Dr Vivienne Boon BA (Leeds), MA (Warwick), PhD (Liverpool)
Lecturer
Department of Sociology, University of Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK
T: 01483 682829
F: 01483 689551
E: v.boon@surrey.ac.uk
Room: 18 AD 03

Education
Dr Vivienne Boon is a Lecturer in Sociology. She obtained a PhD in Political Philosophy at the University of Liverpool, which was entitled ‘On a Europe Without Learning Curves: Using Habermas Against Habermas’.  This PhD thesis was undertaken in the Department of Philosophy, supervised by Dr Simon Hailwood and Dr Gillian Howie, and funded by the first prestigious Duncan Norman Scholarship. Prior to her PhD, she gained a MA in Social and Political Thought (with distinction) from the University of Warwick, and a BA in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies (first class) at the University of Leeds.

Research
Vivienne's research interests are primarily in political theory, international relations, critical theory (especially Habermas), war and political violence, politics of identity and recognition, global justice and human rights, cosmopolitanism, ethics of torture, Middle Eastern politics, Europeanization, dialogue and conflict resolution.

Teaching
Current Teaching:
UG Year 2: Media, War and Human Rights
UG Year 2: Understanding Key Thinkers
UG Year 3: Sociology of Terror
Contributions to:
UG Year 1: Contemporary Societies
UG Year 3: Globalisation

Previous Teaching:
UG Year 2: Methods of Media and Cultural Research
MA: Multiculturalism
Contributions to:
UG Year 1: Popular Culture and Everyday Life
UG Year 3: Globalisation

Student Research Projects:
Vivienne supervises BA, MA and PhD dissertations.  She is interested in issues of political conflict and violence, identity politics and human rights as well as social/political theoretical dissertations.

Professional Activities
Vivienne is the Associate Editor for Empedocles: Journal for the Philosophy of Communication.  She is on the steering group for Interdisciplinary.net, for the sub-section entitled “On the Problems of Democracy”.  She was the Assistant Editor of the European Journal for Social Theory and was on the editorial board of Sociological Research Online. She has reviewed articles submitted to a variety of journals, including: Theory, Culture and Society, Res Republica and the Journal of Global Ethics.

Recent Publications
Edited Journals
Boon, Vivienne and Head, Noami (eds) (forthcoming, 2010) – special issue entitled ‘Critical Theory and the Language of Violence’, Journal of Global Ethics, Volume 2, Nr 6, 2010  (Contributors: Johan Siebers, David Seymour, Shane O’Neill, Robert Fine, Simon Susen, Omid Payrow Shabani, Verena Erlenbusch, Vivienne Boon and Naomi Head)

Boon, Vivienne and Fine, Robert (eds) (2007) – special issue entitled ' Cosmopolitanism; Past and Future', European Journal of Social Theory , Volume 9, Nr 4
(Contributors: Robert Fine & Vivienne Boon, Ulrich Beck & Edgar Grande, Daniel Chernilo, William Smith, Alessandro Ferrara, Omid A Payrow Shabani, Isabel Estrada Carvalhais, Nikos Papastergiadis, Motti Regev, Natan Sznaider)

Peer-reviewed Book Chapters & Journal Articles 
Boon, Vivienne and Head, Naomi (forthcoming, 2010) ‘Critical Theory and the Language of Violence: Exploring the Issues’, Journal of Global Ethics, Volume 2, Nr 6, 2010

Boon, Vivienne (forthcoming, 2010) ‘Jurgen Habermas and Islamic Fundamentalism: On the Limits of Discourse Ethics’, Journal of Global Ethics, Volume 2, Nr 6, 2010

Boon, Vivienne (2007) ‘Habermas's Writings on Europe: Not Habermasian Enough?', Ethical Perspectives , Vol 14, Nr 4 (December 2007)

Boon, Vivienne and Fine, Robert (2007) ‘Introduction: Cosmopolitanism between Past and Future', European Journal of Social Theory , Volume 9, Nr 4, pp 443-455

Boon, Vivienne and Delanty, Gerard (2006) ‘Europe as a Historical Projection' – in Persson, Hans- Åke and Strath, Bo (eds) (2006) Europe as Space and Time , Yale University Press

Boon, Vivienne (2006) ‘Subjectivity' – in Ritzer, George (2006) Blackwells Encyclopedia of Sociology, Oxford: Blackwells

Boon, Vivienne and Delanty, Gerard (2006) ‘Cosmopolitanism and Europe: Historical Considerations' – in Rumford, Chris (ed) (2006) Cosmopolitanism and Europe , Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press

Invited Reviews
Boon, Vivienne (2009) Review of Habermas's Europe: A Faltering Project, Empedocles, April 2010

