Contradiction Studies

Constitution and/or Declaration. Discussing the Question of the (Linguistic) Construction of Contradictions

Nils Kohlmeier, Fiona Makulik, Anna Mattfeldt, Jonas Trochemowitz & Ingo H. Warnke (RTG Contradiction Studies)

07/12/2023 1:30 pm 2:15 pm

U Bremen – GRA 2 0030

In this Lunchbox we want to discuss what it means to consider contradictions a product of declaration. In order to make clear the history and theoretical assumption of this concept, we want to give a brief input on Speech Act Theory and provide some concrete examples of declarations of contradictions. The main part of this event is going to be an open discussion about the question how these ideas seem interesting or relevant for the fellows of the RTG.

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name contradiction

“Contradiction becomes real where someone names contradiction.”

Ingo H. Warnke
decolonial scholarship

“Creating decentralizing and decolonizing scholarship on contradiction, contradictory phenomena, and contradicting processes is a challenging task.”

Kerstin Knopf
prison of difference

“‘Contradiction is the prison of difference‘ writes the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Worlds of Contradiction asks: how can we explain and describe the world without making it more coherent and systematic than it is?”

Michi Knecht
Is contradiction eurocentric?

“Is contradiction a eurocentric concept, operational phenomenon, and instrument of power?”

Kerstin Knopf
Afterlife of colonialism

“Contradiction comes in many different forms. None is so debilitating than when the coloniser transitions, textually not politically, to decoloniality without taking the responsibility for the afterlife of colonialism, which they continue to benefit from. Self-examination and self-interrogation of the relations of coloniality, a necessity, seem nearly impossible for the coloniser who continues to act as beneficiary, masked in the new-found language of White fragility, devoid of an ethical responsibility of the very system of White domination they claim to be against.” (Black Consciousness and the Politics of the Flesh)

Rozena Maart