Stuart Hall, 1932 - 2014
February 10, 2014 10:44 AM Subscribe
Stuart Hall, influential theorist and founder of New Left Review, has died aged 82. Born in Jamaica on February 3rd, 1932, Stuart Hall became a beacon of the New Left in Britain, a hugely influential cultural theorist (as one of the founding figures of British Cultural Studies) and an incisive critic of Thatcherism.
An amazing scholarly writer--one of my favourites.
posted by eagle-bear at 11:38 AM on February 10, 2014
posted by eagle-bear at 11:38 AM on February 10, 2014
Hall's contributions to cultural studies and other related fields are difficult to understate. Ever since I encountered Hall's writing for the first time, I have always been impressed by his ability to write with great clarity on complex topics. This style, I think, was picked up in some academic circles today. I have had the privilege to talk with a few of the editors of the New Left Review and can see how Hall's and Raymond Williams scholarship have been deeply ingrained into their own work - both in their more academic offerings and their commitment to public scholarship.
posted by Revort at 11:38 AM on February 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Revort at 11:38 AM on February 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
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He's been very important in legal studies too. I've always enjoyed teaching bits from his book on mugging to undergraduates.
posted by sfred at 11:44 AM on February 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
He's been very important in legal studies too. I've always enjoyed teaching bits from his book on mugging to undergraduates.
posted by sfred at 11:44 AM on February 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
I was staggered by his work (along with Raymond Williams) when I first encountered it in college. One of the great public intellectuals.
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posted by scody at 11:49 AM on February 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
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posted by scody at 11:49 AM on February 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
Verso Books has a good obit from Robin Blackburn — with a growing list of links to other Hall material.
I enjoyed reading Hall's last editorial (PDF) for Soundings (co-written with Alan O'Shea, appropriately for this great collaborator) as an up-to-the-moment reminder of the mind and voice we've now lost: plain-spoken, direct, and extremely sharp analytically, right to the end.
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posted by RogerB at 11:56 AM on February 10, 2014 [7 favorites]
I enjoyed reading Hall's last editorial (PDF) for Soundings (co-written with Alan O'Shea, appropriately for this great collaborator) as an up-to-the-moment reminder of the mind and voice we've now lost: plain-spoken, direct, and extremely sharp analytically, right to the end.
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posted by RogerB at 11:56 AM on February 10, 2014 [7 favorites]
That's a pity. I took one of his classes, mainly about social constructionism and diaspora, identity and media. Probably the most fun in a class I had as an undergrad.
posted by meehawl at 1:20 PM on February 10, 2014
posted by meehawl at 1:20 PM on February 10, 2014
I vividly remember reading Deviance, Politics and the Media in this book as a young undergrad. I'd only been out a year or two. The idea that what counted as deviant behaviour was subject to change blew my mind and gave me lots of strength for the arguments with my parents and with others who told me I was "just going through a phase" and that my behaviour wasn't acceptable to society.
posted by Cuke at 3:06 PM on February 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Cuke at 3:06 PM on February 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
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posted by synecdoche at 3:26 PM on February 10, 2014
posted by synecdoche at 3:26 PM on February 10, 2014
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posted by Roger_Mexico at 4:52 PM on February 10, 2014
posted by Roger_Mexico at 4:52 PM on February 10, 2014
He was so important to my generation of cultural studies scholars. Mad respect.
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posted by spitbull at 5:34 PM on February 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by spitbull at 5:34 PM on February 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:34 PM on February 10, 2014
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:34 PM on February 10, 2014
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posted by Mister Bijou at 4:22 AM on February 11, 2014
posted by Mister Bijou at 4:22 AM on February 11, 2014
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Obituary by Tariq Ali at Jacobin provides great context for his work and for thinking about how to take up his legacy.
"Unlike almost everyone else of his 1956 and later cohort, he did not write a book. Why, many asked, did he concentrate on the essay? Perhaps he liked the provisionality that lent itself to the shorter form. Or perhaps the masochistic practice of collective composition surrounded by sectarian twentysomethings at the Birmingham centre left him exhausted.
I don’t have the answer, but it doesn’t really matter. There is much to explore in what he has left behind, especially the refusal to banish the political from everyday thought."
Especially the refusal to banish the political from everyday thought. Thank you, Stuart Hall.
posted by kickingthecrap at 8:24 AM on February 11, 2014
Obituary by Tariq Ali at Jacobin provides great context for his work and for thinking about how to take up his legacy.
"Unlike almost everyone else of his 1956 and later cohort, he did not write a book. Why, many asked, did he concentrate on the essay? Perhaps he liked the provisionality that lent itself to the shorter form. Or perhaps the masochistic practice of collective composition surrounded by sectarian twentysomethings at the Birmingham centre left him exhausted.
I don’t have the answer, but it doesn’t really matter. There is much to explore in what he has left behind, especially the refusal to banish the political from everyday thought."
Especially the refusal to banish the political from everyday thought. Thank you, Stuart Hall.
posted by kickingthecrap at 8:24 AM on February 11, 2014
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posted by homunculus at 10:52 PM on February 11, 2014
posted by homunculus at 10:52 PM on February 11, 2014
By the way, here are two free-to-access (for now?) articles on Stuart Hall from the journal Cultural Studies.
URBANISM AND CITY SPACES IN THE WORK OF STUART HALL (in Cultural Studies' 2009 special issue on Stuart Hall and "race")
PUBLIC PEDAGOGY AS CULTURAL POLITICS: STUART HALL AND THE CRISIS OF CULTURE
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:05 PM on February 18, 2014
URBANISM AND CITY SPACES IN THE WORK OF STUART HALL (in Cultural Studies' 2009 special issue on Stuart Hall and "race")
PUBLIC PEDAGOGY AS CULTURAL POLITICS: STUART HALL AND THE CRISIS OF CULTURE
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:05 PM on February 18, 2014
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