Learning in the Crisis: On Rediscovering “the Social” in the Midst of a Pandemic – Jun 27

Posted by Incite Seminars on June 23, 2020

As individuals and communities struggle to cope with daily life in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, we have witnessed impressive forms of grass-roots organization to meet basic material and social needs, often in the absence of state-level support (e.g., Mutual Aid networks). To what extent do these projects reflect a drive towards rediscovering “the social” which some claim has all but disappeared in advanced capitalist states? Rather than just celebrating these initiatives as hopeful intimations of a better future, this seminar will offer some reflections on the questions and the challenges they pose for our political thinking.  It will bring these reflections into dialogue with a variety of theorists and ideas, including Hannah Arendt’s distinction between “the social” and “the political”; Hanna Pitkin’s criticism of Arendt’s conception of “the social”, Banu Bargu’s work on commensality, and anarchist theories of prefiguration, human nature, and organization. the seminar will be facilitated by Judith Suissa, a professor of philosophy of education.

Date and Time: Saturday, June 27, 2020, 12 PM

Learn more and register: https://inciteseminars.com/learning-in-the-crisis/