Cult K: The Spectacle of Violence and the Decolonial Question
Block 5
Mon, Wed, Fri, 10:30-11:50 am (NY)
(5:30-6:50 pm, Kyiv/St. P)
The embodiments and theorizations of violence generate multiple forms of confusion and categorization. Violence can be tangible and intangible, disgusting and attractive, and nauseating and spectacular at the same time. To elaborate a bit more, in our everyday lives, violence generates multiple forms of socio-emotional reactions. On the one hand, violence evokes grossness, nausea, and disgust; on the other hand, it also evokes moments of spectacularity and entertainment. The aspects of spectacularity and entertainment are deeply visible on social media through AI-generated war games that imitate current war scenarios; videos of bombings and missile attacks shared to mock the victims; and the production of fake news and rumors about deaths, conflicts, and destruction to gain public attention. These nonsensical indulgences are often justified by imagined, distorted, and half-baked narratives of decolonization, resistance, and resilience. The current circumstances of warfare and genocide not only provoke us to think through these complex intersections but also invite us to rethink existing interpretations of various forms of resistance, resilience, and solidarity that have long been taken for granted and rarely critically interrogated. Over five lectures, with a specific focus on decoloniality and the spectacles of violence, this short course will explore some of the above-mentioned perspectives through violence, trauma, the spectacularity of violence, the question of decoloniality, and the discontents of decoloniality, drawing on diverse theories and everyday life circumstances.