Invisibility, Illegibility, Imperceptibility: On Political Refusals of Recognition

This one day symposium aims to bring key thinkers from across the humanities to address the political refusal of recognition. This move towards opacity, illegibility, and imperceptibility has been taken up by a number of feminist, postcolonial and anarchist thinkers and activists, including Pussy Riot, Anonymous, the Zapatistas, Tiqqun and the Invisible Committee, to think through the relation of visibility and invisibility in late capitalism. It offers and expresses a desire for escape from the system of biopolitics and surveillance that increasingly define our world. This symposium will address this topic through the lens of feminism, technology studies, agrarian and indigenous studies, trans studies and the law, and through art and activist practices that suggest new ways of rendering oneself imperceptible. The event begins in the East Duke Parlors and then moves to 204B East Duke for film screenings. This is an event specifically for the Duke academic community including students, faculty and staff.