Democracy & DissentTHEME
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The first PSL on Democracy & Dissent took place June 25-July 5, 2017 in the monastery of Paou, near Argalasti. The lab addressed urgent political developments around the globe both by revisiting classic texts of critical theory and social inquiry and tracing new trajectories of thought and novel modes of cultural critique and cultural production. Against the backdrop of neo-fascist xenophobia and neoliberal austerity, we considered how democracy, so often invoked as an alibi of sovereignty, still holds out a vital promise of hospitality to the other, capable of disrupting multifarious justifications for intolerance, exclusion, dispossession and injury. As we considered emergent practices and potentialities for dissent, we highlighted the constitutive role of technology, culture and aesthetics in the political. Ethnographic and historical case studies from various sites were interwoven with our more theoretical discussions. A highlight of the program was a one-day public symposium held in the seaside village of Horto on June 29, followed by an excursion to Trikeri the next day. The cohort engaged in a Democracy Simulation that they presented on July 4, 2017. The organizing committee for PSL 2017: Penelope Papailias, Ioanna Laliotou, Mitsos Bilalis, Pantelis Probonas. The following seminars were presented by PSL 2017 faculty: States of Emergency and Agonistic Politics: Toward a ‘Not Yet’ of Democratic Imagination Athena Athanasiou (Panteio) Disruptive Performances: Fred Moten and the Black Radical Tradition Patricia Dailey (Columbia University) Migrants, Mobilities and Oceanic Crossings Pamila Gupta (University of Witwatersrand) The Commons as an Alternative Paradigm of Collective Life Alexandros Kioupkiolis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) Aesthetics in the Political: Antigone as a Stranger in the Polis Elena Tzelepis (University of Athens) Why Do We “Fight for Our Servitude as if it Were our Salvation”? Spinoza and La Boétie on Democracy Dimitris Vardoulakis (Western Sydney U) Our 2017 faculty also presented methodological workshops in experimental genres: Expanded Documentary Juan Orrantia (University of Witwatersrand) Machinima as Experimental Ethnographic Medium Petros Petridis (University of Thessaly) | ||
EXPERIMENT |
Democracy SimulationAs part of PSL 2017 on the theme of Democracy & Dissent, the cohort was tasked to engage in a methodological lab entitled Democracy Simulation. The methodological workshop was led by Penelope Papailias, Mitsos Bilalis and Ioanna Laliotou. Cohort participants presented their proposals on the last day of the lab on July 4, 2017.
PROMPT You will work in pairs to *propose* an intervention into a critical event (a media event, an artistic event, an intellectual/academic one, an everyday situation) in which in one way or another democracy in your opinion is on the line. This event could be something that has been haunting you from your research. It could be something that has pressed itself upon you as a concern from your activism or from navigating everyday life from whatever subject position. We want you to probe this problem, to crack it open, with some of the theoretical concepts from the seminars. Of course, those readings, seminars and conversations could also lead you to the critical event you want to interrogate. You will propose an intervention, trying to brainstorm a 'format". We do not want to fetishize new "digital tools", leading you to focus your time on technical finetuning. What is really important to us is the shock the logics of knowledge production and circulation, hierarchies of expertise, knowledge scarcity, commodification, etc. that is in process and that directly affects communication, political community, scholarship, etc. The question then is how in political, not practical terms, do we "write" today? EVENT + CONCEPT + FORMAT = DESIGN PROPOSAL Your 15-minute presentation could take the form of a short essay, a powerpoint, a photo essay, an explainer vlog, a syllabus, a short video, a machinima, an activity for children, an art exhibit, a performance... We like to think of this as the start of an conversation that will extend beyond and after the lab, and we will be very interested if these little "seeds" sprout after we all leave Paou. Cohort presentations. |
EVENT
PEOPLE
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Organizers
Penelοpe Papailias George Mantzios Pantelis Probonas Christina Mitsopoulou Mitsos Bilalis |
Cohort
Joy Al-Nemri Miray Cakiroglu Maria-Pinelopi Chatzicharalampous Stephane Dartiailh Marilena Gatsiou Melina Kalfanti Stavros Karanikas Nnenna Onuoha Maria Pantsidou Alexandros Papageorgiou Panagiota Paspali Effrosyni Rantou Niki Soumpassis Nicholas-George Sykas Eleni Tsatsaroni Georgia Tsianta Michail Vrogkistinos |
Instructors
Athena Athanasiou Patricia Dailey Pamila Gupta Alexandros Kioupkiolis Juan Orrantia Petros Petridis Elena Tzelepis Dimitris Vardoulakis |
CO-ORGANISED WITH THE SUPPORT OF
