I first came across the name Stuart Hall when I did A Level Sociology. Reading him at age 16/17 was somewhat challenging but the manner in which he contextualised colonialism, race, politics, identity and British society, all with a leftist slant, made a lasting impression. I did not study Hall’s work closely as an undergraduate but over the years I would see mentions of his name periodically in the media and while I was unable to read his work in depth I did manage to peruse some chapters and articles from time to time.
When I was doing my Masters in 2011/2012, I took some courses that were inter-disciplinary in nature and which provided me with the opportunity to revisit some of Hall’s work as well as study some which I had not been exposed to. Reading Hall at the age of 34 allowed me to recognise how important his nuanced thinking on issues of race, identity, media, culture and society as a whole had been in shaping my own ideas. As a teenager wrestling with issues of marginalisation and identity, I tended to see a world of neat linear divisions functioning solely in the interests of power and with the masses possessing no agency at all. Economic determinism was central to my world view at that point Of course, as Hall demonstrated, while the forces of neo-liberalism do wield significant power which is reinforced by the output of a media allied to them, the economy alone is insufficient in explaining how society functions.
I started my Masters with eleven years of diplomacy behind me, eleven years of my brain being dulled by the Foreign Service. It is difficult to describe the sort of intellectual stimulation I felt and the intellectual liberty I experienced in my one year sabbatical. Stuart Hall’s writings, although a small part of the vast amount of academic reading I did in one year, are for some reason associated indelibly with my year in Durham. I had a very good friend when I was there who did a paper on Hall and who formed a close bond with Hall through his work. When I emailed him to inform him of Hall’s death he spoke about this bond and how affected he was by Hall’s death. Hall had that ability to resonate with you because he so ably described the dynamics of our lives.
This morning when I read about his death, it occurred to me that whenever I think of West Indians who have made their mark in the UK, the first name that comes to mind is not a Trevor McDonald, a John Barnes, a George Lamming, a Gus Young, a C.L.R.James or a Darcus Howe. It is always Stuart Hall.
The following are some articles which pay tribute to Hall:
When I was doing my Masters in 2011/2012, I took some courses that were inter-disciplinary in nature and which provided me with the opportunity to revisit some of Hall’s work as well as study some which I had not been exposed to. Reading Hall at the age of 34 allowed me to recognise how important his nuanced thinking on issues of race, identity, media, culture and society as a whole had been in shaping my own ideas. As a teenager wrestling with issues of marginalisation and identity, I tended to see a world of neat linear divisions functioning solely in the interests of power and with the masses possessing no agency at all. Economic determinism was central to my world view at that point Of course, as Hall demonstrated, while the forces of neo-liberalism do wield significant power which is reinforced by the output of a media allied to them, the economy alone is insufficient in explaining how society functions.
I started my Masters with eleven years of diplomacy behind me, eleven years of my brain being dulled by the Foreign Service. It is difficult to describe the sort of intellectual stimulation I felt and the intellectual liberty I experienced in my one year sabbatical. Stuart Hall’s writings, although a small part of the vast amount of academic reading I did in one year, are for some reason associated indelibly with my year in Durham. I had a very good friend when I was there who did a paper on Hall and who formed a close bond with Hall through his work. When I emailed him to inform him of Hall’s death he spoke about this bond and how affected he was by Hall’s death. Hall had that ability to resonate with you because he so ably described the dynamics of our lives.
This morning when I read about his death, it occurred to me that whenever I think of West Indians who have made their mark in the UK, the first name that comes to mind is not a Trevor McDonald, a John Barnes, a George Lamming, a Gus Young, a C.L.R.James or a Darcus Howe. It is always Stuart Hall.
The following are some articles which pay tribute to Hall:
No comments:
Post a Comment