Orders of Violence

The conference “Orders of Violence” is dedicated to investigating political violence, exclusion and memory within marginalized communities, with particular emphasis on caste violence and genocide. The conference themes are thus intimately linked to stigma, systemic violence, discrimination and historical oppression, while resisting and interrogating the trope of the abject and suffering subject. Indian, Indigenous, North American and European scholars specializing in the theorization of violence, notably Etienne Balibar, will engage critically with such issues as the “right to politics” vs “political rights”; the paradox of group vs individual "identities" and their politicization; and the discursive possibilities of literature as a form of political assertion and resistance which gives a platform to marginalized voices. The conference will also address the problem of representation, exploring how activists, academics, and academic-activists can reconcile the urgent need for ‘theorization’ of such political violence with charges of illegitimacy, alienation and the misappropriation of the experience of the ‘other’. 

The keynote address will be delivered by Etienne Balibar at 6:30 April 9th, 2018. 

Download the full program here [pdf].