The goal of the Political Concepts Initiative is to serve as a platform for revising, inventing, and experimenting with concepts while exploring the political dimension of their use and dissemination. Political Concepts enhances critical questioning of the political in the widest sense of the notion and creates a framework for an ongoing interdisciplinary conversation in the humanities and social sciences. The Political Concepts Initiative is directed by Adi Ophir, Visiting Professor of Humanities and Middle East Studies. Read more.
Political Concepts
Previous Events
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Dec6More InformationDecember 6 and 7, 2019
The 2019 conference of the Political Concepts Initiative, subtitled “Retouch,” addressed questions related to structures of imperialism, racial capitalism, and gender violence catalyzed by movements such as Black Lives Matter, the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests, food sovereignty, and #MeToo. Speakers engaged with concepts through which these crimes and the indispensability of reparations can be described, explained, and analyzed. The conference explored modalities and initiatives of redress, redistribution, and resurgence through which, once these crimes are acknowledged, different worlds can be reimagined and retouched.
“Retouch” was co-organized by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay (Brown University), Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman (Brown University), Leela Gandhi (Brown University), and Vazira Zamindar (Brown University).
Friday, December 6, 2019 8:45 AM – 9:15 AM Gathering & Morning Coffee 9:15 AM – 9:30 AM Greetings and Opening Remarks
Timothy Bewes (Cogut Institute for the Humanities)9:30 AM – 11:20 AM Keisha-Khan Y. Perry (Brown University) • Occupation
Jasmine Johnston (University of Pennsylvania) • Choreography
Moderator: Patsy Lewis (Brown University)11:20 AM – 11:40 AM Coffee Break 11:40 AM – 1:30 PM Dixa Ramírez D’Oleo (Brown University) • Indolence
Poulomi Saha (University of California, Berkeley) • Contingency
Moderator: Paula Gaetano-Adi (Rhode Island School of Design)1:30 PM – 3:00 PM Lunch Break 3:00 PM – 4:50 PM Emily Owens (Brown University) • Violence
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay (Brown University) • Errata
Moderator: Leora Maltz-Leca (Rhode Island School of Design)4:50 PM – 5:10 PM Coffee Break 5:10 PM – 7:00 PM Vazira Zamindar (Brown University) • Waiting
Tina Campt (Brown University) • Adjacency
Moderator: Naoko Shibusawa (Brown University)Saturday, December 7, 2019 8:45 AM – 9:10 AM Morning Coffee 9:10 AM – 11:00 AM Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman (Brown University) • Regard
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning) • Resurgence
Moderator: Itohan Osayimwese (Brown University)11:00 AM – 11:20 AM Coffee Break 11:20 AM – 1:10 PM Imani Perry (Princeton University) • Mother
Thangam Ravindranathan (Brown University) • Elephant
Moderator: Vazira Zamindar (Brown University)1:10 PM – 2:40 PM Lunch Break 2:40 PM – 4:30 PM Ainsley LeSure (Brown University) • Equality
Patricia Ybarra (Brown University) • Debt
Moderator: Ariella Aïsha Azoulay (Brown University)Co-sponsored by the Charles K. Colver Lectureships and Publications, Cogut Institute for the Humanities, Humanities Initiative Programming Fund, Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture and Media Studies, Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, Departments of Africana Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Comparative Literature, English, History, History of Art and Architecture, Literary Arts, and Modern Culture and Media.
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Dec7More InformationDecember 7 and 8, 2018
The 2018 annual conference of the Political Concepts Initiative was dedicated to analyzing the contemporary conditions of knowledge production, with a focus on the sciences and the university. The “Science Edition” was co-organized by Timothy Bewes, Leela Gandhi, Adi Ophir, and Lukas Rieppel and brought together scholars with a broad range of disciplinary trainings and affiliations, including for example anthropology, biology, gender studies, history of science, law, media studies, philosophy, physics, and sociology.
