by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

ethinking Marxism," a publication of the Association for Economic and Social Analysis, is hosting its fourth international "gala conference," Marxism 2000, Sept. 21-24 at the University. The association is a nonprofit educational institution located in the Department of Economics.

     With more than 1,000 registrants attending more than 190 events, including panels, videos, films, three plenary sessions, and a performance, the conference is scheduled to fill the Lincoln Campus Center and make use of other campus space, as well.

     "It's a big conference by any standards," said Mary Wong, conference coordinator in the campus center. "I think they've got everything in this building."

     "It's the largest of all of the conferences we have done," Stephen Cullenberg, '88G, chair of economics at UC Riverside and co-chair of the conference. "It's gotten progressively larger each year. There are a couple of fairly large contingencies coming from China, from Wuhan University, Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, and Beijing. And there are people coming from every continent except Antarctica."

     All plenary sessions and the play are scheduled to be in the Campus Center Auditorium.

     The first plenary session, "(Re)-Claiming Utopia," will be chaired by Amitava Kumar on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. and includes short papers by three speakers. Norman Geras will speak on "Utopia and Inequality: the Ideal of Multivious Care," JK Gibson-Graham will discuss "Class Enchantment" and Lisa Lowe will present "Utopia and Modernity: Some Observations at the Border."

     The second plenary session, "Global (Dis)Orders," chaired by Carole Biewener, will be Friday, Sept. 22 at 3:30 p.m. David Harvey will speak on "Globalization and the Return of Species Being," David Ruccio on "Rethinking Globalization, or Will the New David Livingstone Please Stand Up?" and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak on "Globalizing Globalization."

     Saturday Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m., the third plenary session will be chaired by Stephen Cullenberg and will feature Angela Davis on "Class and the Prison Industrial Conference" and Mike Davis on "The Holy Ghost and the New Urban Poor."

     Friday evening, Howard Zinn's play "Marx in Soho" is scheduled for 8 p.m. with an introduction by Harriet Fraad. Participants may register for one, two, or all four days with different rates applying in each case. Income also will determine the cost. Prices range from $15 for one day for low-income participants to $70 for the full conference at full price. The registration desk opens at 11 a.m. on Sept. 21 in the Lincoln Campus Center. A complete listing of panel sites and times is available online (www.nd.edu/~remarx/Marxism2000/).