Sovereignty and The Human: Exploring Bataille’s Accursed Share Project

George Bataille is surely one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century – drawing attention from notable figures such as Heidegger (who once remarked that Bataille was ‘one of France’s best minds’) as well as influencing Foucault, Deleuze and Derrida. Today his impact is still explicit in the work of Georgio Agamben and Jean-Luc Nancy, with their respective works on sovereignty and community. Bataille’s three volume Accursed Share project, which can be perhaps designated as the most systematic presentation of his thought, is an outrageously enigmatic and ambitious series of texts. It traverses a variety of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, political theory, cultural studies, and of course, philosophy. This conference aims to explore some themes from the texts and to cultivate the continuing discussion concerning Bataille’s thought.

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