NOI♀SE Summer School 2017 organized by the Netherlands Research School of Gender
This year, the 25th edition of NOI♀SE will introduce you to diverse and debate-provoking scholarship on the relationship between critique and crisis at the intersections of feminist, queer and postcolonial studies, cultural studies, activism and the arts.
Topical urgency and focus
The status of critique today is undoubtedly in trouble. At the current socio-political conjuncture, one that is deeply characterised by multiple crises, the urgency, and paradoxically, redundancy of critique today has led to a widespread questioning of its political efficacy and theoretical appeal. Although the entanglement of both notions appear to be less prominent in feminist, queer and postcolonial traditions, both crisis and critique have resurfaced, sometimes in tandem with one another or as objects of enquiry, in many recent contributions within these fields.
Recent debates over the inefficacy of critical theory to move beyond oppositional and reactionary rhetoric signal a condition of paralysis qua critique; one that is implicated in the development of post-critical paradigms in the (post)humanities today. Paradoxically, the two seemingly dominant critical paradigms in feminist, queer and postcolonial studies – critique as negation and critique as affirmation – have raised some urgent questions pertaining to the place of critique vis-à-vis structures of domination, oppression and exploitation (gendered, racial, political and economic) that permeate our contemporary societies. Is it possible to engage in feminist and queer theories that are critical of normativity without giving traction to opposition and counter-strategies? Can we conceive of feminist decolonial and anti-colonial perspectives through/as affirmative critical practice?
The 25th edition of the NOISE Summer School will navigate this unchartered terrain, at the heart of which lies the uneasy relationship between the crisis of critique and the critique of crisis, to borrow Ghassan Hage’s phrase. Featuring established and emergent scholars and activists in the field, the summer school will explore the ways in which feminist, queer and postcolonial studies articulate a critique of present crises. We ask: how can we navigate this (post) critical conjuncture? Can we reclaim critique as a crucial counter-hegemonic strategy as well as a constellation of embodied practices in and of the ordinary? It is within these questions and debates that the NOISE 2017 five-day program seeks to intervene.
Aims
Summer school participants will be:
· Introduced to feminist, queer and postcolonial approaches to critique, with a particular focus on critical vs. post-critical debates, affirmative practices, theories of embodiment, normativity, anti-normativity and intersectionality.
· Trained in theories, methods and ethics of feminist interventionist and critical practices.
Target audience
This advanced training course offers a diverse yet coherent program of study from an interdisciplinary perspective. The Summer School is meant for PhD and MA students. Separate seminars for these two groups will be provided in the afternoons.
Formula
· Two lectures in the morning
· Separate PhD and MA-seminars in the afternoon
· Round table discussions
· Performances
· Social program
· Students prepare before NOI♀SE by reading and collecting material for assignments.
· All students are expected to participate in the entire program for the duration of five days.
Please check the website for more information, registration and regular updates:
http://www.graduategenderstudies.nl à Education à NOI♀SE 2017