Ideas Matter: The troubled universalism of ‘The Souls of Black Folk’

Fifth podcast in the series on Race and Racism, theme of BoI
charity’s event The Academy, held online in late 2020.


In this episode we feature the talk: The troubled universalism of
‘The Souls of Black Folk’.


‘The Souls of Black Folk’ was published in 1903 by W.E.B. Du
Bois, the American sociologist, historian, author and campaigner.
Today, identity politics and campaigns such as decolonising the
curriculum emphasise racial difference rather than common
humanity. At a time when universalism has fallen distinctly out
of fashion, what can we learn from revisiting this seminal work
from Du Bois?


Lecturer: Brendan O’Neill; editor, spiked; writer for The Sun,
The Spectator and The Australian; broadcast commentator, Sky News
and the BBC; host, The Brendan O’Neill Show podcast.


THE ACADEMY ONLINE II: RACE AND RACISM The Academy II was a half
day online event via zoom that took place in November 2020. 


To view the full programme and some suggested background reading
to the talks, please visit 
https://theboi.co.uk/the-academy-online-ii-race-and-racism


For this lecture on civil rights, we you may wish to read:-


‘The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois (1903). Purchase
this book at http://amzn.to/3jQG15y

‘Black privilege:Why white liberals venerate Ta-Nehisi
Coates’ by Brendan O’Neill, spiked http://bit.ly/3daTzay



THE ACADEMY In the context of today’s instrumental approaches to
knowledge, The Academy summer school is a modest attempt to
demonstrate the value of scholarship, and of the worth of the
university as a place of free enquiry dedicated to the pursuit of
truth.


DONATING TO THE BOI CHARITY The BOI charity is committed to
continuing to host discussion and debates throughout this period
when society is restricted by measures to tackle coronavirus. In
order to realise events such as the Academy Online, none of our
staff are furloughed and instead remain working. If you can, then
please consider a donation, small or large.
Visit: https://theboi.co.uk/donate


IDEAS MATTER PODCAST Ideas Matter is a podcast that takes the
most important issues of our times and explores the ideas and
intellectual trends that have shaped where we are today.


You can subscribe and listen to Ideas Matter on iTunes, Podbean,
Spotify or SoundCloud. For full details of all episodes, visit
the podcast page on our website


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