Entering its fourth decade, George Mason University’s Fall 2025 Cultural Studies Colloquium in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences will discuss “very big questions and answers,” according to event organizer and cultural studies professor Roger Lancaster.
Hosted by the college’s Cultural Studies Program, the fall colloquium welcomes renowned political economist Branko Milanovic, award-winning evolutionary anthropologist Agustin Fuentes, Pulitzer Prize winning author Greg Grandin, and groundbreaking cultural studies scholar Nick Dyer-Witheford.
In four separate seminars, these scholars will discuss a variety of topics and issues, including: globalization and inequality, gender studies, modern day citizenship, and cyber culture.
“I thought it would be a good idea to have a big footprint colloquium this year with substantial scholars who do cutting-edge research and have a broad scholarly footprint across disciplines,” Lancaster said. “Everybody speaking this semester is working with a very broad palette and very big questions and answers.”
The semi-annual colloquium, which pre-dated the inception of George Mason’s Culture Studies program in 1993, begins Aug. 28, is open to the public, and will be streamed live on GMU-TV. All seminars will run from 4:30-6 p.m. (EST).
Lancaster and Cultural Studies Interim Director Lisa Rabin believe the cross-discipline seminars spark conversation, generate research, and inspire intellectual thought for not only George Mason students but also the presenters.
“I know it is cliché to say in these fractured times, but public discourse is very divisive,” Rabin said. “The spirit of the colloquium holds through to having scholars from across disciplines who are used to contemporary debate. They are devoted to not only making an intervention on their topic but also to modeling the kind of inquiry these issues and questions should provoke instead of getting closed down. They are interested in talking to people. They are interested in hearing the other side.”
Learn more, and view the full Fall 2025 Cultural Studies Colloquium lineup.
August 13, 2025