A unified theory of reasonableness – and how to be unreasonable for the right reasons.
We’re living in an age of division. From abortion rights to immigration, gun control to climate change, civil debate has gone out the window. Manners, order, and respect are being eroded. Why can’t we all be reasonable?
The trouble is, what’s ‘reasonable’ to one person is outrageous to another. Is it okay to let children play in the garden while others are working from home? To do your makeup on a train, or recline your seat on an aeroplane? What’s the right way to breastfeed? To protect your neighbourhood? To protest against injustice and oppression? In a world where we all think we’re being reasonable, how can we figure out what’s right?
Looking back through history and around the world, Kirsty Sedgman set out to discover how unfairness and discrimination got baked into our social norms, dividing us along lines of gender, class, disability, sexuality, race… Instead of measuring human behaviour against outdated standards of rules and reason, On Being Unreasonable argues that sometimes we need to act unreasonably to bring about positive change.
Bio
An award-winning cultural studies scholar based at the University of Bristol, Dr Kirsty Sedgman has spent her career studying how we construct and maintain our competing value systems, working out how people can live side by side in the same world yet come to understand it in such totally different ways.
Her research asks how audiences find value in cultural participation. How are these experiences made meaningful within their lives?
Kirsty is the author of numerous academic publications and is Editor of the Routledge book series in Audience Research.
She has also spoken on the BBC’s Front Row and World Service programmes, at BroadwayCon in New York and IETM in Croatia, and on numerous podcasts and local radio shows.
Her writing has appeared in The Stage, Exeunt, and the BBC’s Expert Network, and her work has featured in outlets like the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, and the New York Times.
Her book, “On Being Unreasonable“, was published in February, 2024.
Standard Stuff
Talks are usually (December is always an exception) on the 4th Wednesday of every month, at 7:00 for 7:30, at The Winchester Club in Winchester. Please take a look at the FAQs for more info.
Admission is £5 which also gives you an entry in the book raffle. We take cash and major cards (cards preferred).
The event is in two parts – the talk and then a Q&A after the interval. We encourage you to support the venue by indulging in the available drinks before and during the event.
You are also welcome to join us for a drink in the bar after the event.