Rereading the Classics after the Decolonial and Feminist Critiques

This article considers the impact of the decolonial and feminist critiques of the classics in sociology. These encourage a ‘reconstructionist’ view of the canon in which previously marginalised voices are engaged alongside those already consecrated in a dialogical process of reassessment. While supporting this process, I highlight three potential pitfalls. The first is demographic essentialism, where contemporary debates and concerns are read back into the past, a historically blind or flat process. The second is sins of omission where, in a historically selective reading, writers are condemned for not discussing a topic we now consider significant. The third issue is one of (re)reading, wherein contemporary British universities devalue the labour needed for reconstruction. I end by advocating that the decolonial and feminist critiques be drawn upon to defend the pressing intellectual and political task of reading, especially given its centrality to determining ‘classicity’.