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APT 2014


APT 2014 pic3

Recently, there have been various calls for a move beyond ‘post-structuralism’ (i.e. Foucault, Deleuze, cultural/critical theory), which had long been seen as the radical edge of the critical social sciences. Such calls are motivated in part by the sense that post-structuralist philosophies - which were forged against a backdrop of totalitarian rule and burgeoning welfare states in Europe - fail to offer moral or political purchase in the contemporary governmental landscape. Moreover, there is a sense that various concepts and theories have become reified and constraining – closing down the possibilities of critical thought. However, the issues that post-structuralist theory placed on the critical social science agenda have become more vital than ever - be that the concern for the complex and dispersed nature of power and agency; the imbrication of power and economics with knowledge and science; rethinking the relation between equality and difference; the political/contested/changing nature of embodiment, biology and ecology; or the efforts of states and others to establish and exercise power over life itself. We maintain that now is the time, not to reject post-structuralist perspectives, but to reinvigorate and transform those traditions through empirical and political work that is creatively engaged with current problems. The Authority & Political Technologies group at Warwick will host a series of annual events that bring together world leading, emerging and postgraduate scholars from across the social sciences whose work promises to renew post-structuralist critical thought through empirical scholarship. In 2014 we invited papers on the theme 'Power in a World of Becoming, Entanglement & Attachment’. For updates on future actitvities watch this space or follow @APTWarwick or our partner websites.

The conference was supported by IAS, Sociology, Law, Warwick ESRC Doctoral Training Centre, and the Center for Interdisciplinar Methodologies.


ias_logo.jpg ESRC logo

 

Our inaugral conference took place on June 2-3, 2014

See the programme here

Listen to the plenary papers here

Follow us: @APTWarwick 

Plenary Speakers:

  • Louise Amoore (Durham)
  • Christian Borch (CBS, Copehagen)
  • Costas Douzinas (Birkbeck)
  • Amade M'charek (Amsterdam)
  • Luciana Parisi (Goldsmiths)
  • AbdouMaliq Simone (Goldsmiths)

Parallel Sessions:

  • Biopolitics and Political Spirituality/Religion
  • Materialism and the Political Meaning of Entanglement
  • Authority, Sovereignty and Becoming in the (Post) Colony
  • Process and New Forms of Society(ism), Association and Being in Common
  • Necropolitics and Human Rights
  • Political Re/Imaginaries
  • Silence, Spaces & Spiritualities of Power, Sovereignty & Law

Conference Organisers:

Claire Blencowe & Illan rua Wall

with Sam Burgum, Kathryn Medien, Chiara Livia Bernardi and APT.