Critical Political Epistemology Network Inaugural Workshop

Critical Political Epistemology Network Inaugural Workshop on the 25th and 26th of May 2023

The goal of this workshop is to establish an international research network to foster alliances in the field of critical political epistemology (CPE). CPE analyzes how questions around knowledge, power, governance, politics, oppression, and ignorance intersect, such as: How do forms of political resistance generate collective knowledge? Who is understood to be a political, epistemic agent? How do relations and structures of power impact which and whose political interests become knowable, and to whom? How do counter-knowledges create resistance to oppression?
 
Potential topics of interest include but are not limited to:
• Social movements and activism
• The epistemic role, power, and authority of political parties
• Social categories and their impact on knowledge, ignorance, and power
• Marginalization and its effect on epistemic practices
• (Re-)Distribution of material and epistemic capital

These topics will be analyzed from different disciplinary perspectives. As an inter- and transdisciplinary research network, CPE expands and links questions, lines of inquiry, and methods in social and political epistemology. We aim to bring together people from different epistemic communities and focus on critical, non-ideal theorizing that is situated in material and praxis-oriented analysis of prevailing epistemic and political structures.

The workshop has two main goals. The first is to create an international network for collaborative forms of knowledge production. Our hope is to serve as a space to engage in epistemic practices that are not exclusively centered around the individual nor confined to the university. The second is to produce a statement of purpose that delineates core questions and future aims of the CPE Network.

On the first day of the workshop, the coordinating committee – Melanie Altanian (she/her, University College Dublin), Solmu Anttila (they/them, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Stephanie Deig (she/they, Universität Luzern), Flora Löffelmann (they/them, Universität Wien) and Sonja Riegler (she/they, Universität Wien) – will present and invite feedback on a preliminary statement of purpose for the CPE Network. We will then form collaborative
working groups that explore the relation of different themes, questions, and challenges. On the second day of the workshop, the results of these groups will be collectively discussed and incorporated into the statement of purpose. The resulting collaboratively written text will provide a foundation for further work in this field.

We encourage applications from relevant subfields in philosophy that include but are not limited to epistemology, political theory and philosophy, critical theory, philosophy of language, phenomenology, queer philosophy, and feminist philosophy. We also welcome applications from the humanities and social sciences, e.g., sociology and social theory, science and technology studies, critical race studies, gender studies, discourse studies, history, decolonial and postcolonial studies, genocide studies, legal studies, political economy, social psychology, media and communication science, political science and art history. We also strongly encourage activists, science communicators, policy analysts, artists, educators, and others who are interested in CPE to apply.

Please submit a CV and a short letter of motivation (approximately one page) to cpenetwork@proton.me indicating how your research, political or artistic work and/or everyday experience address pertinent questions in CPE. We invite interested persons to apply by the 19th of March, 2023. Accepted participants will be notified by the 4th of April, 2023. Travel and accommodation funding up to € 200 is available for those who do not have institutional support. Please indicate in your application if you need financial assistance, and if it might exceed the funds available.

The organizers are committed to making this workshop an accessible space and share the goal of dismantling the exclusionary mechanisms at work in the field of academic philosophy. We especially encourage persons from marginalized and underrepresented groups to apply, e.g. BIPoC, LGBTQAI+ people, economically marginalized people and disabled persons.

The workshop will take place in person on the 25th and 26th of May, 2023 at the Universität Wien. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

We thank the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy, the APSE Group, the Institute of Philosophy (Universität Wien) and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Universität Luzern for their financial support.