Short Series in Honour of Michael Burawoy
Three cheers to Burawoy!
14 (Coimbra) and 23 (Lisbon) October | 3 November (Porto) || 2025
Michael Burawoy is a central figure in contemporary sociology. Over decades, his work has marked the analysis of labour, capitalism, and production processes, as well as reflections on modes of knowledge, ethnography, the division of sociological labour, and the development of a “public sociology”, of which he was one of the leading proponents. His work has influenced different generations of researchers in various countries, including Portugal, where it has been used in sociological research projects, theoretical debates, and practises of dialogue between sociology and non-academic audiences.
The series “Three Cheers for Burawoy!” aims to highlight the relevance of this legacy and open a space for collective debate around three central axes of his contribution: reflection on modes of knowledge and public sociology; critical analysis of capitalism, the work process and production policies; and the importance of working-class ethnography, revisitations and extended case studies.
Spread across three cities – Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto – and three leading institutions in Portuguese sociology (CES, CIES and IS-UP), this series seeks to bring together perspectives, experiences and readings, paying tribute to a sociologist whom we have come to admire and who, above all, is greatly missed for his generous erudition, rigorous research, constant exercise of sociological imagination, affability in controversy and consistency in his commitments.
The closing ceremony, at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto, will feature a lecture by Cihan Tuğal, Burawoy’s colleague in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, who will reflect on Michael’s heretical digressions through capitalism, socialism and colonialism.
Admission is free!
GENERAL PROGRAMME HERE