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University of Southern Denmark, Odense organizes Consumption Theory: Canon of Classics

University of Southern Denmark, Odense organizes

Consumption Theory: Canon of Classics


Ph.D. Seminar


June 17th – June 22nd, 2025.



The “Odense seminar” – officially entitled Consumption Theory: a Canon of Classics - will take place again in 2025. The seminar is part of the European Consumer Culture Theorizing doctoral seminar series, offered in collaboration with Middle Eastern Technical University and University of Lille.


Aim of the course: In a time of growing attention to the “socio-natural” consequences of consumer culture in the Anthropocene/Capitalocene, its logics have become increasingly salient as a subject of study in multiple disciplines, including ecology, biology, sociology and anthropology among others. The disciplines of marketing and consumer research, along with economics, which had claimed consumption studies as their terrain, are challenged (and at times energized) by this new interest in consumption. The purpose of this course is to critically investigate some of the key classics that constitute the foundation for many of the current perspectives in consumer culture research. Authors covered during the seminar include but is not restricted to Mikhail Bakhtin, Pierre Bourdieu, Mary Douglas, Emile Durkheim, Donna Haraway, Niklas Luhmann, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Edgar Morin as well as talks about French Social Theory and Critical Theory. The learning goals of the seminar are on the one hand to provide a basic academic education for doctoral candidates within some of the major founding texts behind the current work of consumer culture theorists. On the other hand, the goal is also to demonstrate the relevance of general and classical theory for the specific empirical projects and contexts of the doctoral students.


Therefore, the program includes three major types of tutoring: 1) lecturing from the faculty on the canon of classics, 2) dialogues where faculty and students elaborate on the relationship between the bodies of theory covered and specific applications in contemporary consumer research and 3) a set of faculty led group discussions of the students’ own projects. The seminar covers classical works and authors within a multitude of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, critical theory and philosophy.


Faculty: So far, invited (not all confirmed!) faculty members for this seminar are Güliz Ger, Bilkent University, Benoît Heilbrunn, ESCP Paris, Olga Kravets, University of London Royal Holloway, Jeff Murray, University of Arkansas and Sofia Ulver, Lund University. Additionally, faculty will consist of Søren Askegaard, Domen Bajde, Dannie Kjeldgaard, Dorthe Brogård Kristensen, Alev Kuruoglu, Niklas Woermann and Ian Woodward, all from University of Southern Denmark – Odense. This faculty list may not be final.


Location and dates: The seminar will take place in the Odense, partially on the SDU Campus, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M and partially at the Convent of Noble Virgins,

Albani Torv 6, DK-5000 Odense C. Students will be lodged in a downtown hotel within walking distance from the convent and with easy access to the light rail connection to SDU campus. The students are expected to arrive during the day or evening of Tuesday June 17th and leave Monday June 23rd. This will allow easy travel and transition for those who plan to participate in the 2025 CCT Conference in London starting in the afternoon of June 24th.


Fee: The fee for participation is expected to be maximum 1000 Euro including accommodation and all meals. An online participation option will be available at a reduced rate (150 €).


Other course information: The seminar will be held in English and is 6 ECTS credits. A letter of application with a brief description (1-2 pages) of the student’s project should be sent to the seminar coordinator no later than February 1st 2025. Acceptance for participation in the seminar will be sent out on February 10th 2025.


Seminar coordinator: Søren Askegaard, Professor of Consumer Culture, Department of Marketing & Management, University of Southern Denmark - Odense, Campusvej 55, DK-5230 Odense M, Denmark. E-mail: aske@sam.sdu.dk. Tel: +45 65 50 32 55


Suggested general reading: Søren Askegaard & Benoît Heilbrunn, eds. (2018). Canonical Authors in Consumption Theory, London: Routledge.


Evaluation: To acquire the credits for the seminar, the student must deliver satisfactory presentations and participate actively and constructively in the seminar discussions as well as in the one-to-one sessions with faculty members. The group of faculty will convene at the end of the seminar to assess each of the students’ performance.

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