In Keywords (1976), Raymond Williams devised a “vocabulary” of culture and society that reflected the vast social transformations marking the post-war period. Following Williams, Keywords for Radicals asks: what vocabulary might illuminate the social transformations marking our own contested present? How do these words shape the political imaginary of today’s radical left?

Bringing together the insights of dozens of scholars and committed troublemakers, Keywords for Radicals constellates a vocabulary of contested words that shape today’s political landscape. More than a glossary, Keywords for Radicals makes clear that contests over word usage and meaning are themselves meaningful. By forcing words to reveal the underlying social contradictions they symptomatically express, the contributors to this volume provide an important new vantage on the terrain—and the stakes—of contemporary struggle.

Join special guest Robin D.G. Kelley and Keywords for Radicals editor Clare O’Connor to explore the meaning and significance of the worlds within our words!

ROBIN D.G. KELLEY is is the Gary B. Nash Professor of American History at UCLA. His research has explored the history of social movements in the U.S., the African Diaspora, and Africa; black intellectuals; music; visual culture; contemporary urban studies; poverty studies and ethnography; colonialism/imperialism; organized labor; constructions of race; Surrealism, Marxism, nationalism, among other things.

CLARE O’CONNOR is a contributing editor of Keywords for Radicals and a doctoral student in Communication at USC. She is former Coordinator of the Public Interest Research Group (Toronto) and cofounder of the activist training program Tools for Change. Between 2007 and 2013 she served on the editorial committee of Upping the Anti: A journal of theory and action.

For more information about the book, visit:
https://www.akpress.org/keywords-for-radicals.html