September 2018
knowledge is a praxis and the struggle for knowledge [that is philosophy) is a political praxis
(Balibar Spinoza and Politics, 98)
The Leverhulme project started on September 1st , while I was a keynote speaker for the 40th International Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) in Berlin, Germany, a country that has become a dream destination for many migrant and refugee women amongst others.
Organizing the research diary, setting up the first website for the project and reading avidly has been occupying much of my research time in this first month.
Etienne Balibar’s Spinoza and Politics has given me some initial ideas about the theoretical framing of my research question:
- ‘Do philosophy and politics constitute two discreet domains? Is philosophy a “theory” from which a political “practice” might be deduced?’ and
- ‘[Can] we distinguish between “speculative” philosophy on the one hand, and philosophy “applied” to politics on the other?(4)
My challenge of nomadism revolves around such questions:
- Can we draw a line between the nomadic subject as a philosophical figuration and the politics of border practices?
'If we agree with Spinoza [...] that communication is structured by relationships of ignorance and knowledge, supersition and ideological antagonism, which are invested with human desire and which express an activity of our bodies themselves, then we must also agree that knowledge is a praxis and the struggle for knowledge [that is philosophy) is a political praxis' ( 98)