For the workshop “Symbolic Politics of Non-Representation in Contemporary Cultures of Dissent,” (Konstanz, 20.-21 November 2015) the programme is out (and can be found here).

“With the so-called Arab Spring and Occupy, but also with the German PEGIDA, a seemingly new transnational wave of dissent movements has arisen. What we consider new in these movements is
their constitution as a heterogeneous multitude based on physical presence, temporarily gathering
an otherwise highly diverse population. As much as these groups appear united concerning their
shared enemy – namely political and economic elites – as well as with regard to the name in which
they act (“the people”), they remain of inner dissent insofar as they put the possibility of an overarching identity of the movement into question. What we witness, hence, is the dissolution of
the belief in traditional emancipatory movements united by class, gender or ethnicity standing up
against a hegemonic regime and its substitution by the hope for the subversive and revolutionary
potential of a post-identitarian counter-public performing their being-in-difference. Yet, their ability
of representing “the people” seems to disappear in spite of the proposed inclusiveness and
multivocality, as their radical dissent leads to non-representation: They refuse to traditionally
represent “the people” by making claims or engaging in formulating positions.”

More information about the event here.