How is it possible that people vote against their economic self-interest? What motivates a suicide bomber? Why do people throw themselves in the arms of authoritarian leaders like lemmings into the abyss? Neo-reactionary tendencies in political culture, such as nationalism, populism, fundamentalism, and large-scale conspiracy theories, together with the culture of naming, blaming, shaming and claiming, challenge us to reconsider the anti-social affect of ressentiment: a toxic brew of hatred, frustration, humiliation, and indignation, conditioned by passivity. We will explore the theoretical genealogy of this essentially polemic concept, interpret the shifting political stakes that are expressed in it, and evaluate the consistency and coherence with which it is currently put to use in public and academic discourse on social struggle. Sjoerd van Tuinen is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam and co-founder of the Erasmus Institute for Public Knowledge. After his PhD (Ghent 2009) on Leibniz and Deleuze, he has had visiting affiliations with universities in London, Berlin, Vienna, New York and Princeton. Rooted in continental philosophy, his interests are in metaphysics, aesthetics, social and political theory, and the history of philosophy. Sjoerd’s work consists of commentary on classical and contemporary philoso- phers and multimedia engagements across the arts and humanities. He specialises in ecophilosophy, posthumanism, and critical theories of art, affect, debt, history, and care. Following his first monograph, Sloterdijk: Ein Profil (UTB/Fink Verlag, 2006), he has edited over twenty books and special issues, including Deleuze and The Fold: A Critical Reader (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), Deleuze and the Passions (New York: Punctum Books, 2016), Speculative Art Histories (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), The Polemics of Ressentiment: Variations on Nietzsche (Bloomsbury, 2018), and a series of theory books with V2_, Institute for Unstable Media (Rotterdam/NAi Publishers). The seminar will take place online only. Registration is free, but limited. Please send an email with a short CV to admin@maumaus.org by 14.03.2021. Confirmation of registration will be sent by email. The seminar will be in English. For further information, please contact: Tel + 351 21 352 11 55, admin@maumaus.org www.maumaus.org Support: Goethe-Institut Maumaus / Lumiar Cité is funded by Ministério da Cultura / Direção-Geral das Artes and supported by Câmara Municipal de Lisboa and Junta de Freguesia do Lumiar.
