Category: Conference announcement

LEST XIII Dissenting Church: Exploring the Theological Power of Conflict and Disagreement

~ Marika Rose

Readers of the blog may be interested in the upcoming 13th Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology Conference, which will be taking place online from 20-23 October. The conference is free to attend, and you can register here.

I’ll be taking part in the final conference plenary as a keynote speaker. The theme for the panel is, “The theological power of conflict and disagreement?” Papers will be made available online before the conference and during the conference itself we’ll discuss the key ideas and arguments presented by the panellists. My paper is titled ‘Love your enemy: theology, identity and antagonism’, abstract as follows:

Christianity has always been characterised by disagreement, conflict, and inconsistency; so much so that it is tempting to define Christianity precisely as an ongoing disagreement about what it means to be a Christian. Theology has, for the most part, evaded this messy and embarrassing reality in favour of fantasies of wholeness, maintained by a range of strategies from sleights of hand, outright denial, or projection. Contestation cannot become a point of departure for theology so long as theologians are invested in denying its existence. To understand this desire for coherence, which grounds so much theological evasion, this paper draws on the work of Slavoj Žižek, whose materialist reading of Lacanian psychoanalysis offers resources for considering theology’s desire for unity, and suggests a number of possibilities for understanding, unsettling, and reworking our theological investments in fantasies of identity. As continental philosophy in the wake of Hegel has consistently held, however, we cannot understand self-relation and identity without also understanding the relationship between the self and the other. To consider contestation within Christianity, then, we must also pay attention to the fundamental antagonism which makes possible these internal conflicts: the distinction between Christian and non-Christian. This distinction is homologous with Carl Schmitt’s definition of the political as the dimension of human relations that concerns the distinction between friend and enemy. This paper, then, explores what it means to take seriously the centrality of the distinction between friend and enemy to the construction of Christian identity, and will consider what it would mean to undertake to love our enemies, our selves. 

Theology and Continental Philosophy at the AAR

~ Adam Kotsko

As co-chair of the Theology and Continental Philosophy programming unit, I’m pleased to announce the sessions that we are running this year. A summary of the titles, days, and times follows, with full information “below the fold.”

“Bataille, Blackness, and the Tumultuous Sacred,” Saturday, 1:00 PM–3:00 PM
“The Devil and the Demons: Neoliberal Theology in the Work of Adam Kotsko,” Saturday, 5:30 PM–7:00 PM
“The Jew, the Christian, and the Ends of the World,” Monday, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM
“Mormon Theology and Continental Thought,” Monday, 5:30 PM–7:00 PM
“New Frontiers in Phenomenology of Religion,” Tuesday, 8:30 AM–10:00 AM

Continue reading “Theology and Continental Philosophy at the AAR” →

Conference Schedule: Negativity, Pessimisms, and Sad Affects in the Study of Religion

~ seanchristophercapener
Readers in the Toronto area may be interested to note that the full schedule for next week’s conference on forms of theoretical negativity and sad affects is now available online. The conference features Rinaldo Walcott, as well as this blog’s own Anthony Paul Smith as keynotes. The themes of many of the panels will probably also be of interest to AUFS readership.
NegativityBannerF1
University of Toronto
DSR Annual Graduate Symposium:
Negativity, Pessimisms, and Sad Affects in the Study of Religion
April 18 and 19, 2019
Multi-Faith Centre
569 Spadina AveThe Graduate Student Association at the University of Toronto’s Department for the Study of Religion invites you to a graduate symposium that explores the significance and relevance of forms of theoretical negativity for the study of religion. All sessions are free and open to the public.

Keynote lectures:

  • “Freedom Now Suite” by Rinaldo Walcott, University of Toronto (Thurs, 18 April, 5:30 PM)
  • “Inexpressible Opacity: Theodicy, Sad Affects, and Dissimulation” by Anthony Paul Smith, La Salle University (Fri, 19 April, 5:30 PM)

Full schedule and updates can be found on Facebook, and available on the department’s website here. Direct any inquiries to dsrsymposium19@gmail.com.2019Conference-ProgramEmailV3

CFP Extended: Negativity, Pessimism, and Sad Affects in the Study of Religion

~ seanchristophercapener

negativity-bannerl

Readers may be interested to learn that the deadline for submissions to the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto’s 2019 Graduate Student Symposium, “Negativity, Pessimisms, and Sad Affects in the Study of Religion,” has been extended until Feb 10, 2019.

