100th anniversary of Zygmunt Bauman's birth (1925-2017).

We are pleased to invite you to the upcoming seminar in the "Polish Marxism" series, taking place on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 4:00 PM CET.

The date of the seminar is symbolic, as it marks the 100th anniversary of Zygmunt Bauman's birth (1925-2017). While Bauman was one of the most famous Polish sociologists, and his works on “liquid modernity” became a canon of postmodernist philosophy, his earlier works still remain in the shadows in mainstream academic discussions, causing confusion and controversy around the biography of the celebrated scholar. This seminar is an attempt to reconcile the young and the old Bauman, devoted communist and postmodernist critic. We will discuss how Bauman’s early engagement in the socialist projects of “solid” modernity can reframe our thinking about his later postmodernist works. We will explore questions about the utopian hopes that underlie Bauman’s early Marxist works, the role of Jewish roots in the complex formation of his identity, and the special place of human freedom in his later thought. Following the approach developed in our seminars, we will reflect on Bauman as someone shaped by the specific conditions of the development of Polish Marxism and who was its major contributor. We hope that during this seminar, we can all gather to listen, discuss, and enjoy Bauman’s (post)modernist polyphony.

The discussion will move chronologically, starting from the presentation of Bauman’s biographer, Izabela Wagner. We will then focus more on the content of Bauman’s Marxist sociology. Finally, we will finish with the panel of later Bauman’s works:

• prof. Izabela Wagner: Once Upon a Time.... (exactly 100 years ago) was born Zygmunt • • • Bauman: the puzzled story of a man trapped between his Master Status, and Identity

• prof. Jarosław Kilias — East European Marxist Sociology: An Unrealized Project and a Utopia

• Panel discussion - In search of human freedom and dignity: late Bauman's thought - prof. Adam Chmielewski, prof. Matt Dawson, dr Jack Palmer. Moderator: prof. Sławomir Czapnik

Further details of the presentations and biographies of the invited guests will be announced in the coming days.

The event will be held online via the Zoom platform: https://uw-edu-pl.zoom.us/j/94400425428?pwd=RSvRF1wE5I8HBe3ZJpDbyoExbSzfbA.1