
  24. ^ Atlantic Fellows (9 August 2019). "Professor Gurminder Bhambra - History Matters: Inequalities, Reparation and Redistribution". YouTube. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  25. ^ Social Science Bites (1 July 2020). "Gurminder K. Bhambra on Postcolonial Social Science". Social Science Space. Retrieved 26 March 2021.

External links[edit]