Ali Alizadeh: Beyond Culture and Identity: the Case for a New Universality

Have our preoccupations with cultural identity made societies more progressive and just, or have they strengthened the fetishistic ideology of hegemonic, late capitalism?

Ali Alizadeh’s recent works have been concerned with the desire and possibility for a renewed universalism, a cross-cultural, cross-national consciousness in the face of the horrors of global capitalism. Today he argues that the time has come for us to think critically about the cherished ideals of cultural, religious, national and ethnic identity and diversity; to reconsider universality.

Lunchbox/Soapbox

Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good rant. Every Thursday, the Wheeler Centre hosts an old-fashioned Speakers’ Corner in the middle of the city, where writers and thinkers can have their say on the topics that won’t let them sleep at night.

Featuring some of our most compelling voices across just about every sector of human endeavour you can imagine, the themes dominating Lunchbox/Soapbox are proudly idiosyncratic. BYO lunch. Ideas provided.