Rosi Braidotti - The Posthuman - Polity Press, Uk, 19 April 2013

The Posthuman offers both an introduction and major contribution to contemporary debates on the posthuman. Digital ′second life′, genetically modified food, advanced prosthetics, robotics and reproductive technologies are familiar facets of our globally linked and technologically mediated societies. This has blurred the traditional distinction between the human and its others, exposing the non–naturalistic structure of the human. The Posthuman starts by exploring the extent to which a post–humanist move displaces the traditional humanistic unity of the subject. Rather than perceiving this situation as a loss of cognitive and moral self–mastery, Braidotti argues that the posthuman helps us make sense of our flexible and multiple identities. Braidotti then analyzes the escalating effects of post–anthropocentric thought, which encompass not only other species, but also the sustainability of our planet as a whole. Because contemporary market economies profit from the control and commodification of all that lives, they result in hybridization, erasing categorical distinctions between the human and other species, seeds, plants, animals and bacteria. These dislocations induced by globalized cultures and economies enable a critique of anthropocentrism, but how reliable are they as indicators of a sustainable future? The Posthuman concludes by considering the implications of these shifts for the institutional practice of the humanities. Braidotti outlines new forms of cosmopolitan neo–humanism that emerge from the spectrum of post–colonial and race studies, as well as gender analysis and environmentalism. The challenge of the posthuman condition consists in seizing the opportunities for new social bonding and community building, while pursuing sustainability and empowerment.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter One: Post-humanism: Life beyond the Self.
Chapter Two: Post-anthropocentrism: Life beyond the Species.
Chapter Three: The Inhuman: Life beyond Death. 
Chapter Four: Posthuman Humanities; Life beyond Theory. 
Conclusion

Reviews

'This is an exciting and important text, full of intellectual brilliance and insight. It will make a major mark.'
Henrietta L. Moore, University of Cambridge

'Braidotti's exhilarating survey of the constellation of posthumanity is lucid, learned and provocative. It will be an essential point of reference in future debates about the central philosophical problem of our age.'
Paul Gilroy, King’s College London

'Debates over humanism and post-humanism have been fought over from feminist philosophy to literary theory and post-colonial studies. This latest work by Rosi Braidotti presents us with a clear-headed glimpse of some of the hard choices we have before us. Braidotti knows the philosophy, cares about the politics, and empathizes with those who have been shoved aside in these brutal last hundred years. She shows us how feminism, technoscientific infrastructure and political strands cross, sometimes with sparks.'
Peter Galison, Harvard University

Rosi Braidotti is a distinguished university professor at Utrecht University and founding director of the Centre for the Humanities.

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P:S: Professor Rosi Braidotti will present her new book "The Posthuman" (Polity Press, 2013) during an official launch event that will take place on 23rd May at London Review Bookshop, London.

The Deleuze Dictionary - Edited by Adrian Parr - Columbia University Press, Usa, 21 nov. 2012 (Paperback)

This dictionary, the first dedicated to the work of Gilles Deleuze, offers an in-depth and lucid introduction to one of the most influential figures in continental philosophy. It defines and contextualizes more than 150 terms relating to Deleuze's philosophy, including “becoming,” “body without organs,” “deterritorialization,” “difference,” “repetition,” and “rhizome.” The entries also explore Deleuze's intellectual influences and the ways in which his ideas have shaped philosophy, feminism, cinema studies, postcolonial theory, geography, and cultural studies. More than just defining and describing specific terms, the dictionary elaborates on Deleuze's ideas to reveal the varied applications of his philosophy.

The contributors, who include some of the most prominent Deleuze scholars, bring their expert knowledge and critical opinion to bear on the entries. Their work provides a range of theoretical, historical, and aesthetic contexts for anyone interested in Deleuzian thought.

