Professor Shirin Rai (SOAS) visits the Centre for the Study of Democracy to talk about her award-winning book.
Join Professor Shirin Rai as she discusses her award-winning book 'Depletion: the human costs of caring'. Rai explores how the essential labour of care, so often taken for granted, is unequally shared, systematically appropriated, and dangerously depleted. She shows how this hidden drain affects people, households, communities, economies, and even the planet. Most importantly, Rai makes the case for reimagining care itself, transforming it from a source of exhaustion into the foundation of a more just and sustainable future.
Location
Westminster Forum, 5th Floor, 32-38 Wells Street, London, W1T 3UW
The event will take place in-person. If you have any questions, please email the seminar convener, Dr Matthew Fluck ([email protected]).
About the centre
The Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD), established in 1989, is based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. At the Centre, academics working in politics and international relations undertake socially engaged, methodologically diverse and often interdisciplinary research that aims to address a range of critical political challenges in relation to democracy worldwide.
CSD has a longstanding international reputation for research excellence through a programme of publications, events and collaborations with academics, practitioners, policymakers, and activists. Research in Politics and International Studies at CSD was ranked 4th highest in the UK for impact in the Research Excellence Framework 2021.
The Centre has established numerous collaborations with scholars and universities around the world and has hosted encounters with public intellectuals including Luc Boltanski, Judith Butler, Stuart Hall, Bruno Latour, Richard Rorty, Quentin Skinner, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Charles Taylor, James Tully, and Michael Walzer. The CR Parekh lecture, instituted by Lord Bhikhu Parekh, has included lectures by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arundhati Roy, and Ashis Nandy.
CSD recognises that responding to contemporary social and political challenges requires engagement beyond the academy, so actively welcomes dialogue and collaboration with researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and activists around the world. The Centre is directed by Professor Nitasha Kaul.
About the speaker
Professor Shirin Rai
Shirin M. Rai is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at SOAS, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her research interests include performance and politics, gender and politics, and feminist international political economy. She has published extensively in these areas; her recent work includes the co-edited Oxford Handbook of Politics and Performance. Her latest book, Depletion: The Human Costs of Caring (2024), was awarded the Susan Strange Best Book Award by the British International Studies Association.
