Complicity: Enfoldings and Unfoldings
European and American Literary and Cultural Studies
Practical Philosophy
Final Report Abstract
Work in this network has culminated in two edited volumes (under review). The first, titled Complicity: Enfoldings and Unfoldings, explores the concept of complicity, following Mark Sanders, in light of its etymological roots as “folded-together-ness”. This conception of complicity emphasises that individuals are frequently entangled in systems of injustice; that complicity is deeply embedded in our identities and social structures; that ideologies can serve as virtual ‘blind-folds’; and that within such structures, complicity and resistance are often folded into one another. The volume is based on the supposition that recognising and addressing complicity is a precondition for achieving social change. Contributors from various disciplines therefore offer insights into how complicity shapes and is shaped by our actions, histories, and the narratives we engage with. Narratives in different media are explored both with a view to how they map and unmask complicit enfoldings and how they facilitate what John Storey calls “a radical unfolding” (2019). The contributors explore different types of complicity, such as quotidian complicity, systemic complicity and wilful ignorance, and the volume addresses a wide range of contexts, from totalitarianism as a classic concern of complicity studies to such topical issues as gamification, minimalism, antiabortion rhetoric, and anthropogenic climate change. Most recent academic scholarship on complicity and perpetration has been informed by Western legal and moral theory. However, a defining feature of the twenty-first century are the global interconnections – another type of enfolding – that enable movement and exchange but also involve inequality and exploitation. The second volume, Global Complicities: Connections and Legacies, therefore, expands the scope of complicity studies in the context of an interconnected world by examining case studies from a wide range of geographical locations, and through an emphasis on transnational relationships. This volume addresses fields and topics including humanitarian aid, sanctions and global security, the environment, the political climate post-9/11, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Publications
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“‘Skin in the Game’: Complicity and Queer Utopianism”. Coils of the Serpent 10: 153–69
Wächter, Cornelia
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Mehr als nur Frühstück ans Bett: Objektivierung vs. posthumane Kollektivverantwortung in Channel 4s Humans. Open Gender Journal 8 (March)
Wächter, Cornelia