Contributors include: Ronald Bogue, University of Georgia; Rosi Braidotti, Utrecht University; Claire Colebrook, University of Edinburgh; Tom Conley, Harvard University; Eugene Holland, Ohio State University; Tamsin Lorraine, Swarthmore College; Paul Patton, University of New South Wales; Kenneth Surin, Duke University; Alberto Toscano, Goldsmiths College

Adrian Parr is professor of contemporary art and design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is the coeditor (with Ian Buchanan) of Deleuze and the Contemporary World.

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National Symposium on Deleuze Scholarship: “Lines of Flight in the Lowlands” May 15, 2012 @ Utrecht University

National Symposium on Deleuze Scholarship: 


“Lines of Flight in the Lowlands” May 15, 2012. 


Conveners: Rosi Braidotti and Rick Dolphijn.


The purpose of this study day is to assess the state of current Deleuze scholarship in our region, with strong emphasis on new directions of study and new generations of scholars. One session will be dedicated to the topic of ‘geo-philosophy and globalisation’; another session will be open and subject to a call for papers. Short papers will be presented with ample space reserved for discussion.


Invited speaker: to be announced.


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GRADUATE SEMINAR on GILLES DELEUZE and CULTURAL STUDIES - Utrecht, NL, 2011-2012

Academic year 2011-2012, Tuesday afternoons, 14.00-17.00, Location: Stijlkamer van Ravensteijn, Kromme Nieuwe Gracht 80, Utrecht University.
Organised by the OSL (Onderzoekschool Literatuurwetenschap) with the Centre for the Humanities at Utrecht University
Chaired by Professor Rosi Braidotti (Utrecht University) and Professor Anneke Smelik (Radboud University Nijmegen)

The seminar consists of six sessions in English which will run throughout the academic year 2011-12 in Utrecht. Research masters and PhD students, as well as staff members, are welcome to participate. Students can get credits for their participation by attending regularly and writing a final paper. Each session of the three-hour seminar will consist of an in-depth reading of a text by Gilles Deleuze (with or without Felix Guattari), sometimes alongside secondary texts by other theorists or philosophers. This year the theme will be Deleuze’s ‘aesthetics’ from the angle of cultural studies. A Thousand Plateaus will be the guideline reference text throughout the seminar.

Participants are expected to acquire the literature themselves, but wherever possible we will make pdf files available.

PROGRAMME27 September, 2011: IntroductionRosi Braidotti: “Approaching Deleuze’s texts: methodological insights”.

Please note: this is an introductory class for new participants; people who have attended the seminar in the past few years may want to skip this session, or come prepared to make their own contribution.

Reading material:
G. Deleuze, Negotiations (New York, Columbia University Press, 1995):
Section on : “On A Thousand Plateaus” pp. 25-34;
Extracts from C.V. Boundas (ed) The Deleuze Reader (New York, Columbia University Press, 1993): “Rhizome versus Tree” pp. 27-38 ; “A Theory of the Other”, pp. 59-68 ; “Language; Major and Minor”, pp. 145-151; “Minor Literature; Kafka”, pp. 152-164; “Nomad art” pp 165-172.

11 October, 2011: TBAGuest seminar with Prof. Gregg Lambert (Syracuse University,USA)
Reading material:
G. Deleuze, Proust and Signs, chapter on “The Image of Thought”
G. Deleuze & F. Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus. The first chapter, “Rhizome”.
Gregg Lambert is the Director of the Centre for the Humanities at Syracuse University and the author of Who’s Afraid of Deleuze and Guattari? (New York and London: Continuum Books, January 2007); The Return of the Baroque in Modern Culture (New York and London: Continuum Books, January 2005); The Non-Philosophy of Gilles Deleuze (New York and London, Continuum Books, 2002).

29 November, 2011: Performance StudiesGuest seminar with Prof. Maaike Bleeker (Utrecht University)
Reading material: (to be announced)

7 February, 2012: Fashion StudiesAnneke Smelik will discuss the possibilities of using deleuzian concepts for the study of fashion.
Reading material: Texts from The Fold, ATP and the Cinema Books.

