03-10-11

Photo by Robert Adamo.

Philosopher-mechanic author Matthew Crawford will speak at Iowa State March 24

AMES, Iowa -- Matthew Crawford, best-selling author of "Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work," will discuss "The Case for Working with Your Hands" at Iowa State University. Crawford's talk will be at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 24, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. It is part of the university's National Affairs Series on Innovation, and is free and open to the public.

Crawford's book is about the once familiar and now uncommon experience of making and fixing things with your hands. He makes a case for reclaiming some measure of self-reliance and encourages people to reconnect with their material world and value the manual trades.

Crawford majored in physics as an undergraduate and then turned to political philosophy, earning a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago in 2000. When he didn't immediately land a job in academia, Crawford spent the winter dismantling and rebuilding an old motorcycle. Describing the experience in The New York Times (May 21, 2009), Crawford wrote, "The physicality of it, and the clear specificity of what the project required of me, was a balm." The following spring, he went to work as the executive director of a Washington, D.C. policy organization. After a few months "of making arguments I didn't fully buy myself," he quit and opened his own motorcycle repair shop.

Crawford is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He also continues to run a repair business in Richmond, Va.

Crawford's talk is cosponsored by National Affairs, the LAS Miller Lecture Fund and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by the Government of the Student Body. More information on ISU lectures is available at http://www.lectures.iastate.edu, or by calling 515-294-9935.

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