[Discussion] "Reflexive Representations of Global Capitalism," Almanya, 4-6 Temmuz 2003

[Gonul]

REFLEXIVE REPRESENTATIONS:
DISCOURSE, POWER AND PRACTICE IN GLOBAL CAPITALISM

1st Transdisciplinary Forum Magdeburg (TransForMa)

2003/7/4-6, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany


"Globalization" refers to a set of problems that, after 1990, have
taken center stage in the political imaginary. In most cases,
discourses of globalization address the economic and technological
unification and homogenization of the world as well as the social,
political and cultural consequences of an expanding world market, of
the internationalization of production, and of the free circulation of
capital and information. Simultaneously, emphasis is put on the
ruptures and diversifications that occur on the regional and local
levels. It is the objective of this international conference to engage
in theoretical, historical and practical reflections on the
discursive, social and political problems of representation in the
wake of an emergent global capitalism.

"Representation" implies a set of questions that have - inspired by
both the linguistic turn and radical constructivism - crucially
informed the theoretical debates within the humanities. Representation
is a multi-layered complex situated on various levels:

1)      Representation as the problem of the constitution of reality.
In this respect, the crucial questions are: What is being represented
in what way? How are objects represented textually, iconically and
socially?
2)      Representation as the problem of perspectivality and
locatedness of knowledge. Here the crucial question is: In what ways
is knowledge produced? This includes the problem of the production of
knowledge and its radical self-interrogation (e.g. as epistemic
violence).
3)      Representation as the problem of political delegation. Here
the crucial question is: Who speaks on whose behalf / in whose name?
This problem involves the possibilities of political articulation and
practice.

Taking the problem of representing the global for a starting point,
the presenters are invited to focus on theoretical,
political/practical and social/historical problems. We are looking
forward to contributions that engage with the conditions of
contemporary world (class) society and the ensuing dilemmas of
representation from recent critical theoretical perspectives. We are
hoping for a productive polylogue of various approaches (such as
marxist, feminist, postcolonial, constructivist, systems theory) and
disciplines (sociology, cultural studies, international relations,
history, philosophy, literary theory etc.).

Contributions may focus on some of the following key issues, among
others:

·       sovereignty, citizenship, new global constitutionalism
·       good governance, neocolonialism, postcolonialism
·       political economy of science and media
·       nation state and world society: challenges for social and
cultural theory
·       the political as practice: critique of globalization and new
political subjectivities?
·       nature, ownership, technology, world society
·       postmodernity - second modernity - late modernity?
·       biotopes - sociotopes - semiotopes
·       global texts
·       new media and new informational economy
·       postmodern cultures and media society
·       performativity and power
etc.

Conference languages: English and German. Submission of proposals and
all further information at http://www.transforma-online.net, Contact:
Johannes Angermueller info@transforma-online.net

Deadline for submission of proposals (250 words) April 1st, 2003.
Competitive, refereed selection. Deadline for a four-page short
version to be published on the webpage: June 1st, 2003. We plan to
publish selected contributions in the proceedings.

Organizers: Johannes Angermüller (Department of Sociology), Raj
Kollmorgen (Department of Sociology), Jörg Meyer (Department of
Political Science), Dirk Wiemann (Department of Foreign Languages)