History, Genealogy, Archaeology: alternative approaches to political and international studies

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Time: 9.30am - 6.30pm
Venue: Room 5005, John Galsworthy building, Penrhyn Road campus, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE
Price: free

"Only an iconoclastic philosopher could undertake the long and difficult task of detaching all the suffixes from beauty, of searching behind the obvious images for the hidden ones, of seeking the very roots of this image-making power. In the depths of matter there grows an obscure vegetation; black flowers bloom in matter's darkness. They already possess a velvety touch, a formula for perfume" - Gaston Bachelard, Water and Dreams

The notion of ‘archaeology' has become popular in the humanities and social sciences thanks to the works of Michel Foucault. However, the difficult positioning of his work - fostered by a rigid academic schematism and by the ‘genealogical turn' undertaken by Foucault in his later writings - has contributed to the lack of clarity surrounding the epistemological status of critical methods. It becomes crucial, therefore, to reflect on the epistemological foundations of these alternative approaches in order to clarify their explanatory power. For, in what sense can one write a ‘genealogy of the political', of its savoirs and powers? What are the similarities - and differences - between the genealogical and archaeological methods and critical historiography? What might an ‘archaeology of violence and the political' look like?

This one-day international workshop is conceived as an advanced postgraduate training in which senior scholars and MA/PhD students will engage in an in-depth discussion on a range of fundamental epistemological and methodological issues, in order to assess the contribution of critical theory to the fields of political and international studies.

Speakers

Claudia Aradau (King's College London): A Genealogy of Otherness: Security In A Digital Age
Antonio Cerella (Kingston University): Towards An Archaeology of Silence: Ontology and History in the Work of Foucault, Schmitt and Heidegger
Mitchell Dean (Copenhagen Business School): The Archè in Political Archaeology
Iwona Janicka (University of Warwick): Ethics of Generosity, Gift Economy and Alternative Modes of Existence
Sanja Perovic (King's College London): Mise-en-abîme in Foucault, Schmitt and Live Art: Representing the Recent Past
Scott Wilson (Kingston University): ‘The Day the Conducator Died': Towards a De-Ontologisation of Politics

For further information about this event:

Contact: Antonio Cerella
Email: A.Cerella@kingston.ac.uk