Siegen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Melancholy, a term rooted in ancient medicine and humoral pathology (literally: “black bile,” gr. μελαγχολία), has recently experienced a remarkable revival in political, cultural, academic, and artistic discourse (Clemens/Hoens 2016; Cruz 2021). In gender and queer studies, the concept of “queer melancholy” (Crank 2016) has become established; in postcolonial studies, for some years discussions have developed of a specific form of “postcolonial melancholy” (Gilroy 2006), together with “racial melancholia” (Eng/Shinhee 2003). Sociological research, for instance, has focused on melancholy as a state of mind characterizing migrants in particular (Klingenberg 2022). In an age of climate crisis, with the Anthropocene’s onset, the term “petromelancholia”1 has been used to describe the aesthetic, political, and societal impact of petroleum extraction. This term is especially relevant in discussing how awareness of finite resources and an entrenched reliance on fossil fuels have led to a form of resignation that can be aesthetically negotiated. In this manner, the discussion gets to the core of melancholia, historically associated with periods of upheaval.
A cultural-historical examination of this interdisciplinary phenomenon, which intersects with psychology, philosophy, sociology, politics, literature, and art, thus has innovative potential: both illuminate and historically situate the symbolic and metaphorical manifestations of melancholy. The aim of this conference is to deepen our understanding of the historical development of melancholy and its relevance in contemporary discourses.
Melancholy, often associated with a refusal to act, can be viewed as both a response to failed participation and a stance of political resistance that, under certain conditions, can evolve into activism. Precisely in its refusal to participate in discourses of governance or improvement, the melancholic subject is able to challenge and redefine the frame of what it means to be politically engaged (Edmondson/Mladek 2024).
The conference will therefore focus on two key areas: first, a close examination of the historical positioning of literary perspectives within political action, informed by recent sociological studies; and second, an analysis of the symbolic quality and semantics of texts and cultural products.
Key questions to be explored include: What concepts of political action and participation emerge in the context of melancholy? What does it imply for a society if melancholy is assumed to be one of its dominant moods? How does this collective mood, along with its associated imagery, influence political culture, particularly in relation to concepts like regression, resentment, and undemocratic tendencies (see Schäfer/Zürn 2021, Fleury 2023, Illouz 2023), and how has it shaped modernity and political thinking since the French Revolution (Comay 2010)?
This international and interdisciplinary conference seeks to address these questions by examining the political and cultural productivity of the concept of melancholy.
Endnotes
1 See “Petromelancholia,” Sept.–Nov. 2023 exhibition curated by Alexander Klose in the Kunstraum Brutus (Rotterdam harbor); https://brutus.nl/en/programme/current/petromelancholia/
References
Clemens, Justin and Dominiek Hoens (ed.): Politics and Melancholia. Crisis and Critique 3/2 (2016).
Comay, Rebecca: Mourning Sickness: Hegel and the French Revolution. Stanford University Press 2010.
Crank, James A.: „The Plantation is Burning. Queer Melancholies, Violent Intimacies, and Plantation Camp in ‚Django Unchained‘“, in: Global South 10/1 (2016), pp. 99–114.
Cruz, Cynthia: Melancholia of Class: A Manifesto for the Working Class. London: Repeater Books 2021.
Edmondson, George and Klaus Mladek: A Politics of Melancholia: From Plato to Arendt. Princeton University Press 2024.
Eng, David and Han Shinhee: A Dialogue on Racial Melancholia, in: David Eng und David Kazanjian (ed.): Loss. The Politics of Mourning. With an Afterword by Judith Butler. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press 2003, pp. 343–371.
Fleury, Cynthia: Here Lies Bitterness: Healing from Resentment. Cambridge/Hoboken, NJ: Polity Press 2023.
Gilroy, Paul: Postcolonial Melancholia. New York/Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press 2004.
Illouz, Eva: Undemokratische Emotionen. Das Beispiel Israel. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2023.
Jäger, Anton: Hyperpolitik. Extreme Politisierung ohne politische Folgen. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2023.
Klingenberg, Darja: Materialismus und Melancholie. Vom Wohnen russischsprachiger migrantischer Mittelschichten. Frankfurt am Main: Campus 2022.
Schäfer, Armin and Michael Zürn: Die demokratische Regression. Die politischen Ursachen des autoritären Populismus. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2021.
