“Absolute idealism must be couched in irony in order to be taken
seriously,” argued Andrew Algin, who edits the infamous US-based neo-Nazi website ‘The Daily Stormer’. Yet if the alt-right has ‘weaponized’ irony in order to build commitment to white supremacy, they are not alone. Today irony is deployed prominently by a range of political actors, ranging from environmental activists, to competing factions of Unionists and Republicans in Northern Ireland, to Indian labour activists. We are inviting applications to take part in a 2-day workshop to be held in the second half of 2020 at the London School of Economics. The workshop aims to build on work within anthropology and political philosophy that considers irony as a mode of interpretation and as a subjective disposition towards the world, to consider the ways in which ironic stances can generate or underwrite action, sincerity and commitment – particularly in the context of new political and anti-political formations across the world.
To what extent is irony used to shift what is sayable, thinkable,
acceptable or even necessary for different actors? How is it that irony is capable of problematizing, reworking, and renegotiating ideals, ideologies, and the meaning of the political itself? What even is ‘irony’ when working within this space that simultaneously incorporates politics and anti-politics? And what is it about the multiple, interlinking crises of the current political moment – austerity, climate change, automation, the disillusionment with liberal democracy and rise of autocracies – that seems to lead to the emergence of ironic commitments in certain contexts, but not others.
Workshop participants will come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, career stages and nationalities. We are in the process of applying to the Wenner Gren workshop fund in order to support participants’ costs. To apply, please send an abstract of no more than 500 words to samanani@mmg.mpg.de and Susannah.Crockford@ugent.be by November 1st.