Introducing Civil War

Consider a world that is polemical, rendered asunder, bifurcated. A world organized by the principle of civil war. The operating logic of such a world leans heavily on a line dividing groups vying for power, political camps, diametric oppositions. Civil war is a contradiction in terms; and yet, civility and war offer two reinforcing sides of the same coin. Two modes of being-in-the-world that claim difference, though when deconstructed—to be civil; to be at war—take the same posture and reveal many of the same working parts.

Join UCHRI as we explore the multiple layers of this dynamic between strange bedfellows. Our approach will include talks, events, an object and audiovisual series to take place on Foundry, our online, open-source platform.

Relevant links

• Civil War Object Series: Incivilities of Sound and Sense, Allen Feldman; How to Loot Democratically, Nasser Mufti
• Talkbits on Civil War
• RRG on Civil War
• Events: Civil War: Race Under Representation (featuring David Lloyd with Ameeth Vijay); Civil War (with Elisabeth Anker, Adom Getachew, Brad Evans, and Achille Mbembe)
• From UCHRI Staff: Civility as War (You Deserve to Shine), Kelly Anne Brown and Anirban Gupta-Nigam; What We’re Reading on Civil War
• Horizons of the Humanities Initiative