Speakers presented a single concept, one that needed to be revised, deconstructed, or invented in order to understand, criticize, and, if necessary resist recent changes in the organization of scientific knowledge and academic knowledge more broadly. This concept is a tool for a critical explication of ways in which scientific knowledges have been impacted by, and integrated into, the neoliberal economy and global order, the forces that have eroded liberal democratic regimes and brought about the disintegration of the common, and the struggles for decolonization, democracy and social justice. Presentations questioned, first, the ways these processes, forces, and struggles work through the sciences and transform the inner fabric of scientific research and academic practice, and second, how science itself has been shaped as an arena of political struggle. Videos are available on YouTube.
Friday, December 7 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM Greetings and Opening Remarks 9:00 AM – 11:20 AM Stephanie Dick • Database [video]
Dan Hirschman • Stylized Facts [video]
Moderator: Adi Ophir11:20 AM – 11:40 AM Coffee Break 11:40 AM – 1:30 PM Rebecca Nedostup • Practice/Praxis [video]
Barbara Herrnstein Smith • Scientism [video]
Moderator: Sharon Krause1:30 PM – 3:00 PM Lunch Break 3:00 PM – 4:50 PM Alex Csiszar • Peer Review [video]
Kaushik Sunder Rajan • Value [video]
Moderator: Alka Menon4:50 PM – 5:10 PM Coffee Break 5:10 PM – 7:00 PM Raphael Sassower • Scientific Progress [video]
Tamara Chin • Homo Geoeconomicus [video]
Moderator: Etienne BalibarSaturday, December 8 9:10 AM – 11:00 AM Etienne Benson • Environment [video]
Joanna Radin • Future [video]
Moderator: Timothy Bewes11:00 AM – 11:20 AM Coffee Break 11:20 AM – 1:10 PM Mara Mills • Impairment [video]
Iris Montero • Scala Naturae [video]
Moderator: Leela Gandhi1:10 PM – 2:40 PM Lunch Break 2:40 PM – 4:30 PM Banu Subramaniam • Diaspora/e [video unavailable]
Suman Seth • Race [video unavailable]
Moderator: Lukas Rieppel4:30 PM – 4:50 PM Coffee Break 4:50 PM – 6:40 PM Yarden Katz • Entrepreneurial Science [video]
Peter Galison and Noah Feldman • Corporatized Knowledge [video]
Moderator: Jacques LezraThis conference was funded in part by the Herbert H. Goldberger Lectureship, the CV Starr Foundation Lectureship, the Humanities Initiative Programming Fund, and the Program in Science, Technologies, and Society.
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Dec1More Information
The goal of Political Concepts is to experiment with modes of concept analysis as a tool for enhancing critical questioning of the political, in the widest sense, and to create a framework for an ongoing interdisciplinary conversation in the humanities and social sciences. It offers a platform for exploring the political dimensions of the way concepts work, are used, and disseminated. The 2017-18 conference was dedicated to analyzing and contesting the transformation of the American political system under the presidency of Donald Trump. View full video playlist.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Session 1 [Video]
Joan Scott (Institute of Advanced Studies) • Trump
Zahid R. Chaudhary (Princeton University) • Impunity
Moderator: Amanda Anderson (Brown University)Session 2 [Video]
Brian Meeks (Brown University) • Hegemony
Lisa Lowe (Tufts University) • Migrant
Moderator: Ann Stoler (The New School)Session 3 [Video]
Akeel Bilgrami (Columbia University) • Academic Freedom
Beshara Doumani (Brown University) • Academy
Moderator: Elizabeth Weed (Brown University)Session 4 [Video]
Benjamin Parker (Brown University) • Disruption
Anthony Bogues (Brown University) • Disobedience
Moderator: Leela Gandhi (Brown University)Saturday, December 2, 2017
Session 5 [Video]
Wendy Chun (Brown University) • Authenticity
Sara Guindani (Collège d’études mondiales, Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme) • Transparency
Moderator: Rebecca Schneider (Brown University)Session 6 [Video]
John Cayley (Brown University) • Reading
Lynne Joyrich (Brown University) • Television
Moderator: Timothy Bewes (Brown University)Session 7 [Video]
Nick Mirzoeff (New York University) • Love
Jack Halberstam (Columbia University) • Wildness
Moderator: Lingzhen Wang (Brown UniversitySession 8 [Video]
Claire Brault (Brown University) • Uchronia
Françoise Vergès (Collège d’études mondiales, Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme) • Water
Moderator: Susan Buck-Morss (The Graduate Center/City University of New York) -
Dec2More Information
The goal of Political Concepts is to serve as a platform for revising, inventing, and experimenting with concepts while exploring the political dimension of their use and dissemination. Participants operate under the assumption that our era urgently needs a revised political lexicon that would help us better understand the world in which we live and act, and that the humanities at large can and should contribute toward such a revision. In the past, some of the participants revised key political concepts while others showed the political work done by terms and common nouns that are not usually considered “political.” View full video playlist.
