You are invited to an encounter with Professor Peter Beilharz. The finest of interpreters of antipodean ‘cultural traffic’, Peter Beilharz is Professor of Critical Theory at Sichuan University, Emeritus Professor at La Trobe and Adjunct Professor at Curtin University. A former Harvard Chair of Australian Studies and founding editor of the journal Thesis Eleven, he is the author of some 25 books. These include anthologies on social theory (e.g. Social Theory, 1992), a treatise on Postmodern Socialism (1994), a critical homage to Bernard Smith (Imagining the Antipodes, 1997), a collection of Australian essays (Thinking the Antipodes, 2015), seminal introductions to the work of Zygmunt Bauman (e.g. Zygmunt Bauman: Dialectic of Modernity, 2000), stirring reflections on his friendship with Bauman (Intimacy in Postmodern Times, 2020), and a collection (with Sian Supski) on The Work of History (2022) in honour of Stuart Macintyre. 

Peter Beilharz will discuss his latest book on iconic Australian band Chain. Toward the Blues (2023) is a remarkable interpretation of a cultural moment in Australian history refracted through a single artefact: the 1970s Melbourne band Chain’s album Toward the Blues.

For further questions, please contact Harry Blatterer.