The Adam Mickiewicz University and the City of Poznań cordially invite you to the next open lecture. The lecture entitled "A Century of Ethnography - Celebrating the Global Imagination of The Polish Peasant" will be delivered by a renowned sociologist from the University of California in Berkeley (USA), Prof. Michael Burawoy, on Thursday, 24 May 2018, at 11.00 a.m. in the Lubranski Hall at the Collegium Minus of the Adam Mickiewicz University at 1 Wieniawskiego Street.
Professor Burawoy has been a professor at the University of California in Berkeley (Faculty of Sociology) since 1983. Between 1975 and 1983, Professor Burawoy was also a lecturer at the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin.
Prof. Burawoy is a co-founder and editor of Global Dialogue, as well as an editor of leading sociological journals: African Sociological Review, American Sociological Review, American Sociologist Annual Review of Sociology, Contemporary Sociology, Ethnography, Political Power and Social Theory, Qualitative Sociology, South African Sociological Review, Theory and Society, Work and Occupations.
Professor Burawoy is one of the most recognizable sociologists in the world. Author and propagator of the concept of "public sociology" (an element which he clearly introduced into the global discourse) - i.e. the vision of social sciences, which do not avoid involvement in expert roles, e.g. in relation to public opinion. What is important is that public sociology presupposes the existence of universal laws and universal sociological knowledge, while at the same time recognizing the diversity of sociology and its value. On the other hand, it is a vision of sociology "with an aim", that is, one that has ambitions to develop social cognition, which is to be socially communicated and therefore valuable.
In his work, Professor Burawoy also dealt with social and industrial relations, social inequalities, the nature of post-colonialism and its relation to the specificity of the capitalist system, as well as the dilemmas of the transition from socialism to capitalism. In the 1990s, he studied and published several works related to the collapse of the Soviet Union and problems of post-Soviet organization of the economy and state.
In the course of his research and teaching, he has developed theoretical methods that allow him to draw general conclusions from ethnographic research and case studies. This methodology, which indicates a clear dependence between the place where knowledge is produced (its spatial and cultural diversity) and the development of the discipline itself, is one of the key achievements of Prof. Burawoy's sociology. This orientation brings Professor Burawoy's interests closer to those of the Polish sociologist Florian Znaniecki, who is also associated with the so-called Chicago School of Sociology, and is the reason for inviting Professor Burawoy to celebrate the centenary of the publication of William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki's book entitled "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America".
Professor Burawoy's contribution to sociology was recognized by the American and International Sociological Associations, which entrusted Professor Burawoy with key positions in their organizations.
Prof. Burawoy will also attend the conference "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America - Symposium 2018", organized by the Institute of Sociology of the Adam Mickiewicz University.