Basics of Marxism: Historical materialism - Emeritus professor Henk Overbeek

The workshop series Basics of Marxism aims to bring PhD students and researchers in Groningen together who use or aspire to use Marxist theories in their work. The goal is to make the Marxist toolbox accessible to a broader group. 

The first installment of this series is about historical materialism, the main Marxist method to describe the development of societies. The speaker for this event is Henk Overbeek, emeritus professor of international relations at VU Amsterdam and former senator for the Socialist Party. Having used the historical materialist method in his own work, as well as teaching a yearly seminar on the topic, he is well suited to open up this topic for our workshop. 

The aim is to have a ‘hands-on’ workshop, in which we not only learn about historical materialism, but will also be doing historical materialism. Besides Henk Overbeek’s introduction lecture, there will also be the opportunity to share and discuss your own ideas for using historical materialism in your own work. That way, the, perhaps to some still abstract method will immediately become more practical. 

The workshop is open to anyone who is interested in using historical materialism as a research approach. Participation is free, but registration is required. The sign-up sheet can be found through this link.

A few weeks before the workshop, we will distribute a few texts you can read in preparation. There will also be space to bring your research ideas to the workshop.

Organized by the Interdisciplinary Marxism Group (IMG)