The call for papers can be found here, and all submissions should be sent to dsrsymposium19@gmail.com.

Deadline extended: New Encounters in French and Italian Thought

~ Dave Mesing

Some readers may be interested to know that the deadline for the conference I’m helping to organize at Villanova in the spring has been extended to January 10th, 2015.

I’ve pasted the CFP with the revised date here, and the information is also available at this website: http://conferences.library.villanova.edu/gradphil/2015/schedConf/cfp

20th Annual Conference Sponsored by the Philosophy Graduate Student Union (PGSU)
March 13-14, 2015
Villanova University

New Encounters in French and Italian Thought
Keynote: Jason E. Smith

The negotiation between French and Italian activists and intellectuals in the mid-twentieth century opened a field of theoretical experimentation, the effects of which pose a challenge for contemporary politics. This encounter materialized through various collectives, traversing the neat intellectual and practical boundaries of the academy. Whether through the images of intellectuals in the streets, or through radical activist groups extending from the Situationist International to Tiqqun, the laboratory of French and Italian thought poses a constellation of conceptual weapons that remain vital for any contestation with the state of things. These implements have been successful in intervening within contemporary struggles on the level of theory, practice, and the construction of history in the present.

Under the inheritance of this tradition, this conference invites submissions from the interstices and margins of recent French and Italian philosophy. Possible paper topics include feminist recapitulations of post-workerism, the theoretical legacy of biopolitics as it is taken up in Agamben and Esposito, and the ongoing challenges for theory and practice posed by social movements extending from Latin America to the Mediterranean in the wake of events such as Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation.

Other topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Post-Althusserian philosophy
  • Decolonial challenges to eurocentric thought and strategies
  • Wages for Housework and care economies
  • Realism and contemporary ontologies
  • Re-interpretations of the Gramscian legacy
  • Philosophies of life and the problem of vitalism
  • Lacanian psychoanalysis and its heritage
  • French and Italian receptions of Spinoza, Hegel, and Marx
  • Affect theory and imagination in cultural productions (e.g. film and media)
  • Collective organization and social ontologies

The Philosophy Graduate Student Union at Villanova University welcomes graduate students and junior faculty to submit any of the following to be considered for our conference: paper abstracts of 250-350 words, papers of approximately 3000 words (including co-authored work) suitable for a 20 minute presentation, or proposed panels. Authors of accepted abstracts should send completed papers by March 1, 2015.

Please send submissions, prepared for blind review, by January 10th, 2015 to vuconf2015@gmail.com.

This conference is committed to accommodating people with disabilities. Conference participants and attendees are encouraged to contact the above email address to discuss accommodations.

Call for Papers: New Encounters in French and Italian Thought

~ Dave Mesing ~ 1 Comment

Some readers might be interested in submitting something to an upcoming conference I have a hand in organizing at Villanova. Please note that we accept both abstracts and papers from both graduate students and faculty.

20th Annual Conference Sponsored by the Philosophy Graduate Student Union (PGSU)
March 13-14, 2015
Villanova University

New Encounters in French and Italian Thought
Keynote: Jason E. Smith

The negotiation between French and Italian activists and intellectuals in the mid-twentieth century opened a field of theoretical experimentation, the effects of which pose a challenge for contemporary politics. This encounter materialized through various collectives, traversing the neat intellectual and practical boundaries of the academy. Whether through the images of intellectuals in the streets, or through radical activist groups extending from the Situationist International to Tiqqun, the laboratory of French and Italian thought poses a constellation of conceptual weapons that remain vital for any contestation with the state of things. These implements have been successful in intervening within contemporary struggles on the level of theory, practice, and the construction of history in the present.

Under the inheritance of this tradition, this conference invites submissions from the interstices and margins of recent French and Italian philosophy. Possible paper topics include feminist recapitulations of post-workerism, the theoretical legacy of biopolitics as it is taken up in Agamben and Esposito, and the ongoing challenges for theory and practice posed by social movements extending from Latin America to the Mediterranean in the wake of events such as Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation.

