The Emancipatory Contradiction:

Four Crystallizations in Contemporary Life

Professor, Helen Rollins

Enrollment Deadline: April 1

Description: A foregrounding of the Contradiction confronts us with the traumatic fallibility of ideology. Whilst, at first, we might seek to shield our eyes from this encounter, it is within the encounter itself that we might experience Emancipation. In this series of seminars, Helen will employ the insights of Lacan, Freud, Hegel, Marx, Zizek and McGowan to explore four instances within contemporary culture in which the Contradiction can be found. It will comprise four sessions: part one - Psychoanalysis; part two - Politics; part three - Prose, Poetry and Translation and part four - Film. And it will consider the Contradiction in four separate ways: its relationship with the Universal, its generativity of the human experience, its manifestation and attempted repression within contemporary life and the way in which our tarrying with it can underpin new ways of living together in an increasingly divided world.

Academic Level: (Advanced BA to MA)

Prerequisites: Familiarization with basic philosophical concepts

Required Texts: 

(Why Theory: Contradiction (Todd McGowan and Ryan Engely podcast) - https://soundcloud.com/whytheory/contradiction; Jamaica (Helen Rollins, short film, 2015) https://vimeo.com/475035742/fa02b37357; Slavoj Zizek: The Hegelian Wound (lecture at Deutsches Haus, NYU, 2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRsrYi-wXro&pbjreload=10.

Recommended Texts: Emancipation after Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution (Todd MacGowan, Columbia University Press, 2019); Universality and Identity Politics (Todd MacGowan, Columbia University Press, 2020); Capitalism and Desire (Todd McGowan, Columbia University Press, 2016). 

Learning and Teaching Methods:

Lecture (live and recorded)

Peer-to-Peer [P2P] Seminar Forum Assignments (postings and responses)

Potential One-on-One Research Consultations with the Professor (some restrictions apply)

Intended Learning Outcomes:

To enhance communication skills with reading, writing, and oral.

Assessments:

E-School researchers will be assessed in a research response to the seminar between 1,000-2,000 words in length. You must pass this assessment to complete the course successfully.

Schedule:

April 6 - May 25

4 Lives sessions on Tuesdays at 8pm GMT (Dublin).

April 13, April 27, May 11, May 25