September – October 2013
This research seminar, hosted by CAPPE and the Faculty of Arts, iwas aimed at staff and research students interested in contemporary politics, philosophy and critical theory. Every year we focus on a different theorist or issue, engaging in a close critical reading of their work. In previous years we have read Badiou, Adorno and most recently Laclau. In 2013 our reading of Wendy Brown’s work finished with a week-long workshop and conference between the 4th and the 8th of November. Professor Brown led a two day workshop, and then deliver a key note address for the conference.
On this course, Professor Brown’s work was systematically read through, focusing on (among other topics) her critique of the gendered nature of politics and political philosophy, her conceptualisation of democracy and power, her engagement with the politics of the present, in light of our waning ‘faith’ in modernity, her sustained critique of liberal tolerance, and her account of walls, in light of the decline of sovereign power. The course ended with consideration of neoliberalism, as this was one of the primary issues explored by Professor Brown during her visit to Brighton.
The course was followed by a two-day work shop with Wendy Brown on the 5th and 6th November and a two-day conference Conflict, Revolt and Democracy in the Neoliberal World, 7th – 8th November, where Wendy Brown was the Keynote Speaker.
Leave a Reply