Professor Kennedy explores the relationship between knowledge practices and global transformations, with particular regional expertise in Europe and Eurasia. His work on global and transnational sociology focuses now on how various articulations of difference and solidarity travel. Recent political transformations within the USA and across the world have moved him toward a more knowledge cultural and public sociology, focusing especially on how communities of discourse use various kinds of questions, styles of reasoning, and forms of evidence to identify the qualities of justice defining various forms of social organization and modes of transformation. In the coming decade, he will also research projections of identity and transformations of human and social capacity now in articulation with martial arts and contemplative studies. 

Monographs

(2015) Globalizing Knowledge: Intellectuals, Universities, and Publics in Transformation (Stanford University Press) (for the book’s commentaries, etc. see https://www.academia.edu/27756653/Extensions_of_Globalizing_Knowledge)

(2002) Cultural Formations of Postcommunism: Emancipation, Transition, Nation and War (University of Minnesota Press) (for extensions of “transition culture”, see https://www.academia.edu/5225610/_2014_Essays_on_Transition_Culture_beyond_Cultural_Formations_of_Postcommunism_ )

(1991) Professionals, Power and Solidarity in Poland: A Critical Sociology of Soviet-type Society (Cambridge University Press).

Edited Volumes:

(2004-05) “Social Change in Poland” International Journal of Sociology, 34:3, 34:4, 35:1, (Lucyna Kirwil and Michael D. Kennedy, eds.)

(2004) Responsibility in Crisis: Knowledge Politics and Global Publics (David William Cohen and Michael D. Kennedy, eds.) University of Michigan Scholarly Publishing Office)

(2000) Negotiating Radical Change: Understanding and Extending the Lessons of the Polish Round Table Talks.  (Michael D. Kennedy, Brian Porter, Margarita Nafpaktitus and Donna Parmelee, eds.) Ann Arbor: Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Michigan. 

(2000) Globalizations and Social Movements: Culture, Power and the Transnational Public Sphere (John Guidry, Michael D. Kennedy and Mayer Zald, eds.) (University of Michigan Press).

(1999) Intellectuals and the Articulation of the Nation  (Ronald Grigor Suny and Michael D. Kennedy, eds.) (University of Michigan Press).

(1994) Envisioning Eastern Europe: Postcommunist Cultural Studies (editor) (University of Michigan Press).

Articles in the Last Decade: 

