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Conference Report - Demokratie 50 years after Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe (May 3-5 2023)
This was a slightly unusual conference in that was directed to the detailed exploration of the Geschichtlicher Grundbegriffe (henceforth GG) entry on Demokratie written 50 years ago, which has had a profound influence, not only on German historiography. But also on the way in which political ideas are discussed in, especially, Central and Northern Europe.
The conference circulated both an epitome of the GG entry, and a detailed agenda for discussion. The six key speakers (German speaking experts from the region) whose travel we supported were given the task of responding to the different topics on the agenda in turn, and then, in each session, the floor was opened to others attending. These included a number of senior people in the field from Oxford, Cambridge , Sussex, Nottingham, York, etc.
HRC Doctoral Fellowship Competition - Winners
We are pleased to announce the winners of the HRC Doctoral Fellowship Competition as follows:
Gennaro Ambrosino & Kerry Gibbons (SMLC) - 鈥楢rchaeology, Psychoanalysis and Colonialism: The Return of the Repressed in European Culture in the Modern Age鈥�
Ambika Raja & Ruth-Anne Walbank (English) - 鈥楧ivine disasters: Exploring distressed landscapes in literature and theology鈥�
Yue Su (Film & TV Studies) - 鈥楩orms and Feelings of Kinship in the Contemporary World鈥�
HRC Humanities Book Launch - 3rd May 2023
11.00-11.15 Alison Cooley (Classics and Ancient History)
The Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre (Cambridge University Press, February 2023)
11.15-11.30 Emma Campbell (SMLC)
Reinventing Babel in Medieval French: Translation and Untranslatability (c. 1120–c. 1250)
(Oxford University Press, 2023)
11.30-11.45 Sarah Wood (English)
Piers Plowman and its Manuscript Tradition (York Medieval Press/Boydell & Brewer, 2022)
11.45-12.00 David Lines (SMLC)
The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Italy: Arts and Medicine at the University of Bologna (Harvard University Press, February 2023)
12.15-12.30 David James (Philosophy)
Property and its Forms in Classical German Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
12.30-12.45 Carolina Bandinelli (CMPS)
Fashion as Creative Economy: Micro-Enterprises in London, Berlin and Milan (Polity, December 2022)
12.45-13.00 Chris Bilton (CMPS)
Cultural Management: a research overview (Abingdon: Routledge, 2023)
Creativities: the what, how, where, who and why of the creative process
Bilton, Chris, Cummings, Stephen, ogilvie, dt (2022). (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar)
13.15-13.30 Clive Gray (CMPS)
The Changing Museum (Routledge, November 2022)
13.30-13.45 Jane Woddis (CMPS)
Acting on Cultural Policy: Arts Practitioners, Policy-making and Civil Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023).
13.45-14.00 Harry 糖心TV (English)
Dystopia and Dispossession in the Hollywood Science-Fiction Film, 1979-2017
(Liverpool University Press, 2023).
Symposium Report - 'Adorno鈥檚 鈥淪exual Taboos and Law Today鈥� 鈥� Sixty Years On鈥�
鈥楽ymposium on Adorno鈥檚 鈥淪exual Taboos and Law Today鈥� – Sixty Years On鈥�, held at the University of 糖心TV and on Zoom on 25 February 2023
This symposium was dedicated to Theodor W. Adorno鈥檚 essay 鈥楽exual Taboos and Law Today鈥� and its contemporary relevance. It brought together junior and senior scholars from the fields of legal studies, psychoanalysis, pedagogics, social theory, and philosophy to revisit Adorno's controversial essay in times of #MeToo, identity politics, and heightened public concern for gender equality and transgender right.
The event was divided into three thematic panels and a roundtable discussion. Each panel engaged with one key dimension of Adorno鈥檚 text and its relevance today. Panel 1, composed of Prof. Christine Kirchhoff (IPU Berlin) and Prof. Julia K枚nig (University of Mainz), approached the text in light of recent developments in psychoanalysis; Panel 2, composed of Dr Marcel St枚tzler (Bangor University) and Craig Reeves (Birkbeck), read Adorno鈥檚 essay in light of current research in social theory and sociology; Panel 3, composed of Prof. Nicola Lacey (LSE) and Dr Iris Dankemeyer, reflected on Adorno鈥檚 essay in light of recent transformations in the legal sphere and legal theory. The roundtable discussion, in which all speakers, with the exception of Prof. Lacey, participated, enabled all scholars to engage in detail with each other鈥檚 arguments and to reflect on the value of Adorno鈥檚 contribution.
Throughout this symposium – and, particularly, during the concluding roundtable discussion – it became clear that, rather than being outdated, Adorno鈥檚 reflections are still thought-provoking and productive. This was particularly evident in the context of the current punitive turn in legal theory and praxis, recent discourses of queer and transgender identities, and, more generally, the acute and challenging task, faced by scholars of legal and social theory, philosophy and psychoanalysis alike, to theorise desire in contemporary society.
List of papers and speakers:
- Christine Kirchhoff (International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin): Sexual Taboos and Law Today? Reflections from the Perspective of Psychoanalysis
- Julia K枚nig (University of Mainz): Reflections on the 鈥楳inors-Complex鈥� in Adorno鈥檚 鈥楽exual Taboos and Law Today鈥� and in Current Moral Panics
- Marcel Stoetzler (Bangor University): Law, Lust, and Otherness in the Society of Total Domination: On Adorno鈥檚 Essay 鈥楽exual Taboos and Law Today鈥�
- Craig Reeves (Birkbeck): Persecution, Punishment, and the Potential for Freedom: Reactualising Adorno's Critical Moral Psychology
- Iris Dankemeyer (University of Art and Design, Halle): Presumption of Innocence: On the Topicality of Adorno's Lines of Inquiry in 'Sexual Taboos and Law Today'
- Nicola Lacey (LSE): A Feminist Criminal Lawyer鈥檚 Retrospective on Adorno鈥檚 Text
The symposium was a great success. All six invited speakers gave original papers that were met with lively discussions. The interdisciplinary character of the event was particularly productive, and we were excited to witness fruitful scholarly exchange across disciplinary boundaries. The roundtable session at the end provided a good opportunity for speakers and the audience to reflect on the symposium鈥檚 theme.
The results of this conference will be published – together with some additional contributions on Adorno鈥檚 essay 鈥楽exual Taboos and Law Today鈥� – in a special issue of the Journal of Adorno Studies, a key journal within the field of critical theory research. This special issue will be edited by the conference organisers, Simon Gansinger and Antonia Hofst盲tter.
The symposium was attended by 30 people in person and 25 people online (excluding the organisers). Of these 55, fewer than 20 were affiliated with the University of 糖心TV, where the conference was held. At least 5 members of the general public came to Coventry from other parts of the UK (Oxford, London). Several online participants joined the meeting from mainland Europe and the US. Roughly half of in-person participants were postgraduate students (we cannot give a reliable number for online participants). Half of the in-person participants joined the conference dinner, which testifies to the great interest among audience members.
The generous support by the HRC has been acknowledged on our website: /fac/soc/philosophy/news/conference/adorno/