INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Poststructuralism: Past, Present, Future
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Faculty of Philosophy
March 6-7, 2019.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a new approach to doing philosophy arose in France that subsequently came to be labelled ‘poststructuralism.’ Building on the insights of structuralism, a number of thinkers, most of whom rejected the label ‘poststructuralist,’ introduced new methodologies, perspectives, and studies of a range of disciplines and themes that challenged many long-held assumptions. Rather than emphasize unity, totality, transparency, representation, they focused on openness, difference, the unknowable, expression. In so doing, they opened up new ways of thinking, new approaches to ‘old’ topics, and new conclusions that quickly garnered much attention in the non-French speaking world.
While quickly earning adherents, poststructuralist thought was also the subject of significant critiques from, amongst others, analytical philosophers, critical theorists, feminists, and, more recently, from those associated with new materialism. The purpose of this two day international conference is to engage with the meaning, purpose, place, and heritage of poststructuralist thought. Given the contestation surrounding the term, the organizers will not be working from a particular definition of ‘poststructuralism’ but would expect contributions to be focused around the work of, amongst others, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, Cornelius Castoriadis, Hélène Cixous, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, and Jean-François Lyotard. Potential topics might include:
- Structuralism and poststructuralism.
- Poststructuralism and the history of philosophy (Ancient philosophy, Medieval, Modern, German Idealism, Marxism, Existentialism, Phenomenology etc.).
- A comparative analysis of different poststructuralist figures.
- Poststructuralism and psychoanalysis, new materialism, political philosophy.
- Poststructuralism and the metaphysics of foundationalism
- Poststructuralism and the Subject
- The Ethics of Poststructuralism
- Feminism and/in Poststructuralism
- Time and Poststructuralism
- Violence and Poststructuralism
Those interested in presenting a paper should send a 400 word abstract—outlining the general topic of the paper, the specific problem to be addressed, summary of the debates surrounding that issue, and argument to be developed—suitable for 20 minutes presentation time, including name and institutional affiliation, topoststructuralism@uc3m.es by November 30, 2018. The language of the conference is English and attendance will be free.
The conference is hosted provided by the Department of Logic and Theoretical Philosophy, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and forms part of the activities for the Conex Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Project ‘Sovereignty and Law: Between Ethics and Politics’ co-funded by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration under Grant Agreement 600371, The Spanish Ministry of the Economy and Competitivity (COFUND2013-40258), The Spanish Ministry for Education, Culture, and Sport (CEI-15-17), and Banco Santander. More information about the research project can be found at: https://sovereigntyandlaw.wordpress.com/