Speakers in order of appearance: Mark Simes, Francesco Duina, Michael Arellano, David Barron, Edward Gormbley, Jonathan Eastwood, Peter Baehr, Chandler Rosenberger, James Stergios.

Text of Memorial Lecture:

Unconventionality in Greenfeld’s Thought

Francesco Duina

Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology and European Studies
Bates College (USA)

Liah Greenfeld Memorial Lecture

Boston University

Sep 1, 2026

Hello everyone. 

Thank you, Gil, for asking me to share my reflections on Liah, her work, and how consequential that work has been for me and – I am sure – for everyone else who is here, is following online, or is simply one of the many thousands who have read her work, listened to her lectures, or have been exposed to her thinking in some other way.

And thank you, Mark, for managing this event. It’s very good to be here, together.

I will do something that is a bit unusual for me – I will read my remarks. I just want to ensure that I say with some precision what I wish to share.

We are all here because of what Liah meant to us. We are here to honor her as a mentor, a passionate thinker, a major reference point in our own ways of looking at the world, a collaborator (for some of us), and a friend. Some of us met her only recently. Others were lucky to meet her a long time ago. I, for one, met her in the fall of 1991. She was the classical sociological theory professor in my first year of the PhD program at Harvard. Regardless of how long we may have known her, all of us – if I may speak on behalf of everyone – hold her in a particular place in our minds and hearts.

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