Boon, Vivienne (2005) Review of Graham Crow's 'The Art of Sociological Argument' , Sociological Research Online, Volume 10, Nr 3

Publications in progress:
‘Recognition and the Conditions of Political Violence’ – to be submitted to a special issue of Res Republica on ‘Political Violence’, edited by Sarah Soral

Democratic Imperialism: Habermas and Middle Eastern Questions – to be submitted to a special issue on ‘Problems of Democracy’ of Issues in Social Justice – edited by Bob Brecher

‘Habermas’s Writings on Europe: An Immanent Critique’ – book proposal

Conference Papers
“Democracy without Learning Curves: A Critique of Discourse Ethics” 1st Global Conference: On the Problem of Democracy, Prague, 30 April – 2 May 2010

 “Should We Recognise Violent Actors? Recognition theory and Islamic fundamentalism” Interdisciplinary.net,  9th Global Conference: Violence - Probing the Boundaries, Salzburg, Austria, 12th March - 14th march 2010

“Non-Communication as Misrecognition? Habermas and Honneth on Islamic fundamentalism” The Politics of Misrecognition: An Interdisciplinary Conference, 22 January – 23 January 2010, University of Bristol

Paper “Discourse Ethics without Learning Curves: On the Problem of Social Memory” ECREA conference

Paper “Jürgen Habermas and Sayyid Qutb: On the Problem of Non-Communication”, Recognition and Conflict Resolution conference, Queens University Belfast, 25-27 June 2009.

“The War on Terror: On Violence and Distorted Communication in Habermas's Discourse Ethics”, Recognition and Reconciliation conference, Queens Belfast, 25-27 June 2009.

 “Habermas and the War on Terror: From Violence to Communication?”, Sociology seminar series, University of Surrey, 12 February 2009.

“The War on Terror: A Threat to Communicative Ethics?” – ESRC seminar series on ‘The Ethics of the War on Terror', University of Leicester, 25-26 September 2008.

“Habermas's Writings on Europe: Not Habermasian Enough?' – EuroEthos conference, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, 26-29 September 2008.

"Habermas's Writings on Europe: Not Habermasian Enough?' , PIPS Research Seminar, University of Surrey, 28 November 2007.

“On the Problem of Thick and Thin in Habermas's Writings on Europe ', ECREA Philosophy of Communication Conference, University of Surrey, 7 November 2007.

'Habermas's Writings on Europe: Including Otherness?' - Habermas and Violence panel, Fourth Annual Conference – Workshops for Political Theory, Manchester Metropolitan University, 3 – 5 September 2007.

'Habermas's writings on Europe: Inclusion of the Other?' Aliens and Nations: Citizenship, Sovereignty and Global Politics in the 21st Century, ALSP Conference, 19-21 April 2007.

'Thinking about Europe: the necessity of social, political and philosophical perspectives', Interdisciplinary Forum, Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, April 2007.

‘The problem of Otherness in Habermas's Cosmopolitanism' , The Various Forms of Cosmopolitanism panel, Third Annual Conference – Workshops in Political Theory, Manchester Metropolitan University, 6-8 September 2006.

'The Struggle for a Cosmopolitan ‘We': Europe's relation to Otherness' , Cosmopolitanism; Past and Future workshop, University of Liverpool, 18-19 November 2005.

'Europe as a historical projection; Europe and its Histories' , co-presented with Gerard Delanty, Europe as Space and Time workshop, Villa Fonta, European University Institute, Florence (Italy), 17-18 October 2005.

‘Cosmopolitan Encounters in the European sphere', workshop ‘Political Subjectivities in Globalising Structures' at the Second Annual Conference ‘Workshops in Political Theory', Manchester Metropolitan University, 7–9 September 2005.

‘Searching for Social and Political Community in an era of Europeanization' , University of Liverpool, Department of Sociology Centenary Conference, 6-8 September 2005.

‘Cosmopolitanism as a new form of utopia in the 21st century' - at the ‘Is There a Role for Utopia in Twenty-First Century Ideology?'conference, Centre for Political Ideologies at the University of Sheffield (in association with the Centre for Political Ideologies at the University of Oxford), 17 June 2005.

‘Towards a Recognition of Cosmopolitan Constellation(s) in Europe' – at a Special Media Research Seminar 16 March 2005, University of Leeds, Trinity and All Saints College
‘Europe as a Historical Projection' - at the ‘Europe as Space and Time' workshop, Centre for European Studies, University of Malmo (Sweden), 3-6 March 2005.

'EU and European Enlargement; the ambiguous relation to Otherness', Postgraduate CANE Conference, Department of Government, Manchester University, 20 November 2004.

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