Friday, December 2, 2016
Session 1 [Video]
Jacques Lezra (New York University) • Relation
Ellen Rooney (Brown University) • Trope
Moderator: Amanda Anderson (Brown University)Session 2 [Video]
Jay Bernstein (New School for Social Research) • Rights
Didier Fassin (Institute for Advanced Study/Princeton) • Punishment
Moderator: Sharon Krause (Brown University)Session 3 [Video]
Emily Apter (New York University) • Equaliberty
Adi Ophir (Brown University) • Political
Moderator: Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg (Brown University)Session 4 [Video]
Charles Mills (City University of New York) • Race
Gary Wilder (City University of New York) • Solidarity
Bruce Robbins (Columbia University) • Anthropological
Moderator: Susan Buck-Morss (City University of New York)Saturday, December 3, 2016
Session 5 [Video]
Judith Butler (University of California/Berkeley) • Religion
Patrice Maniglier (Université Paris Ouest/Nanterre) • Materialism
Monique David-Ménard (Université Paris VII; Institute for Cultural Inquiry) • Conversion
Moderator: Kevin McLaughlin (Brown University)Session 6 [Video]
Ann Stoler (New School for Social Research) • Interior Frontier
Stathis Gourgouris (Columbia University) • Border
Moderator: Lukas Rieppel (Brown University)Session 7 [Video]
Michel Feher (Zone Books) • Investee
Bernard Harcourt (Columbia University) • Contre/Counter
Moderator: Timothy Bewes (Brown University)Session 8 [Video]
Peter Osborne (Kingston University) • Subject
Étienne Balibar (Université Paris Ouest/Nanterre; Columbia University) • Concept
Moderator: Bonnie Honig (Brown University) -
More Information
The goal of Political Concepts is to serve as a platform for revising, inventing, and experimenting with concepts while exploring the political dimension of their use and dissemination. Participants operate under the assumption that our era urgently needs a revised political lexicon that would help us better understand the world in which we live and act, and that the humanities at large can and should contribute toward such a revision. In the past, some of the participants revised key political concepts while others showed the political work done by terms and common nouns that are not usually considered “political.”
Friday, December 4, 2015
Session 1 [Video]
Sharon Krause, Brown University • Agency
James Schmidt, Boston University • Publicity
Moderator: Amanda Anderson, Brown UniversitySession 2 [Video]
Alex Gourevitch, Brown University • Strike
Thomas A. Lewis, Brown University • Formation
Moderator: Nathaniel Berman, Brown UniversitySession 3 [Video]
Joan Cocks, Mount Holyoke College • Disappearance
Branka Arsic, Columbia University • Desert
Moderator: Bonnie Honig, Brown UniversitySession 4 [Video]
Marc Redfield, Brown University • Shibboleth
Vazira Zamindar, Brown University • Minority
Moderator: Adi Ophir, Brown UniversitySaturday, December 5, 2015
Session 5 [Video]
Joanna Howard, Brown University • Possession
William Keach, Brown University • Property
Moderator: Tim Bewes, Brown UniversitySession 6 [Video]
Lukas Rieppel, Brown University • Nature
Anna Bialek, Brown University • Indeterminacy
Moderator: Stephen Bush, Brown UniversitySession 7 [Video]
Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Brown University • Abiura
Rebecca Schneider, Brown University • Gesture
Moderator: Gerhard Richter, Brown UniversitySession 8 [Video]
Ariella Azoulay, Brown University • Sovereignty
James Kuzner, Brown University • Bondage
Moderator: Thangam Ravindranathan, Brown University -
More Information
The goal of Political Concepts is to serve as a platform for revising, inventing, and experimenting with concepts while exploring the political dimension of their use and dissemination. Participants operate under the assumption that our era urgently needs a revised political lexicon that would help us better understand the world in which we live and act, and that the humanities at large can and should contribute toward such a revision. In the past, some of the participants revised key political concepts while others showed the political work done by terms and common nouns that are not usually considered “political.”
