Everyday resistance: Thinking, making, and living in the material world [ONLINE EDITION]

3 panels discussing resistance as it is lived and practiced in the material and everyday:

- Micro-tactics and Making-do

- Media & Storytelling

- Creative counter-hegemonies & Collective resistance

What does resistance mean? How can individuals and communities resist hegemonic social orders? Can resistance occur without new forms of subjugation, transgression without the (re)institution of new norms (Michel Foucault, 1977; Ephraim Das Janssen, 2017)? Does resistance ever have an end goal? These questions are repeated in the fields of philosophy, political theory, history and beyond.

This online conference continues the conversations fostered at the two-day in-person conference hosted at the University of Brighton in November 2025. In this virtual space, ten speakers from across disciplines and geographic locations will build upon discussions around resistance as it is already lived and embodied, including in practices that do not appear immediately “political”, and through materials and forms of making historically subjugated (Kirsty Robertson, 2011; Roszika Parker, 1984).

Co-organised by the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics and the Design Activism research strand of the Centre for Design History, this interdisciplinary encounter aims to join theoretical research and historical inquiry. Together, we continue to explore practical and material ways by which people resist hegemonic orders, remake social structures, and challenge other oppressive systems.  

This conference aims to foster conversations on topics relating to resistance and rethinking structures and societal systems in place, through creation, material culture, design practice, audio-visual culture, theoretical reflections, historical studies, and beyond.

Read the full programme: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IQWXiagjKwsrL5wURegCdVD67T4MEgas/view?usp=sharing

Register to receive your details for joining the conference on March 25th: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/f099a6e3-673f-471e-bb2d-1f9a85ef2db8@a900bb90-94fe-4658-8b34-dd72084c5064