1. (2024) “Love, Law and War in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine: Rearticulating Podgórecki’s Place in a Polish become American Sociological Imagination” Zeszyty Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego Jana Pawła II. 67 (2024), nr 3 (267): 61-89
   DOI: 10.31743/znkul.17729 https://czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/znkul/article/view/17729/15704
2. (2024) N. Yasemin Bavbek and Michael D. Kennedy. “Articulations of StrongMen: A Knowledge Cultural Sociology of Recognizing Autocratic Practices in Russian, Turkish and Global Regimes” American Behavioral Scientist https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00027642241268221
3. (2024) “Contemplative Studies, Martial Arts and Solidarity: An Autobiographical Knowledge Cultural Sociology of Transformational Theory and Practice” Stan Rzeczy https://www.stanrzeczy.edu.pl/index.php/srz/article/view/546
4. (2023) “How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Matters” Footnotes: Magazine of the American Sociological Association https://www.asanet.org/footnotes-article/how-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-matters-a-knowledge-cultural-sociology/
5. (2023) “Globalizing Knowledge and Nationalisms’ Reactions in the Articulation of Universities” Global Perspectives https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2023.55674
6. (2022) “Violence and Truth in 2022’s Epoch End: Covid 19 and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine in World Historical Context” Journal of Public Governance (Poland) 3/2022
7. (2022) “Czy można być szczęśliwym profesorem? O przywództwie akademickim rozmawiają Michael Kennedy, Anna Giza-Poleszczuk, Michał Łuczewski (Is It Possible To Be a Happy Professor? On Academic Leadership with Michael Kennedy, Anna Giza-Poleszczuk, Michał Łuczewski) Stan Rzeczy 20:263-82. https://www.stanrzeczy.edu.pl/index.php/srz/article/view/424
8. (2021, revised and updated from 2019) Kehal, Prabhdeep Singh; Laura Garbes and Michael D. Kennedy. “Critical Sociology of Knowledge.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology. Ed. Lynette Spillman. New York: Oxford University Press (https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0221.xml?)
9.  (2020) “Normative Frames and Systemic Imperatives: Gouldner, Szelényi and New Class Fracture” in pp 25-51 in Tamás Demeter (eds.), Intellectuals, Inequalities and Transitions: Prospects for a Critical Sociology  Leiden-Boston: Brill.
10. (2020) “Engaging Covid-19 and other Pandemics in Global and Transnational Sociology” Global and Transnational Sociology section Newsletter, pp 4-12 https://e3e3b618-c9a1-4667-98f3-c01d16023742.filesusr.com/ugd/59828b_7c7d1952cd9e426e87533ab83ae82475.pdf
11. (2019) “Globalizing #GATSociology” Global and Transnational Sociology section Newsletter, pp 5-10 https://e3e3b618-c9a1-4667-98f3-c01d16023742.filesusr.com/ugd/59828b_8c148bfce8914bc4b585c30f8ef26084.pdf
12. (2019) “National Cultures and Racial Formations: Articulating the Knowledge Cultures of Kłoskowska and Du Bois” Kultura i Społeczeństwo 63:3:7-30.
13. (2019) Kennedy, Michael D. and Merone Tadesse, “Towards a Theory and Practice of Diversity and Inclusiveness in Globalizing US Universities: The Transformational Solidarity of Knowledge Activism” Youth and Globalization 1: 254-281 https://brill.com/view/journals/yogo/1/2/article-p254_254.xml
14. (2018) “Political Imaginaries and University Possibilities: Responsibility, Conflict and the Transformations of Brown University and European Humanities University” Crossroads (Perekrestki) 1:25-40. http://journals.ehu.lt/index.php/perekrestki/article/view/164/147 
15. (2018) “Knowledge Mobilization, Non-Western World, and the ‘Selfie’”, interviewed by Labinot Kunushevci, pp. 57-75 in Contemporary Sociological Conversations Prishtina/Tirana: LogosA (also in Albanian).
16. (2018) “The Black Panther, White Supremacy, Double Consciousness”. Black Perspectives: African American Intellectual History Society https://www.aaihs.org/the-black-panther-white-supremacy-and-double-consciousness/
17. (2018) “Sociology, Science Fiction, and Superheroes” Scatterplot https://scatter.wordpress.com/2018/01/29/sociology-science-fiction-and-superheroes/
18. (2018) “Elektra’s Cultural Power and Contradictions for Our Times” pp. 73-88 in Sandra Eckard (ed.) Comic Connections: Reflecting on Women in Popular Culture” Rowman and Littlefield.
19. (2018) Kennedy, Michael D., Prabhdeep S. Kehal and Laura Garbes. “Excellence, Reflexivity and Racism: On Sociology’s Nuclear Contradiction and Its Abiding Crisis” Critical Historical Sociology http://chs.asa-comparative-historical.org/excellence-reflexivity-and-racism-on-sociologys-nuclear-contradiction-and-its-abiding-crisis/
20.  (2016) “Communication as Perspective: An Interview with Michael Kennedy” excerpt from an interview with Michael Kennedy conducted by Labinot Kunushevci University of Prishtina (1/13/2016) Parts 1 (http://policytrajectories.asa-comparative-historical.org/2016/12/communication-as-perspective-an-interview-with-michael-kennedy/) and 2 (http://policytrajectories.asa-comparative-historical.org/2016/12/communication-as-perspective-part-2-of-2/)  
21. (2016) Gusia, Linda and Michael D. Kennedy, “Policy and Sociology in Context” Parts 1 (http://policytrajectories.asa-comparative-historical.org/2016/09/policy-and-sociology-in-context-part-1/) and 2 (http://policytrajectories.asa-comparative-historical.org/2016/09/policy-and-sociology-in-context-part-2/ Policy Trajectories, 
22.  (2016) “The Interdisciplinarity of Globalizing Knowledge” Items: Insights from the Social Sciences, Social Science Research Council  http://items.ssrc.org/the-interdisciplinarity-of-globalizing-knowledge/
23. (2015) Kennedy, Michael D. and Linda Gusia “We Are Seeing You: Protesting Violent Democracies in Kosova”, Michael D. Kennedy and Linda Gusia. Open Democracy / ISA RC-47: Open Movements, 11 December https://opendemocracy.net/michael-d-kennedy-linda-gusia/we-are-seeing-you-protesting-violent-democracies-in-kosova
24. (2015) “A Transformational Sociology of Socialism and China’s Cultural Revolution: Reflections on Yiching Wu’s The Cultural Revolution at the Margins” Trajectories 27:1:14-19  http://asa-comparative-historical.org/newsletter/Trajectories_Fall_2015.pdf
25. (2015) Substantial Revision to (2001)  “Eastern European Studies: Culture” in James D. Wright (editor in chief) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, second edition. Volume 6. Oxford: Elsevier (pp. 805-809).
26. (2015) “Centering the Edge in the Shift from Inequality to Expulsion” Contemporary Sociology 44:1(11-14)
27. (2014) “Rewriting the Death and Afterlife of a Corporation: Bethlehem Steel” Biography 37:1(242-74)
28. (2014) “From Affirmative to Critical Solidarity in Politics” pp. 30-47 in Ernst Stetter, Karl Duffek and Ania Skrzypek (eds.) Framing a New Progressive Narrative FEPS Belgium. http://aniaskrzypek.pl/Books/next-left_vol_8.pdf

