Cultures of Rejection: Conference
Practices, Discourses and cultural Formations in polarized Societies
Recent years suggest that the 21st century is characterized by a continuous »multiple crisis« that im- pacts many dimensions of our collective, social reproduction. Among them are growing precariousness and social stagnation, eroding welfare regimes and declining trust in European institutions. At the same time, socio-technological transformations fundamentally reorganize labor processes, reproductive life and the political landscape. The global Covid-19 pandemic has created new social upheavals and the war in Ukraine has prompted millions to search for refuge and safety. At the same time, past conflicts persist. Violence in the Middle still leads various populations to look for a better life in Western Europe. »The migrant crisis« appears to have turned into a permanent state. All these developments have influenced the rise of new and old political actors which build their pro- grams on ideas of ethnic, racial or national purity, draw on an algorithmic public sphere and seek to mobilize emotions of insecurity and deprivation. A »Culture of Rejection« offers orientation amidst up- heavals by rejecting immigration, political elites, civil society institutions, the media, shifting gender relations, and European integration. The consequent resurgence of nationalism and right-wing populism points to deeper processes of polarization, radicalization and transformation of everyday life. Counter- acting an authoritarian drift involves tackling these socio-cultural conditions. In »Cultures of Rejection in Europe: Conditions of acceptability in socio-spatial and digital environments« funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, we investigate of practices, discourses and cultural formations that provide orientation in changing lifeworld’s by recourse to »Cultures of Rejection«. From the 27th to the 29th of June 2022, we are inviting scholars to Belgrade, to take stock of the social, political and cultural conditions under which these developments take place.