Tuesday, April 28th at 4:00pm
Keynote
Asher Lecture Series
Speaker: Molly Crabapple (Artist and Writer)
Wednesday, April 29th 10:00am – 5:30pm
Workshop
The slogan “never again” first emerged among liberated prisoners from Buchenwald to support their efforts in combating fascism. Since then, it has become a source of contestation: the politics of “never again” can invoke a fight against antisemitism but also its weaponization. Some proponents expand its mandate beyond Jews and proclaim: “never again for anyone.” But this version, too, might obfuscate violence. This workshop will investigate the history and theory of “never again-ness” and, in particular, a paradox at its core: in both its particularistic and universalist manifestation, “never again” sets the conditions for repetition.
We ask: how has the temporality of “never again,” which follows a logic of war and peace, crisis and containment, aberration and normalcy, concealed the constitutive role of mass violence in shaping our world? Can a temporal concepts such as “never again” serve both the victim and the perpetrator of such violence? To this end, this conference gathers scholars, writers, and artists addressing the problem of never again, which appears again and again.
The workshop will consist of a keynote by Molly Crabapple, a plenary by Aleksander Hemon, a methodology panel with Crabapple and Hemon, and two panels featuring graduate research.
Sponsored by the Strassler Center at Clark University and the Berman Center at Lehigh University
