[Discussion] Terrror and Culture

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

"Terrror and Culture: Revisiting Hannah Arendt's Origins of
Totalitarianism" will take place at Stanford University June 27 through
August 4, 2005. The Seminar will be co-taught by Julia Hell (German
Studies, University of Michigan) and Russell A. Berman (German Studies,
Stanford University). We are inviting scholars from a range of
disciplines to participate in an exploration of Arendt's study as a way
to open a wider discussion of totalitarianism, terror and culture. The
purpose of the seminar is to grasp both totalitarianism as a
cultural-historical phenomenon and Arendt's philosophical and
political-theoretical description of it. Our inquiry involves a series
of dialogues between Arendt and her contemporaries, Carl Schmitt and
Martin Heidegger, as well as current theorists who engage critically
with Arendt's work: Claude Lefort, Slavoj Zizek, Giorgio Agamben. In
addition, we address the crucial question of the standing of literature
and aesthetic experience more broadly within the context of the
Arendtian model of citizenship. The seminar will be organized around a
reading of Origins of Totalitarianism which will be juxtaposed with
literary and non-literary texts.

Application deadline: March 1, 2005. Please contact Russell Berman
(e-mail address below) for more information.
	Russell A. Berman
Department of German Studies
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2030
Email: berman@stanford.edu <mailto:berman@stanford.edu>