Summer School on 'Navigating the Grey Zone: Complicity, Resistance and Solidarity'

In June 2018 the University of Edinburgh is hosting an interdisciplinary Summer School entitled "Navigating the Grey Zone: Complicity, Resistance and Solidarity." This event targets PhD students and early career researchers (within 4 years of obtaining their doctorate). We will explore the complexities of complicity in and resistance to systemic human rights violations. Moreover, we will consider the ethical and political value of art for shedding light on the ambiguous reality of political responsibility and fostering relations of political solidarity. The Summer School is part of the interdisciplinary ERC Research ProjectGREYZONE, and we aim to bring together perspectives from political theory, political science, law, history, sociology, cultural studies, aesthetics and art. The main goal is to give participants the opportunity to interact across disciplinary boundaries with several international experts and to receive critical feedback on their own projects. The Summer School will involve extended scholarly discussions as well as social activities, allowing the participants to exchange ideas and initiate academic collaborations in a friendly environment. Participants will include a diverse mix of senior and junior scholars, PhD students and artists, who will work together on problematising the many faces of complicity, resistance and solidarity.

List of Confirmed Speakers:

• Danielle Celermajer, Sociology, University of Sydney
• Vikki Bell, Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London
• Margaret Atack, French, University of Leeds
• Paul Gready, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York
• Bronwyn Leebaw, Political Science, University of California
• Cynthia Milton, History, University of Montreal.

The programme will feature morning lectures by expert speakers, followed by presentations from participants in the afternoon. Our speakers will attend and comment on the afternoon presentations. To facilitate productive discussions, all participants are expected to read the assigned readings for each morning session and to share their papers at least one week before the Summer School starts.

We invite papers that examine the following issues:

• Conceptualisations of complicity, resistance and solidarity in relation to systemic political violence;
• The grey zone as a challenge to political memory, identity, and history;
• The epistemic, moral and political value of artistic engagements with painful pasts;
• Broader theoretical and practical challenges raised by the complexities of complicity, including issues of moral, political and legal judgement and agency, guilt and responsibility, forgiveness and revenge, justice and reconciliation;
• The relationship between state-sponsored and artistic engagements with the grey zones of complicity and resistance;
• The value and effects of artworks on public debates about/institutional responses to past violence;
• Ethical and political dilemmas regarding the status of truth, the possibility of representation and the value of testimony in relation to the grey zones of political violence.

We encourage applications from various disciplinary backgrounds, including philosophy, political, social and legal theory, history, political science, cultural studies and aesthetics. We welcome contributions from normative, historical, conceptual, case-based and comparative perspectives.

How to submit your application

To apply please fill in this online form. Incomplete applications cannot be considered.

Registration Fee

The registration fee is £100. 

Organization and Contact

The Summer School is organized by Mihaela Mihai (Politics and International Relations) and her Greyzone project team. Please direct all your queries to: summerschool2018greyzone@gmail.com.

Important Dates

The deadline for applications is the 15th of December 2017. Notification of acceptance will be given in January 2018. The selected participants will have to register and pay the registration fee by the 28th of February 2018. They will be asked to submit their papers by the 18th of June 2018.

Visa Information

Unfortunately, we cannot assist participants in arranging visas to travel to the UK, but we will provide you with an official invitation letter provided your application has been accepted.

Financial Support

The organisers can offer some financial support to some of the selected applicants. Please indicate in your application if you wish to be considered.

The event is sponsored by the European Research Council and the Global Justice Academy at the University of Edinburgh.