Homi Bhabha’s inaugural lecture as Honorary Member of the Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin is an attempt to explore the aesthetic and ethical conditions that shape our experience of living in an age of anxiety and insecurity. What are the cultural coordinates of our discourse on security? In what ways do cultural theories and practices enable us to engage with the discourse of “policy” that permeates the language of security? In approaching the question of security from the perspective of affectivity and agency, he will reflect on the work of theorists, writers, and artists who draw a fine line between the demand for the secure – be it the self or the state – and the desire to embody a creativity that conjures with contingency and reaches out to the perverse extremities of social experience. Following his presentation, Homi Bhabha will discuss his thoughts with Sigrid Weigel and Stefan Willer (ZfL).
Biographical information
Homi K. Bhabha is Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities in the Department of English at Harvard, Director of the Humanities Center, and Senior Advisor on the Humanities to the President and Provost of Harvard University. He studied at Bombay University and Christ Church College, Oxford and wrote his dissertation on V. S. Naipaul. He has taught at numerous universities, including Oxford, Sussex, Warwick, London, and Chicago, just to name a few. In 2012 he received an honorary doctorate from the Freie Universität Berlin and the Padma Bhushan Award for Literature and Education from the Indian government. His theoretical work in postcolonial studies (with key concepts such as hybridity, mimicry, and ambivalence) has been and remains a crucial and fruitful contribution to many other fields of scholarship. Starting in 2015 Homi Bhabha will be an Honorary Member of the ZfL, Berlin.
Selected publications
Über kulturelle Hybridität: Übertragung und Übersetzung (Berlin 2012); Our Neighbours, Ourselves: Contemporary Reflections on Survival (New York 2011); Co-ed.: Edward Said. Continuing the Conversation (Chicago 2004); Co-ed.: Cosmopolitanism (London 2002); The Location of Culture (London/New York 1994) / Die Verortung der Kultur (Tübingen 2000).
Information on participating / attending:
Date:
02/04/2015 19:00 - 02/04/2015 22:00
Event venue:
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
10117 Berlin
Berlin
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars, Students
Email address:
Relevance:
transregional, national
Subject areas:
Cultural sciences, Language / literature, Media and communication sciences
Types of events:
Presentation / colloquium / lecture
Entry:
12/30/2014
Sender/author:
Sabine Zimmermann
Department:
Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin (ZFL)
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event49527
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