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"DEMOS21 INAUGURAL EVENT 鈥淲HAT IS ENGAGEMENT?鈥� WITH 脡TIENNE BALIBAR

On Friday, December 11, 2020, the Center for Critical Democracy Studies (CCDS) hosted 脡tienne Balibar for the inaugural lecture in its year-long lecture series, Demos21. In Balibar鈥檚 talk he discussed the fundamental question: 鈥淲hat is engagement?鈥�, stressing that the French word 鈥渆ngagement鈥� is a concept that translates in English as both engagement and commitment. 鈥淭o speak about engagement is inevitably to speak, reflect, meditate or ruminate about oneself,鈥� he explained. 鈥淥ne鈥檚 history, one鈥檚 life, one鈥檚 actions, one鈥檚 achievements, one鈥檚 errors, one鈥檚 failures and one鈥檚 mistakes.鈥� Balibar鈥檚 focus was on the partisan activity of intellectuals who had decided to defend, illustrate and support some kind of political, social or moral code and who, therefore, found it necessary to join some kind of movement. Aiming to provide a broad, introductory overview of his response to the evening鈥檚 principal question, Balibar drew on the works of thinkers such as Jean Paul Sartre, Theodor Adorno and Karl Marx to explore how engagement can be defined in the context of intellectualism.

Following the talk, an audience discussion was moderated by Professor Philip Golub (吃瓜tv) and 吃瓜tv alumna Zona Zaric (IFDT). The lecture was organized in partnership with the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory (IFDT) at the University of Belgrade and the Center for Advanced Studies 鈥� Southeast Europe (CAS SEE) at the University of Rijeka.