Lectures

Akeel Bilgrami received a BA in English literature from Elphinstone College, Bombay University and went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied philosophy, politics, and economics. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He is the Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, where he is also a professor on the Committee on Global Thought. He was the director of the Humanities Center at Columbia University for seven years and is currently the director of its South Asian Institute. His publications include the books Belief and Meaning (1992), Self-Knowledge and Resentment (2006), and Secularism, Identity and Enchantment (2014). He is due to publish two short books in the near future: What is a Muslim? and Gandhi's Integrity.

The department of political science was honored to host a full day workshop with four distinguished scholars on the significance of Gandhi’s work today.

Akeel Bilgrami: Perspectives on Gandhi's Significance: A Workshop

Are you free if thoughts just occur to you? Is alienation – as loss of a sense of belonging and subjectivity – a phenomenon of modernity? Is freedom contra-causal and spontaneous? Is it truly in human nature to be free? Are people ‘already’ free? Do you exercise your freedom in the Market? Is all of production voluntary? Is production a form of fulfillment? Is leisure (without work), then, a threat to freedom? Are you overworked and overspent? Are your desires yours? Are we accumulating ‘garbage’? Why don’t consumers go on strike? Are we biologically and socially constrained? Is there a connection between language and freedom? Are you able to put together disjoint concepts out of a context? Does language create possibilities? Can notions of freedom also be propagandized? Do you think of the mountains as Gods? Is freedom (along with the ability to act) essential for survival of the human species? Is it sufficient to think that one is free to be free? Is it necessary (?) to end Capital, as we know it, to save ourselves? Can you conceive of the end of the world? Is the future just like the past? Will we exercise our angelhood? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from philosophy (Prof. Akeel Bilgrami, Columbia University, New York), economics (Dr. Arjun Jayadev, Azim Premji University, Bangalore), & linguistics & philosophy (Prof. Nirmalangshu Mukherji, ex-University of Delhi, New Delhi). Listen in....

#TAAF (The Alienation And Freedom) --- SynTalk

In this interview, the managing editor of Tadween Publishing, Kylie Broderick, sits down with Professor Sunaina Maira (UC Davis) to discuss her book, "Jil Oslo: Palestinian Hip Hop, Youth Culture, and the Youth Movement."

March 15th, 2018 | English
Interviewed by Kylie Broderick

Summary of "Jil Oslo":

Based on ethnographic research in Palestine, primarily during the Arab uprisings, this book explores the intersections between new youth cultures and protest politics among Palestinian youth in the West Bank and Israel. It focuses on Palestinian hip hop and the youth movement that emerged in 2011 as overlapping sites where new cultural and political imaginaries are being produced in the Oslo generation ("jil Oslo"). Challenging the Oslo framework of national politics and of cultural expression, these young artists and activists are rethinking and reviving the possibility of a decolonial present.

To read more about this book, follow this link:
https://tadweenpublishing.com/collections/books/products/jil-oslo-palestinian-hip-hop-youth-culture-and-the-youth-movement

Tadween Talks:  "Jil Oslo: Palestinian Hip Hop, Youth Culture, and the Youth Movement"

http://www.hkw.de/anthropozaen

Dialog mit Akeel Bilgrami (Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York) und Aldo Haesler (Département de sociologie, Université de Caen). Einführung: Cecelia Watson (Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin) - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 12.01.2013

Die Warnung ist von vielen Vertretern der Anthropozän-Hypothese zu hören: Wir müssen Methoden entwickeln, um unseren Einfluss auf den Planeten kontrollieren zu können. Einige Geologen vertreten die Meinung, die Erde habe eingebaute „planetarische Grenzen“, deren Übertretung unwiderrufliche Veränderungen am System Erde hervorrufen könnten. Aber die Maßnahmen zum Schutz der Umwelt, die ein solches Szenario verhindern könnten, fordern finanzielle Investitionen und die Bereitschaft, Profit und Effizienz zu Gunsten einer sicheren Steuerbarkeit des Planeten zu opfern. Die Frage der Gleichberechtigung wird damit dringlich: Wer kann es sich leisten, anthropozäne Politik umzusetzen, und wer bleibt außen vor?

Akeel Bilgrami (New York) ist Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy an der Columbia University und Gründungsmitglied des dortigen Committee on Global Thought. Seine Essaysammlung "Politics and the Moral Psychology of Identity" (Harvard University Press) erscheint 2013.Er arbeitet an zwei Büchern mit den Titeln "What is a Muslim?" (Princeton University Press) und "Gandhi, The Philosopher". Sein aktuelles Buchprojekt behandelt Praktische Vernunft und Politik.

Aldo Haesler (Caen) ist Professor für Soziologie und Sozialphilosophie an der Université de Caen in Frankreich. Seine Forschungsgebiete sind die Theorie der sozialen Veränderungen, philosophische Anthropologie und Sozialphilosophie. Er war Direktionspräsident des Instituts Montana (Schweiz) und ist zur Zeit Mitglied des philosophischen Forschungsprojekts "Identité et subjectivité". Sein jüngstes Buch lautet "Das letzte Tabu: Ruchlose Gedanken aus der Intimsphäre des Geldes" (2011).

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http://www.hkw.de/anthropocene

Dialogue between Akeel Bilgrami (Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York) und Aldo Haesler (Département de sociologie, Université de Caen). Introduction: Cecelia Watson (Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin) - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, 12.01.2013


The warning resounds amongst many proponents of the Anthropocene thesis: we must develop ways to control and manage our influence on the planet. Some geologists contend that the earth has inbuilt “planetary boundaries,” which, if exceeded, could cause irrevocable change to the earth’s systems. Yet, the types of environmental measures that could hold us at a safe distance from such a scenario require financial investments and a willingness to sacrifice profit and efficiency in favor of safe planetary management. A question of equality seems, then, urgent: who can afford to implement Anthropocenic policies and who is left out?


Akeel Bilgrami (New York) is the Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and a founding member of its Committee on Global Thought. His collection of essays "Politics and the Moral Psychology of Identity", will be out next year. He is writing two short books called "What is a Muslim?" and "Gandhi, The Philosopher". His current longterm writing project is on practical reason and politics.

Aldo Haesler (Caen) is professor of sociology and social philosophy at Université Caen in France. His areas of research are theories of social change, philosophical anthropology and social philosophy.He was CEO of the Institut Montana (Switzerland) and currently is member of the research unit in philosophy “Identité et subjectivité.” His latest book is "Das letzte Tabu: Ruchlose Gedanken aus der Intimsphäre des Geldes" (2011).

Akeel Bilgrami and Aldo Haesler | Dialogue | The Anthropocene Project. An Opening

The imminent annexation of parts of the West Bank represents the latest episode in a century long war against the Palestinian people. .

Aaron Bastani is joined by author and academic, Rashid Khalidi, to discuss 100 years of settlement, occupation and struggle.

Novara Media

The Hundred Years' War On Palestine with Rashid Khalidi

f(q) = Is soil a definitive sign of life? (#TCAFG)

SynTalk is a freewheeling interdisciplinary talk show with a philosophical approach to understanding the world from a long term perspective.