13 March, 2012: TBAGuest seminar with dr Birgit Kaiser (UtrechtUniversity)
Reading material: (to be announced).

24 April, 2012: On MusicRosi Braidotti will discuss the notion of the ‘ritournelle’( the refrain)
Readingmaterial: ATP

OTHER RELEVANT EVENTS
Public Lecture by Prof. Michael Hardt (Duke University, USA)Thursday 26 January, 10:30 – 12:00
Title: “What to Do in a Crisis”.
Place: Utrecht University, Drift 21: room 0.05/Sweelinckzaal
Abstract: The lecture will take as point of departure some of the forms of resistance that have emerged in the current economic crisis, such as the defense of labor union rights inWisconsin and the occupations ofMadrid’s Puerta del sol and Athen’sSyntagma Square in Spring 2011. The ultimate goal is to recognize some of the ways that it is changing what it means to be ‘the Left’.
This lecture is part of the Intensive Programme of the Utrecht School of Critical Theory on “Risk Societies and Cosmopolitanism”.Michael Hardt is a political philosopher and literary theorist currently based at Duke University, North Carolina. His most famous works were written in collaboration with Antonio Negri: Empire (2000); Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (2004) and Commonwealth. Michael Hardt is also the author of Gilles Deleuze: An Apprenticeship in Philosophy (1993) and The Jameson Reader (with Kathi Weeks, 2000).

National Symposium on Deleuze Scholarship:
“Lines of Flight in the Lowlands” 
May 15, 2012. Conveners: Rosi Braidotti and Rick Dolphijn
The purpose of this study day is to assess the state of current Deleuze scholarship in our region, with strong emphasis on new directions of study and new generations of scholars. One session will be dedicated to the topic of ‘geo-philosophy and globalisation’; another session will be open and subject to a call for papers. Short papers will be presented with ample space reserved for discussion.
Invited speaker: to be announced.

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Rosi Braidotti - Intervista a Rosi Braidotti sul Soggetto, Differenza e Genere (www.asia.it)

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Nomadic Theory: The Portable Rosi Braidotti - Rosi Braidotti - Columbia University Press, Usa, January 2012

Rosi Braidotti's nomadic theory outlines a sustainable modern subjectivity as one in flux, never opposed to a dominant hierarchy yet intrinsically other, always in the process of becoming, and perpetually engaged in dynamic power relations both creative and restrictive. Nomadic theory offers an original and powerful alternative for scholars working in cultural and social criticism and has, over the past decade, crept into continental philosophy, queer theory, and feminist, postcolonial, techno-science, media, and race studies, as well as into architecture, history, and anthropology. This collection provides a core introduction to Braidotti's nomadic theory and its innovative formulations, which playfully engage with Deleuze, Foucault, Irigaray, and a host of political and cultural issues.

Arranged thematically, essays begin with such concepts as sexual difference and embodied subjectivity and follow with explorations in technoscience, feminism, postsecular citizenship, and the politics of affirmation. Braidotti develops a distinctly positive critical theory that rejuvenates the experience of political scholarship. Inspired yet not confined by Deleuzian vitalism, with its commitment to the ontology of flows, networks, and dynamic transformations, she emphasizes affects, imagination, and creativity and the politics of radical immanence. Incorporating ideas from Nietzsche and Spinoza as well, Braidotti establishes a critical-theoretical framework equal parts critique and creation. Ever mindful of the perils of defining difference in terms of denigration and the related tendency to subordinate sexualized, racialized, and naturalized others, she explores the eco-philosophical implications of nomadic theory, feminism, and the irreducibility of sexual difference and sexuality. Her dialogue with technoscience is crucial to nomadic theory, which deterritorializes the established understanding of what counts as human, along with our relationship to animals, the environment, and changing notions of materialism. Keeping her distance from the near-obsessive focus on vulnerability, trauma, and melancholia in contemporary political thought, Braidotti promotes a politics of affirmation that has the potential to become its own generative life force.

