Rethinking Crowds: Violence, Law and Democracy

Date: June 17-18-19, 2013
Time: 9.30-17.30
Place: santralistanbul Campus, E1-301

The mass violence which day by day grows, increases, distributes itself to different ethnic structures and social classes requires a re-questioning of the law systems and the social organisation which we call democracy. Analysing the relationship of crowd, law, politics and democracy and its impact is important to re-evaluate the systems we live in, the systems we long to live in and the theory of human rights. On the other hand, the importance of masses and crowds in the sense of different political thoughts increase worldwide. Throughout the conference we will try to examine the relationship of crowds with violence and law, introduce an historical-anthropological focus that could lead to a new understanding of democracy and review existing debates in Turkey in order to raise this issue and encourage researchers in this area. Both international and Turkish speakers will be joining our conference.

Participants:
YAVUZ AYKAN (University of Bonn)
MANFRED BERG (Heidelberg University) 
TANIL BORA (İletişim Publishers) 
CHRISTIAN BORCH (Copenhagen Business School) 
WARREN BRECKMAN (University of Pennsylvania)   
MALCOLM BULL (University of Oxford) 
COSTAS DOUZINAS (Birkbeck, University of London) 
FERDAN ERGUT ( Middle East Technical University) 
STEFAN JONSSON (Linköping University)  
SELİM KARLITEKİN (Columbia University) 
RAINER MARIA KIESOW (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) 
FERDA KESKİN (İstanbul Bilgi University) 
MICHEL MAFFESOLI (University of Paris Sorbonne V) 
WILLIAM T.S. MAZZARELLA (University of Chicago) 
MARTHA MUNDY (London School of Economics and Political Science) 
REBEKAH STERLING (Trinity College) 
IŞIK TAMDOĞAN (IFEA) 
MICHAEL TAUSSIG (Columbia University) 
NAZAN ÜSTÜNDAĞ (Boğaziçi University)
LEVENT YILMAZ (İstanbul Bilgi University) 

The conference is organized by İstanbul Bilgi University Department of History. There will be simultaneous translation.

PROGRAM / PROGRAMME

17 Haziran/June, Pazartesi/Monday

10:30  Açılış/Opening
10:30-10:50 Aydın Uğur (İstanbul Bilgi University, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences)
10:50-11:00 Levent Yılmaz (İstanbul Bilgi University, Chair of the History Department)
11:00-11:15 Zeynep K. Yılmaz (Galatasaray University, Conference Coordinator)
11:15-12:30 Michael Taussig (Columbia University)
I am the Bomb, Baby: Thoughts on Swarming As Performance of the Mastery of Non Mastery / Bombayım Ben, Yavrum: Ustasızlığı Becerebilmenin Müsameresi olarak Yığışma Üzerine Düşünceler

12:30-13:45 ÖĞLE ARASI / LUNCH BREAK

13:45-15:00 1. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Aydın Uğur
Martha Mundy (London School of Economics and Political Science)
Degrees of Freedom: The Custom of Government /Özgürlük Dereceleri: Hükümet Örfü
Michel Maffesoli (University of Paris Sorbonne V)
Foules Postmodernes: Les Communions Emotionelles / Postmodern Kalabalıklar: Duygusal Biraradalıklar

15:00-15:20 Kahve Arası / Coffee Break

15:20-16:35 2. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Yavuz Aykan
William T. S. Mazzarella (University of Chicago)
Totalitarian Tears: The Anxious Authencity of Mass Mediated Grief / Totaliter Gözyaşları: Kitlesel Yas’ın Sıkıntılı Sahiciliği
Zeynep Koçak Yılmaz (Galatasaray University)
Modern State and Lynching / Modern Devlet ve Linç

16:35-17:00 Kahve Arası / Coffee Break

17:00-18:15 3. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Rainer Maria Kiesow
Christian Borch (Copenhagen Business School)
Crowds and Democracy: Post-liberal Reflections on the Politics of the Crowds / Kitleler ve Demokrasi. Kitleler Siyaseti üzerine Post-liberal Düşünceler
Stefan Jonsson (Linköping University)
Crowds and Democracy: The Masses Interwar European Society and Culture / Kitleler ve Demokrasi: İki Savaş Arası Avrupa Kültür ve Toplumunda Yığınlar

18 HAZİRAN / JUNE,  SALI / TUESDAY

09:30-11:30 1. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Zeynep Yılmaz
Rainer Maria Kiesow (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales)
Law of Violence / Şiddet Hukuku
Tanıl Bora (İletişim Publishers)
Kitle Korkusu ve Linç Rejimi / Fear of Masses and the Lynching Regime
Manfred Berg (Heidelberg University)
Lynching: America’s National Crime from a Global Perspective / Linç: Amerika’nın Milli Suçuna Küresel Perspektiften Bakmak

11:45-13:00 2. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Ferdan Ergut
Malcolm Bull (University of Oxford)
Softening up the State / Devleti Yumuşatmak
Levent Yılmaz (İstanbul Bilgi University)
Poor, Nasty and Brutish: Crowds before the Social / Sefil, İğrenç ve Kaba: Toplumsaldan önce Kitle

13:00-14:30  ÖĞLE ARASI / LUNCH BREAK

14:30-16:00 3. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Işık Tamdoğan
Yavuz Aykan (University of Bonn)
The Infidel in the Realm of Islam: On Politics, and the Yezidi Casuistry in 16th Century Ottoman Kurdistan / Dar’ül-İslâm’daki Kafir: Siyaset Üzerine, ve 16. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Kürdistanı’nda Yezidi Kazüistiği
Nazan Üstündağ (Boğaziçi University)
Aesthetics of Resistance: Image Making and the Rule Breaking in the Kurdish Public Protests / Direniş Estetiği: Kürt Kamusal Protestolarında Kural Çiğnemek ve İmaj Yaratmak

16:00-16:15  Kahve Arası / Coffee Break

16:15-17:45 4. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Nazan Üstündağ
Ferdan Ergut (Middle East Technical University)
Policing the Public Sphere in the Ottoman Empire / Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Kamusal Alanı Terbiye Etmek
Işık Tamdoğan (IFEA)
A Society of Collective Responsibility and Mutual Control: the Ottoman Case /  Bir Karşılıklı Denetim ve Kolektif Sorumluluk Cemaati: Osmanlı

19 HAZİRAN / JUNE, ÇARŞAMBA/WEDNESDAY

09:30-11:30 1. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Levent Yılmaz
Selim Karlıtekin (Columbia University)
Islamist and the Closure of Caliphate: Territorializing 'Islam' in the Body of People / İslamcı ve Hilafetin Sonu: Halkın Bütününde İslamı Bölümlemek
Rebekah Sterling (Trinity College)
Moving Democracy: Demos, Mob and Movement / Hareket Eden Demokrasi: Demos, Güruh ve Hareket
Derviş Aydın Akkoç (İstanbul Bilgi University)
Neoliberalizm Çağında Demokrasiyi Savunmak / Apology for Democracy in the Age of Neo-liberalism

11:30-11:45 Kahve Arası / Coffee Break

11:45-13:30 2. OTURUM / SESSION
Moderatör/Moderator: Selim Karlıtekin
Malcolm Bull (University of Oxford)
Softening up the State / Devleti Yumuşatmak
Levent Yılmaz (İstanbul Bilgi University)
Poor, Nasty and Brutish: Crowds before the Social / Sefil, İğrenç ve Kaba: Toplumsaldan önce Kitle