‘Stupidity and Study in the Contemporary University’
Conor Heaney, Politics and International Relations (Kent)
Day: Wednesday 11 October
Time: 15.30 – 17.00
Room: TSR2 (Templeman Library Seminar Room 2)
All welcome!
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Abstract
‘Will study be possible in the university-to-come? Or will it be necessary to abandon the university in order to study? In this paper, I confront these questions through an analysis of the relationship between stupidity and study in the university today. The first two sections of this paper are focused on exploring the concepts of stupidity and study. In §1 I explore stupidity, and further, systemic stupidity, through a combined reading of Gilles Deleuze and Bernard Stiegler. In §2 I explicate the notion of study – and the connected notions of debt, credit, and the undercommons – through Stefano Harney & Fred Moten. Following this, I go on to explore two particular modes of the practice of our contemporary stupidity in the university connected to everyday bureaucratic practices. Building on these two examples, I then go on to suggest and argue for two projects of study in the university-to-come. Ultimately, this paper seeks to help open up a conceptual-practical space for exploration of alternative futures for the university beyond its present of neocolonialism and stupidity.’