The world is increasingly hostile to young people. From mounting wealth disparities, an uncertain future due to climate catastrophe, the rise of authoritarian techno-politics, to calls to remilitarize society to “defend democracy,”and generative AI imperiling the existence of meaningful, creative jobs, it may feel difficult to muster the energy to stay engaged with the present—the essential condition for shaping it. The goal of this praxis seminar is to develop the dimension of the self that is irreplaceable and inexpropriable: one’s own voice, or to cite Roland Barthes, the specific ways in which one’s singular body shapes meaning in a manner that is always in surplus of semantics, which is nowadays determined by the statistical normativity of large language models. Finding one’s voice here means getting on solid footing: a place from which to gain strength, encounter others and form meaningful collectives.
In order to do so, the praxis module unfolds each week in two parts: the first part is dedicated to reading queer, feminist theorizing from the self (e.g. Judith Butler, Eve Sedgwick, Audre Lorde, Christina Sharpe, Maggie Nelson).
In the second part, the students take to task the practice of writing and reading each other. The output consists of creating a newsletter in German or English on a platform such as Substack, to be updated at regular intervals. Such platforms are used by independent journalists but also philosophers and writers (e.g. Sara Ahmed, Slavoj Žižek, Margaret Atwood). Students are free to choose the topic of their newsletter: from personal reflections, anecdotes, stories, to media analysis, film, or book reviews. The focus is placed on developing one’s specific perspective and writing style and getting feedback from other participants, as a collectivizing alternative to seeking it in normative generative machines (the LLMs). The collaboration at the heart of this praxis seminar necessitates a level of mutual trust, respect, and openness, which are the essential condition for participation.
- Kursleiter/in: Katia Schwerzmann