While the idea of total revolutions might sound hopelessly anachronistic today, there is a consensus about the centrality of certain forms of political, ethical and aesthetic resistance. These forms are directed at multiple relations of increasingly intertwined domination. The conference, conceived in the context of global neoliberalism, aims to address the significance of practices of protest and public dissent ranging from traditional forms of civil disobedience to more recent practices including fun guerilla, protest art and resistance in the digital network.
Drawing on the tradition of critical theory, broadly construed, we hope to shed light on the theoretical and practical linkage between resistance, oppression and liberation in different socio-historical contexts. The goal is to get a clearer understanding of the conditions of (im)possibility enabling and preventing emancipatory resistance.
The conference invites papers on such topics as:
- Political resistance: Which socio-historical circumstances and forms of governance call for what forms, communities and repertoires of political resistance (e.g. event coalition, indigenous activism, networked movements)? Through what means are they mobilized and performed?
- The ethics of resistance: what are the ethical implications of non-compliance, dissent and opposition? Is there a right to resistance? What is the significance of resistance and affirmation for a good and happy life?
- Aesthetic resistance: How do different aesthetic media and works of art constitute specific forms of resistance? What kinds of failure and opportunities to resist arise from aesthetic autonomy?
Authors are invited to submit an abstract of no more than three hundred words. The deadline is 31 July 2011 and acceptance of papers will be announced by 20 August 2011.