Workshops in Political Theory, Sixth Annual Conference, Sept. 2-4 2009, Manchester Metropolitan University

Roundtable Convenor: Birgit Schippers (St Mary’s University College Belfast, b.schippers@smucb.ac.uk)

A critical engagement with the writings of the Franco-Bulgarian linguist and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva is rarely found in the pages of major politics journals. This infrequency may be emblematic for the profession’s reluctance to engage with non-canonical authors, but it can also be attributed to Kristeva’s admittedly idiosyncratic and, at times, ambiguous position towards politics, including her apparent endorsement of aesthetic practices over politics.

Despite the relative lack of attention given to Kristeva’s work, even within the ‘sexier’ sections of the profession, it is fair to say that her concern with questions of subjectivity, corporeality and sexual difference, and with multiculturalism, the nation-state and cosmopolitanism, to name just a few, constitutes an important contribution towards thinking through the contemporary political condition. Moreover, as some commentators suggest, her displacement of politics, which emphasizes the political dimension of the intimate and psychic aspects of life, constitutes a highly original configuration of the political that has proved to be enormously influential within feminist theory.

Thus, recognizing the importance of Kristeva’s intervention into contemporary critical theory, this roundtable invites paper proposals which consider Kristeva’s contribution to political thought and which assess her status as a theorist of politics. Papers which explore the configuration of the political in Kristeva’s ideas, as well as papers which examine the reception and impact of her ideas in the wider field of political theory, are particularly welcome.

If you are interested in presenting a paper at this roundtable, please send an abstract of 200-300 words to Birgit Schippers (b.schippers@smucb.ac.uk) by 1st June 2009.