Keywords and triangulation

Abstract

The recently published volume Keywords for Today is a collaborative work which examines the most important words in contemporary culture by exploring their histories and uses across different periods and discourses. It carries on and updates the work of Raymond Williams’s Keywords, paying attention to the changing political landscape and using modern resources. In this special issue of Critical Quarterly, scholars including linguists, historians, philosophers, and literary scholars react to this important work from different perspectives. Terttu Nevalainen considers the relationship between history and social theory, comparing Peter Burke’s list of eighteen central concepts with the wordlists of Williams’s Keywords and Keywords for Today; she focuses particularly on the multiple meanings and uses of power.