About the Author

Rosi Braidotti was born in Italy, raised in Australia, graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris, and became the founding professor of the women’s studies program in Utrecht. She is Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University and founding director of its Centre for the Humanities, and she is the author of Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory, now in its second edition.

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For more than fifteen years Rosi Braidotti's nomadic thought has guided discourse in continental philosophy and feminist theory, exploring the constitution of contemporary subjectivity, embodiment and difference. These two classic books - "Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory" and "Nomadic Theory. The Portable Rosi Braidotti" - provide a coherent introduction into Braidotti's nomadic thinking. Engaging critically and affirmatively with contemporary political and cultural issues, Braidotti invites us to go nomadic now to open up potential for common sustainable futures.

Deleuze in China: 2012 Kaifeng International Deleuze Conference

2012 Kaifeng International Deleuze Conference

May 18，2012–May 21，2012

College of Foreign Languages，Henan University

2012 Kaifeng International Deleuze Conference, hosted by College of Foreign Languages, Henan University, in collaboration with University of New South Wales, Australia, will be held in Kaifeng City, a famous ancient capital city of seven dynasties. We invite participation by Chinese and international scholars. This conference will provide an opportunity for Chinese and international scholars to exchange ideas around the work of Gilles Deleuze.

Keynote Speakers include:

• Anne Sauvagnargues (Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, France)
• Ronald Bogue (University of Georgia, USA)
• Rosi Braidotti (Utrecht University, Netherlands)
• Brian Massumi (Université de Montréal)

Invited Speakers include:

• Paul Patton (University of New South Wales, Australia)
• Daniel W. Smith (Purdue University, USA)
• Patricia Pisters (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• Ian Buchanan (University of Wollongong, Australia)
• Manola Antonioli (École Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Valenciennes, France)
• Kim Sang-Hwan (Seoul National University, South Korea)
• Chan-Woong Lee (Ewha Womans University, South Korea)
• Timothy O'Leary (Hong Kong University)
• Eugene W. Holland (The Ohio State University)
• Charles J. Stivale (Wayne State University)
• Gao Jihai (Henan University, China)
• Du Xiaozhen (Peking University, China)
• Wang Minan (Beijing Foreign Languages University, China)
• Jiang Yuhui (East China Normal University, China)

Topics include:

• 1. Interpretation of important Deleuzian concepts;
• 2. Deleuze and cinema, art, philosophy, painting, literature, politics, music, religion, architecture, etc.;
• 3. Deleuze and other poststructuralist philosophers such as Derrida, Foucault, etc.;
• 4. Deleuze and psychoanalysis: Freud, Lacan, Guattari;
• 5. Developing and transcending Deleuze: the application of Deleuzian ideas in Arts and Humanities disciplines in China and throughout the world.

We welcome individual abstracts as well as panel proposals from scholars both at home and abroad. An English version of the abstract is required for domestic scholars and scholars from other non-English speaking countries: it should be between 300 to 500 words. Keynote speeches (40-55 minutes) will be in English and Chinese with simultaneous translation. Those interested in participating in the conference should send a title, keywords and abstract to 2012kdic@gmail.com before October, 31, 2011. Those interested in proposing panel topics should send panel proposals to 2012kdic@gmail.com before October 31, 2011. Attendance at the conference will be limited so a selection will be made on the basis of abstracts submitted. Papers selected will be notified by December 1st 2011. The deadline for full conference papers (20-25 minutes) is March 15, 2012.

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Rosi Braidotti - Deleuze e il divenire Donna: Corso di genere @ Alma Mater, Bologna 2009/2010

Video 1: Deleuze e il divenire Donna. 25.03.2010 Video 2: Nuove femministe nomadi 29.03.2010 Video 3: AfterDeleuze and Becoming Woman: dibattito con il pubblico. 25.03.2010

All'interno del Corso Transdisciplinare di Genere a.a. 2009/2010, organizzato dall'Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna e dall'Associazione Orlando, Rosi Braidotti ha tenuto una lezione il 25 marzo 2010 su Il divenire donna secondo Gilles Deleuze.

