What is ‘The Subversive Good‘ research group about?
Hannah Arendt wrote ‘We are only free when we are connected to each other’. This research group explores what intentional kinship looks like, the conditions under which it flourishes and its impacts. It looks at how unlikely friendships can disrupt established social power structures and transcend inequalities.
What big issues and themes are you looking at?
In this interdisciplinary seminar series we theoretically, aesthetically, methodologically and practically explore what happens when we forge spaces of encounter.
Who will it be of interest to?
Those studying law, criminology, politics and international studies, sociology, education, psychology, divinity, archaeology & anthropology, philosophy, geography, psychology, psychiatry, also third sector activists and social policy makers.
How did this research group come about?
This research group has grown out of an innovation in teaching and learning project whereby students from Cambridge study alongside students in prison. Through this, conversations between the convenors from education and from criminology, led to the idea that the themes emerging were of broad interdisciplinary interest and impact, hence ‘The Subversive Good’ was born.
Tell us about the seminars and events you have planned
Each seminar has a theme that will be addressed by people from different academic disciplines and practitioners working in relevant areas. Presentations will be about 10 minutes long each, bringing key points into the room for discussion, and the majority of each session will be reserved for dialogue on the themes and points raised.
How can people find out more about your group?
You can follow us on Twitter @subversivegood and we have a research group page on the CRASSH website. We filmed our first session on 13 October with projectCURATE and Rowan Williams, and it will be available on the CRASSH website soon.
Is there anything else you’d like people to know about your group?
The Subversive Good will end with two days of workshops on 12 and 13 May 2016. The first of these days will be held in HMP Grendon on 12 May and the second will be held in the Alison Richards Building on 13 May. The days will be a chance to learn from prisoners about the value of forging intentional kinship, and good ways to do this in unlikely places. The workshops in Cambridge will be a chance to consider how we take this work forwards in practical and interdisciplinary ways, and will be accompanied by an exhibition of visual and audio art on the theme ‘Curating Community’.
- You can find the full schedule of Subversive Good events for Michaelmas term here. Sign up for the CRASSH newsletter for updates on the group’s May workshop.
