A collaborative conversation between the Universities of Bremen (Fachbereich 9 und 12), the University of Western Cape, the University of Cape Town, Carleton University, and Rojava University.

3 CP

Where? Room: Room S2, UNICOM, Haus 3 (Turin), Mary-Somerville-Straße 3.
When? October 17 (10:15-18:00) and October 18 (10:15-12:00).

Thursday, 17.10.2024
10:15-10:45: Opening Remarks, Alisha Heinemann and Andrea Muehlebach
10:45: - 12:30: Exploring shifting concepts: Abolition? Justice? Transformative Education?
12:30-14:15: University of Bremen History Walk and Lunch
14:15-15:45: Pedagogical Locations – Histories of Teaching in Times of Crisis
Keynote speakers: Kelly Gillespie, University of Western Cape; Ghaid Amly, University of Bremen; Leigh-Ann Naidoo, University of Cape Town; Sardar Saadi, University of Ottawa; Zaini Ali, Rojava University, Kurdistan; Students for Palestine, University of Bremen; Münevver Azizoglu-Bazan, University of Bremen.
16:15-18:00: Visions of Future Education

Friday, 19.10. 2024
10:15-11:45: Next Steps!


"Abolition Pedagogy / University Education in Times of Crisis" is a 2-day symposium on education organized jointly by the Fachbereiche 9 and 12 at the University of Bremen. It brings together scholars from several of our university partners (the University of Western Cape, the University of Cape Town, and the University of Rojava) and synthesizes the pedagogical experiences of these institutions. South African universites operate from within the context of the former Apartheid regime, while the University of Rojava from within the decades-long oppression of the Kurds in Syria. In both universities critical educational methods, concepts and tools were developed as answers to authoritarian regimes and as vehicles for the critique of violence and hegemonic power. We ask: What is the social role of universities in times of crisis, what is the role that pasts have played in education, and how can we envision possibilities for a transformative education that creatively enables just, non-violent futures?

Building on the concept of “abolition pedagogy” proposed by Kelly Gillespie (University of Western Cape) and Leigh-Ann Naidoo (University of Cape Town), this symposium explores violence and authoritarianism in education and asks what role education can play in the envisioning of these futures. We ask how existing educational spaces can be radically changed, how they ought to be 'decolonized', and how education can do justice to the realities of a diverse and heterogeneous society. What role does education play in the self-assertion and self-determination of marginalized groups, their social struggles and liberation movements? To what extent must education be understood as a form of 'self-defense' against an increasingly right-wing German, European, and global public and political spheres? How can "abolition pedagogy" play a role in enlivening our democratic institutions as a whole?

Language of the conference will be English, but participants are welcome to speak German as well - moderators will be able to translate English/German if needed!

What if we thought of the world’s oceans not as the vast expanses that begin where inhabited territories end, but as mediators and archives of these territories and their inhabitants? What if we viewed world histories and societies – slavery and colonialism, the Haitian Revolution, imperial law-making, contemporary labor struggles, infrastructures and logistics, borders and boundary-making, migration and urban coastal life not from the vantage point of land, but from the vantage point of the seas?
This course gathers readings from history, anthropology, and environmental and legal studies to ask how the seas are not only watery worlds onto themselves but have helped mediate and make our terrestrial worlds as we know them today.

We begin historically with stories about sailors, slaves, and the making of the “New World,” about how the Haitian Revolution hinged on common currents of information-sharing across slave routes, about British imperialism and maritime jurisprudence, and about histories of whaling and the Industrial Revolution (Scott, Rediker, Mawani, Goldberg-Hiller, Bakke).
We then move to contemporary accounts of piracy, migrancy across the “Black Mediterranean,” and an immersive experience of ocean fisheries and (Dua, Proglio et. al, Kosmatopoulos).
Finally, we end with a focus on the more-than-human (oceans and waves, for example) and then meet/interview two Ocean Labs (Oslo, Beirut).

Over recent years the renown philosopher, feminist and gender studies scholar Judith Butler has become the target of hate which ranges from the burning of their effigy in the streets of Sao Paolo, Brazil, to verbal attacks and severe threats. Appraised across the globe as one of the most esteemed thinkers of our times, Butler is now criticized by liberal, conservative and far-right actors for their stance in the Israel-Palestine conflict on the one hand and their theorizations on sex and gender, on the other, again and again demonizing Butler as the ideological mastermind (“Chefideologin”) behind gender theory. What is behind this hate against such an influential scholar of our times? And what does Butler actually have to say about sex, gender and their performativity and queer theory, about hate speech, war, violence and mourning, about struggles, resistance and non-violence, mastery and vulnerability?
The seminar aims at undoing the wave of anti-intellectualism, which we are currently witnessing towards critical thinkers, and actually engage with the original texts. We will read a selection of chapters from Gender Trouble (1990), Bodies that Matter (1993), Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative (1997), Psychic Life of Power (1997), Precarious Life (2004), Frames of War (2009), Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (2015), The Force of Non-Violence (2020), Who’s afraid of Gender ? (2024). We will aim at understanding and critically discussing these texts and her public interventions. We will also reflect on the political and theoretical background to Butler’s thinking, engage with the critique brought forward against it, and ask in which ways her thinking is relevant for our discipline.
This reading-focussed seminar will be held in English language. Although you are also welcome to hand-in final assignments in German. Where available, we can also find the German translations, if you prefer. The seminar is open both for MA and BA students.


Literatur:

Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge
Butler, Judith. 1993. Bodies that Matter. On the Discursive Limits of "Sex". New York: Routledge
Butler, Judith. 1997. Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge
Butler, Judith. 1997. Psychic Life of Power. Theories in Subjection. Stanford (CA): Stanford University Press
Butler, Judith. 2004. Precarious Life. The Powers of Mourning and Violence. London, New York: Verso
Butler, Judith. 2009. Frames of War. When Is Life Grievable? London, New York: Verso
Butler, Judith. 2015. Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press
Butler, Judith. 2020. The Force of Non-Violence. An Ethico-Political Bind. London, New York: Verso
Butler, Judith. 2024. Who’s Afraid of Gender? London: Allen Lane