Contradiction Studies

Black Existentialism and Decolonizing Knowledge

Prof. Lewis R. Gordon (U Connecticut)

06/19/2023 6:00 pm

U Bremen CART 067 (Rotunde) & online

Drawing upon ideas from Fear of Black Consciousness (Penguin, 2022) / Angst vor Schwarzem Bewusstsein (Ullstein Verlag, 2022), this talk will offer a portrait
of Black existentialism, summarizing some of its key problematics with emphasis on problems wrought from Euromodern colonization of knowledge. The talk
will conclude with a discussion of what decolonizing knowledge entails.

Podium:

Prof. Lewis R. Gordon (U Connecticut)
Prof. Rozena Maart (U KwaZulu Natal, RTG Contradiction Studies)
Prof. Sabine Broeck (INPUTS)
Lindokuhle Shabane (RTG Contradiction Studies)

Moderation:
Prof. Kerstin Knopf (INPUTS, RTG Contradiction Studies)

Back to overview
limits

“Resistance is a democratic right, sometimes a duty. With literature we can find models for this right and think about its limits.”

Gisela Febel
sustained engagement

“The history of Western philosophy can be understood as a sustained engagement with contradiction.”

Norman Sieroka
every day

“Living in contradictions is what we experience every day. Why do we know so little about it?”

Gisela Febel
relational

“At first I thought contradiction was always a relational thing; but the more I ponder it, the more I think contradiction creates relation.”

Ingo H. Warnke
l’illusion d’une unité

“Foucault speaks of contradiction as l’illusion d’une unité.”

Ingo H. Warnke