Violence and Agency │ Controversies and Confrontations

Critical engagements with neoliberalism necessitate a rethinking of the relationship between violence and agency. Violence and agency are not mutually exclusive opposites neither can they be seen as specific to singular discourses. Violence, for instance, does not only cause physical injuries. Especially in a neoliberal context, violence is multifaceted, local, and embodied. In this conference, we are interested in the different entanglements of violence and agency. In what practices can they be observed, and how can we think and theorize their relationship in neoliberal times? Is agency always a product of, or a reaction to, violence? Or can agency be thought of as something other than violence's correlative? Under what conditions is agency seen as a natural attribute of the subject?

Presentations will be held in German and English.

No conference fees will be charged.