Honors in the Last Decade: 

• Thomas B. Coburn Award for Outstanding Service to Contemplative Studies, Brown University, 2023
• Albert Morris Lecture in Sociology, Boston University, “Anticipating Epoch End while in Search of Solidarity:  A Method for Comparing Catastrophes and Networking Affinities” March 2023

• Keynote Address, “The Society Post-Covid 19 Pandemic: Challenges and Solutions” University of Prishtina, November 22, 202

• Miller/Comm Lecture, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2018 https://cgs.illinois.edu/millercomm-facts-objects-and-visions-design-globalizing-knowledge

• Commencement Address, European Humanities University, 2017;
• Keynote Address, “The University and Social Development in a World of Global Challenges”, University of Warsaw, June 14, 2016.
• Keynote Address “Transition in Retrospect: 25 Years after the Fall of Communism”, University of New York Tirana, Tirana, Albania, 2015
• Short Term Research Collaboration, Singapore Management University, 2015
• For Tomasz Zarycki through Foundation for Polish Science, Skills Project, Mentoring, 2014-15
• The Barrett Hazeltine Citation for Excellence in Teaching, Guidance and Support, Brown University, 2014.
• The Robin F. Williams Jr. Lecture, Center for the Study of Democracy, University of California, Irvine. March 1, 2013

Department of Sociology https://www.brown.edu/academics/sociology/

Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs https://home.watson.brown.edu/

Contemplative Studies Initiative https://www.brown.edu/academics/contemplative-studies/contemplative-studies-initiative 

I teach in both sociology and international studies. In the former, I have taught about social theory, social change, inequality, politics, culture, knowledge, and martial arts. Sociology informs my approach to international studies, and in that domain I have taught about transformations, area studies - especially in Europe and Eurasia, and nationalism, religion, socialism, democracy and violence in global and comparative perspective.