Infinite justice: political cosmologies that protect our future

In her inaugural lecture, Shakuntala Banaji explores how our ethical and political imaginations of love, justice and rights—shaped by education systems, media and technologies under savage capitalism—differ between individuals, communities and geopolitical entities.

Drawing on three decades of research across everyday education, media and political cultures—from children and young people to politicians and policymakers—her lecture examines the political cosmologies behind the worst: sexual violence, racist lynching, hate and disinformation; and the best: autonomy, solidarity, relationality, creativity. These are examples of how humans either destroy or protect planetary dignity, freedom and coexistence. From legacy media to Gen-AI, the powerful design and deploy technologies to block political cosmologies of infinite justice from gaining ground, even as such ideas remain vital to humanity’s survival. This, she argues, is why artists and educators must stand firmly with justice, abandoning the neoliberal pretence of neutrality.

Meet our speaker and chair

Shakuntala Banaji (@banaji.bsky.social) is Professor of Media, Culture and Social Change in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE, where she also serves as Programme Director for the MSc Media, Communication and Development. She lectures on international media and the Global South, film theory and world cinema, and critical approaches to media, communication and development. She has published extensively on young people, children and media as well as gender, ethnicity and new media and cinema.

Bingchun Meng is Professor in the Department for Media and Communications at LSE, where she also co-directs the LSE-Fudan Global Public Policy Research Centre. Professor Meng is currently the Director of LSE PhD Academy and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).

More about this event

The Department of Media and Communications (@MediaLSE) is a world-leading centre for education and research in communication and media studies at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London.

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