Sovereignty and Inter/dependence

The 26th Annual Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference (AGIC) presents the final panel of the Con-tact virtual lecture series: SOVEREIGNTY AND INTER/DEPENDENCE.

The use of "con-tact" as a mode of exploration arrives at the heels of current (and unevenly felt) social conditions. As possibilities of encounter and movement – both personal and political – have rapidly altered in form, and as questions of touch and proximity have been thrown into sharp, frictive, and often violent relief, we are urgently called to consider: What does it mean to be in relation to an-other across axes of feeling and being, time and space; in absence of physical contact, or, alternatively, in suffocating and immobilizing excess of it? Traversing and unraveling these boundaries, we hope to facilitate, or, borrowing from Erin Manning, “reach-toward” new modes of ethical inter-action.

SOVEREIGNTY AND INTER/DEPENDENCE represents a culmination of what has been a four-month rumination of "con-tact" as a site of critical intervention. The panel addresses diverse and situated forms of communication and assertion expressed through bodies, communities and inter-generational contact.

Graduate presentations

• Audrey Arthurs (Concordia, Art History)
  Fist High, Kneel Low: Let Unity and Defiance Be Shown
• Olvie Li (Victoria, Social Dimensions of Health)
  Indigenous Youth Speak Up on Sex: The Land and Our Bodies
• Devyani Tewari (Victoria, Law)
  Blurred Boundaries of Space: When a Feminist in an Antifeminist Relationship Could not Call Out ‘Emotional Abuse’

Keynote address

• Annick Maugile Flavien (Concordia, Black Perspectives Initiative)
  Where Isolation Urges Our Imaginary. 

The program will conclude with a Q&A segment for all participants.

Accessibility

• The event will be conducted in English.
• Attendance is free, but requires registration via Zoom.
• We will be utilizing Zoom’s webinar feature, meaning that only the camera of panelists and presenters will be on display. Viewers are thus strongly encouraged to join and engage with the program in comfort and relaxation.
• The presentations will consist of lecture, PowerPoint and audio-video components. ASL interpretation will be available for all users, and PowerPoint texts will be manually copy-pasted into the chatbox.
• We are committed to ensuring that this event is as accessible as possible. If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please email us at agic.concordia@gmail.com.

Donation drive

As this event is free, we are asking all attendees to consider making a donation to First Peoples Justice Center of Montreal. Learn more about their work.

Sponsors

This event is sponsored by the Department of Religions and Cultures and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Concordia University, and the Concordia Council on Student Life’s Special Projects Fund.