The Critical Tasks of the University

Università di Bologna, Italy
June 22–24, 2017

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This conference is the first meeting of the conference cycle of the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP), funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  Focused on “The Critical Tasks of the University,” the conference will evaluate the prevailing metrics of value that increasingly structure and restrict the university in various global locations and consider how critical thought or more robust notions of “critique” can inform and enliven our contemporary reflections on valuable ways of knowing. As important as it is to support the study of critical theory in the university, it is also crucial to defend the university as a valued site for critical thinking in public life. Taking up issues of censorship, the suppression of dissenting views, the devaluation of the humanities and arts, and the new metrics of excellence, this meeting will consider how the critical humanities might reflect anew on the public obligations of the university as well as the need to safeguard the university as a site for critical reflections on pressing issues of public concern.

Conveners

Rosi Braidotti
Distinguished University Professor
Founding Director of the Centre for the Humanities
Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Judith Butler
Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature
Co-Director, International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs
UC Berkeley, USA

Raffaele Laudani
Director of the Academy of Global Humanities and Critical Theory
Associate Professor, Department of History and Human Cultures
Università di Bologna, Italy

Supported by

International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (UC Berkeley)
Chair on the Academic and the Civic (Utrecht University)
The Academy of Global Humanities and Critical Theory (Università di Bologna, Duke University, University of Virginia)

Program