The seminar series, organized by the Columbia Center for Contemporary Critical Thought (CCCCT), will explore various forms of uprising, disobedience, revolt, and other forms of political contestation. From the French Revolution to the Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter to hacktivism, the seminar will focus forms of uprising in relation to historical and current events and articulate how critical political practice is expressed and understood today.
The Paris reading group will also explore these different forms of uprising in both theoretical and practical terms through the writings of a number of philosophers and critical thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Led once again by Florent Jakob, Daniele Lorenzini, Christine Valero, and Loren Wolfe, these sessions are open to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as any interested members of the local community.
The reading group will meet twice in the first semester:
Oct. 5, 2017, 4:30-6:30pm, The Concept of Revolution, Karl Marx & Reinhart Koselleck
Nov. 16, 2017, 4:15-6:15pm, Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau & Hannah Arendt
As in previous years, an interactive blog will allow participants to continue a virtual dialogue, prolonging and enriching the conversation between the seminars on campus and the sessions in Paris.