The Critical Intersections Symposium brings together scholars to explore methodological and practical approaches to staging meaningful dialogues between critical traditions that share a common object of critique: Western ontologies and epistemologies. As efforts to decolonise curricula and research practices continue, the symposium addresses the need to develop frameworks for facilitating genuine exchanges between critical traditions marginalised by the West and those working within, but against, the Western episteme — "Western" understood not as a fixed category but a historically situated formation that shapes academic knowledge production.

Thematic sessions include "Philosophical Dialogues Across Traditions," "Embodied Research and Critical Reflexivity," and "Translation, Care, and Political Imagination". The sessions explore questions around creating reciprocal dialogues, practices of humility and care, the role of positionality, and ethical considerations in engaging with marginalised scholarship, culminating in a closing roundtable.

A key aim of the symposium is to foster a supportive environment to generate and sustain communities of scholars working on these crucial issues.

Programme

9:00-9:15: Opening remarks - Tim Huzar (15 min)

9:15-11:05: Session 1: Philosophical Dialogues Across Traditions

• Joachim Aufderheide - "A Plea for Bi-Traditional History of Philosophy" (20 min)
• Luqma Temitayo Onikosi - "Critique of African Philosophy: Towards Pluriversal Epistemes" (20 min)
• Tom Pryce - "Challenging the "in-order-to-" structure of Heidegger's account of Da/Mitsein" (20 min)
• Stephanie Gomes Reis - "'everything can be used/except what is wasteful': Photography as a Method for Embracing Anger" (10 min)
• Discussion (40 min)

11:05-11:25: Coffee break with Yianna Tsolaki's exhibition "Arch & Pillar is She: De-self-colonisation" (20 min)

11:25-13:05: Session 2: Embodied Research and Critical Reflexivity

• Marie Theresa Crick - "The Irish Catholic Maternal: Articulating Embodied Research Practice with Luce Irigaray" (20 min)
• Harrison Lechley - "Resisting Ownership: Ex-appropriation as an analytic for political theory?" (20 min)
• Aneira J. Edmunds - "Militaristic feminism: IDF women in Gaza 2023-24" (10 min)
• Megan Alexandra Cooke - "Is it possible to conduct impactful non-extractive research into the Grenfell tower fire of 2017?" (10 min)
• Discussion (40 min)

13:05-14:05: Lunch (60 min) with Yianna Tsolaki's exhibition continued

14:05-15:55: Session 3: Translation, Care, and Political Imagination

• Stella Sandford & Lisa Baraitser - "Care-ful violence: acknowledging the work of translation between Western and Indigenous thought" (20 min)
• James R. Walker - "When Malindy Sings: The Importance of Praxis to a Critical Engagement with the Black Radical Tradition" (20 min)
• Sara Camacho Felix - "Moving away from capitalist-colonial individual competition: exploring concepts of togetherness and relationality from within and beyond Europe" (20 min)
• German Primera - "Improvisation, Refusal, Method: Thinking with Hartman and Moten" (10 min)
• Discussion (40 min)

15:55-16:15: Coffee break with Yianna Tsolaki's exhibition continued (20 min)

16:15-17:30: Closing Roundtable: Reflections and Future Directions

• Respondent: Fanny Söderbäck (Södertörn University) - Short reflection (10 min)
• Respondent: Rachel Jones (George Mason University) - Short reflection (10 min)
• Open discussion (55 min)

Exhibition Throughout Breaks

Yianna Tsolaki - "Arch & Pillar is She: De-self-colonisation" A critical heritage practice exhibition exploring power and ideology through traditional weaving and cross-cultural dialogue

About the project

This symposium forms part of the Critical Intersections: Navigating Western and Non-Western Intellectual Traditions project at King's College London, which examines how to ethically and appropriately stage conversations between scholarly traditions that challenge dominant Western paradigms. The event is supported by the Global Cultures Institute in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. Please note that we are unfortunately unable to provide funding for travel or accommodation expenses.

Image: Bruno Ramos Lara on Unsplash