WHAT IS THE COMMON?
An International Conference
10-11 October 2009
Gothenburg, Sweden
Jacques Rancière
David Harvey
In the shadow of the global
crisis of capitalism, the common, somehow obliterated in the recent past,
has emerged as an indispensable and central notion. The conference
addresses this notion both as a real movement and as an already present
horizon, a dynamic principle, for societal life. It is a critical topic
today, not only because the public, administrated by the state, is reduced
to expendable assets for regulating a supposedly self-regulating machine
called Market, but more importantly because the emerging forms of the
common impose themselves with an unprecedented acuity and in opposition to
the doxa of the private property.
The common refers not only to primary
resources, such as water or ecological conditions on a planetary level, but
it is at the same time a political force that traverses diverse fields of
tension such as art and culture, law and gender relations. The question
"What is the Common?" is addressed as a real agenda that conditions the
thought. The conference is a program that extends over 4 years. Each year
will treat two themes. The conference 2009 will welcome papers related to the following two axes:
1. The Common and the Economy
Which are the specific emerging forms of the common today and what
defines its relation to the material conditions of production of values in
contemporary capitalism? Under this axis, both theoretical discussions
and case-specific investigations in areas such as autonomous popular
organisations, regional movements or global changes in one specific
economic sector are welcome.
2. The Philosophical Understanding of what the
Common Is
The common has since Plato's Republic been a central question for the
philosophical thinking. What is the relation or non-relation between
the common and the totality of social relations? In which form and based
upon what ontological or existential categories does it emerge? What is
the difference between the common as the name of a real movement and the
nostalgies of the return to a simple life?
Submission Guidelines
We
are welcoming papers from all
disciplines regardless academic affiliation or other background. All
Interested researchers are required to submit an abstract of no more than
500 words, not later than September 5. Submissions via email must be in MS
Word, RTF, or PDF format. Presentations will be given in English.
Presenters will each be given 30 minutes for their presentation, followed
by a 15 minutes discussion with the floor. Each session will be appointed
a chair. Please specify if you are interested to chair a session. Number
of sessions are limited to 8. If accepted, you will be required to provide
a complete version of your 10-15 page double-spaced paper by January 1,
2010. Your abstract should not include your name, but do include the
following on a separate page:
Name,
paper title,
affiliation (university, other),
email address. Submissions should be sent either by electronic mail
to: info@kurrents.org or as a paper copy to:
Sylva Frisk, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Box
700, SE-405 30 Goteborg, Sweden.
About the Organization
The conference is organized upon an original proposal by Dr Dariush Moaven
Doust. He is also responsible for the organization of the conference and
the head of the Scientific committee in which Tomas Jonsson, researcher at
CEFOS, Professor emeritus Sven-Eric Liedman, History of Ideas, Professor
Lennart Nilsson, CEFOS, Professor emeritus Jan Ling, Mikaela Lundahl head
of Museion Interdisciplinary Centre, Sylva Frisk, Director of Studies at
the School of Global Studies participate. The host for the conference is
the School of Global Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences. |
