Materialism. Between Totality and Plurality
Workshop
Please register at: jonas.heller@normativeorders.net
Thursday, January 30th, 16:00-18:00
Introduction: Simon Gurisch
Panel 1: Race
Reference: Saidiya Hartman, Scenes of Subjection
Participants: Penny Deutscher (Northwestern), Juliane Rebentisch (Hamburg)
Moderation: Rime Abd Al Majeed
Friday, January 31st
10:00-12:00: Panel 2: Gender
Reference: Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter
Participants: Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky (Bochum), Adriana Zaharijević (Beograd)
Moderation: Hannah Hübner
14:00-16:00: Panel 3: Work
Reference: Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man (chaps. 2, 3 and 6)
Participants: Christoph Menke (Frankfurt), Maria Muhle (Munich)
Moderation: André Möller
Program (PDF): Here…
The workshop, which will take place during and on the occasion of Penelope Deutscher’s Humboldt Prize residency at the University of Frankfurt, aims to bring two different models and methods of critical theory into conversation with one another. These two models can be characterized by how they describe the power formations of contemporary societies. On the one hand, there is a type of theory that seeks to explain the various power formations (in the subject, love, families, institutions, the economy, politics, etc.) as coherently as possible. This is the aim of the concept of “totality”. On the other hand, there is a type of theory that assumes an irreducible diversity, even heterogeneity, of power formations and describes their contrasts and connections as a game of permanent change; in this perspective, totalization is impossible, even falsifying. Both types of theory have different historical sources and lines of development; they work with different “conceptual persons” and methodologies. But they also experience that they speak about the same thing and can mutually illuminate – and perhaps even change – each other in their attempts to grasp a concrete object.
The workshop is accordingly an experiment in dialog between the two forms of critical theory. This dialog will unfold here in the field of materialism, which we have in turn divided – in the simplest and therefore most conventional way possible – into the questions of race, gender and work.
It is intended that each of these three dialogs will refer to a relevant text, which we hope many of the participants will be familiar with and have re-read in advance. Accordingly, the invited speakers will be asked to develop their perspective on the topic and the state of the discussion in a 20-minute input. This will then be followed by a discussion, first on the podium and then with the other participants.
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The workshop, which will take place during and on the occasion of Penelope Deutscher’s Humboldt Prize residency at the University of Frankfurt, aims to bring two different models and methods of critical theory into conversation with one another. These two models can be characterized by how they describe the power formations of contemporary societies. On the one hand, there is a type of theory that seeks to explain the various power formations (in the subject, in love, families, institutions, the economy, politics, etc.) as different elements in a coherent and self-enclosed “totality”. The other type of theory, in turn, assumes an irreducible diversity, even heterogeneity, of power formations and describes their contrasts and connections as a game of permanent transformation; in this perspective, totalization is impossible, even distorting. Both types of theory have different historical sources and lines of development; they work with different “conceptual persons” and methodologies. But they also share the experience that they talk about the same thing and can mutually illuminate – and perhaps even change – each other in their attempts to grasp a concrete object.
Accordingly, the workshop is an experiment in dialog between these two forms of critical theory. This dialog will unfold here in the field of materialism, which we have in turn divided – In the simplest and therefore most conventional way possible – into the questions of race, gender and labor.
In order to facilitate discussion, we propose that each of these three dialogues will refer to a relevant text, which we hope many of the participants will be familiar with and have re-read in advance. Accordingly, the invited speakers will be asked to develop their perspective on the topic and the state of the discussion in a 20-minute input with reference to the respective text. This will then be followed by a discussion, first on the podium and then with the other participants.