Progressive Geographies

a useful overview of the structure of Agamben’s The Kingdom and the Glory

A great opportunity to work with Luce Irigaray, who has been awarded a visiting Leverhulme professorship at Bristol and will be running additional events in the future.

Invitation to the Seminar of LUCE IRIGARAY 9-15 June 2013

Since 2003, Luce Irigaray holds a seminar with researchers doing their PhD on her work. This way, they have the opportunity to receive personal teaching from Luce Irigaray and to exchange ideas, methods and experiences between them. The seminar was welcomed by the University of Nottingham during the first three years (see Luce Irigaray: Teaching edited by Luce Irigaray with Mary Green, and published by Continuum, London & New York, 2008), by the University of Liverpool the fourth year, by Queen Mary, University of London, the fifth year, by the Goodenough College of London the sixth year, by the University of Nottingham the seventh year, by the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol as co-hosts the eighth year, and by the University of Bristol the ninth year. The seminar will take place at the University of Bristol in 2013.

The framework of the seminar is this: A group of at most fifteen researchers, doing their PhD on the work of Luce Irigaray, stay one week on the university campus. The timetable includes a presentation by each researcher of the aspect of their PhD which most focuses on the work of Luce Irigaray, the discussion of this presentation by the group, the comments of Luce Irigaray herself and her answers to the questions asked by each one, and also sessions devoted to an explanation of some key-words or key-thoughts chosen by the participants. Personal meetings with Luce Irigaray are organized on the last day. The participants pay for their travel, but receive, at least in part, hospitality from the university. The language of the seminar is English.

The participants in the seminar come from different regions of the world, they belong to different cultures, traditions and fields of research – Philosophy, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, Literature, Arts, Critical and Cultural Studies, etc. The themes of their research include, for example: the treatment of personal or cultural traumatic experience; the resources that various arts can offer for dwelling in oneself and with the other(s); the maternal order and feminine genealogy; the interpretation and embodiment of the divine today; the contribution of sexuate difference to personal and social development; new perspectives in philosophy etc. In each of these fields, diverse domains, approaches and methods are represented. To date, the participants came from Australia, Vietnam, Korea, China, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, Latvia, France, Belgium, Pakistan, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Romania and from different regions and universities of the U.S.A. and of the U.K. Beyond the multicultural teaching which results from such a gathering, the participants learn to live together and to share in difference during the time devoted to the work, and during meals, walks, personal meetings etc. The atmosphere of the seminar is intense but friendly and joyful, and its outcome highly successful for both the research and the life of each participant.

If you are interested and would like to participate in such a seminar please send as soon as possible a CV, a PhD abstract (1 page) and a presentation of the issues and arguments of your PhD that most focus on the work of Luce Irigaray (5 – 6 pages) to Luce Irigaray (by mail: 15, rue Lakanal, 75015 Paris, France). After receiving this material, Luce Irigaray will tell you if you can participate in the seminar of 2013. You will be in contact, for further practical information, in the Spring after the selection of the candidates.

“In Defence of Political Theory: Impact and Opportunities”, Political Studies Review free to download.

This article will present the impact that political theory has made and the opportunities for future contributions. It will consider the contributions made by leading political theorists to policy debates, the lessons learned from their successes, and how political theorists might further pursue existing and new opportunities to develop impact. The discussion will close with consideration of several potential threats that theorists should become more aware of in order to best avoid them. The growing importance of impact in British higher education policy represents important challenges that may help promote the field of political theory. Political theorists should welcome these developments.

Via The Brooks Blog.

My Durham IAS colleague Barbara Graziosi reviews Mary Beard’s book of reviews Confronting the Classics in the THES.

Yesterday was Jerusalem Day, a celebration of the unification of the city. There is a good discussion in Haaretz of all the complexities and inequalities that celebration masks. This year there were clashes between the police and demonstrators and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was arrested.

Fellowships at University of Glasgow – details here. Applications should be submitted electronically to Ruth Harkin at ruth.harkin@glasgow.ac.uk by 14 June 2013.