Lecture

Biannual Girard Lecture The Urgency of Mimetics Studies: From Imitation to (New) Fascism

Nidesh Lawtoo

Date: Thursday 28 November 2024
Time: 17:15 - 18:30
Location: Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden
Room: 0.11

In this 5^th biannual Girard lecture organized by the Dutch Girard Society, Nidesh Lawtoo steps back to the insights that, as of 2016, lead him to use the term “(new) fascism" as a warning against Donald Trump’s anti-democratic tendencies, which culminated in an insurrection on January 6. Despite many critical warnings and fascist actions, the efficacy of the affective and infective powers of mimesis never ceases to surprise. Hence, the urgency of new mimetic studies to reflect on the role imitative phenomena left in the shadow by Girard--from crowd behavior to hypermimetic media to the patho(-)logies of mimetic theory itself--play in the contemporary re-turn of (new) fascist leaders in the US, Europe and beyond.

All welcome!
In person and online
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 621 8142 0862
Passcode: ckQaC0=V

Reception: 16.30-17:15
Lecture: 17:15-18:30
Drinks: from 19:00 at Pakhuis