The New School for Social Research
April 27th, 2019
Submission Deadline: March 15th, 2019
Keynote: Prof. Jean Jackson (MIT)
We live in a world where nine countries have the power to steal time, resources, health and even life from anyone else at the push of a button, as Nobel Laureate Beatrice Fihn stresses in her advocacy against nuclear weapons. Ongoing human and environmental exposure to radiation robs communities of a “right to a future.” If futures can be stolen, what other material or figurative objects emerge as takeable or desirable? By whom and through what means? At what moment?
This April, we invite scholars, activists and artists to parse out the materialities of dis/possession, the sensibilities of imperial justice, and the embodied and entangled cartographies of violence and insurgency with the following provocation: what is Theft?
As an analytic lens, Theft calls into question concepts such as sovereignty, subjecthood, and justice. We can identify theftual relations in the placement of objects in museums; the process of gentrification; the trafficking of bodies; the fast-fashion industry; moments when cultural appreciation becomes cultural appropriation; and debates surrounding copyright infringement. How does theftuality change through time? Does retrospectively identifying the object as stolen challenge the legitimacy of its current ownership? What does theft do? Is compensating for past thefts possible? What are appropriate uses of the public domain, or the digital commons? How does technology make us capable of subversions while rendering us vulnerable to new and increasingly elusive forms of theft? How can an “anthropology of subterfuges” address these ubiquitous hidden spaces of theft? Recognizing theftuality as the center of such inquiries allows us to put the efforts of scholars, artists and activists working to tackle these diverse issues in dialogue. We invite as broad a spectrum of participants as possible to enrich the questions we ask about the ever-present state of dispossession that we find ourselves in.
Art and Multimedia Submissions
Along with panel discussions and paper presentations, we hope to incorporate exhibitions and design experiments, as well as practice-oriented workshops on topics such as open access scholarship. By curating such an experience, we strive to open the space for interventions beyond written theoretical discourse and foster solidarity among participants from different sectors.
Submission Requirements
Those interested in applying should email a short statement explaining your proposal and how it relates to the theme to theft2019@gmail.com by March 8th, 2019. Please include in the email your full name, preferred email address, professional or academic affiliation, and a current CV or resume. All submissions should include the following:
- A 300-500 word abstract, project proposal or workshop proposal, and
- A 50-word bio
If you are submitting a multi-media or non-text based proposal, please also include a sample of either the proposed project or your previous work (photographs, video, music, etc.).
THEFT 