09-74-M8910-1 | Democracy (in englischer Sprache)
Seminar
Termine: wöchentlich Mi 14:00 - 16:00 GW2 B1216 (2 SWS)
Einzeltermine: Di 06.02.24 14:00 - 16:00 GW2 B1216
Democracy—what is it, what has it been, and what could it be? This seminar takes up these questions not expecting a singular answer, but rather as a point of departure in thinking about something that has been variously taken as a self-evident good, a threatened project, or an ideological obfuscation. We reflect on the relationship between people (demo-) and rule (-cracy): are these two things fundamentally in tension or contradiction, co-constitutive, or something else entirely? Other seminar themes include bodies collective and singular; the idea of the people (demos, ethnos, and populus); action, decision, and deliberation; economy and polity; the sociocultural and the historical. The seminar is grounded in anthropological debates and traditions, even as readings draw on cultural studies, history, Black studies, queer and feminist theory, and philosophy.
| Prof. Dr. Tyler Zoanni
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09-74-M8910-2 | The Art of Living on a Damaged Planet (in englischer Sprache)
Seminar
Termine: wöchentlich Do 10:00 - 14:00 SFG 1040 (4 SWS)
4 SWS
This course weaves together theory and practice through an exploration of what it means to live now, on this damaged, altered, “disabled” planet. This means that we will be thinking collectively about what it means to be attuned to and live with our surroundings and the “alterlife” that constitutes it, as well as with how we can practically engage with it, live with it, and engage in projects of repair. This course can only be taken as 4SWS and is divided into a seminar, where we will read authors that include Anna Tsing, Michelle Murphy, and Sunaura Taylor, and five excursions in Bremen and Bremerhaven where we will engage with people and organizations that deal practically with beings and things like insects, weeds, water, soil, and trees. Language of instruction will be English and German. Course work will be in both languages as well.
| Prof. Dr. Andrea Mühlebach
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09-74-M8910-4 | Hope in Hopeless Times: Life ‘In-Against-and-Beyond’ Capitalism. A Seminar with John Holloway (in englischer Sprache)
Seminar
Einzeltermine: Mi 08.11.23 18:00 - 19:30 SFG 1020 Fr 15.12.23 12:00 - 18:00 SFG 2030 Fr 12.01.24 12:00 - 14:00 SFG 2040 Di 30.01.24 18:00 - 20:00 CART Rotunde - 0.67 Mi 31.01.24 - Do 01.02.24 (Mi, Do) 10:00 - 16:00 Raum S2 im Unicom, Haus 3 Fr 02.02.24 12:00 - 18:00 SFG 2030
Blockseminar
“Richness against money: this battle will decide the future of humanity” John Holloway writes in the description to his newest book Hope in Hopeless Times (2022). Together with his heavily influential books Change the World Without Taking Power (2002, translated into eleven languages) and Crack Capitalism (2010), the new book completes a trilogy, each of which engage in its own way with the critique of capitalism and a renewal of a theory of struggle and revolution. Drawing on Ernst Bloch’s Principle of Hope and Theodor W. Adorno’s concepts of negativity and non-identity, his new book provides us with an understanding of “richness” that is irreducible to money and profit, but instead should be grasped as an “overflowing” creativity which can enable radical social change and is therefore a source of hope. A hope that can dismantle the “pain-rage-frustration” that “seems to flowing now, across the world: towards bitterness, hatred, racism, sexism, nationalism, fear”.
John Holloway is Professor of Sociology in the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico. He has written extensively on Marxist theory, the relation of state and capital, on anti-capitalist struggle and the Zapatista Movement. We are extremely lucky that John Holloway has accepted our invitation to the University of Bremen and will be here in person to discuss his new book, the key concepts and arguments with us. So, reading the book is a condition for preparation. In a preparatory meeting, you will determine some of the key parts of the book, issues, questions and your interests which will be basis for the block seminar. These topics can include questions on the workings of capitalism: on the concept of abstract labour, commodity fetishism, money, value, capital and crisis, just as much as how he understands richness vis-à-vis money, what he means by overflowing and where it is located, why he understands this overflowing is anti-identitarian and against classification, why focus on money, instead of capital, and where capitalism “cracks”. … It is up to you. The seminar will take place as a “Blockseminar” held in English (but if you want you can speak German). Please, note the following dates and times:
Dates: Wednesday, 01.11.2023 14-16:00 Initial Meeting/Intro to the Seminar Wednesday, 10.01.2024, 10-16:00 Clarification of Topics of Interest/Questions Tuesday, 30.01.2024 18-20:00 Talk: John Holloway Wednesday, 31.01.2024 10-16:00 Seminar with John Holloway Thursday, 01.02.2024 10-16:00 Seminar with John Holloway Friday, 02.02.2024 10:00-16:00 Reflection
Reading John Holloway's book Hope in Hopeless Times is a condition for taking part in the course.
| Dr. Ulrike Flader Dr. Nurhak Polat
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