Can Spivak speak? Radical philosophy conference this Saturday

Power to the People?

Saturday 9 May 2009, 10.00am–6.00pm

Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1

‘Power to the people!’ was once a revolutionary slogan, but reference to government by the people and for the people has long been an empty cliché of the post-revolutionary status quo. Numerous alternatives have been proposed: the proletariat, the workers, the masses, the soviets, the the nation, the community, the multitude, the commons... And now? How might we assess the different conceptions of political change embodied in these often conflicting ideas? What is the political and philosophical significance of ‘the people’ and related terms today?

Programme

9.30–10.00 Registration

10.00–10.15 Introduction (Peter Hallward, RP)

10.15–11.30 The General Will (chair: Peter Hallward, RP)

'The General Will on the Street: Parisian Activism, Sovereignty and Power, 1789–93'

David Andress (Portsmouth)

'How Do the People Make Themselves Heard?’

Sophie Wahnich (CNRS, Paris)

11.45–1.00 Class, Commons & Multitude (chair: Esther Leslie, RP)

‘Can We (Still) Break the Vicious Circle of Domination?'

Daniel Bensaïd (University of Paris-VIII)

'Crisis, Tragedies and the Commons'

Massimo De Angelis (University of East London)

1.00–2.00

Lunch break

2.00–3.15

Urban Collectivities (chair: David Cunningham, RP)

'Urban Intersections and the Politics of Anticipation'

AbdouMaliq Simone (Goldsmiths)

‘Reflections on the Post-Political City: Reclaiming the Polis?’

Erik Swyngedouw (Manchester)

3.45–5.00 Population & Biopolitics (chair: Stuart Elden, Durham)

'Biopolitics, Diasporas and (Neo)Liberal Political Economy'

Couze Venn (Nottingham Trent)

'Feminist Strategies Revisited – Sexopolitics, Multitude and Biopolitics'

Encarnacion Gutierrez Rodriguez (Manchester)

5.00–6.00 ‘They, the People’ (chair: Peter Osborne, RP)

Gayatri Spivak (Columbia University, NY)

Tickets £10 students £25 waged

Advance registration from: RP conference, Peter Osborne, School of Arts and Education, Middlesex University, Trent Park campus, Bramley Road, London N14 4YZ.

Cheques payable to ‘Radical Philosophy Ltd’. Inquiries: matt.charles@blueyonder.co.uk