The unprecedented global intertwining of pandemic and revolt have disrupted the present and future of the social-economic order. This crisis of power opens new possibilities for non-sovereign life and action. This strange here and now is our starting point for a digital conference to reflect on the openings in our moment, to think beyond inherited political orders toward an indissolubly common life that can be located in destitution, fugitivity, and refuge.
On November 13th-16th, then, Indiana University’s 2020 Critical Ethnic Studies symposium brings into dialogue two zones of contemporary insurgent study: the undercommons and destituent power. To explore social life that evades political constraints such as citizenship, sovereignty, and governance, we seek to build upon the work of Fred Moten, Stefano Harney and Giorgio Agamben. Reveling in the fields that ground their work, the Black radical tradition and Italian Autonomia, this forum seeks to collect and share what we’ve learned from the practices and forms of life that are already breaking free of politics.
The College of Arts