Braidotti, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities e Direttora del Center for the Humanities dell’Università di Utrecht, è una delle più significative femministe teoriche contemporanee, fondatrice degli studi di genere in Europa e amica preziosa e insostituibile della città di Bologna, Ateneo e Centro delle Donne.

Ha introdotto Raffaella Lamberti. Video a cura del Server Donne


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Rosi Braidotti - Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory, Second Edition (Columbia University Press, Usa, May 2011)

Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory, Second Edition, May 2011

For more than fifteen years, Nomadic Subjects has guided discourse in continental philosophy and feminist theory, exploring the constitution of contemporary subjectivity, especially the concept of difference within European philosophy and political theory. Rosi Braidotti’s creative style vividly renders a productive crisis of modernity. From a feminist perspective, she recasts embodiment, sexual difference, and complex concepts through relations to technology, historical events, and popular culture.

This thoroughly revised and expanded edition retains all but two of Braidotti’s original essays, including her investigations into epistemology’s relation to the “woman question;” feminism and biomedical ethics; European feminism; and the possible relations between American feminism and European politics and philosophy. A new piece integrates Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the “becoming-minoritarian” more deeply into modern democratic thought, and a chapter on methodology explains Braidotti’s methods while engaging with her critics. A new introduction muses on Braidotti’s provocative legacy.

Introduction

1. By Way of Nomadism

2. Context and Generations

3. Sexual Difference Theory

4. On the Female Feminist Subject: From “She-Self” to “She-Other”

5. Sexual Difference as a Nomadic Political Project

6. Organs Without Bodies

7. Images Without Imagination

8. Mothers, Monsters, and Machines

9. Discontinuous Becomings: Deleuze and the Becoming-Woman of Philosophy

10. Envy and Ingratitude: Men in Feminism

11. Conclusion: Geometries of Passion—a Conversation

Rosi Braidotti was born in Italy, raised in Australia, graduated from the Sorbonne in Paris, and became the founding professor of the women’s studies program in Utrecht. She is Distinguished University Professor at Utrecht University and founding director of its Centre for the Humanities.

"Braidotti’s conceptual analysis is more relevant now than ever. Written in her inimitable style, this second edition lays out the conceptual foundations Braidotti’s later writing puts to work." — Amy Allen, Dartmouth College

"This second edition reestablishes Braidotti as one of the most vibrant and important thinkers in poststructuralist feminism and adds to the first edition’s key essays a selection of more recent work, concluding with an in-depth interview that clearly and frankly relates Braidotti’s perspective to other positions in feminism, queer theory, and identity politics." — Eugene W. Holland, Ohio State University

"This book exceeds the hyperboles one wants to draw upon to describe great books. By its title alone,Nomadic Subjects promises to avoid the clichés, oppositions, and warring political divides that have come to mark theory. Critical of the glibness of the present yet avoiding easy nostalgia or utopianism, Braidotti’s work signals a new style adequate for twenty-first century horizons. Hers is a nomadic theory, refusing to be anchored in any camp or tradition yet a remarkable affirmation of the subject, even if that subject bears none of the usual (and now rather tiresome) attributes of self-possession, self-reflection, and self-consciousness. For anyone who feels somewhat jaded or beleaguered by theory, this book is a tonic, sounding the tone of the future." — Claire Colebrook, Penn State University

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For more than fifteen years Rosi Braidotti's nomadic thought has guided discourse in continental philosophy and feminist theory, exploring the constitution of contemporary subjectivity, embodiment and difference. These two classic books - "Nomadic Subjects: Embodiment and Sexual Difference in Contemporary Feminist Theory" and "Nomadic Theory. The Portable Rosi Braidotti" - provide a coherent introduction into Braidotti's nomadic thinking. Engaging critically and affirmatively with contemporary political and cultural issues, Braidotti invites us to go nomadic now to open up potential for common sustainable futures.