Other topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Post-Althusserian philosophy
  • Decolonial challenges to eurocentric thought and strategies
  • Wages for Housework and care economies
  • Realism and contemporary ontologies
  • Re-interpretations of the Gramscian legacy
  • Philosophies of life and the problem of vitalism
  • Lacanian psychoanalysis and its heritage
  • French and Italian receptions of Spinoza, Hegel, and Marx
  • Affect theory and imagination in cultural productions (e.g. film and media)
  • Collective organization and social ontologies

The Philosophy Graduate Student Union at Villanova University welcomes graduate students and junior faculty to submit any of the following to be considered for our conference: paper abstracts of 250-350 words, papers of approximately 3000 words (including co-authored work) suitable for a 20 minute presentation, or proposed panels. Authors of accepted abstracts should send completed papers by March 1, 2015.

Please send submissions, prepared for blind review, by December 21st, 2014 to vuconf2015@gmail.com.

This conference is committed to accommodating people with disabilities. Conference participants and attendees are encouraged to contact the above email address to discuss accommodations.

Another Laruelle related event post

~ APS

At some point soon I hope to return back to blogging. I have been working very diligently over the past few months on a number of projects that have taken up most of my time. While you don’t come here for my whinging (that’s what my locked twitter account is for) I haven’t had a day since August that I didn’t work for at least eight hours. It’s getting a bit much! But should end soon and you’ll have some Laruelle related goodies to show for it, like the translation of Introduction to Non-Marxism (final proofing is going on right now) and my introduction and guide to Principles of Non-Philosophy, which will be out in May with EUP. I should have my synthetic introduction to his work finished in January (coming out with Polity) and then I will be finished with my duties to the secondary literature, translations, and editing. I really am thankful for the method and insights that Laruelle has given me, but it’s important that his work is, for me, a method for doing work not “Laruelle-oriented” and so I am looking forward to finishing these projects and focusing on the on-going generic secular project with some others (more details about that as they develop).

Until these projects are finished, edited, and dusted, I am here to give you two more Laruelle related announcements. First, the Laruelle in Translation series hosted by Michael O’Rourke, took place in July. The videos of the lectures by Joshua Ramey, Alex Dubilet, Alice Rekab, and myself are now online at the media page of the Global Art & Ideas Nexus. Also you will find there a short film by Alice Rekab. Unfortunately we don’t have video of the discussion that took place after she showed her video, but it was a genuinely interesting and exciting use of non-philosophy. I am very excited to see it come to fruition. The film was created in collaboration with an artist in Sierre Leone, People Pikeen, and was a genuine work of generic translation. Alice will soon be helping to raise awareness about the Ebola crisis hitting that community and I will be posting a link to that when it is up. You can see another collaboration between the two to help raise awareness about precautions against Ebola on her Vimeo page.

Secondly, for those in the New York area, next weekend (Oct 10-11th) there will be a symposium at Parsons The New School for Design. The symposium will feature a number of friends of the blog, like Alex Dubilet and Dave Mesing, and will represent the diversity of uses to which Laruelle’s project has been put in the Anglophone world. The poster below contains all the pertinent information. Superpositions_Laruelle_Symposium

Agamben events at Northwestern

~ Adam Kotsko ~ 1 Comment

On the 15th anniversary of Giorgio Agamben’s Northwestern lectures the Paul of Tarsus Interdisciplinary Working Group presents with support from the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, the Program in Critical Theory, and the German department.

Friday, April 18, 12.30-3pm, Kaplan seminar room (Kresge 2-380)

Alessia Ricciardi – The Highest Poverty as Form of Life: Agamben’s Franciscanism and the Contemporary

Virgil W. Brower – “High Use”: Martin Luther as a hidden protagonist in Giorgio Agamben’s Homo Sacer series

Wednesday, April 23, 2-3.30pm, German seminar room (Kresge 2-500)

Samuel Weber (in conversation with Peter Fenves and Anthony C. Adler, Yonsei University) – Politics of Singularity: Ontology, Theology, Economy