About
This University of Malta one-day international and interdisciplinary symposium on The History of Work is inspired by the work of E.P. Thompson, and organised to coincide with the 60th anniversary of his foundational book, The Making of the English Working Class (1963).
It will take place on the 13th October 2023 at the Valletta Campus of the University, with further details to follow.
The conference is organised with the Centre for Labour Studies at the University of Malta, which aims to strengthen the University's link with working persons, employers and the world of work at large; and promote social dialogue, active involvement and the effective participation of workers, and their representatives, in specific workplaces and in labour policy more generally. It is also organised in collaboration with Works in Progress Seminar series (WIPSS), convened by Prof. Peter Mayo, Dr Michael Briguglio, and Francois Zammit. The mission of WIPSS is to offer a forum for active and socially-engaged dialogue, through a seminar-based interface between the University of Malta community and civil society.
The organisers of the symposium are:
Dr Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone is a research support officer with the Centre for Labour Studies at the University of Malta, and a visiting senior lecturer at the Department of English, where her teaching is primarily focused on Shakespeare and the early modern. She has published articles and book chapters on contemporary popular engagements with, and re-imaginings of, the medieval and early modern, including a recent co-written paper on representations of work in neomedieval digital games. She has recently co-edited the volume The Double Binds of Neoliberalism: Theory and Culture After 1968 (Rowman & Littlefield 2022) and is currently co-writing a book on precarious work in higher education with Lena Wånggren. She is also a law graduate with an interest in legal history and employment, and has worked as a researcher in refugee law
Dr Jurgen R. Gatt is a medical doctor and a classicist working as an Assistant Lecturer at G. F. Abela Junior College. He is also a Casual Lecturer at the Dept. of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta, where he primarily lectures on Greek Literature and Greek History. He completed his PhD from University College London, entitled From Murder to Geography: A Forensic Paradigm of Witnessing in Antiphon and Herodotus. Currently, his research interests include 5th century B.C.E. prose, ancient epistemology of testimony, witnesses in forensic literature, early Greek philosophy and science, and history of medicine of Malta.
Francois Zammit works in the education sector and is currently pursuing a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Malta. His doctoral research explores the political role and ideological formulation of neoliberal thought. His thesis builds a critique of neoliberal thought by engaging with it through the lens of continental and Italian philosophy with a focus on Giorgio Agamben’s opus. He is part of the organising committee and convenors of WIPSS (Works in Progress in the Social Studies) and the Engaging the Contemporary annual international conference. Francois is also a teaching assistant with the Department of Educational Studies and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Malta. His lecturing and research focus on political philosophy, biopolitics, and philosophy and technology.
If you have any questions, you may contact the organisers Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone, Jurgen R. Gatt, and Francois Zammit via email