EUTOPIA-SIF February Seminar

The seminar will be held on Zoom.

Abstracts of research projects presented at the seminar:

• Mantra Mukim (CY Cergy Paris University): Glitchwork: Bhanu Kapil and the Circuitry of the Book

If glitch is a breakdown of the machine from within, through an unanticipated yet internal error, this creative-critical presentation will trace the relationship between glitch and book. Focusing specifically on Bhanu Kapil’s Ban en Banlieue and Schizophrene, I intend to explore how the glitch is staged, received, repaired, and ultimately resigned to ‘the book’ in Kapil’s work. Here, the book is understood both in its organic and mechanical qualities. On the one hand, it is a living entity, prone to erosion and regeneration, as evidenced in Schizophrene, where the process of decay and renewal is integral to its form and meaning. On the other hand, the book has a composite quality, a structure built through minute acts of aggregation and redaction. This duality of the book—at once organic and mechanical—creates a fertile ground for examining the ways glitches manifest within it, both as disruptions and as creative possibilities.

• Carrie Benjamin (CY Cergy Paris University): Walking as care, solidarity, and protest: supporting unhoused asylum seekers in Paris

This project takes an ethnographic approach to understanding the role of public space in the formation of moral communities. Drawing on the anthropological tradition of participant observation, I explore how asylum-seeker support groups navigate Paris, practice care, and attempt to produce atmospheres that foster welfare and inclusion. This seminar focuses on one aspect of these grassroots outreach campaigns: the maraude, or mobile meal distribution. I argue that beyond simple meal distribution, the maraude acts as a tool for mapping the city, a method of knowledge exchange, and as a form of protest which entails caring for others while bearing witness to institutional neglect.

• Matteo Leta (Univerza v Warwicku): Giovambattista Della Porta and the Renaissance Comedy

The Renaissance was a period of profound cultural, technological and scientific change, accompanied by a literary resurgence, particularly in the field of comedy. This paper explores the intersection of these two spheres through the lens of Giovambattista Della Porta, a prominent Renaissance natural philosopher and prolific playwright. It examines the connections between Della Porta’s scientific interests, particularly in alchemy, physiognomy, and medicine, and his dramatic works. The investigation seeks to ascertain how his understanding of the natural world may have influenced his use of comedy, and vice versa, offering insights into the intermingling of ideas during this revolutionary period.