Ontology in International Politics postgraduate workshop

As the ontological turn in the study of international politics grows, there has been a diversification of the traditions and philosophies drawn upon to enliven ontological discussions and inspire ontological assertions. These range from a restatement of various humanisms to the explicitly post-human, along the way taking in postcolonial approaches, calls upon rethinking ontology in conversation with the physical and biological sciences, and variously articulated commitments to religious worldviews.

 

The explicit discussion of a number of these areas of ontology is growing, and whilst work is increasingly conducted under different strands of ontology, they are seldom brought together as common members of this fundamental area of study. In this workshop we would like to invite postgraduate students and early career researchers to submit short papers, ideally indicative of an ongoing project, which touch on the field of ontology.

 

Papers can draw upon diverse traditions of ontology, and might include or exceed pluriversality, worlding, new materialism, ecological ontologies, ontologies of the void, or post secular ontologies. We welcome papers which address classical approaches to ontology, as well as those which seek to forge new ground in our understanding of it, as well as papers which take a foundational, post-foundational, or explicitly political stance.

 

Papers will be 3000-5000 words in length and participants will have 10 minutes to present their paper, 10 minutes of response from a discussant, and 30 minutes for open discussion.

If you have any further questions, please contact Paul Blamire (pab29@aber.ac.uk).

Abstracts (200-300 words) can be sent to the same address by the 15th of May.

 

Moderators:

Professor Milja Kurki (International Relations in a Relational Universe, OUP, forthcoming)

Professor Mustapha Kamal Pasha (‘Nihilism and the Otherness of Islam’, Millennium)

Philip Conway (‘The Folds of Coexistence: Towards a diplomatic political ontology’, forthcoming)