Event | Navigating the Digital Revolution: A Practical Guide for Literary Scholars from a Social Theory Perspective – OSL/NICA Workshop with Anthony Elliott

Event | Navigating the Digital Revolution: A Practical Guide for Literary Scholars from a Social Theory Perspective – OSL/NICA Workshop with Anthony Elliott
Date: 7 May 2025
Time: 15:00-17:00
Location: Utrecht (Drift 25 – room 301)
Facilitator: Prof. dr. Anthony Elliott
Chair: Prof. dr. Pablo Valdivia
Credits: 1 ECTS
Register ↯*

This event is fully booked. 

In this 2 hours workshop, renowned sociologist Anthony Elliott will delve into the intricate relationship between power, subjectivity, and the digital. Drawing on his extensive research in cultural studies and social theory, Elliott will explore how digital transformations can be a powerful tool for both shaping and challenging dominant power structures.

Some key themes to be explored in this workshop include:

• The role of digital transformations  in shaping cultural values and norms
• The ways in which digital transformations can challenge dominant ideologies
• The significance of digital technologies in the production and consumption of cultural production

By examining these themes, Elliott will offer a thought-provoking and timely analysis of the political and social significance of digital transformations in the 21st century. His presentation will be of interest to scholars, students, and anyone interested in the intersection of literature, culture, and power.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental concepts and methodologies of the Digital Revolution from a Cultural and Social Theory perspective.
• Critically evaluate navigating digital transformations.
• Apply social theory techniques to their own research projects.

Credit Details

Students can obtain 1EC by reading the preparatory material, attending the workshop and submitting a short reflection (approx. 500 words) to osl@rug.nl by Friday 23 May 2025, end of day.

Readings

Anthony Elliott, Algorithmic Intimacy, Cambridge: Polity, 2023, Chapter 6.

Anthony Elliott, Algorithms of Anxiety: Fear in the Digital Age, Cambridge: Polity, 2024, especially Chapters 1, 2 & 7

Helga Novotny, “The Illusion of Control: Living with Digital Others” In her Future Needs Wisdom, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2024, Part Two, Chapter V

Franz Kafka, The Trial, Penguin, 2010.

Zygmunt Bauman, “On The Underclass of Precarians” in A Chronicle of Crisis, London: Social Europe, 2016.