January 9, 2012 Reha Kadakal

The first meeting of the Social Theory Workshop for winter quarter will take place Monday, January 9 at 8pm in Wilder House (5811 S. Kenwood Ave).

We will be discussing a paper by Reha Kadakal, Social Sciences Collegiate Division, entitled, “Islam and the Neoliberal Shifts in Republican Ideology in Turkey.”

A copy of the paper has been distributed via the list serv. It can also be requested from sakent@uchicago.edu.

We look forward to seeing you there.

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Social Theory Workshop Winter 2012 Schedule

The Social Theory Workshop will reconvene Monday, January 9. The winter quarter schedule is as follows:

January 9 — Reha Kadakal, Society of Fellows, The University of Chicago

January 23 – Mark Loeffler, Society of Fellows, The University of Chicago

“Finance and its Fetish Forms”

February 6
 — Robert Hullot-Kentor, Chair of Critical Theory and the Arts and Professor of Visual and Critical Studies, School of Visual Arts (NY), author Things Beyond Resemblance: Collected Essays on Theodor W. Adorno

“Severe Clear: Sacrifice and Right Wishing”: In the context of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, in the midst of a sudden deepening of the economic crisis partly or entirely overshadowing the occasion, we hear raised from every corner primordial demands for the necessity of sacrifice and self-inflicted wounds as the only adequate response to the gravity of the situation. The intensification of the economic calamity itself has by any measure been intentional, while nationwide the only audible voices seem to be those calling for austerity and for every budget to be ‘cut.’ The moment thus urgently prompts the question of whether the seminal insight that has lapsed­-the insight from which the whole of radical modernism developed­-can be recovered: the insight into the primitive in ourselves and in the world around us. `Severe Clear,’ the weather alert issued to pilots on September 11th, 2001, is an excursus on this question that examines in detail the sacral edifice now being constructed in lower Manhattan.

February 20 — Robert Stern, PhD Candidate, History

March 5 – Aaron Hill, PhD Candidate, History

“An Argument for the Centrality of Historical Consciousness in Revolutionary Ideology: France and Germany, 1880 – 1930”

All meetings will take place at 8pm in Wilder House (5811 S. Kenwood Ave.). Papers will be distributed via the Social Theory listserv one week prior to meeting.

All are welcome.

Persons with a disability who believe they may need assistance, please contact Stacie Hanneman, sakent@uchicago.edu

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The Social Theory Workshop explores issues in social theory across a variety of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The emphasis is less on developing social theory than on exploring in a sustained fashion the social theoretical implications of the participants’ work. Themes to be addressed are likely to include the relationship between social and cultural transformations; questions of the public sphere, civil society, and democracy; and conceptual issues posed by globalization.

 

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November 21 — Larisa Jasarevic

The next meeting of the Social Theory Workshop will take place Monday, November  21 at 8pm in Wilder House (5811 S. Kenwood Ave.).

We will be discussing a paper by International Studies Senior Lecturer Larisa Jasarevic, entitled, “Insanely Generous in Bosnia”

A copy of the paper will be sent out over the Social Theory Workshop list serv later this week. Others planning to attend the workshop can request a copy from Stacie Hanneman sakent@uchicago.edu

We look forward to seeing you there.

Persons with a disability who believe they may need assistance, please contact Stacie Hanneman in advance at sakent@uchicago.edu

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Critical Historical Studies Conference December 2-4

A full schedule is now available for the Critical Historical Studies Conference taking place at the University of Chicago December 2-4, 2011.

http://cas.uchicago.edu/workshops/socialtheory/chs/

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“Adorno on American Democracy” NOVEMBER 10

The Social Theory and American Literature and Cultures workshops, in collaboration with

Exile on Mainstreet: Fascism, Emigration, and the European Imagination in America, presents:

A workshop and discussion with Shannon Mariotti, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Southwestern University, and author of Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal: Alienation, Participation, and Modernity (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010)

Please join us Thursday, November 10th at 4:30pm in Social Sciences 401, where we will be discussing Professor Mariotti’s paper, entitled “Adorno on American Democracy: Countertendencies, Immanent Critique, and Democratic Pedagogy,” a chapter from her present book project:

Adorno on Democracy in America

“This project explores the American roots and contemporary relevance of the German critical social theorist Theodor W. Adorno’s critique of existing democracy as well as his normative ideal of democracy. Illuminating how Adorno’s thoughts reflect the context of their genesis, I also show how his theory can inform and guide contemporary democratic politics. Drawing from newly published essays, radio addresses, and lectures that Adorno originally composed in English during his time in the U.S., my manuscript revises the traditional understanding of Adorno as a high modernist aesthete, a cultural elitist, and a notoriously inaccessible theorist. I show how Adorno’s project is deeply democratic at its core while also exploring moments where he speaks in a different register, to the demos that lies at the heart of his theoretical concerns. Writing about democracy in America, in English, while in the U.S., Adorno translates and introduces his ideas to a broader public in ways that reflect a desire to understand and inform the problems and possibilities of democracy as they are enacted at the level of the everyday customs, conventions, and habits of citizens. Reframing our image of Adorno in the process of drawing out the lessons of these newly available writings composed in the U.S., I also use Adorno’s thought to intervene in, and inform, key debates in contemporary American democratic theory and practice: Adorno’s unconventional perspectives can revitalize our democratic politics, add conceptual rigor to democratic theory, and remind us of the normative promise that used to attach more closely to the concept of ‘democracy.'”

