Invitation text:
"In contemporary political theory, there is a widespread commitment to rewrite its history in order to include that which has been marginalized. Yet, while there is agreement on what this history should not look like – a select number of monographs written by and on a handful of white, European men – there is no such consensus as to what it means to rewrite it in such way that it pays more attention to social, cultural, and political agency at its margins. This conference aims to address this lacuna, and sets up a conversation between the various ways in which scholars are rewriting the history of political thought. With this dialogue between the various subfields of political theory, we hope to overcome institutional, methodological, and thematic divides.
This conference is organized around three, mutually compatible conceptions of rewriting the history of political thought from the margins that roughly correspond to three different approaches in political theory: 1) the interrogation of key concepts, such as sovereignty, community, and the nation; 2. the inclusion of neglected authors, typically women or non-Western thinkers; 3. the prioritization of concrete political struggles as sites of theory formation.
Furthermore, and running through these three conceptions, are methodological questions, especially concerning material (re)sources as well as strategic issues regarding the institutions in which political theory is taught and researched today.
This hybrid conference takes place at Humboldt University Berlin and is hosted by the Research and Teaching Unit Political Theory. Precirculated papers are available through the link provided upon registration, and we like to ask attendants to read these in advance."