Friday, April 10, 2015
Session 1 [Video]
Elizabeth Weed • Reality
Thangam Ravindranathan • Missing
Moderator: Bonnie HonigSession 2 [Video]
Beshara Doumani • Region
Lukas Rieppel • Organization
Moderator: Adi OphirSession 3 [Video]
Susan Bernstein • Synaesthesia
Philip Rosen • Cinematic
Moderator: Lynne JoyrichSession 4 [Video]
Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg • Reclamation
Gerhard Richter •Inheritance
Moderator: Joan CopjecSaturday, April 11, 2015
Session 5 [Video]
Jacques Khalip • Triumph
Peter Szendy • Katechon
Moderator: Marc RedfieldSession 6 [Video]
Stephen Bush • Ecstasy
Michael Sawyer • Sacrifice
Moderator: Ravit ReichmanSession 7 [Video]
Timothy Bewes • Free indirect
Amanda Anderson • Character
Moderator: Rebecca SchneiderSession 8 [Video]
David Wills • Blood
Jacques Rancière • Occupation
Moderator: Michael Steinberg -
More Information
An ongoing project, “Political Concepts: A Critical Lexicon” takes as its goal to serve as a platform for revising, inventing, and experimenting with concepts while exploring the political dimension of their use and dissemination. The project’s participants operate under the assumption that our era urgently needs a revised political lexicon that would help us better understand the world in which we live and act, and that the humanities at large can and should contribute toward such a revision. In the past, some of the participants revised key political concepts while others showed the political work done by terms and common nouns that are not usually considered “political.”
Scholars from all disciplines in the humanities and social sciences were invited to re-think and re-articulate concepts they are working with or to construct new ones that seem necessary for their work.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Session 1 [Video]
Étienne Balibar, Columbia University and Université de Paris X • Exploitation
Andreas Kalyvas, The New School • Statelessness
Moderator: Michael Steinberg, Brown UniversitySession 2
Ellen Rooney, Brown University • Reading
Linda Quiquivix, Brown University • Map
Moderator: Susan Bernstein, Brown UniversitySession 3 [Video]
A. Kiarina Kordela, Macalester College • Horror
Nathaniel Berman, Brown University • Demonization
Moderator: Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Brown UniversitySession 4 [Video]
Kevin McLaughlin, Brown University • Raison d’État
Adi Ophir, Brown University • Concept (ii)
Moderator: Jay Bernstein, The New SchoolSaturday, November 16, 2013
Session 5 [Video]
Elias Muhanna, Brown University • Vernacular
Jacques Lezra, New York University • Like
Moderator: Akeel Bilgrami, Columbia UniversitySession 6 [Video]
Eduardo Cadava, Princeton University • Trees
Bonnie Honig, Brown University • Resilience
Moderator: Barrymore A. Bogues, Brown UniversitySession 7 [Video]
Ariella Azoulay, Brown University • Human Rights
Federico Finchelstein, The New School • Populism
Moderator: Stathis Gourgouris, Columbia UniversitySession 8 [Video]
Roundtable with Jay Bernstein, Akeel Bilgrami, Stathis Gourgouris, Adi Ophir, and Ann Stoler (Chair and Participant)
