(New) Fascism: Contagion, Community, Myth

Posted on June 26, 2019 by wp_8686836

Fascism tends to be relegated to a dark chapter of European history, but what if new forms of fascism are currently returning to the forefront of the political scene? In (New) Fascism: Contagion, Community, Myth (August 1, 2019) Nidesh Lawtoo diagnoses the case of Trump to illustrate the (un)timeliness of Nietzsche’s claim that, one day, “‘actors,’ all kinds of actors, will be the real masters.” Preview and pre-order here.

Review

“The book is a testament to the power of reasoning to unmask and resist cruel forms of affective contagion, even as it opens the door to the project of composing generous and laudable admixtures of pathos and logos. A bracing and elegant book very much worth reading.”
—JANE BENNETT, Professor, Department of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University, and author of Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things

HOM Videos, ep.2, The Critic as Mime: J. Hillis Miller

Posted on June 19, 2019 by wp_8686836

In this second episode of HOM Videos, Nidesh interviews the literary critic and theorist J. Hillis Miller (Emeritus Professor, U of California at Irvine) on Deer Isle (Maine, USA, 2018) to discuss the relation between mimesis and literature, literary criticism/theory, deconstruction, reading in the digital age, new media, videogames, and contemporary politics. Trailer.

SCREENING HOM VIDEOS ep. 2, The Critic as Mime: J. Hillis Miller

Posted on May 8, 2019 by wp_8686836

The HOM Project started a series of video interviews on the contemporary relevance of imitation (mimesis). Join us for the screening of “The Critic as Mime: J. Hillis Miller” Friday 24 May, 4 pm, Justus Lipsius room (08.16), Erasmushuis, Blijde-Inkomstraat 21, Leuven. You can see a trailer here.

EU Research Interview: The Philosophy of Imitation in Focus

Posted on May 2, 2019 by wp_8686836

In this interview with EU Research, Nidesh Lawtoo explains the main aspects of the HOM project by outlining, in broad and accessible strokes, the good and bad effects of unconscious mimesis investigated by the HOM team in areas as diverse as philosophy, the arts, and politics. He argues that the power of mimesis to transform subjectivity is “not only a scholarly problem, but a human, all too human problem.” Full interview available here.

New Article on The Power of Myth & Fascism

Posted on April 2, 2019 by wp_8686836

This article reconsiders the power of myth in light of the rise of new fascist leaders who cast a shadow on the contemporary political scene. Part of a special issue on Myth and Modernity (ed. Hannes Opelz), Nidesh Lawtoo looks back to Lacoue-Labarthe’s and Nancy’s, “The Nazi Myth,” to account for the affective power of myth that is currently being reloaded both in Europe and the US–an argument internal to a forthcoming book on (New) Fascism (2019). Article available here.

New Article on the Plasticity of Mimesis

Posted on March 20, 2019 by wp_8686836

In this article Nidesh Lawtoo establishes a genealogical connection between the emerging concept of plasticity and the ancient philosophical concept of mimesis in order to further an ongoing dialogue between contemporary continental philosophy and the neurosciences. Article available here.

MLN Special Issue: Poetics and Politics (with Lacoue-Labarthe)

Posted on March 20, 2019 by wp_8686836

In this special issue of Modern Language Notes (ed. N. Lawtoo), contemporary figures like Jean-Luc Nancy, Paola Marrati, Jane Bennett and Alain Badiou, among others, rethink the relation between “poetics and politics” by drawing on Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe’s mimetic account of the current becoming fictional of the political. You can read the introduction here.

HOM Videos, Ep.1: The Politics of Mimesis: William E. Connolly

Posted on March 15, 2019 by wp_8686836

Why is mimesis a political problem? In this first of a series of interviews for the ERC project Homo Mimeticus, Nidesh Lawtoo meets political theorist William E. Connolly (Johns Hopkins University) in Boston (APSA 2018) to talk about the political dangers of affective contagion, mimetic identification and new fascism central to his latest book, Aspirational Fascism (2017). Check out the full interview & subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive updates:

Chapter for Handbook of Mimetic Theory

Posted on March 13, 2019 by wp_8686836

In this chapter for The Palgrave Handbook of Mimetic Theory and Religion (eds. James Alison, Wolfgang Palaver), titled “The Classical World: Sacrifice, Religion, Philosophy,” Nidesh Lawtoo takes the work of René Girard, read with Friedrich Nietzsche, Jane Harrison and other philologists, as a starting point to offer a genealogy of the role sacrifice plays in the classical period. The patho-logy of sacrificial violence, Lawtoo argues, both confirms and supplements mimetic theory. You can read the chapter here.

Homo Mimeticus Interview

Posted on March 13, 2019 by wp_8686836

In this interview for the Leuven Philosophy Newsletter, HOM team member Niki Hadikoesoemo asks Nidesh Lawtoo to sketch the main outlines of the Homo Mimeticus project and to discuss the relevance of mimesis for contemporary philosophy, politics, education, the unconscious, as well as for forging interdisciplinary connections within and beyond the humanities. You can read the full interview here.