The Liberal Studies Department at the The New School for Social Research, NY, is proud to present "The Kronstadt Moment - The Road to Damascus: an interdisciplinary conference on conversion and disenchantment"

April 26th and 27th, 2013

Keynote Speakers include:
Simon Critchley, NSSR
Thomas Macho, Humboldt University, Berlin
James Miller, NSSR

In the seminal collection of essays "The God that Failed", Louis Fisher recounts the story of anarchist Alexander Berkman, who recalls the specific moment when he became an avowed enemy of the Bolsheviks – the bloody rebellion on the island of Kronstadt. For Berkman, this specific event defined the crisis point of his ideological faith; it was the moment of disenchantment, of a kind of “de-conversion”. Fisher appropriates this term to define his own moment of realization noting that “I had no 'Kronstadt' for many years”.
Such moments of “de-conversion”, or disenchantment, juxtapose a recurring trope in Western thought—that of conversion itself. Traditionally, these are moments of religious revelation and/or transformation, as with Paul on the road to Damascus, but there are moments of scientific transformation, as well. In the well-known myth of Archimedes in his bath, the “Eureka” moment of inspiration could be said to be the source of a 'universal conversion' of thought, or a complete paradigm shift. The perpetuation of such myths over the centuries has defined our understanding of what conversion and disillusionment, are, how they function, and what mystery or power such experiences hold.
This persistence begs the questions of whether the allegory of conversion itself prepares certain individuals for this experience? And, on the contrary, for its reversal? Are we, in the Western world, socially predisposed to codify an experience in an allegorical manner?

Proposals of 350 words and a short biography are due March 5th to: conference@kronstadt-damascus.com
Please specify any multi-media needs. Group presentations welcome!