Masterclass, with Ernst van Alphen | I wish to argue that the qualities that are commonly attributed to material archives and digital databases are not inherent to them. Those qualities rather depend on the concrete practices which make use of databases or archives. This implies that material archives should not be seen as outdated simply because they are associated with principles like control and stability (of meaning), which have become suspect and are considered less attractive then the labyrinthine qualities that are attributed to digital archival practices. In this Masterclass, we will explore the transgressive potential of variegated archival practices, not only in the use of digital databases, but also of material archives. LIMITED PLACES

Masterclass with James Williams on Gilles Deleuze’s Difference and Repetition | What does a great work of philosophy do? It is a time-quake: a rupture in time, an event reverberating back and forward through history, disrupting former certainties and orders, altering futures, creating new ideas and making others redundant.

Atelier | Over the past decade, universities worldwide have changed profoundly. Some have referred to the new University as the corporate university, others as the neoliberal university. It is often claimed that the university has become a place that is driven by output and profit making and ever increasing levels of competition. Simultaneously, academic jobs have become precarious, in particular for junior faculty members, who often shoulder the heaviest workload on the basis of unreliable short-term contracts. What role, then, does the university play today in forming and distributing knowledge and critical thinking, and what role could it play in the near future

Reading group & tutorial | Participants read three (relatively) recent books on sexuality and gender. Cover to cover.

Atelier | How can we analyse postcoloniality and globalization without taking the vitally important and truly global dimension of the environment into account? Under the influence of the booming field of ecocriticism, the environmental aspects of colonialism and globalization are increasingly foregrounded