27.10.2011 - Gilles Deleuze. The Intensive Reduction - Constantin V. Boundas (Continuum, Uk, Paperback)

Pub. date: 27 Oct 2011 (Paperback)
Pub. date: 15 Feb 2009 (Hardcover)

Description

Gilles Deleuze: The Intensive Reduction brings together eighteen essays written by an internationally acclaimed team of scholars to provide a comprehensive overview of the work of Gilles Deleuze, one of the most important and influential European thinkers of the twentieth century. Each essay addresses a central issue in Deleuze’s philosophy (and that of his regular co-author, Félix Guattari) that remains to this day controversial and unsettled. 
Since Deleuze’s death in 1995, the technical aspects of his philosophy have been largely neglected. These essays address that gap in the existing scholarship by focusing on his contribution to philosophy. Each contributor advances the discussion of a contested point in the philosophy of Deleuze to shed new light on as yet poorly-understood problems and to stimulate new and vigorous exchanges regarding his relationship to philosophy, schizoanlysis, his aesthetic, ethical and political thought. 
Together, the essays in this volume make an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Deleuze’s philosophy.

Introduction 
Part I: Deleuze and Philosophy 1. Deleuze and the Question of Ontology, Véronique Bergen (University of Paris VIII, France) 
2. The 'Future' of Deleuze: An Unfinished Project, Zsuzsa Baross (Trent University, Canada) 
3. The New Harmony, Ronald Bogue (University of Georgia, USA) 
4. The New Whitehead?: An Ontology of the 'Virtual' in Whitehead's Metaphysics,Keith Robinson (Davenport University, USA) 
Part II: Schizoanalysis and Lacan
5. On the Idea of Pure Practical Reason in Kant, Deleuze and Lacan, Andrew Cutrofello (Loyola University Chicago, USA) 
6. What if the Law is Written in a Porno Book? Deterritorializing Lacan, De-Oedipalizing Deleuze and Guattari, Shannon Winnubst (Southwestern University, USA)
7. From the Surface to the Depths: On the Transition from Logic of Sense to Anti-Oedipus, Daniel W. Smith (Purdue University, USA) 
Part III: Deleuze and the Arts 8. Deleuze, Philosophy and the Materiality of Painting, Darren Ambrose (University of Warwick, UK) 
9. Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty: Aesthetics of Difference, Henry Somers-Hall (University of Warwick, UK)
10. From the Death of the Author to the Disappearance of the Reader, Bruce Baugh (University College of the Cariboo, Canada) 
Part IV: Deleuze: The Ethical and the Political 11. Affirmation versus Vulnerability: On Contemporary Ethical Debates, Rosi Braidotti (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) 
12. From First Sparks to Local Clashes: Which Politics Today?, Philippe Mengue (Collège International de Philosophie, Paris, France) 
13. Deleuze's Practical Philosophy, Paul Patton (University of New South Wales, Australia) 
14. Gilles Deleuze's Politics: From Marxism to the Missing People, Alain Beaulieu (University of Sudbury, Canada) 
15. Affirmative Nomadology and War Machine, Eugene Holland (Ohio State University, USA) 
16. Deleuze and the 'Pairing at a Distance', Arnaud Villani (Lycée Masséna, Nice, France) 
List of Contributors 
Index

Author(s)

Constantin V. Boundas,

Constantin V. Boundas is Professor of Philosophy at Trent University, Canada. He is the editor of The Deleuze Reader (Columbia UP, 1993) and, with Dorothea Olkowski, The Theater of Philosophy: Critical Essays on Gilles Deleuze (Routledge, 1994). He is also the translator of Deleuze's The Logic of Sense (Continuum, 2002) andEmpiricism and Subjectivity (Columbia UP, 1991).

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Rosi Braidotti: Il divenire donna secondo Gilles Deleuze

Corso di genere. Incontro con Rosi Braidotti: il divenire donna secondo Gilles Deleuze from Server Donne on Vimeo.