Touching the World - Luce Irigaray Circle & NSU

The 12th meeting of the Luce Irigaray Circle is a three-day interdisciplinary conference devoted to the scholarship and creative work on, or inspired by, the thought of Luce Irigaray. Luce Irigaray’s work has influenced scholarship across multiple fields including Philosophy, Gender Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Studies, Literary and Culture Studies, Indigenous Studies, Classics, Religious Studies, Political Theory, Linguistics, Art, Architecture, Music, Performance Studies, and Legal Theory, etc. The Circle cultivates a space for honoring and interrogating the question of sexual difference by supporting the multiple research trajectories, methods, and projects inspired by Irigaray’s thought.

Luce Irigaray has called for a new human being and a new way of thinking based on her philosophy of sexual difference. Central to this idea of being and thinking are touch and being touched as forms of interaction and inter-affections that are endless processes of becoming and transformations. This year´s conference draws its theme from touching and being touched by the world in all its manifestations. Reflections on the following topics are welcome:

• Sexes, genders, differences
• New human being and humanity
• Sharing desire, sharing the world
• Erotic thinking
• Embodiments and languaging
• Ethics of sexual difference
• Temporalities and spatialities
• Vegetal thinking, breath and breathing
• Artificial Intelligence
• Self-affection and the sensible transcendental
• Liberation and repression
• Race and racism
• Disconnection, coloniality, war
• Climate change
• Capitalism as patriarchal economy and polarization

Papers should be delivered in 20 minutes to leave 10 minutes each for discussion. Please note that the IC conference organizers are planning an edited volume based on the conference and request the right of first review on all accepted papers. If you would like to submit a proposal, please send the following information at https://forms.gle/CJDHLwiWaCwuyx1d6 by January 10th, 2024:

• For individual papers and works in progress: the title of your paper, an abstract (500 words maximum); 5 keywords; a list of no more than six references (not to be included in the word count)
• For complete panels (approx. 3 papers per panel): the title of the panel; an abstract explaining the theme of the panel (300 words maximum); 5 keywords for the panel; titles and individual abstracts for each paper (300 words each maximum, plus a list of up to six references for each paper).

Creative Work:

In addition to academic presentations, the Circle invites proposals for creative work related to the work of Luce Irigaray. Past events have included theatrical and musical performances, poetry readings, art installations, and more. Submissions should include an abstract describing the work, materials that represent it (for example, poetry excerpts or photos) and an explanation of the technical needs related to presenting the work.

Work-in-Progress Session(s):

In addition to traditional academic presentations, we welcome works and thinking in progress. If you would prefer to participate in a closed discussion section for works in progress, indicate “Works in Progress” in the subject line of your submission. If you are admitted to the works in progress track, we will ask you to send in an unfinished piece of writing (non-academic as well as academic texts are welcome) ahead of the conference (by 1st of May 2024), which will be shared with others who have signed up to join the WIP-session(s). During the conference small presentations and conversations around these works will be hosted in closed sessions.

More information: https://www.nsuweb.org/study-circles/circle-4-an-other-not-i-m-other-in-feminist-philosophy/