International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (UC Berkeley)
Chair on The Academic and the Civic (Utrecht University)
The Academy of Global Humanities and Critical Theory

 

THE CRITICAL TASKS OF THE UNIVERSITY

Bologna, June 22-24, 2017
Aula PRODI – Department of History and Cultures at University of Bologna
Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2

 

Conveners: Rosi Braidotti (Utrecht University), Judith Butler (University of California, Berkeley) and Raffaele Laudani (University of Bologna)

 

This conference is the first meeting of the conference cycle of the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP), funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  Focused on “The Critical Tasks of the University,” the conference will evaluate the prevailing metrics of value that increasingly structure and restrict the university in various global locations and consider how critical thought or more robust notions of “critique” can inform and enliven our contemporary reflections on valuable ways of knowing. As important as it is to support the study of critical theory in the university, it is also crucial to defend the university as a valued site for critical thinking in public life. Taking up issues of censorship, the suppression of dissenting views, the devaluation of the humanities and arts, and the new metrics of excellence, this meeting will consider how the critical humanities might reflect anew on the public obligations of the university as well as the need to safeguard the university as a site for critical reflections on pressing issues of public concern.

Entrance to the conference is free. Seating capacity is limited
No registration is required

THURSDAY, JUNE 22
 
3.30 pm
Welcome
ANTONINO ROTOLO, Vice Rector for Research, University of Bologna
 
Opening Remarks
ROSI BRAIDOTTI (Utrecht University) and JUDITH BUTLER (UC Berkeley)
 
3.45 - 6.45 pm

Panel 1: On the Critical Task of the University Today

Chair: RAFFAELE LAUDANI (University of Bologna)
 
“Challenges to/of Humanities: A Chinese Perspective?”
WANG HUI (Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Tsinghua University)
 
“The Figure of the Activist Scholar: Within and Against the Global University?”
SANDRO MEZZADRA (University of Bologna)
 
Respondent: GISELA CATANZARO (University of Buenos Aires)
 
FRIDAY, JUNE 23
 
9.00 am - 12.00 pm

Panel 2: Measures of Value: Humanities in the Age of Calculation

Chair: ROSI BRAIDOTTI (Utrecht University)
 
“The Public Institution: Defending What is Yet to Come”  
ATHENA ATHANASIOU (Panteion University, Athens)
 
“The Measure of the Digital Humanities”
ANDREW PARKER (Rutgers University)
 
Respondent: PETAR BOJANIČ (University of Belgrade)

 

3.30 - 6.30 pm

Panel 3: New Cartographies of Knowledge: Global South and Global Education

Chair: DEBJANI GANGULY (University of Virginia)
 
“University, Critique and North/South Dis/articulations”
JUAN OBARRIO (Johns Hopkins University)
 
“Coeval Time: The Shock of the New Old”
SARAH NUTTALL (WISER, Johannesburg)
 
Respondent: PREMESH LALU (University of the Western Cape)
 
 
SATURDAY, JUNE 24
 
9.00 am - 12.00 pm

Panel 4:  Politics of Knowledge: Theory, Culture, Society

Chair: RITA MONTICELLI (University of Bologna)
 
“A Partial Education”
STEFANO HARNEY (Singapore Management University)
 
“The (post) University as a 'Commonfare' Institution Between Social Cooperation and Technological Mediation”
TIZIANA TERRANOVA (University of Naples L’Orientale)
 
Respondent: MANUELA BOJADŽIJEV (Leuphana University of Lüneburg)

 

3.30 - 6.30 pm

Panel 5: Social Movements in and against the University

Chair: JUDITH BUTLER (Berkeley)
 
“Critique, Future Knowledges and Institutions”
ACHILLE MBEMBE (WISER, Johannesburg)
 
“The University as Utopia: Critical Thinking and Social Transformation”
NIVEDITA MENON (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India)
 
Respondent: DONATELLA DELLA PORTA (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

 

Concluding Remarks: ROSI BRAIDOTTI, JUDITH BUTLER, RAFFAELE LAUDANI