A copy of the paper is now available. Please email Stacie Hanneman, sakent@uchicago.edu

More information on the conference is available here: http:exileonmainstreetconference.blogspot.com

 

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November 7 — Spencer Leonard

The Social Theory Workshop is pleased to announce its next meeting will take place Monday, November 7 at 8pm in Wilder House (5811 S. Kenwood Ave.).

We will be discussing a paper by Harper-Schmidt Fellow Spencer Leonard, entitled, “Cathago est Delenda! Adam Smith’s Criticism of the East India Company as Response to the Crisis of the British Empire and Revolution.”

A copy of the paper will be sent out over the Social Theory Workshop list serv. Others planning to attend the workshop can request a copy from Stacie Hanneman sakent@uchicago.edu

We look forward to seeing you there.

Persons with a disability who believe they may need assistance, please contact Stacie Hanneman in advance at sakent@uchicago.edu

 

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Social Theory Workshop Co-sponsored Event: November 10

The Social Theory and American Literature and Cultures workshops, in collaboration with

Exile on Mainstreet: Fascism, Emigration, and the European Imagination in America, presents:

A workshop and discussion with Shannon Mariotti, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Southwestern University, and author of Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal: Alienation, Participation, and Modernity (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010)

Please join us Thursday, November 10th at 4:30pm in Social Sciences 401, where we will be discussing Professor Mariotti’s paper, entitled “Adorno on American Democracy: Countertendencies, Immanent Critique, and Democratic Pedagogy,” a chapter from her present book project:

Adorno on Democracy in America

“This project explores the American roots and contemporary relevance of the German critical social theorist Theodor W. Adorno’s critique of existing democracy as well as his normative ideal of democracy. Illuminating how Adorno’s thoughts reflect the context of their genesis, I also show how his theory can inform and guide contemporary democratic politics. Drawing from newly published essays, radio addresses, and lectures that Adorno originally composed in English during his time in the U.S., my manuscript revises the traditional understanding of Adorno as a high modernist aesthete, a cultural elitist, and a notoriously inaccessible theorist. I show how Adorno’s project is deeply democratic at its core while also exploring moments where he speaks in a different register, to the demos that lies at the heart of his theoretical concerns. Writing about democracy in America, in English, while in the U.S., Adorno translates and introduces his ideas to a broader public in ways that reflect a desire to understand and inform the problems and possibilities of democracy as they are enacted at the level of the everyday customs, conventions, and habits of citizens. Reframing our image of Adorno in the process of drawing out the lessons of these newly available writings composed in the U.S., I also use Adorno’s thought to intervene in, and inform, key debates in contemporary American democratic theory and practice: Adorno’s unconventional perspectives can revitalize our democratic politics, add conceptual rigor to democratic theory, and remind us of the normative promise that used to attach more closely to the concept of ‘democracy.'”

A copy of the paper is now available. Please email Stacie Hanneman, sakent@uchicago.edu

More information on the conference is available here: http:exileonmainstreetconference.blogspot.com

 

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October 24 — Parker Everett

The Social Theory Workshop is pleased to announce its next meeting will take place Monday, October 24 at 8pm in Wilder House (5811 S. Kenwood Ave.).

We will be discussing a paper by History PhD Candidate Parker Everett, ” Berlin, 1920-1927: The City that Labors.”

A copy of the paper can be requested from Stacie Hanneman, sakent@uchicago.edu

We look forward to seeing you there.

Persons with a disability who believe they may need assistance, please call Stacie Hanneman in advance at sakent@uchicago.edu

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Updated Fall Schedule Social Theory Workshop

October 3, Dwaipayan Sen, PhD Candidate, History

“Representation, Education and Agrarian Reform: Jogendranath Mandal and the Nature of Scheduled Caste politics, 1937-1943”

October 24, Parker Everett, PhD Candidate, History

“Berlin, 1920-1927: The City that Labors”

November 7, Spencer Leonard, Harper-Schmidt Fellow, The College

“Labor of Revolution: Adam Smith, Radical Enlightenment, and Universal Emancipation”

November 21, Larisa Jasarevic, Senior Lecturer International Studies, The College

“Insanely Generous in Bosnia”

All meetings take place from 8pm to 10pm in Wilder House (5811 S. Kenwood Ave.)

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October 3 Dwaipayan Sen

Welcome back! The first meeting of the fall quarter will take place next Monday, Oct. 3 at 8pm in Wilder House (5811 S. Kenwood). We will be discussing a paper by History PhD candidate Dwaipayan Sen entitled, “Representation, Education and Agrarian Reform: Jogendranath Mandal and the Nature of Scheduled Caste politics, 1937-1943.”

Those still needing a copy of the paper should email Stacie Hanneman sakent@uchicago.edu

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

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