Anarchism, Utopianism and Hospitality: The Work of René Schérer

René Schérer (born 1922) is lamentably almost unknown to the Anglo-American world as his work has, as yet, not been translated . He is one of the main specialists of the French “utopian socialist”, Charles Fourier (1772-1837), and a major thinker in his own right. He is the author of more than twenty books and co-editor of the journal Chimères. Colleague and friend at Vincennes university (Paris 8) of Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Rancière, Jean-François Lyotard, François Châletet, Alain Brossat, Georges Navet, Miguel Abensour, Pierre Macherey… he continues to host seminars at Paris 8 (now located at St. Denis). He is a living testimony to a radical past, and a continuing inspiration to a new generation of young thinkers. This article aims to convey the original specificity of his understanding of anarchism. By so doing, it will stress the importance of his work for any thinking concerned with a politicised resistance to social conformity and the supposed “state of things” today

‘Multicultural lunches’: Sharing food in post-Brexit south coast of England.

Food can be considered a substance that brings people together through its material and sensuous qualities, through affecting shared memories of people and place, and through traditions of hospitality; it is a human necessity with multiple levels of communal understanding, and conviviality. Currently, much of the UK faces the fragmentation of communities based on closely divided political views. In this case, conflicting feelings related to Brexit, migration and refugees. In this paper we offer a qualitative analysis of a series of ‘multicultural lunches’ – named and organised by a local equality advocacy charity and partner volunteer organisations. The multicultural lunches took place between July and October 2017. Drawing from 13 semi-structured interviews and 6 participant observations we provide detailed discussion that links food with leisure and community. Analysis of the findings illustrates the nature of local response to broader societal fragmentation and conflict, and offers critical discussion of the value of food to community development

The challenge of hospitality: marking remembrance as an Anglican in a multifaith parish

From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: epub 2021-02-14, issued 2021-02-14, ppub 2021-09-03Article version: VoRPublication status: Publishe