On the Abetting Everyday Harms reading group

This reading group will explore the concepts of moral complicity (and implication, its close cousin) by bringing together writings from multiple disciplines such as literary studies, law, philosophy, cultural studies, sociology, and history. We are seeking similarly interdisciplinary reading group participants from all levels of seniority within and beyond the university.

Climate Change-related Complicity and Conceptual Complicity

Our exploration of complicity is focused on climate change, but at the same time draws from a broad and foundational conceptual base. This mixture is reflected in the readings, some of which are devoted to the concept of complicity itself and some of which are focused on climate in particular. The aim is to set a moderate and achievable amount of reading for shared interdisciplinary discussion which can act as a framework for further individual reading.

The initial few sessions will have set content but the organisers will welcome suggestions for additions later in the semester so that the program reflects collective interests as they develop.

Unexpected Complicity

We are particularly interested in the ways in which complicity shows up in unexpected ways in our life and work, and hope to think about what less complicit processes could look like. We are particularly interested in the role of cultural production and intellectual methodologies as sites of complicity and of its representation.

We aim to develop a framework for interdisciplinary discussion both of the problem of complicity and of how we might move beyond, through, or past it. We are interested not only in why we necessarily abet everyday harms, but also in how we might learn to abet them a little less.

TIMES AND DATES OF NEXT SESSIONS

• Wednesday 29 November 2023, 10:00 - 12:00
• Friday 8 December 2023, 12:15 - 13:45
• Friday 12 January 2024, 12:15 - 13:45

READINGS

The material for this Wednesday 29 November session can be accesed through the links below:

• Veena Das, ‘What Does Ordinary Ethics Look Like?’ from Four Lectures in Ethics: Anthropological Perspectives. HAU Books, 2015.
• Nicole Fleetwood, ‘Fraught imaginaries: Collaborative Art in Prisons’ from Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, Harvard University Press, 2020.

LOCATION

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), room 301; except for the first session: please meet at the entrance of AIAS and we will go together to the third floor informal meeting space.

ORGANIZERS

Co-organised by AIAS-COFUND MSCA Fellow Bridget Vincent in collaboration with the Center for Environmental Humanities (CEH: https://ceh.au.dk/).

CONTACT

Dr Bridget Vincent, AIAS-COFUND II Fellow
bridgetvincent@aias.au.dk

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies