This is an intensive course convened and taught by Rosi Braidotti and an \;interdisciplinary team of co-teachers. It consists of keynote lectures in the \;morning and three thematic tutorials for four afternoons (the class ends at \;noon on Friday). The theme of the course is contemporary critical theory in \;the Continental philosophy tradition\, with special reference to the work of
Gilles Deleuze.
The course offers an introduction to contemporary critical debates on the \;construction of subjects. Cultural diversity\, global migration\, digital \;&lsquo\;second life&rsquo\;\, genetically modified food\, advanced prosthetics\, robotics and \;reproductive technologies are familiar facets of our global and \;technologically mediated societies. How do they affect the \;self-understanding\, the cultural representations and the social and political \;participations of contemporary subjects? The emphasis on nomadic theory aims \;to outline a project of sustainable modern subjectivity and to offer an \;original and powerful alternative for scholars working in cultural and social \;criticism.
Arranged thematically\, the sessions of the course explore the different \;aspects of critical theory debates about contemporary subjectivity: \;embodiment\, gender and racial differences\, multi-cultural and post-secular \;citizenship\, issues linked to globalization\, network societies and \;techno-science. The course stresses the productive potential of these \;features of our culture and it promotes the politics of affirmation\, which \;emphasize the importance of affects and the imagination. It establishes a \;theoretical frame¬\;work that combines critique and creation\, granting a major \;role to the arts and new media.
By inscribing nomadic subjects in the content of contemporary culture\, the \;course also assesses the extent to which intense technological mediation and \;global networks have blurred the traditional distinction between the human \;and its others\, both human and non-human others\, thus exposing the \;non-naturalistic structure of the human subject. The course analyzes the \;escalating effects of the posthuman condition\, which encompass new \;relationships to animals and other species and ultimately questions the \;sustainability of our planet as a whole. After delving into the inhumane and \;structurally unjust aspects of our culture by looking at new wars and \;contemporary conflicts\, the course concludes by outlining new forms of \;cosmopolitan nomadic citizenship. Rather than perceiving the posthuman \;situation as a loss of cognitive and moral self-mastery\, this course argues \;that it helps us make sense of our flexible nomadic identities. \;The challenge for critical theory today consists in seizing the opportunities \;for new social bonding and community building\, while pursuing sustainability \;and empowerment.
Please see here \;for details of this intensive summer course taught by Rosi Braidotti:
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