220140 Temporalities of solidarity: Can collective power be non-hierarchical? (S) (WiSe 2021/2022)

Along with freedom and equality, solidarity is the important third ingredient of democracy. In recent years, solidaristic or un-solidaristic politics molded the approaches on refugee flows and migration. During the COVID-19 pandemic claims are made for solidarity in dealing with particularly vulnerable populations, but also with global distribution issues. Solidarity is sometimes described as a non-hierarchical relationship of standing up for each other on the basis of shared challenges, experiences or projects. Solidarity therefore also has to do with ideas about the future and is clearly different from related concepts such as compassion or recognition. In this seminar, we relate solidarity to collectivity and power. In doing so, we discuss the temporalities that shape solidarity projects and practice, containing sometimes also antagonistic tendencies. In indigenous regions in Latin America, for example, community members speak of reciprocity rather than solidarity.

Objectives of the course:

• Clarify how solidarity evolved theoretically and historically in political projects.
• Challenge universal notions of solidarity.
• Imagine different but non-competing forms of solidarity as basis of collective power.

Course format: ONLINE with weekly synchron sessions.

Bibliography

Background Readings:

• Bayertz, Kurt (Ed.) (1999): Solidarity. Dordrecht.
• Durkheim, Emile (1992): Über soziale Arbeitsteilung. Studie über die Organisation höherer Gesellschaften. Frankfurt a.M.
• Rorty, Richard (1989): Contingency, Irony and Solidarity. Cambridge
• Taylor, Charles (2002): Wieviel Gemeinschaft braucht die Demokratie? Frankfurt
• Brown, Wendy (2015): Undoing the Demos: Neoliberals Stealth Revolution. New York
• Appadurai, Arjun (2013): The Future as Cultural Fact. Essays on the Global Condition. London
• Wright, Olin (2010): Envisioning real utopias. London
• Díaz, Floriberto (2007): Escrito. Comunalidad, energía viva del pensamiento mixe. Ciudad de México
• Susemichel, Lea & Jens Kastner (2021): Unbedingte Solidarität. Münster