__________________________________________________
Conference Announcement Theme: Democracy and Dissent Subtitle: Theorizing Political Agency from Sites of Difference Type: 2017 Oxford Graduate Political Theory Conference Institution: Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford Location: Oxford (United Kingdom) Date: 2.–3.6.2017 __________________________________________________ Democratic ideals promise equal respect and the possibility of political agency for all. Yet procedural theories of democratic legitimacy often foreground models of democratic exchange that constrain the deliberative expression of ‘deep difference,’ whether that be from sites of socioeconomic, national, religious, racial and ethnic, gendered or sexual particularity. Alternative approaches to democratic theorizing, like those offered by theorists of ‘agonistic’ deliberation, consider that people who suffer from persistent, systematic and structural oppression are equally capable of acting in their own best interests in a hostile — and potentially dangerous — political environment. Too often, normative political theory neglects the problematic of empowerment and views the epistemic and agential capacities for dissent as preconditions for political agency rather than as achievements in their own right. In this conference, we seek to probe the tension between democratic theory’s egalitarian promise and the patterns of exclusion that it must negotiate in particular socio-cultural contexts of ethical practice; between what democracy ought to offer citizens from diverse social positionalities and ethical perspectives and what it does make available when instantiated according to formal models. Some contemporary democratic theories of a proceduralist stripe take dissent to compromise democratic legitimacy, insofar as dissenting citizens draw on expressive resources beyond the scope of ‘deliberative reason.’ This problem of ethical diversity and democratic dissent is of increasing urgency for political thinkers concerned with the contemporary challenges of deliberative exclusion and domination that traverse societies and define ‘multiple modernities.’ How do contemporary democratic theories make possible the expression of dissent out of different ethical or social perspectives? What models of democratic governance — whether consensus-driven, agonistic, or somewhere in between — provide the best conceptual and normative tools for addressing the potential for conflict across deep-seated ethical differences, or between citizens subject to radical power asymmetries? How does democratic theory need to readjust across social and geopolitical contexts? What does it mean, in the contemporary conjuncture, to speak from and inhabit the political sites of ‘deep difference’ and of ‘dissent’? Keynote Speakers Professor Alessandro Ferrara (Rome Tor Vergata): “Political Liberalism, Revisited: the upsurge of populism and how to cope with it” Dr. Mihaela Mihai (Edinburgh): “Sabotaging Epistemic Oppression” Registration Registration is now open. For registration please visit the conference website: https://oxfordpoliticaltheory.wordpress.com/registration/ The conference fee is £10 per participant. For more regular updates, sign up on the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1311530295600330/ Conference Schedule Friday, June 2 9 – 9:30 am Registration + coffee & tea 9:30 – 11 am Panel 1: Emancipatory Possibilities under Late Capitalism Discussant: Dr. Dan Butt (Oxford) Helge Petersen (Glasgow) & Hannah Hecker (Goethe University Frankfurt): “A Critique of Left-Wing Populism” Leonardo Sias (Southampton): “Subvertising and the Production of Dissenting Desires” 11 – 11: 30 am Coffee & tea break 11:30 – 1 pm Panel 2: Vulnerability and Political Agency Discussant: Dr. Matthew Longo (Oxford) Hannah Voelege (Oxford): “The Precarious Politics of Migration” Lucile Richard (Sciences Po): “On Judith Butler’s Redefinition of Political Agency: Is Vulnerability a ‘Form of Activism?'” 1 – 2 pm Lunch 2 – 3:30 pm Panel 3: Narrating Resistance Discussant: Prof. Lois McNay (Oxford) Ben Turner (Kent): “Affinity or Agonism? Two Routes from Structuralism to Democratic Politics” Alexia Alkadi-Barbaro (Cambridge): “Resistance as Narrative Telling: Theorizing Hannah Arendt through Sociogenesis” 3:30 – 4 pm Coffee & tea break 4 – 5:30 pm Keynote Address Prof. Alessandro Ferrara (Rome Tor Vergata): “Political Liberalism, Revisited: The Upsurge of Populism and How to Cope with It” Saturday, June 3 9:30 – 11 am Panel 4: Reading the Aesthetic into the Political Discussant: Dr. Liz Frazer (Oxford) Gisli Vogler (Edinburgh): “Theorizing Political Agency through Reflexive Judgment from Sites of Difference” Bağlan Deniz (Koç University): “Sacrifice and the Sublime: Encountering ‘Nothing’ in the Political” 11 – 11:30 am Coffee & tea break 11:30 – 1 pm Panel 5: Grassroots Democracy and the Spaces of Encounter Discussant: Dr. Karma Nabulsi (Oxford) Simon Dougherty (Australian Catholic University): “Social Movement Solidarity and Democratic Holding Spaces” Elvira Basevich (CUNY): “W.E.B. DuBois on Democracy and Dissent in the Jim Crow Era” 1 – 2 pm Lunch 2 – 3:30 pm Keynote Address Dr. Mihaela Mihai (Edinburgh): “Sabotaging Epistemic Oppression” 3:30 – 3:45 pm Closing remarks from conference organizers Venue: Manor Road Building University of Oxford Oxford, OX1 3UQ Oxford welcomes all who are interested in participating in the 2017 conference to attend. The Manor Road building and all event spaces are wheelchair accessible. If you have any accessibility needs you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to contact the conference organizers at: [email protected] Conference website: https://oxfordpoliticaltheory.wordpress.com __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ __________________________________________________
