Life, Emergent: The Social in the Afterlives of Violence
Wednesday, November 16 ~ 1:30 pm
Best Buy Theater, Northrop Auditorium, 4th Floor
84 Church Street Southeast
Panelists:
Yasmeen Arif, University of Delhi
Timothy Campbell, Cornell University
Veena Das, Johns Hopkins University
Deepak Mehta, Shiv Nader University
Ajay Skaria, University of Minnesota
This panel conversation brings together the panelist’s work, their influences in Arif’s book, Life, Emergent (UMN
Press, 2016) and resonant themes. Veena Das’ enduring work on political violence in India lays the ground of
social suffering and its negotiation with the event and everyday. The arguments in the book draw their
momentum from that remarkable body of work and offer a direction into a social future proposed as afterlives.
A deliberation on a politics of life finds expression through Timothy Campbell’s powerful work on biopower
and biopolitics. His nuanced work with Roberto Esposito’s writings is a core perspective, which lends itself to
the shaping of the political. Deepak Mehta has written extensively, with nuance and skill, on political violence,
law and the imagination of the communal social. His reading of violence in its materiality lends a provocative
platform. Ajay Skaria’s insightful and rich writings on Gandhi and his legacy for understanding majoritarian
politics provide a significant contribution. His reading of Gandhi’s political and moral philosophy shapes an
intervention in the contemporary.
Free and open to the public
Refreshments served
Co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota Press
For a full list of ICGC Events go to ICGC.umn.edu