Zygmunt Bauman and the West

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"To my knowledge there is no other book on the market with a similar perspective on Bauman's writings. I regard it as an absolute 'must read', for social theorists and students with an interest in the work of Bauman - not least because it provides a refreshing angle on Bauman's work compared with the existing literature which tends to outline Bauman's work in a rather chronological manner. Here we engage with a much more complex presentation of Bauman's perspective." Michael Hviid Jacobsen, Aalborg University "This is a brilliant piece of work. It represents the first wave of a second generation engagement with Bauman, twenty years after the first monographs on his work were published. This gives it a fresh and lateral sensibility. You open the book and the conversation begins: brilliant. And it continues all the way through, without flagging." Peter Beilharz, La Trobe University "This is an immensely erudite and compellingly written book. Palmer convincingly shows how Bauman's ambivalent positioning and intellectual engagement with respect to the West help account for the interpretation of non-Western historical experiences. Palmer's reading against the grain is a highly original and inspiring account." Manuela Boatca, University of Freiburg and author of Global Inequalities beyond Occidentalism "This superb book, by a leading expert on Bauman, is a major contribution to our understanding of his life and thought. Palmer's detailed knowledge of the tragedies of colonialism and postcolonialism leads to a fundamental reconsideration of what is often dismissed as Bauman's Eurocentrism. We encounter a rounded picture of a Bauman who is fully aware of these and other issues and wryly self-critical." William Outhwaite, Newcastle University and co-editor of Habermas Global: The Reception History of a Work "If [J.D.] Palmer's goal was to decolonize Bauman, then he did so masterfully. What he gives us is a thought-provoking text that shows what we can do when we, instead of pigeon-holing thinkers, ideas, or texts into convenient boxes, take a legacy of important conversations and run with them." Thesis 11 "[J.D.] Palmer's account of Bauman is groundbreaking and ... speaks to Bauman's reception today.... [I]t is also notable how Palmer's approach treats the West as a theme throughout Bauman's whole sociological writing, combining the discussion of culture in the 1960s to his theorisation of his liquid modernity.... It is also an excellent case study in how our increased knowledge of Bauman's biography can be used productively to enrich his sociology." Thesis 11 "Read Palmer and then (re)read Bauman not only to appreciate the sociology of sociology each offers but to appreciate what intellectual responsibility in this time might mean." Social Forces