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http://nomadit.co.uk/sief/sief2015/panels.php5?PanelID=3489 Short Abstract This panel seeks to produce a counter-intuitive articulation between heritage and utopia via a recourse to Benjamin. The tradition of the oppressed promises a memory-less future premised on a continuity that is precisely the embodiment of discontinuity from the perspective of the oppressed. Long Abstract Normally incompatible revolutionary approaches such as Badiou's who indexes revolutionary change to an evental break with history, on the one hand, and historical materialism for which the break with the past is immanent to what is to be overcome (enabled by the contradictions of capital) on the other, share a common ground: a negative-negating action towards the 'positive', uninterrupted accumulation of history, heritage and tradition. We will upset this inertia of thought by turning to the little-explored Benjaminian notion of the "Tradition of the oppressed" which is precisely 'negative'. In his Theses On the Concept of History, Benjamin argues that unlike bourgeois historiographies, this tradition is based on the idea of a discontinuum of historical experience and memory. In other words, the idea of heritage as a something that can be transmitted from the past and handed over to future generations has to be modified if not abandoned from the perspective of the oppressed. Following Benjamin's reflections on the "problem of tradition" (in the notes to the theses on history), this panel seeks to challenge our notion of heritage and historical consciousness. How can the experience and tradition of the oppressed be told? What is the discontinuous medium of this transmittability and how can we rethink the concept of heritage if the latter is not to be limited to official historiography of those who have been and are in power? Who are the oppressed today? Is there a non-space, u-topos, of the articulation of this discontinuous tradition? http://nomadit.co.uk/sief/sief2015/panels.php5?PanelID=3489 ************************************************************* * Anthropology-Matters Mailing List * http://www.anthropologymatters.com * * A postgraduate project comprising online journal, * * online discussions, teaching and research resources * * and international contacts directory. * * To join this list or to look at the archived previous * * messages visit: * * http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML * * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all * * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: * * [log in to unmask] * * * * Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new * * CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com * * an international directory of anthropology researchers * * To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and * * go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page. * * ***************************************************************