Online Lecture | ‘The ‘Localisation’ of Marxism: On the Meaning of the ‘Two Integration’ in China Today’

About the Speaker: Professor Roland Boer is a Distinguished Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, Renmin University of China in Beijing. He has also previously taught at the University of Newcastle in Australia and at Dalian University of Technology’s School of Marxism in Dalian, China.

He was also described by Xinhua News Agency as one of a top expert and, indeed, one of the leading thinkers in Marxism today.

In 2014 professor Boer was awarded with the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize for his work In the Vale of Tears: On Marxism and Theology, Vol. V. This is an award given to works that exemplifies the best and most innovative new writing in or about the Marxist tradition.

Professor Boer’s research concerns the many dimensions of the construction of socialism, especially in China. He has also completed a ten-year project on Chinese Marxism, socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the history and theory of socialist governance. His current project concerns the history of Marxist philosophy in China since 1978. The period since the opening of China has provided a lot of very rich material, and Marxist philosophy has undergone some profound developments so that today it is the main form of philosophy in China.

Professor Boer has published books and journal articles with leading publishers and top magazines relating to Marxism, Socialism, China, and religion. Some of his works include: Socialism in Power: On the History and Theory of Socialist Governance (2023), Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners (2021), Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition (2020), and In the Vale of Tears: On Marxism and Theology, Vol. V (2014), among many others.